Lilette

I went for a Birthday dinner and the food is delicious and the service is superb. The only criticism is that unless you are sat in a booth, each party is pretty close to each other. I could hear the conversation of the group next to me all evening which doesn’t make for a very intimate date night. Other than the seating proximity to the rest of the patrons, the food and wait staff make up for it.

Our local friends highly recommended this place and it didn’t disappoint. I would say 4.5 stars. Every dish was unique and delicious.
We started with
— white truffle toast with mushroom. Heavenly blend of flavors. Every mouthful was a treat
— grilled prawns in lemon vinaigrette. It came with 4 prawns with head included. I ate all the heads as it contains the best shrimp oil. ;-) We loved it so much we saved the sauce to dip our bread in.
Next were the sun choke soup and the heart of palm salad. We chose it because we didn’t what to expect. Soup was light than potato soup and really flavorful. Salad was crisp and clean. Love the thinly sliced Parmesan cheese on top.
For main entrée we shared the hanger steak. Omg. Never had beef so tender. Usually I think hanger steak is like a staple. Done medium and good. This was special. A better cut of meat starved medium rare. I had to asked for it to bring up a temperature a little. And they did it perfectly without affecting the tenderness.
For dessert, we had the vanilla panna cotta with Apple ginger sorbet. Light and refreshing. A perfect finish.

We came here for lunch. Service was a bit slow (no water or waiter for about 10 mins) food took awhile to come out but it was delicious. The escargot was great (I got a little grit in one) but the flavor and texture otherwise was the best I’ve ever had. I had a cream based soup and we split a Kobe burger. The burger was fantastic as were the fries with it. Cute little place. The food was rich but good.

Loved it! Great service and interesting food we will be back. Very much a French restaurant creole no where on the menu thank God

The service is good and the food fantastic. We came here tonight for my birthday and it did not disappoint. I had the duck as an entrée and N had the lamb. The duck was pink and the flavours were amazing. N said the lamb was delicious and the meat just fell apart when he cut through it.
Everyone recommended the Nutella custard so I felt pressured to order it, however I did not feel that it lived up to the hype. The salted caramel ice cream was great, the praline spot on and the chocolate hazelnut fingers added something bitterness. The custard part was a bit odd for me, but the rest of the dish carried it to the satisfaction line.
N had the brownie and said it was good.
All in all, a great place.

Always a great meal, or just drinks and deserts. Never know who you’re going to see, from Top Chef judges to movie folks in town to shoot, to local celebs. Quiet and understated, but always great.
We sit at the bar, share an app or two, have a glass of wine or two, but always, ALWAYS end our trip with the Nutella custard and caramel cream. Comes with a house-​made chocolate bar. Lovely, lovely dish — never fails.

I have now been to Lilette 3 times with basically the same experience over and over — food is delicious, fresh, and inventive, cocktails are very good, atmosphere is beautiful and refined, service is so weirdly snooty. Every time I go I feel like the servers and hostesses are bored and judgmental. Really dampens the experience and makes it hard to justify spending the 50+ dollars a person.

I made a reservation here for my one year anniversary with my girlfriend. We loved it! The ambiance was great and romantic. Everyone was really nice and the wait staff was lovely.
We shared 5 small plates, ordered entrees, and had dessert. Small plates were: beef belly, escargot, shrimp, hearts of palm salad, and roasted beets. All of those were cooked to perfection and exquisite.
I had the veal scallopini which was amazing! My girlfriend had the hanger steak which was cooked beautifully and tasted perfect!
I highly recommend this restaurant as a cozy date spot.

Yesterday, for lunch on her birthday, I took my beloved to Lilette for our first visit there. She had wanted to go to this restaurant for a long time. As soon as we were asked for our drinks, I grasped that this was not the delightful place we had hoped. I asked if they had lemonade, and the person replied in a sullen tone, «Well, I can make you some.»
Five minutes later, the waiter (a different person) appeared, and slouched beside our table, then mumbled as he told us with no enthusiasm about a special item. He asked if we wanted a few minutes, which we did. He returned about ten minutes later. He seemed throughout our meal to be either extremely bored, unhappy to see us, or simply having a very bad day.
Our food was good, not great. When we left, it seemed we were welcome … to leave. Until the last ten minutes, there was only one other occupied table, so there was no issue of there not being enough staff.

We ate here some time ago with a fairly large group of friends for a special occasion. They were very accommodating for our table size and made sure to try and keep everyone taken care of as drinks ran out, bread was devoured, etc.
Very intimate interior, which would be fantastic for a dinner date.
Service as previously mentioned was impeccable and very friendly.
Food was superb. They have a large daily special chalkbaord that had some amazing offerings on top of an already exciting menu. Food runs fairly rich and will definitely fill you up for your buck. For the most part, the fare is french, more so than french creole, and well plated.
There are quite a few intimate restaurants along Magazine that offer a similar experience, but Lilette, in my opinion, is leading the pack.

