lightfoot restaurant

i'm so surprised by all the negative reviews. i've never had bad food here, and the service has always been good. maybe lunchtime really is the best time to come. and i don't drink so alcohol is not an issue.

dessert was an epic failure. my boyfriend reserved the chef's table to take a group of our friends out to celebrate my birthday. the one thing i wanted for dessert was bananas foster which they said they could do. i was disgusted to see them pull it out of the freezer. looked like something you would get on an airplane. all prepared ahead of time . even the bananas foster. it was not attractive to look at and it did not taste that good. stay away from this restaurant.

lightfoot restaurant is a housed in a 17th century-era building which once was home to a bank. decked out in romanesque revival style, it’s quite simply gorgeous and unique.

good food, indifferent service. stopped in this former-bank-turned-restaurant. the interior is unique and makes for interesting viewing. the food was fairly good. had the fried green tomatoes topped with shrimp. the tomato was excellent but the shrimp had obviously been frozen and then overcooked. the appetizer would have been better without poor quality seafood. had the veggie panini with marinara sauce and a caeser salad. both were very good. my sister had the uk ham and cheese, which i tasted. it had a horse radish havarti and a chutney sauce. it was delicious. the fries that came with it were nothing to write home about and could have used seasoning and a little more cooking for texture's sake.

our server was terrible. immediately brought our drinks then disappeared for ages before returning to take our order. stood around and talked football with two other servers the entire time we were eating. as soon as we needed take home boxes and our check, guess who was nowhere to be seen? he was indifferent and not attentive.

oh, and the iced tea was terrible. very weak. they need lessons on how to brew proper tea.

went here for lunch today and was very disappointed. inside the restaurant is beautiful, i will give it that. but we chose to eat outside, given the option, because the weather was gorgeous. we were walked to the back of the restaurant, thru the kitchen basically, out the back door, around the parking lot to this weird extra space with patio tables. didn't feel like the same restaurant at all. the glass tables were wiped with wrags dunked in old dishwater apparently. the lunch menu left much to be desired, lacked creativity, and i finally resigned myself to ordering the fish tacos. was hoping to order something a little fancier as it was my anniversary, but that's the only thing that looked good..... huge mistake. i love fish tacos... what i got was a disgrace to fish tacos and should be taken off the menu. it was a train wreck in so many ways i couldn't begin to list them all. anyway, the service was nice and friendly, and the saving grace of the experience was the cheese plate my husband ordered, thank goodness or i would have starved. very disappointing experience and i will be writing the restaurant as well to tell them. for the record this is my first review... it was that bad i felt compelled to warn the rest of leesburg. hopefully the dinner experience is better?!

horrible service and bland food. not a good combo.

been several times including an anniversary dinner and was always impressed....however have changed my mind after a recent visit. sat in the bar area during transition between lunch and dinner. server was blah! won't mention his name but wasn't friendly or attentive. fried oyster salad--oysters terrible!!! all breading and very little oyster taste. chef: go to tuskies and order the fried oyster appetizer and see how oysters should be prepared. very disappointed.

a wonderful combination of fabulous food, great staff, awesome character in building an decor. can't say enough good.

lightfoot restauratnt old town leesburg. for those of you contemplating a nice dinner spot in leesburg, va, then the lightfoot restaurant is not the place to choose. the decor is nice, that is all can say was good. from the beginning, the place was packed and the reservations were starting to walk through the door and get backed up. the bar was packed as well with awaiting reservations. there were people there with 7pm reservations just being seated at 8pm. but what is all the wait and the hype about? good food? good service? in my opinion, not really both, especially the food. what drew us to the restaurant was the menu we spotted online. but as soon as the soup came out with the appetizer and salad, nothing lived up to it's hype. the descriptions were accurate, but the flavor did not deliver. the french onion soup was bad and didn't have much flavor from what you were expecting. i think they used too much truffle oil which completely over powers the true flavor of the soup. after a few spoonfuls, we had to set it aside. on to the calamari, it was not as we were expecting. we thought it would have a hint of spice and heat due to the peppers integrated into the plate, but nothing at all, it was a complete let down. also, the calamari lacked flavor, the batter was bland and the calamari weak. the 'po boy' salad with fried oysters another bad decision. the salad was nothing spectacular, the salad had no pop and the oysters had no real flavor as well. moving on the the entrees, we both ordered the 8oz filet mignon medium with the chive mashed potatoes and fried onions on top with asparagus spears. the filet was overcooked and had the texture of that of sirloin. again, the filet had no flavor at all, to top that, the bernaise sauce was bland and added nothing to the plate. to cap the night off, we ordered dessert just to round out the night, expecting much of the same, but feeling a bit optimistic, the mocha ya ya was the dessert of choice. again, the dessert was a let down, it was too dense and heavy, not really what you would expect from something that is supposed to be a flourless chocolate cake, and again, had no real flavor to it. however, the coffee that was ordered to go along with the dessert was the only high point of the dinner! needless to say, we did not have a memorable dinner. they do advertise this restaurant in urbanspoon as a very pricey place to eat. they are correct, they are fairly pricey. i have no problem go to pricey places to eat, i never have a problem with the check. but i do have a problem when it is pricey and it does not live up to its' name. i'm not quite sure why people were there waiting for a table close to an hour and a half when you can go to your local corporate restuarant, i.e. outback and get a steak that tastes good as well as cooked to how you order it. for those of you that would like a nice night out and spend some money, then lightfoot restaurant should not be an option. for the money, the food does not deliver and the service is average at best. look into other restaurants around the area would be my advice.

