lili's bistro on magnolia

new favorite destination!. i visited lili's bistro last night with my boyfriend and had one of the best meals of my life. i made reservations, arrived 10 minutes early, and we were sat immediately. the ambiance of the restaurant paired with the live piano music was fantastic: low lighting without being cave-like, lovely oil paintings on the wall, candlelit tables, comfortable seating and wonderful exposed brick, beams and ducts. lili’s gave off good vibes as soon as i crossed the threshold.
as it was half price wine night (tues-wed-thurs), we ordered the house white wine, which was deliciously dry and crisp, good to the last drop. for apps, we ordered the legendary gorgonzola fries, as well as escargot. both small plates were fantastic, served piping hot, packed with herbaceous flavor and cooked to perfection. there was absolutely nothing wrong with them.
for entrees, i ordered the autumn risotto and added salmon with a twist: our server, amanda, recommended that i add a thai chili glaze to the salmon, and i wholeheartedly agreed. the risotto dish was intensely delicious. it is without a doubt one of the most amazing meals i’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting. the sauce, sweet and tangy currant, crunchy pistachios and unctuous salmon sent me to the moon! my boyfriend ordered the seafood trio. the seafood trio’s crab cake was outstandingly crunchy and flavorful, the shrimp and salmon had all the right seasoning and were cooked expertly. so many other restaurants tend to cook seafood ‘til it turns into rubber, but not lili’s. they clearly have an experienced kitchen staff who are bold about their seasoning and very comfortable behind the stove. we were much too full for dessert, but their tempting dessert menu, namely those donuts with coffee ice cream, do call my name loudly. nexttimefor sure!
amanda had finesse, charm, intelligence and a helpful mindset that is sought after in such an industry. she is clearly a professional, passionate about food and service, and is committed to making lili’s bistro the star that it is.
i am most certainly returning with my boyfriend, and would love to bring friends and family along!

lili's bistro - fort worth. had 7:30 reservations, arrived 5 minutes early, checked in, was told our table would 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" your table will be ready in 5 minutes. finally, approaced the owner who seems to be very cordial to those people he knew. when a table did clear and we thought that would be our table was told he needed that table for 5 people (there were only 3 of us) and the 5 had a reservation at a latertimethan our time.
the owner did; however, offer us two choices one table in 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 wastimeto 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.

firsttimetonight! i plan on adding it to the regular rotation! i'll be back!

awesome..... i first went to lili's bistro the day it opened, and i knew this place was a winner from the moment i walked through the door. fabulous food, one of the best burgers in the dfw-- and very different than many of the other burgers on the scene. the decor is tasteful, the food is tasty and the service is excellent. our team from the hospital comes there every couple of weeks as a large group, with a very short window oftimeto eat and get back to work. vance always makes sure we can get a seat together and squeeze us in as one large group. it is his attention to service, his flexibility to our need and the exceptional food that has kept us coming back for years. although i must admit, sometimes we cheat on lili, and visit cat city grill... but i'm sure vance doesnt mind.

hey cw, you're right i do remember you. after 2 years i had to really think about it. you certainly seem content with your decision and i can respect that. however i would like to add some clarity (facts) to the issue. first i recieved zero emails from anyone but you. second, havingtimeto think about my poor choices i made, i offered you a $100.00 gift certificate for your $9.00 burger. that seems apologetic to me...maybe even gracious. you're not really interested in an apology or atonement are you? i think you just want to be angry. too bad and remember this...the nexttimeyou make a mistake, that person may be as unforgiving as you. it's been 2 years. maybe it'stimeto let it go. respectfully, vm


-----12 mar, 2010-----

lili's owner. dear cw,

i hope you can provide me with further information...i'm very concerned about your review of lili's. my first priority is to make things as right as they can be. however, i don't have a male manager or chef and only one male server that was apparently your server. can you tell me when this happened? maybe the day andtimeof the week?
if you or any of your friends reads this, please contact me at lili's bistro 817 877 0700


-----12 apr, 2009-----

vance. hey richard,

interesting comments. are you sure you have the right place? i have questioned every employee on the goucho comment and they all seem to be clueless. you refered to "he". there are only 2 "he's" in my place and i'm one of them and i know i didn't refer to argeteneans or brazilians. however i'll give this; we are in fact no way a brazilian restaurant. don't know where that came from.
you think maybe you embelished your story just a bit?

funky, fun & delicious!. lili's is about creativity - think "nouveau comfort food" - the signature waffle fries with gorgonzolla are a must - tilapia in all its forms rocks here - the enchiladas are served almost deconstructed - very interesting - desserts are awesome, wine selection interesting and different - don't get the king ranch chicken unless you havetimefor a nap afterwards

"best service possible"?. i will start off by saying that the food is good and they have a unique selection, and these are the reasons that my co workers i became regulars here in the early months of the lili's opening.

however, my lasttimethere was an experience that has kept me away since. i ordered a cheese buger which i discovered still had the paper wrapping on the cheese, after i had eatin half of it. my co workers joked around and gave me a hardtimeabout eating wax paper and what it was doing to my insides. the waiter asked us what happened and they explained that the chef had left the cheese wrapper on my burger. he then apologized and said that he would take care of it. so, we assumed he would take off a percentage of my bill or offer me a dessert as a peace offering. nothing happened and we got our bills, to which they asked me if they had taken anything off and i said no. they went on about how that was crap and that lili's should do something, but since i am what people would refer to as an avoider, i told my friends it was ok. however, they did not feel that same way and told the waiter to tell the manager that they would like to see something done in the form of an apology. the waiter returned and said that the manager did not want to make a big deal out of it. they asked the waiter to inform the manager that we would not return if he did not want to make this right. the waiter came back with the same response. i felt as if i should at least get some sort of effort/apology since we had become fairly regular customers.

instead, this is what i got. i was filling out one of those comment cards to let them know that i thought the situation could have been handled better. but before i could start, the manager, vance, came out and said that he "would save me some time". and there, he lectured and complained to me for a good five minutes about why i expected something because i ate some waxed paper. overall, i was pissed at the fact that my co workers were the ones asking for a reasonable form of an apology and i was the one who got bombarded verbally by someone who claims they provide the "best service possible". i realize the owner may have been going through a tough time, but he has a business to run and i simply expected more from a place i was growing to really like. we emailed back and forth but vance stood by his original rant until he had received emails from our friends and then he offered us a gift card in hopes that we would return. however, with the amount of good food in fort worth, i never felt like returning to a place that treated me so poorly.

sorry for the long review and to any one who has had to suffer through my complaining, i normally only have good things to say about places and rarely complain but this one pissed me off. i hope you have a more enjoyable experience than i did.

lili's food is not even ordinary. there are many great restaurants on magnolia, this is not one of them. the service is only barely adequate. save yourself thetimeand money.

firsttimewe arrived 15 minutes early, walked in, and told to come back later. ummm, no thanks. second time, we arrived after opening. nothing brazilian on the menu - i know, i am a brazilian. i asked why, and he said "this is not a brazilian restaurant, i fired my gauchos..." gauchos are argentines, dumb@ss. then i had the worst chicken fried steak ever. thank god i was in the hospital district. never again.

lili's bistro on magnolia, fw. i have never had any problems with the owner, the food, or the service at lili's. food is great! owner is running his wheels off and doing that very, very graciously everytimei've been around him - with not even a hint of anything non pc and certainly never "racist". this is a very, very fine place to dine - try it; you'll like it! crab cakes and escargot are to die for! sitting outside under the umbrellas is a delight, too!