Lantern

Fabulous Asian fusion restaurant — had the dumplings and the duck. Delicate flavors, Intimate setting, attentive staff. I will be back.

Their menu is short but they often change it, which is great. Pricey but the food and service are great. Be sure to make reservations!

Memorable special dish of fried seabass and delicious Tom yum soup. I still dream about this night… wonderful ambiance and tasty food. What more could you ask?
More restaurants need to be consistent and delicious as Lantern!

Not bad but way over priced for what it is. Not a place I’d take my mother as she might never recover from shock and horror.
I did love their wine selection, the ambiance, and how everything is farm to table.
If you go, I’d recommend the chicken + fried rice (so good, wish the portion was larger as it’s habit for me to order family style at Asian restaurants), salt & pepper shrimp, and Korean fried chicken.

While the appetizers and desserts were phenomenal (the persimmon pudding made my night), the main entrees were underwhelming. We tried the catfish, the duck breast, and the smoked sturgeon. All just ok. For the price and reputation, I expected better.
Also, I will forever stick to the back bar area. While the service was excellent in the dining room, the chairs are wicked uncomfortable. Also, if you have a mold sensitivity, then for sure sit in the back bar. The main dining room needs mold remediation.

I dined here a few years ago when the former chef was still at the helm. At that time, the restaurant was phenomenal… the dishes had very inventive flavors and were well executed. At that time I had a smoked sunchoke soup that I still think about.
Fast forward to December, 2015. I have to say I was underwhelmed. My BF had the catfish, I had the pork shank. Both dishes were tasty, but they lacked the inventive spark I found on the menu of the Lantern 5 years ago. The portion sizes were a bit overwhelming [one pork shank is enough for 2 – 3 people!], and the accompaniments seemed like an afterthought [plain steamed rice, seasoned vegetables].
The wine list is lovely, and the staff is really wonderful. Just a bit disappointed the menu was taken down a notch.

The ever popular Lantern is must visit for anyone near Chapel Hill. Modern Asian is rarely done right, so what Lantern does is just that much more impressive. Chef Andrea Reusing keeps the food upscale without losing the Asian character that makes the food so special. I usually find myself trying to find the downfall of a restaurant trying to be Asian.
So, in keeping with the theme of searching for the flaws, I went straight to the simplest form of cuisine: dumplings and the Vietnamese spring rolls. Served just the way I would have wanted in a neatly presented bamboo steamer, the dumplings may have steamed just a tad too long, but the flavor was spot-​on. The dough fell apart even with a delicate touch of the chopstick. Where many dumplings fail in the addition of too much of a good thing (i.e. too much ginger, garlic, chive, etc.), these dumplings had just enough chive and pork. The spring rolls were a touch non-​traditional. A normally deep-​fried wrapper comes out smooth and drenched in oil, yet these were airy and with no residual oily drip. These were excellent and left me wishing there was more.
Crispy whole fish served on its belly is a perfect example of the homage to Asian cuisine, with the incorporation of sweet, salty Asian flavors and the deboning left to the diner. A single-​serving portion of fish fits perfectly in this setting and anymore bells and whistles would have detracted from the fine experience.
The panna cotta is a perfectly balanced, must-​have dessert. It’s one of those meal-​enders that isn’t overly sweet and won’t let you forget the meal you just had. We didn’t see the persimmon pudding on the menu, but would not hesitate to order it next time.
5 stars for excellent riffs on Asian cuisine. Lantern deserves its spot on every Triangle best list and is a constant glowing reminder that the South can produce more than we give them credit for.

This place is wonderful. Delicious food and drinks as well as great service. We were offered a seat in the bar area and it was a really neat spot. I hope to come back to Lantern on my next trip to Chapel Hill!

Wonderful! We lucked up getting a table in the bar area. The food was wonderful (a little pricey, but worth it) and the drink selections were great, too. (this is an unfinished review from back in July… oops!)

