liliana's restaurant

i went to liliana's with a group of business associates and found that, in my opinion, thisrestauranthas gone down hill drastically in both food quality and customer service. the menu has changed and they now only offer "small plates". it is now necessary to order 3-4 plated to make a full sized meal. the prices have gone down 30% and the serving sizes has gone down by 50%. the food is not even close to the quality it was at my last visit (over a year ago) i found the service to be very slow even with the place only being 25% full. i ordered the jambalaya that was almost room temperature. when i told the wait staff this their reply was " this is the way it is served" i then tried the chicken and cheddar grits that arrived under cooked ! so i left it uneaten. i finished with the beignets that were fine but 60% of the serving size that were served in the past. after getting home i felt ill and believe it was because of the food served at lilianas. the next day i contacted the madison health department and found that they have given liliana's a very bad health score (see yelp health score rating of 49). please contact the health department yourself for more information. i do not know what made this place get so bad (new ownership) ?? i will never step foot in thisrestaurantagain and would advise everyone to do your research before eating any food here.

highly underratedrestaurantin madison. delicious food at reasonable prices. chef dave is hilarious and makes everything from scratch. cheese grits are amazing at brunch, but everything is great.

upscale new orleans. i really enjoyed the atmosphere and relaxed, but sophisticated vibe here--live jazz emanating from the bar, a fountain in the dining room, and a healthy crowd no doubt helped by the start ofrestaurantweek.
we started with some deep fried alligator, with a crisp flavorful breading, which tasted sort of like chicken, but not quite. this was my first gator, but it was good enough that i'll try it again if i come across it. the beef bourguignon actually tasted pretty good, but was sadly lacking in beef. the jambalaya had plenty of heat, but thankfully didn't overwhelm the taste buds. desserts were mixed. the beignets were warm, light, and tasty, but the cherries jubilee seemed to be just cherries and ice cream.
i don't eat this cuisine a lot, so i can't speak to the authenticity of this louisiana fare, but for the most part this was a nice meal and a good change of pace for my midwestern palate.
grade: b-

good news bad news the food is great. 350 great wines. but service was awful. maybe they do take out? tomato bisque was very good. jambalaya was excellent. had very nice cabernet. now service hadreservation for seven. arrived at arranged time but table had not been set up. took half hour before we were led to table. server appeared mentioned specials brought water and disappeared for 20 minutes. came back. took drink orders. another 10 minutes to bring bottle of wine. took food orders. was another 30 minutes before food arrived. waiter did not come back. had to flag him down to bring bread. we were getting tipsy from the booze with no food. food came. still waiter did not check back. had to flag down for 2nd bottle of wine. therestaurantwas full but appeared to have lots of servers available. i could understand a busy kitchen. if server had been attentive and explained the problem and kept use happy with bread and drinks, i'd felt differently. so, if you visit, bring a book and snacks, while you wait for dinner.

great food, wonderful atmosphere, excellent wait staff, best crab cakes! an upscale cajun place that is not too expensive. a nice addition to madison's already goodrestaurantscene.

i had the pasta liliana, which was an interesting blend of chicken, shrimp, and sausage on a bed of noodle pasta. it was good, but it could have use a veggie side or something additional as the portion size was small. the temperature in therestaurantwas freezing--everyone had their coats on. i'll try liliana's again, but i was not overwhelmed. still, the food is different and the service was fine.

good experience. unlike the other two reviewers i had a good experience. therestaurantseemed fairly new (i went there the first week of august) so it is quite possible they have been working out the kinks. i ordered the creole trio, my father a noodle dish with chicken, andouille, shrimp and vegetables, and my mother a noodle dish with a smoked pork shoulder. all the food was great and had generous portions of meat/ingredients (even the noodle dishes). i've been to new orleans quite a bit (used to live in texas so it was only a 5 hour drive) and this place brought back lots of good memories.

their cornbread/biscuits are also quite good and there doesn't seem to be much of a need to order an appetizer making it a fairly reasonably priced place.

as a self-confessed foodie, i must admit i usually plan myrestaurantattack meticulously. that being said there are times when i allow myself to fly by the seat of my pants (or be pushed by my partner). sunday night was probably the best result of such a