leesburg's finest fine-dining. it's been around a long while, and has a --gasp!-- nice atmosphere. the building used to be a bank (the vault door is still there. adds a nice touch to any bathroom). surprisingly reasonable prices, too.
frankly, i don't know how this place has so many bad reviews. maybe it's because i tend to go during lunch, when it's nearly empty. maybe it's because i don't automatically attempt to order the fanciest things on the menu. regardless, lightfoot is a great place, but if you are averse to ordering something that "sounds plain" on the menu, you might not be quite as impressed. for example, always ask for a bar menu in addition to the regular dinner menu and never discount the grilled cheese of the day. it's often surprisingly exceptional especially when it has prosciutto, and always a great deal. the spicy groovy meatloaf sandwich is one of the best things ever, and the remoulade it comes with is excellent for dipping fries in, too. the chicken philly is great as well. great burgers, too. always get a bowl of soup--tomato bisque is delicious.
sure, their fancier stuff that looks like a work of art is good, too, but it's that simple meatloaf sandwich that keeps me coming back.

lightfoot restaurant -- just amazing. my husband and i just finished our first dinner at lightfoot restaurant -- and it was delicious. my husband ate too much cheesecake at home -- so he simply ordered the tomato soup, blue ridge spinach salad and a side of beans -- and thought that everything was delicious. since i had skipped lunch, i ordered the artichoke gratin crusted salmon -- that tasted every bit as delicious as it looked. and it was so beautiful that it could easily have been on the cover of any food magazine. dessert was a sweet blueberry cake topped with ice cream, whipped cream and a blueberry sauce -- wish i had the recipe because it was so wonderful that i wish that i could replicate it at home. the impression was that the colors, textures and flavors of every dish were varied -- and complimentary to the ingredients.

without question, we will return -- and as long as our meals continue to be this perfect, lightfoot will likely be our new favorite restaurant.

awful restaurant. this place came highly rated and it was flat out terrrible! to start with, the hostess had an attitude and sat us for dinner, in the bar area. the bartender was our waiter, and of course, he was busy at the bar. a busboy asked if we were told the specials, and we said "no". he said he did not know them but went and got a paper from the kitchen and read them to us. my husband got the shrimp and grits appetizer. grits were good, shrimp was undercooked and fishy. i got oysters rockefeller. generally a pretty standard recipe of spinach and hollandaise sauce. well, no hollandaise, not sure any spinach either, just really small oysters (may have been 1/2 oysters) that were covered in cheese and supposedly had ham--- they tasted like pepperoni pizza--- ugh! then, after a really long wait, out came the food. my husband got the seafood stew off the menu. it seemed to be in an overly salty beef broth. for him to say something is salty it had to be ocean water salty. i got the highly recommended pork chop special stuffed with sour dough and sausage prepared medium. it was cold, it was gray, not trimmed (a lot of fat) it was stuffed with stuffing croutons and pieces of sausage, it was tough, had a big piece of gristle running through it, was overcooked and bland. the bartender gave each of us a free drink for the lack of service. whoopie. we will never recommend or return.

great food! excellent atmosphere.. lightfoot is one of the best places in leesburg imo. the mushroom streudal appetizer and their tomato bisque are awesome starters. we have always had excellent service.

we love the creative menu. the staff is attentive and knows the menu. we go almost every week. ask about the grilled cheese of the day.

sorry lightfoot won't come back. last time i was there was two years ago, as i promess myself to never go back. so as far as the food they serve now i don't know. but my memory of it is very poorly executed dish, not very creative and expensive for what you get. my biggest desapointment was the service. for me, there is a lot of other very nice place to eat in leesburg.