I treated my boyfriend to his birthday dinner here, and it was just right for the occassion! Customer service was spot on even before we walked into the door. My bf’s colleague had gotten him a gift certificate to Lantern, but the certificate wasn’t going to arrive in the mail until after our reservation. Lantern staff graciously took care of that, and the first thing we saw when we sat down at the restaurant was an envelope with a gift certificate. The ambiance was intimate, romantic, with dim lighting, and of course, with lanterns. We started the night off with 2 glasses of wine (about $ 8.50 for a prosecco, more depending on what you get), and with the tom yum soup and spring rolls. The tom yum soup broth was great! The flavors of the various seafood in the soup were INFUSED in the broth. Spring rolls were solid as well.
For our entrees, the bf got the lemongrass grilled pork chop, and I got the Vietnamese style catfish. The texture of the catfish was perfect — delicate, melt-​in-​your-​mouth. My only critique of the catfish was that the glaze slathered the catfish a little too much for me — the glaze was delicious, but I think I would have enjoyed it in a smaller quantity. The bf enjoyed his pork chop, and especially liked the cucumber salad that accompanied his dish.
For dessert, we had the bruleed muscadine sundae. The muscadine on top were crispy and sweet, a nice touch to our dessert! We are both pistachio lovers, so we had zero regrets about our dessert choice. All in all, an enjoyable, pleasant, meal. I had mild food envy for the woman next to our table who ordered the fried whole black bass… and so I may have to go back…

Great place for a fancy dinner on Franklin Street! Parking on a Wednesday evening was better than I expected, in a small lot down the street. My aunt and uncle heard about Lantern from a «Best thing I ever ate» TV show and invited us to check it out while they were visiting NC.
We started off with the salt & pepper shrimp appetizer. It lived up to its hype and was crispy, salted just right, and you can eat the whole thing, tail and all. My uncle, who used to own a Chinese restaurant and makes his own salt & pepper shrimp, said that this was his favorite part of his meal.
We also tried the Vietnamese crab/​pork spring rolls, which had great filling, but otherwise were similar to spring rolls I’ve had elsewhere.
Entrees: Apparently Lantern is known for their tea and spice chicken. Each bite of the chicken was infused with some of the smoky tea flavor – yum! My husband loved the sauce that accompanied the chicken, mixed in with the shrimp fried rice and green beans. I ordered the seafood hotpot with shrimp and clams — the broth flavor was AMAZING and unlike any broth I’ve ever tried; rich with a bit of a tang to it. You can bet that I took home the leftover broth and used it to make more soup!
Fig leaf panna cotta – creamy, not too sweet, garnished with candied local figs.
The cooconut and rose cream cake was my uncle’s favorite and the texture is light and airy.
Lantern’s menu is not inexpensive by all means but if you’re looking to splurge a bit, this is the place to go!

Came alone on a business trip at 930 pm on a Tuesday. They offered to seat be in bar area — very loud, not surprisingly. I opted for the dining room. There were only 2 other groups dining.
The bearded host was very articulate. One thing for sure — the staff takes their job and the food very serious and they can describe the dishes with pain staking almost author-​like detail. It felt a bit pretentious but I think they are just an intelligent bunch. :-)
I started with the mushroom dumplings which, as the waitress stated, was indeed earthy. Good and hearty.
Then I had the tempura soft shell crab over a bed of (some sort of really tender) interesting greens, atop of a spicy white sauce — superb!!! I’m not sure if it’s a given with soft shelled crab but I didn’t like the few prices of shell that didn’t feel edible and hung on my molars. But it was steaming fresh and tasted amazing!
For dessert I had an ice cream with Carmel red wine sauce and roasted pistachios. At first it tasted boring but once the flavors mixed it was such a unique yummy combo!
I would highly recommend this!

Did not disappoint.
Everyone in town talks about it being THE place to go for classy and that it is. The atmosphere is awesome. Great for a quiet romantic first date.
A bit pricey for my pocketbook but delivery matches the hype. i had the salt and pepper shrimp which was lovely and my friend had the Korean Beef Bowl which quite frankly he talked about for several days. For dessert we had the mango ice cream with cardamon cone. The cone itself was worth the dessert. Very creative.
The food is delicious. The presentation is delicious. The wait staff courteous and professional.
This is a foodie town and it can be hard to stand out. The Lantern not only stands out it excels. Will be back even though I may have to save up my pennies a bit before returning.

