The Little Lion

To be transparent and upfront with my review, I’ve only had one plate here thus far. Of course, I’ve had plenty of drinks, but officially have only eaten here once. The one dish was the Roasted Heritage Carrots. Alone it is near five-​stars. I don’t even like carrots that much. I saw someone eating it and said, yea I want to try that. I did. It was awesome! Well, that’s all I can say about the food. Sorry!
As for the rest, The Little Lion is a classy place in Olde City. It offers plenty of seating upstairs and down as well as «bar» seating. They have buck-​a-​shuck happy hours (which I haven’t been able to make yet, but hey their oysters look well kept). Service is friendly. Drinks are fairly priced and range from standard to creative (I like the Blood Orange Paloma w/​Silver Tequila, Blood Orange Shrub, Lime and the Lions Tea w/​Bourbon, African Nectar Tea, Brown Sugar). I know I’ll be back to try more, hopefully make a happy hour, and drink a bit too…

Went for a late brunch today with two close friends. I made a reservation on open table, and we were seated as soon as we walked in. Service was perfect. I ordered the buffalo chicken biscuit– which was excellent. The gravy has sausage and the buffalo sauce has just enough kick! My two friends each ordered burgers, which they devoured so I’m going to take an educated guess that the burger doesn’t disappoint. We also ordered red velvet french toast stuffed with cream cheese filling for the table. It was delicious! Just the right amount of filling and sweetness to balance out the meal. Highly recommended, and I will definitely come back.

Great late night spot! The mac n Cheese with stewed tomatoes on top was delicious! Such a different twist on regular mac n cheese. I also had a raspberry sangria which was sweet yet tart and the perfect dinner drink. Can’t wait to try this place again!

This place is cranking out some solid food and drink and I’ll definitely be back here again, especially once they add the outdoor seating.
Their cocktails are exceptional… that raspberry sangria is unrivaled. Fresh, sour, and not too sweet and completely infused with raspberry flavor. In fact, all their cocktails are made with fresh ingredients (i.e. raspberry shrub, orange shrub, etc.). I don’t know what «shrub» exactly entails, but if it makes for an excellent drink, I’m down.
Happy hour specials are pretty decent with some of the select cocktails at a discounted price and their signature Lion Burger for only $ 10. We got the happy hour appetizer special to start last night, which was a delicious heaping portion of poutine with a short rib jus and fried egg on top. Fries were extra crunchy, salty and the jus was super flavorful, almost with a hint of nutmeg/​cinnamon. So delicious.
BF got the Lion Burger for an entrée and I got their rack of St. Louis ribs. He said the burger was good and juicy and the caramelized red onion was a nice touch, though overall the dish was nothing to knock him out of the park. My ribs were great. They weren’t fall off the bone, but the meat was still done just right and that sauce was so good– mustardy and tangy but with sweet elements (again, kind of reminiscent of the appetizer with nutmeg and cinnamon?). The coleslaw, served in an adorable jar with a lid, was done just right. The ribs, fries and slaw were served on a rustic piece of bark– which is kitschy, I know– but the components of my dish kept falling off and since the tables aren’t that big, it was kind of annoying to try to cut into the ribs without sloshing something over the side. Not a huge deal, though. Also, FYI, the ribs are only a half a rack at $ 21. They are thick ribs, though.
They don’t have a dessert menu, so be sure to ask the waitress what’s on special cause she listed off like 4 desserts. We ended up getting the apple/​pear cobbler, which I’m always a sucker for, but it didn’t deliver. The cobbler was more like a granola consistency and actually hurt my teeth to eat and the spiciness of the pear/​apple compote overpowered any sweetness that was there. I’d probably skip that next time.
Overall, the place is so gorgeous inside and our waitress was on point, so no problems there. I’d like to go back and try their seafood dishes, but I’d definitely skip dessert next time. The place isn’t perfect, but their skillful cocktails make up for any shortcomings.
P. S.–I noticed a completely separate bar called Little Lion Public House at the back entrance, and I’m wondering if that’s still part of the restaurant or an oyster bar perhaps.

Food was warm, not hot. Drinks was OK. My husband didn’t enjoy his burger. He ordered a medium but it was dry. I enjoyed my bleu cheese grits, the short rib was just ok. The collards were too sweet. Good Happy Hour prices, however I didn’t enjoy the Southern Poutine. Too little Short rib jus, and the farm fresh cheese had little flavor. The service was great!