Had dinner here Saturday on a date with my husband. We arrived right after our 8:30pm reservation, and we’re told to have a seat at the bar since our table was not quite ready. Almost 45 minutes later we found ourselves at a small table in the center of the restaurant, not ideal and very loud. If recommend requesting a table near the windows. It took our sever quite some time to come over and we ended up ordering when we were greeted for the first time. I had the chilled crab and avocado corn broth which was absolutely amazing. My husband started off with the king crab claws which were also phenomenal. Soon after the manager stopped by and apologized for the wait and for possibly skipping us over. He offered us a round of drinks on the house to which we were pleasantly surprised. Drinks were great! Try the Alberto cocktail! And I had a glass of Rosé, however perfect, I do not recall the make. I had the hanger steak, and it was cooked perfectly! My husband had the veal which looked and tasted fantastic. Oh, and a scoop of ice cream for dessert! I cannot tell you how amazing the food was! Bravo chef!
So as we pull off with full bellies, we notice that we actually were charged for the «complimentary» round of drinks offered by the restaurant. Uhghhh…
We will probably return for the food, and the mixologist behind the bar! But certainly not for the service. This was our second experience here!

I’ve paused in writing a review of Lillette because my experience was wonderful yet terrible. Lillette is lovely and peaceful in its décor and elegance. The food is amazing with great care to let simple high quality ingredients sing — try the crab claws with mango butter, simple perfection. On my visit I had the cruddo of the day which was a beautiful Alaskan salmon — my favorite! A few slices in I bit down on something hard, thinking it was a bone. It ended up being a gnarled piece of steel wire which cut the end of my tongue a slight bit. We called over the waitress who was more mortified than apologetic. They brought me a new plate and I found another twisted piece of metal in the fish, feeling so fortunate I had not swallowed it. Can you imagine what that would have done?! We called over the waitress again rather uncomfortably and her horror was clear. This place is used to perfection and they did not handle well having something go wrong, quite frankly more worried about their lack of perfection than my well being. The manager came over and apologized. Our dinner, an anniversary celebration, was very good but a bit awkward from the experience. We were cool about it and they comped us dessert. They later came and told us the wires had come from a brush used to scale the fish, and that the fish had been discarded. In retrospect, I think the staff handled it poorly. It wasn’t an issue of poor preparation but safety which could have had horrible consequences. It was a mistake and mistakes happen to good places. But, the staff under reacted. They should have comped our whole meal and even urged us to give them a second try. As a manager, I would have handled it differently. In fairness, the meal was exquisite otherwise but my experience was tarnished. I could have walked away impressed with their conscientiousness and care, but… I did not. I doubt this experience would happen again, but I haven’t found myself wanting to revisit this restaurant. They had an opportunity to make a fan if handled with a touch more grace, but ended by letting us leave not feeling valued. A miss.

It was on my list of places to go.
We met some friends here during Jazzfest week.
I was 02 drinks into it when I stepped in the door.
The festivities continued. Yeaaaahhhh, really gettin’ into it now.
I had a dozen oysters and washed it down with the hanger steak. Alcohol, wine, champagne, all that.
Everything was excellent.
I forgot to mention the service was excellent also.
Very nice atmosphere.
Yeaaaahhhhhh, big time, big time.

I have to admit– I had never heard of Lilette, so I guess you could say I didn’t really have any expectations walking in for a Thursday dinner with a friend. That being said, I was SO pleasantly surprised by everything; the ambience, service and food were all phenomenal.
Ambience: Elegantly lighting in an otherwise dim, open dining room… the windows around the entire restaurant really seal the deal– I’m sure it’s a great dining experience during the day, too
Service: Our bartender and server were both lovely… our server in particular was so helpful with helping us determine portions, pick out the right wine, etc.
Food: Can’t say enough good things! I will warn that the food is RICH… it comes in very small portions for just that reason. You’re definitely paying for the skillfulness and creativity that goes into crafting the food, not the portion size. Highly recommend the white truffle parmigiano toast as an appetizer and the beef cheeks as an entrée.
I’ll definitely return when my wallet allows me to!

Do you want to impress your date? Make a reservation at Lilette right now! Great spot for a first date since the ambulance is romantic in a quiet manners. Sadly, I came here with my coworkers after a trusted local person suggested this place to try. This place is chic, and even with a group of coworkers, it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
I got a Grilled Hanger Steak and I’m glad I made the right choice. The meat was perfectly cooked, and sauce was perfectly matched. My coworkers got other plates– escargots, salad, duck, etc., all of them looked drooling. Nutella Custard for dessert is a must! Usually it’s very expensive to dine at a great French restaurant, but Lilette is too genuine with the price. The service was also attentive too. Reservation is encouraged. I have nothing to complain about this place. 5+ stars!