I excitedly booked the Lantern for my birthday dinner and to impress a friend from Europe with a wide culinary palette. We had a party of 8 on a Saturday and I must say I was less than impressed by our experience. Granted, I have had delicious food from around the world so my expectations are high. But for a restaurant that once made the top 50 in Gourmet magazine, I was expecting much more.
To start, our cocktails were excellent. Perfectly mixed, and tasty. Good way to begin!
Then it went downhill from there. The food was served cold and lackluster (my bi bim bop was actually cold but I was too hungry to send it back). Appetizers came out limp and lifeless. We were really having too much fun talking to complain much but the deficits were noticeable.
The other main dishes were «ehh» and not «ahhh.» The dessert sounded divine but in reality was just cold chocolate cake.
Finally, the check came in at $ 185 for two (including tip) which I am willing to pay for a worthy and delicious dinner but I can say with certainty that I won’t be back. Lantern, step it up, friends. You have culinary expectations to live up to.

So you ever have that feeling that you’re in a version of the emperor’s new clothes? But in this case it’s a restaurant everyone loves and raves about and you’re left feeling extremely underwhelmed? That was what happened to my boyfriend and I tonight.
We had both wanted to go to Lantern for a long time– tonight we decided to celebrate and finally try it out. Maybe the problem was we were too excited?
To start, the table was extremely low compared to the bench– everyone outside had to bend over the table in order to get comfortable, and it was awkward.
We decided to do multiple appetizers and split an entrée. Someone had suggested the salt and pepper shrimp, so we ordered one of those, the pork belly, dumplings, and ordered the seafood hot pot as our entrée.
The 3 appetizers came out and they were very pretty. The servers asked if we had ever had the dishes before, and when we said no, they gave us some information on what we were eating, which was actually a really nice part of our meal. Once we took a few bites though, I was less than excited.
The shrimp were explained to us as brined in order to keep the shells on which they claimed gave the shrimp more flavor and made them similar to soft shell crabs. 1– no, these were not like soft-​shelled crabs, they were shrimp with shells on (which would be fine, as that’s what they are supposed to be, but don’t BS me) and 2– they were not flavorful and it was disappointing. The flavor was extremely light and not particularly exciting.
The pork belly was okay. It was 4 tiny pieces of meat for $ 14. I was not blown enough away to be particularly impressed. The melon salad was fine, nothing special. The dumplings were tasty. Nothing special, but good.
The seafood hot pot came out, once again, I enjoyed the explanation provided with our meal, including laughing a bit about telling us not to eat the kaffir lime leaf (I make Thai food regularly, so my boyfriend has made that mistake before hah). However once we tried it, we were once again underwhelmed. The broth wasn’t particularly spicy enough or sour enough. It’s like it was the base for a soup that could be delicious and exciting, but they forgot to finish it. More chili, more lime juice at the end to up the sour, more lemongrass, just more. The lobster balls were tasty, but couldn’t save the soup as a whole. The hot sauce with the soup wasn’t particularly spicy either sadly :/​
We decided to try one more item, the spring rolls. They were probably the best part of the meal. They were a nice mixture of hot and cold with the Butterhead lettuce and rolls. The sauce was bitter with a nice flavor of fish sauce and chili.
My SO had 2 drinks– they were fine, but nothing exciting. The girl in the glasses and the hibiscus one.
Overall, I won’t be going back. It was too pricey to justify flavor that just wasn’t really there. I’m glad others like it, but I’m all about that flavor, and Lantern just didn’t provide.

This is a cute place in franklin street with really good service. However I thought the food was just okay. We started off with drinks and my husband got a bout an mixed drink which was good and I got a glass of wine.
For apps we ordered the Chaat which was very flavorful and had good texture. It was my favorite out of everything we ordered. The chickpeas were crispy and the chutney on it was super yummy. We also got the mushroom and cabbage dumplings and that was good as well but again the chaat was the best. I also has the NC crab and pork spring rolls. I thought these could have been crispier. The sauce that came with it was good but nothing amazing.
We split the wok seared rice noodles because I was pretty full after the apps. I felt like it was overpriced as it was veggie and there were not any super expensive ingredients in it. I also thought it lacked flavor. It came with a chili oil to top it with but I still thought that more could have been done to it to make it better.
We did not get dessert so I can’t comment on that.
Overall the food was just okay. The service was outstanding. And I felt like the place was overpriced which I rarely ever say.

