A Very Gilded Lillie's

Lillie's

I had had a disappointing experience with the Lillie's location in Flatiron a couple years back, but decided to give it another shot at a pre-theatre brunch because I was seeing Once and I'm a sucker for musical/meal pairings. We were immediately enamored with the Victorian decor as soon as we walked in the door. Like it's Flatiron sister, every square inch is lavishly decorated, but this location is much bigger, making it an even larger impact.

Lillie's hits a Valley

I'd walked by Lillie's Victorian Bar & Restaurant many a time and was always attracted to the romantic, Victorian decor. It looked positively adorable, but this doesn't exactly hold a huge appeal for The Mr. So when I had my Mom and Grandmother in town for a girls' day, I knew exactly where I would take them for brunch. The decor didn't disappoint, it is just as cute inside as what I saw through the windows. Unfortunately, they were having problems with their air conditioning and it was the end of July. Strike #1. 

Being from Ireland, and my Mother having spent a good deal of her childhood in Ireland, we know our Irish Breakfast. In most places, we just know better than to order it, but since we are in NYC where real Irish sausage and bacon are available, we had high hopes. See where this is headed? Letdown and Strike #2.

Despite the fact that it wasn't very busy and they seemed to have plenty of staff on hand, we repeatedly found ourselves with a need and no one to help us. Through out the course of our meal I wound up fetching salt from another table and even going to the water pitcher at the bar to refill our waters. No joke. Super slow & non-attentive wait staff? You guessed it, Strike #3.

Such a let down! I was so in love with the ambience and wanted to like it so much. The only thing I can say is that perhaps their strength is more in being a bar than a restaurant.