Lilia — Restaurant in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

Absolutely incredible, I so highly recommend! I’ve been to 15+ one-Michelin-starred restaurants and this was just as good as any of them, at a great price. Almost every dish out of 11 blew me away, one of the best wine pairings I’ve ever had (and I’m very very picky about wine pairings..), both desserts super excellent (and I’m very snobby about desserts!)

The rib sausage was one of the best I’ve ever had, the pumpkin and goat cheese dish wow!! The salad with smoked eggplant purée was so delicious, as was the mushroom and cauliflower dish. Loved the creative use of vegetables. Both of the desserts had an ingredient that I typically strongly dislike, and yet I loved both desserts…

I don’t know what planet these negative reviews were on, but they can’t have been at the same restaurant as me..! The plates came at a perfect pacing, not too fast, not too slow. The service was attentive without being overbearing. The vibes inside were chic and nicely done without being pretentious.

Only a few notes for the kitchen— I’m a salt fiend and the mashed potato dish and mushroom dish were almost verging on too salty for me, which means they’re likely too salty for other people. I recommend they formalize having a wine pairing— I just ordered a glass each of the white, rose, and red that they had available by the glass (and serious compliments to the somm because they paired impeccably!!) but it would have been nice to just add the official pairing and not have to think about when to switch wines. I noticed that the male chef was not wearing a hat or hairnet which probably should change 🥴. The pirao sauce was too aggressively fishy for me (maybe it’s local taste..?) and the steak dish felt too one-dimensional flavor-wise to me, although both the fish and the steak dishes grew on me as I ate. (Those were the only two dishes that were tasty but didn’t fully WOW me.) And yet each of those comments is still not enough for me to detract a star, cause it was just that good. I’ll be...

I had been eager to try Lilia for some time, but was left a little disappointed overall from the hit and miss nature of the meal. The restaurant is located in a salubrious part of town, but inside was modern and clean, with nice lighting. Unfortunately my partner and I were sat directly in the path of a very powerful air conditioner and had to move the table back to escape it.

Service was friendly, but little things like having 3 different waiters attending us in a not very busy restaurant lead to us being asked our drinks order twice, and then when the bill arrived there was a mistake.

As for the food, we went a la carte rather than for the tasting menu; Oysters were fresh, and the melon sphere brought some freshness to the mouthful, but the cucumber with curd was a pricy disappointment. It may have been somewhat saved by the sesame oil sauce, but unfortunately that was hidden at the bottom of a dark coloured bowl rather than spooned on top, meaning we only found it after finishing the rest of the dish.

We opted for two mains - 'Namorado' was the fish of the day, and it was slightly tough and dry, while the intense charring on the skin, while nice on its own, overwhelmed the tasty pirão - a thick fish sauce made with cassava root.

On the other hand, the mushroom, and cauliflower main was one of the best vegan dishes I have had in a long time - rich, creamy, and intense, leaving us wanting more.

For dessert, we shared a very tasty white chocolate, cupuaçu (a deliciously sour fruit from Brazil's northeast), and cacau mousse, which was a perfect finish, not too sweet and with nice texture too it.

In terms of dining out in Rio de Janeiro, Lilia is still probably one of the most interesting options in a city not known for its higher end restaurants. But having lived in São Paulo for 7 years, we have been spoilt by interesting and consistently good meals that Lilil does not reach the heights of -...

Sou cliente do lilia se não me engano desde o final de 2017 ou início de 2018. Sou uma pessoa que curte demais a proposta da casa, o trabalho e o ambiente, porém nos 2 últimos anos em que estive, uma série de acontecimentos negativos ocorreram. Para que possam entender. A cada semestre realizo uma viagem com alunos do curso de gastronomia na cidade onde moro Juiz de Fora MG, que fica a 170km de distância do rio. O objetivo é mostrar uma gastronomia de qualidade, com conceito, técnica, estudo e pesquisa (coisa que o lilia tem de sobra). Em 2023 estivemos na casa, isso era uma segunda-feira, com reserva para 14:30, antecipada pelo menos 15 dias, porém ao chegarmos, haviam se esquecido de realizar a mesma por alguma falha de comunicação entre os membros da equipe. Neste dia, foi fácil solucionar pois, a casa estava vazia, até aí tudo bem. O atendimento deixou bastante a desejar, pratos errados, fora de temperatura e com padrões diferentes (esqueceram molho em alguns pratos). No final quando fomos pagar a conta, também muitos problemas, pratos errados cobrados a mais (foram enviados durante o serviço sem que houvessem sido ordenados) e demoramos mais de 1 hora para fechar uma conta com 18 pessoas na mesa. Desta segunda vez, marcamos uma reserva para a data do dia 28/09 às 14:30 para 20 pessoas. Esta, foi confirmada antes de sairmos de juiz de fora para o rio 2 dias. Porém, ao chegarmos lá, mais uma vez a reserva não havia sido feita e uma coisa que me deixou um pouco assustado, que o gerente no qual eu conversei não estava no local, apenas a subgerente que não fazia ideia da reserva. Mostrei então, do meu celular a conversa e a mesma ficou de resolver com ele por telefone. Tempo depois, recebi contato do gerente alegando que havia feito confusão e marcou a nossa reserva para o sábado seguinte, que seria já em outubro. Procurei entender e comentei que aguardaria no máximo uns 30 minutos pois, tinhamos outra visita para fazer na confeitaria caramello. passado estes 30 minutos infelizmente precisei cancelar a reserva e procurar um outro local, o que no rio, não é tão simples assim. Confesso ter ficado bastante chateado, primeiro porque é a segunda vez seguida que isso acontece, segundo, pela expectativa criada mais uma vez derrubada e terceiro, pela sensação de "despreocupação" com o nosso ocorrido por parte da gestão da casa, tendo em vista que o lilia normalmente é o nosso destino principal por isso o motivo de sempre ser o almoço. Aguardei 24 horas para ver se haveria um posicionamento diferente, mas não houve....