lili's bistro on magnolia

went to lili’s for dinner with friends and ordered appetizers, dinner, wine, and dessert. food was good and we had a nice time. then, the owner (wearing a white coat with vance on it) came in a belligerent huff and told us he needed thetableand that we had been “hogging” it for 45 mins. just full on accusatory, guns blazing, all angry and aggressive. we had just finished paying only a few minutes earlier and immediately got up and left. no one had told us they needed the table, and we had paid for a $300-plus bill. we were shocked. on the way out, one of our group told him that the food was good but that he would not be back. vance then followed us outside and belligerently told us we did not own thetableand that we had stayed long after finishing our meal. we had not. he then proceeded to yell at us, followed us down the sidewalk, jabbed his finger in one person’s face, and slapped the cell phone out of another’s hands. his behavior was completely unprofessional and beyond rude. after pointing out to him that he was following us down the sidewalk, he then asked us why we were walking away as if he truly wanted to fight. i am aghast at his behavior and should have called the police on the spot. jabbing your fingers in the face of someone else and slapping the phone out of someone’s hand is assault. it is most definitely not the behavior of a professional. we will never return.

i had lunch here on a fairly busy day. the service seemed a bit confused at the start, as no one knew we were theirtableuntil i pointed out we had been sitting there for about 10 minutes. once that was squared away, the service was on point. i ordered a salmon salad with korean noodles, and it was outstanding! dessert was great, too. i was pleased. i'll definitely return.

lili's bistro - fort worth. had 7:30 reservations, arrived 5 minutes early, checked in, was told ourtablewould be ready in about 5 minutes. fine. 35 minutes later we were still waiting for our table.
it took 3 trips to the hostess to inquire and the same "stock answer" yourtablewill be ready in 5 minutes. finally, approaced the owner who seems to be very cordial to those people he knew. when atabledid clear and we thought that would be ourtablewas told he needed thattablefor 5 people (there were only 3 of us) and the 5 had a reservation at a later time than our time.
the owner did; however, offer us two choices onetablein a noisier part of the restaurant or wait(another 30 minutes) for a quieter place. we opted for the noiser location. the waiteress seemed to be in a hurry to get our drink order, took awhile for her to come take the dinner order, once it came we never saw the waitperson again till it was time to order dessert. the dessert menu was sort just thrown to us on the table. the restaurant is suppose to have good food; but more importantly in today's world it should also be a people business. the owner never came by to apologize for our long, past due reservation time, never came by to see how our food was, though did notice he was very congenial with the people at the bar (guess bar drinks have more profit than food). having grown up in fort worth with very few eating establishments it is now coming into its own. however, eating establishments come and go when the reservations are not acknowleged, wait staff is rude and the food is mediocre. the owner could take some lessons in running a first rate place with a little more awareness to promptness and/or how to accept reservations. fort worth is hungry for new restaurants; but people will not stand for rudness and lack of concern for their patrons. would i go back not after my experience, nor would i tell my friends to try it. there are too many other restaurants...they need to take a lesson from their competitor down the street ellerbe restaurant where the owner runs the place beautifully, that is why you cannot get a reservation there for over a week in advance. take notice lili's...if you treat all of your customers (whether you know them or not)like we were treated
you will be out of business.