Let me just say that the service and food are amazing.
Not only are the servers very knowledgeable about their menu but they also are very charismatic and make sure that you are going to have a great experience!
Shout out to our waiter Todd S. (As it says on our receipt) by providing us with an amazing 1^st experience!
Highly recommend this restaurant if you’re trying to have a casual and amazing night from a long a day. The servers will sure make you feel well at home and provide you with the best food.

I went here for brunch for the first time. Great place! The service was prompt, friendly and they didn’t make you feel rushed. We ordered the smoked salmon toast and it was DELICIOUS. Very citrusy which I liked. I ordered the crawfish benny and that was done perfectly. We all enjoyed our meals in a cozy spot in the restaurant.
Here are the only things that were cons… I found it odd that they do not have salt and pepper on their tables. I know that most white table cloth type of places do that. But for this casual dining (and especially for brunch), I found it odd. Second, although the service was good, the food took a bit longer than normal to get. Thirdly, I came with a friend that was born and raised in Louisville. She mentioned that the grits were not very good.
Regardless, I would go back. Their variety of food and drinks are different and delicious!

I went here two weeks ago on a Saturday night. It was easy to get a reservation, but when we arrived they tried to seat us in a weird area. The landing on the upper level has tables where you’re only able to sit on one side on a bench for two. Not to mention that this floor was very hot. We were able to move downstairs and sit across from each other after asking for our table to be switched.
We ordered several things to split: the fried green tomatoes, the mac n cheese, sweet potato fries and the fried chicken.
While everything was fine, it wasn’t anything to write home about. I’d say the sweet potato fries were too sweet, the fried chicken (while well-​executed) was lacking in seasoning, and the fried green tomatoes were just blah. The mac n cheese was definitely the best but I’d ask for it without the topping next time, I think it was tomatoes?
Our waitress was nice and sweet, but was very quiet and hard to hear over the noise. All in all, not somewhere I’m rushing back to but nice décor and decent food.

Came here for the first time this past Sunday for brunch and I cannot wait to go back! The only reason this isn’t 5 stars is because our waitress was not very knowledgeable about the menu and because my friend said her omelette was way too thick… but I’m splitting hairs here!
The cocktail list is creative while including some classics and priced really well compared to other places in the city– definitely makes me want to come back and drink not just at happy hour.
I had the spiked apple cider… it was wam and you could not tell there was any booze in it. Tasty and dangerous, yum!
The manmosa is made with Ommegang which really ups the flavor. The bloody had too much ice and was a bit too spicy.
I highly recommend the fried green tomato grilled cheese, I added bacon to it and it was perfection. Also had friends rave about the burger they got which disappeared so fast I never even got to try it.
The décor is beautiful and the gibe is unpretentious. I seriously can’t wait to go back for both happy hour and dinner!

Came here for the first time last night and thoroughly enjoyed! We had a 7:30 reservation and were seated right on time in the back area/​oyster bar section. Windows are a little drafty there but they had the heat pumping. We were served water quickly and our server Ian greeted us within a minute. We put in our drink order and Ian returned with them quickly. I have to say, it looked as though he was in charge of at least 5 other groups but his service was incredible! We ordered stone ground grits for an appetizer, loved that! My boyfriend ordered a half rack of ribs and I had a pesto pasta dish, both were delicious.
Overall: food was delicious, Ian was the best server I have had in a long time, we will be back!

The Little Lion’s roar is a bit weak in my opinion. Granted, I went on the second night of opening weekend. I expected a few bumps, but was too excited to wait a few weeks to try it. First of all, the space is beautiful! I love the view from the landing on the staircase and high ceilings. Despite the vibrant and fun atmosphere it portrays, I agree with the other reviewers about service and the quality of food. I’ll outline my experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
1) We sat upstairs for our dining experience, along the wall with the bench seats. My problem was that the bench seat height was much higher than my dining partner’s chair, and it was so high that I had to bend down and lean over uncomfortably to eat my food! Very strange. Little me felt gigantic!
2) Ordered two drinks: Lion’s Tea and the Apple’s Crisp. Both good, but preferred the Lion’s Tea.
2) The appetizer we chose was the Ham and Pimento. The pimento cheese comes in a large mason jar, with a few strips of ham, a few pieces of green tomato, and four small pieces of grilled bread. The ratio of cheese is way off, and asked our server for more bread. The flavors of all three were quite tasty, but they should at least offer more complimentary bread and not charge us extra! We could have easily ordered a third round of bread because there was so much cheese left. So much cheese.
3) Before I get to the entrees, I wanted to comment on the service that we both endured and experienced with diners near us. Several times we noticed the food servers bring out orders to the wrong table three different times to two tables! Excessive wait between appetizers and entrees for our table, but a family with two small children waited even longer than we did. Also overheard that the table next to us had a very, very pink burger, and not the medium temp she ordered. YIKES.
4) I ordered the Rabbit and Sausage, while dining partner ordered the Short Rib. Portion sizing was a bit off again. My meal was the right size and decent flavor, while his was enormous. It was sized for a Caveman. (See my pic for proof!) Lots of meat on a large bone topped off with fried onions. I guess no complaints from him, but I was was thrown off by the enormous size of it!
I do want to love this place. I really do! And I will come back. Just not anytime soon!