Heard a lot about the food here and finally found time to give it a try.
The place is cute and I really appreciate the acoustic dampers they placed very subtly around the restaurant. It was so nice to hear my table easily! That goes a long way with me. Highly recommend for others with hearing loss!
The NC spring roll appetizer was very good! The hot mustard was perfect flavoring. I had one of the night’s special, the flounder. Though it was a bit messy, I thought the sauces and flavors worked great together! The carrot side salad was simple but perfect. The side of rice seemed very awkward like it was there as an after thought.
The other dish we tried was the Japanese pot of fire. The name seems to suggest spice but it is most definitely not so do not be afraid to order it comes with wasabi on the side but otherwise is sweet and beefy like an American stew. The radishes were my favorite part however it felt more like radish stew and I wish there was a better ratio of between foods or more types of vegetables.
Overall, great place to eat but lantern does not have that «wow factor.» There wasn’t enough complexity of flavors or full-​body to the meals to justify the cost of the dishes. I feel that something was missing.

This is one of those restaurants that you absolutely know you’re going to try at some point. We were able to make that visit last Saturday in connection with a UNC reunion. Since it was also graduation weekend (same at Duke and State) getting a reservation at all was a challenge, getting one at a reasonable time proved impossible, so we gladly accepted this restaurant at 5:45.
And since it was a heavy pressure weekend, they were only offering a fixed price menu — a choice from among 4 or 5 appetizers, 4 or 5 entrees, and 3 or 4 desserts. All would be items that would be typical on their always changing, always evolving menu, anchored in Asian Fusion with a very strong emphasize on local farm products.
Almost every item was outstanding — from the complimentary plate of a variety of pickles made in house, to Beef & Veal Wontons, to Salt & Pepper Soft Shelled Crabs. to an Asian Noodle Hot Pot, to the most amazing Pork Shank I’ve ever tasted, finishing with a small Lava Cake and Mango Sorbet with a house made fortune cookie.
The pickled items included radishes, turnips, house made Kimchi (as sharp and fresh as any I’ve tried), and green Strawberries (great taste and texture), and every one of them was excellent. This was a most unusual, most interesting start to what turned out to be an excellent meal.
The Beef and Veal Wontons, in a clear, spicy broth, just exploded with flavor, with a slowly rising heat level, a complex mixture of herbs and spices, and a smooth, silky texture — just outstanding! The Salt & Pepper Soft Shelled Crabs were almost an equal with a great freshness (these crabs are currently coming out of the NC waters and are as fresh as can be). These were accompanied by a Schezuan Pepper Sauce that raised the bar as to heat level, just a great starter.
The Asian Noodle Hot Pot was excellent too, filled with an outstandingly rich broth, loaded with perfectly cooked noodles, veggies, and mushrooms, a topped with a fried egg. The Pork Shank was the highlight of a meal that was exceptional in every respect. The shank was large, fresh (secured at the local Farmer’s Market that morning), and cooked slowly to a tenderness that was perfect (I was using a small set of wooded chopsticks and could easily pull the meat from the shank, never needed a knife or fork), accompanied by a nice clear broth that added an additional layer of flavor. I have found few dishes recently that have captured my attention as much as this one. The desserts were a fitting finish to this experience.
All this done on a timely and efficient by a personable and knowledgeable wait staff under intense customer pressure — it was an impressive show of restaurant professionalism. I’m already planning another visit.

Outstanding flavours. Creative cocktails.
Started out with a cocktail made with Laphroig scotch, lemon, and egg white. Delicious and smokey.
Chaat and egg roll for app are excellent choices. The chaat in particular is well composed and flavourful.
Must try entrée is the Dashi rice. It’s a perfectly balanced asian fusion risotto.
The atmosphere is classy and feel non-​NC and especially non-​CH. Reminds me of small restaurants in Toronto. I prefer the bar for dining rather than the main dining room. It has that edgy feel that comes with a seasoned but trendy restaurant.
Lantern deserves 5 stars, however the pricing makes the food less-​palatable. Severely overpriced even by chapel hill standards. I pay less for equivalent food in NYC and Toronto. But worth a visit to try it out.

Surprised by the low reviews on here.
I don’t know that I would eat dinner here. I personally love to just split a bunch of apps and salads rather than order entrees. Plus the back bar and outdoor area have a way cooler vibe than the main dining room. Solid apps are the salt and pepper shrimp and the dumplings.
Staff is super friendly and accommodating. I really didn’t feel the pretentious vibe that others have mentioned.