Wow. This is by far the best/​nicest/​most upscale restaurant that I have ever been to. And it was fantastic. We ate and drank a lot. Here is what we had:
Oysters special– we ordered a dozen, which was $ 38. Expensive, yes, but very good. Served as the French do– with a red wine vinaigrette I believe, and a slice of lemon. I think I may have enjoyed the oysters the most, but I can’t say for sure because everything was phenomenal.
White Truffle Parmigiano toast: delicious, although the portion was smaller than I would have liked for $ 13. Yeah, I know– french portions. But still– only one small slice of toast. I must say though– The sauce and the wild mushrooms were to die for.
Seared Kobe Beef belly– so delicious, flavorful and tender!!! Who would ever think to put cilantro and peanuts with beef?! But it works and it works wonderfully.
Braised beef cheeks– Wow. So tender, rich, and delicious. There is a lot of gnocchi in this dish, so its filling– I could only eat a few bites after all the other stuff we had eaten! But this dish was even good when I reheated it in the microwave two days later! The meat is so tender you could eat it with a spoon. Yum.
Nutella Custard: I think this may have been the best dessert I have ever had. Seriously. Every part of this dessert is heaven. You are dumb if you go here and don’t order this. I never get dessert when I eat at restaurants but I made an exception for this. And so should you.
The service was excellent. We had several people help with bread, wine, etc, aside from our waitress, so we were never left waiting for anything. The food came out excellently timed– we weren’t rushed through our courses, nor were we waiting too long for anything. They have a large wine list if you are ordering by the bottle. We got a 2009 Château Baret and it was delightful and smooth.
I highly recommend this restaurant if you have some money to drop. The food is fantastic and to be savored. Enjoy!

This was hands down the worst dining experience I have ever had in New Orleans… maybe ever. Our server was actually the only bright spot of the entire meal. The manager was rude and arrogant… the sommelier was horrible and uneducated. And the food was horrible, McDonalds is better.

It’s New Years Eve. This rating is for tonight and tonight only. The service was ok but the food, menu below, was short of horrible. The duck gelatine was warm and stringy, the lobster ravioli was too lemony and had a strange flavor beyond that as well as being tough, the veal was in need of a chainsaw for cutting even though supposedly medium rare and the ice cream was so frozen that a knife would not penetrate the concoction.
The normal menu is quite nice but the special menu for tonight stretched the capabilities of the kitchen and was an epic FAIL. The price was way over the top at $ 100/​person. Yikes!
Please don’t try this again and stick to the normal menu. Also, the Christmas help needs better elves’

Last night was my first time having dinner here. It was for my little sister’s birthday and let me tell you this place is amazing. We had a group of 14 with a reservation and were seated passed our reservation time but we were just waiting for the table to free up. The staff were very pleasant and very accommodating.
On to the cuisine, the fish of the night was yellowtail tuna so I definitely had to try the yellowfish tuna crudo appetizer. An appetizer good for two to share, the tuna looked fresh and was accompanied with slices of bread and diced mushrooms and a bed of yummy sauce. All together this dish tasted heavenly.
For the main dish I ordered the grilled hanger steak and fries and my sister ordered the duck breast with Parmesan crusted cauliflower and spinach. The meat was cooked to our liking which was medium. There was a definite balance of flavors, not too salty at all.
The service was excellent and very accommodating. My sisters boyfriend had brought a cake from outside vendor and they were open to storing it for us. And when it came time for the birthday song they came out with candles. They also cut the cake and served it for us. Awesome crew last night! Definitely will eat here again. Oh almost forgot we had the Pimm’s spritz cocktail which was also delicious.

We popped into Lilette’s for a late afternoon lunch bite. We were trying to go to Bouligny for the gouda beignets, but they were closed. Lilette was closing at 2pm and we walked in at 1:58, but they graciously sat us at the bar anyway. Love that.
I immediately noticed tons of bottles of my fave Graham Beck rose on the wall — bingo! Not to mention, sancerre sancerre sancerre. This is totally my scene, especially with the awesome blues soundtrack they played our entire time there.
The bartender was super chill and friendly. I loved that they laid out little napkins as table cloths on the bar for our dining enjoyment.
I had one of the BEST dishes I’ve ever had in my life at Lilette’s — seriously top 10 dishes I’ve ever had of all time here: Alaska King Crab claws in passionfruit butter. Squeeeee. Crab goodness with that passionfruit butter… something about it is the perfect combo. The crab claws are HUGE, so even though you get 3, they are a perfect appetizer for two people.
We also ordered the charcuterie platter, which was delicious with the burrata and arugula. I was in heaven here and will definitely return when I’m back in NOLA!