Located in Old City, The Little Lion is serving up Southern comfort food. They opened less than a week ago (Thursday January 7, 2016), and were busier opening weekend than anticipated. There’s a balcony, there’s a bar, and there’s a dining room. There is definitely something for everyone at The Little Lion (although… maybe not strict vegetarians…) Regardless, this new spot is one that should definitely not be passed up.
We made reservations on Open Table for Sunday night, and were pleasantly surprised that they were not more crowded. We were sat immediately, and our waiter came over immediately and took our drink orders. We also put in for an appetizer, and got the cheese board and Charred Brussel Sprouts.
First, the Brussel Sprouts were fantastic. They were cooked perfectly, they were HUGE, the bacon added that extra flavor needed, but didn’t overpower the sprouts. It was the perfect amount for three people to share.
As for the cheese board, I’m not going to lie– I was a little disappointed– $ 17 got you three cheeses, some bread, honey, and peach preserves. I just felt that the price was a tiny bit steep for only three cheeses… four would have been more appropriate. It was also a little disappointing that the waiter didn’t tell us what the cheeses were when he put the plate down, so we had to do a lot of guess work (which wasn’t that hard, but still, it would have been nice to know). Regardless, the cheese was delicious, it was fresh, the honey and peach preserves added some extra flavor, and we ended up having to ask for more bread so we could keep eating.
As for the entrees, my boyfriend went for the burger, our friend went for the fried chicken, and I went for the shrimp and grits.
The burger– It was a nice size, cooked perfectly the way we wanted it, and it was juicy. There was pimento cheese and pickled red onions, which I thought was a nice change from your typical raw onions (yum). The pickles were also sweet, which was a pleasant surprise, and if I had ordered this meal for myself, would have asked for more. Oh, and the fries were crispy and flavorful. This is definitely a must try.
As for the fried chicken, it was a HUGE portion. ½ a bird, savory hot cake, and honey. We agreed that a pancake with fried chicken was a bit odd when we saw it on the menu, but after trying it with the chicken, it definitely works. There was a ton of meat, almost too much to eat, but with a little help, we finished the plate off. The honey drizzle on top was also a nice touch.
As for myself, I got the shrimp and grits. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo). Here’s the thing– I have never actually eaten shrimp and grits before, but for some reason, they were calling my name. Because of this, I don’t have anything to base them on, but if all shrimp and grits taste like the ones at The Little Lion, they will become a new favorite of mine. The grits were super super creamy, and the shrimp was delicious (albeit, I was a tiny put off that the heads were still on, but after putting them onto a side plate, I was good to go).
We were too full to try dessert, but from what I saw at the other tables around us, they looked delicious. There are also many cocktails on the menu that we want to try, and we all agreed we would be interested in going back and trying their happy hour specials.

While the décor was nothing to write home about, neither was the food. Stopped here on a Friday night on the way to a comedy show. The hostess was friendly but appeared to be struggling to seat us because we had no reservations. The irony is it was not crowded & it was relatively early for a Friday night (before 6pm).
My bf & I decides to share a few small plates. We tried the following dishes: smoked chicken wings, fried green tomatoes, macaroni & cheese, bbq chicken thigh sliders & the brussel sprouts. The macaroni was the star of the evening. The macaroni was rich, creamy & flavorful. The waitress warned us that the smoked chicken was salty last week but the chef redid the recipe for this, their 2^nd week open. Well, contrary to what the waitress said, the wings tasted like it was dipped in a bag of salt, ugh. The fried green tomatoes were perfect! They were crisp, perfectly seasoned & accompanied with a zesty sauce. The brussel sprouts were roasted to perfection with the perfect hint of bacon.
I didn’t try the bbq sliders l, as I don’t like dark meat. Howevee, my bf must have liked them for he ate all of them. The waitress was brimming over with excitement and WA truly a joy. The experience was ok but the menu had no wow factors for sure. This is a place that I am content being one & done.