Café Lily

Decided to give this place a chance again, since I was turned away the first time due to the wrong hours being posted....

And let me tell you, I'm so glad I did!

The host sat me at the bar due to table reservations and I was a walk-in.

The bartender Andrew was very attentive and made sure I was well taken care of (tip him good!).

For food, I tried the shrimp tapas, crabcake tapas as my appetizers and sea scallop risotto as my entrée.

Ask for the tiramisu martini and you won't be disappointed.

You can't go wrong with the lemon sponge cake as a dessert option...Yummy!

Can't wait to return to this Decatur staple

My husband and I tried to come here to eat, but it was extremely disappointing and we weren't able to order.

We got seated fairly quickly, but that was the only bright spot. It took our server 13 minutes to come to our table, and she never acknowledged the long wait. She didn't bring water until I had to ask after waiting another 10 or so minutes.

We had ordered bottomless mimosas but again, had been waiting so long we had to flag her down. Thank GOODNESS we asked to finally order because this was the final straw unfortunately. She said they were out of biscuits, French toast, potatoes, and bacon. Literally everything we wanted to order, minus the shrimp and grits. The brunch menu is already very limited, so it felt like a waste. Given we had been there now close to half an hour without any food or cocktails, we opted to leave instead.

I'm so disappointed because I really looked forward to trying this restaurant.

I don't write bad reviews often but, this may have been the worst restaurant I've dined at, food wise only. What a huge disappointment......We came here for Mother's Day brunch with high expectations from online research on top restaurants for brunch.

We ordered a bellini with peach and raspberry. Both for me where not great compared to others I've had in the past.

I ordered the special which was lobster ravioli and then a side of home fries. Weird combo but all the other side would have been. My husband ordered the steak and eggs.

Our dishes come out and I immediately notice the ravioli sauce is bright Yellow. I was hoping it was cheesy but definitely not. At first, I thought it was some sort of curry spice but after thinking more, realized perhaps saffron. Very earthy. It didn't taste great at all and neither did the lobster inside the ravioli. Zero taste of european flavor that I was hoping for. I ate it for the sake of not making my husband feel bad for the choice of restaurant.

My husbands steak came pre sliced and the eggs looked amazing. Then we realized the end of the steak was raw. He put those pieces aside and didn't mention. In the middle it was cooked correctly, I tried a piece and it tasted good. He did mention it wasn't seasoned enough.

We ended it with what was titled as "home made" tiramisu...... This was the absolute worst tiramisu I've had in my entire life. So bad, I'm never going order it anywhere ever again. It was like a 5 year old poorly followed a recipe and decided they would put mostly marscapone, didn't have enough lady finger because they ate some, and then didn't have any coffee to soak them in.

I decided I would fork out the marscapone and get to what little lady fingers there were. Still disappointing, zero flavor. Then I looked the embarrassing plate of mangled lady finger and marscapone block (that what I now title the dish), and I just started laughing uncontrollably at how it looked. Photo provided.

Not a ruined day since I have a great attitude but it left me wanting to eat somewhere else immediately to make up for it.

Good Food, Fair Service, Overpriced Drinks! I've been coming to Cafe Lily on and off for close to 20 years, it was my staple for a while. Last week, the food was still good and on par with past experiences, so no issues there. The service was not so good though, it took our server close to 20 minutes just to take our drink orders. Once we got those in and ordered our dishes, they arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

The main issue was the beverage, which I like to have with dinner. I ordered Maker's Mark neat, since I don't like to spend too much on high end bourbons at restaurants. The pour was barely a shot, so I did order a second one to get me through dinner. When the bill arrived I nearly fell out of my chair, $30 for those two shots of MM, which is is way more than a bottle costs retail!

That was also more than our entree's cost, and way out of the norm for Decatur, or even Buckhead. I know that to be true since in the last few weeks I've ordered higher end bourbon and received better pours for significantly lower prices in nicer restaurants in both locations. I still like the food, but I will avoid buying any drinks there in the future.

Service mixed but many were new
Food okay, bread was stale, lamb burger over cooked ,
This place has definitely gone down in quality and service
Drink specials good

I recently visited this place for brunch. I got the gyro platter, bottomless mimosas and a cappuccino
The mimosas were good. The only caveat is your server has to bring them one by one which I can imagine can be difficult if hype place gets busy. The cappuccino was incredible just perfect. The lamb on the other hand left something to be desired. The presentation was not the best. The lamb itself lacked flavor however the tzatziki sauce was delish and the the potatoes were very flavorful
Overall the service was good so I will be back to try another dish

Invited a friend here for lunch; never been here before. Upon entering, I really wasn't greeted, but eventually seated. While waiting for my lunch companion, I noticed a worker (who turned out to be the manager) who energetically engaged with the next group of customers that came in. I overheard them being asked how they were doing, if they had ever been there before, given the specials, etc. I was taken a back because I had never been here, and I definitely did not receive a greeting like those customers and felt basically ignored and unimportant.

We both ordered the lamb burger which was nothing impressive. It was dry/overcooked, the simple toppings, e.g., lettuce, were scarcely visible (as if they cost a small fortune), and the dill sauce was bland and did not help much, definitely was not worth $20!

After our uneventful lunch, I asked for a manager to express my disdain with the display of excellent customer service extended to the customers seated right AFTER me. I was told that since the server was behind with that particular table.....yadayada, basically fluff and nothing that I or my dining companion cared to hear, entertain, or believe. As a restaurant, if you want to succeed in excellent service, you give the same service to everyone regardless of what is going on. Giving excuses as to why some customers received the royal treatment and others do not is beyond gross and unacceptable. Unfortunately, the complimentary bread pudding (which was actually the best part of the lunch, nice try but no cigar), did NOT cover the mishap of providing excellent service or bland food at all!

Won't be back or recommend.

I held an engagement brunch here in their semiprivate room. It was great. The food was nice for brunch and a good portion size. I had the salmon salad. It was delicious. I heard the French Toast was good. We had an awesome server that knew exactly how to serve our party of 16 without being overwhelmed. He took our order in a timely manner and communicated everything that was going on with us the entire time.
We were allowed to decorate. I would say it was a little dark.

Recently checked this restaurant out with friends as we were craving something local in the city of Decatur. We arrived 9pm and the service was welcoming as we were greeted by the host. Our server was also amazing. To start, the menu have a variety of options . The food was also delicious with a nice chilled ambiance!

I came here thursday and friday! Thursday they had a great deal which was selected wines are half off! that day I got the Pinchitos! Which was cooked to perfection and absolutely loved the white sweet potatoes! Friday i just need to shoutout Lucile bc was absolutely amazing and gave us the best recs! We got the daily cocktail which i cant remember the name
but it was soo refreshing and love anything with egg foam! Then we had the hummus bi tahini! Great portion size imo! And we were not super hungry so we went for the seafood pasta a la creme which was incredible! both days i loved my service and the food and i definitely recommend this restaurant for a nice dinner in decatur