Lemmy's Bistro and Apéro Bar — Restaurant in Makati

Let me start with the food, it is very good, maybe excellent. The price, while reasonable compared to a restaurant in Makati CBD or BGC, is relatively high considering the location and surrounding. But that's ok, good ingredients and what should be good service does cost a lot.

Now, getting a reservation. It seems so difficult. I was stalking their website and it seemed impossible to get a table on a weekend dinner. They're full for the rest of the year 2024 during weekends dinner, or at least that's what I see on their site. No tables available for all Saturday dinners for the next 7 months!

There was also no other table available for any dinner for the rest of this month! Crazy, this place must be bursting with people, or that's what I thought.

Suddenly, one table opened up for the next day, a Sunday night. So I tried and paid P1.5K for a table reservation. Felt so lucky to get the supposedly last table on a Sunday night, 9pm seating.

The place is not so easy to find as the sign is way deep inside the compound. No sign on the street. While they have a guide waiting on the street, he is busy with his cell phone and oblivious to the fact that I had stopped and was looking for the restaurant which I initially missed. This guide doesn't even have the Lemmy's name printed on his shirt. That would have been helpful. The SG from the next building guided us to the restaurant, and when we actually called this guide's attention, he sprang into action.

Parking was available, we got the last of their 4 slots, at least thats what we were told. Although the car park lot could fit about 20 cars.

We walked in at 8:45 p.m was surprised to see a half empty restaurant. We thought anyway the seating is still for 9 p.m so most people will probably come in later. We were wrong. We saw no one come in after us and by 9:15 pm, the restaurant was mostly empty. Just us at the second floor. 5 other tables unoccupied at the second floor. When we left a 10 p.m only one table was occupied on the ground floor. All other tables were unoccupied. How could their 9pm seating be full when only us and another table was there at 10pm? If people come in at 9pm, surely they would stay until at least 1030pm.

Is this restaurant really fully booked? Or is just a marketing ploy to make it difficult to get a reservation to seem fully booked. I find it hard to believe that so many tables will not show up on Father's Day for dinner considering they would have paid a deposit to reserve the table just like I did.

The service staff is very friendly , but when we question them about the food and the manner of cooking they are not very familiar. The service was quick. One of the dishes should have come with adlai, but was served with mashed potatoes. When we told the waiter this is supposed to come with adlai, he had no idea what we were talking about. So another waiter came, understood, and brought it back to the kitchen. He appears after a few minutes to say that they had already run out of adlai. He offered french beans instead. If they had already run out of adlai then they should have told us in advance instead of directly replacing with mashed potatoes and hoping we wouldn't notice, especially since the other dishes we had already came with mashed potatoes. In fact they already run out of adlai, then this should have been told to us the moment we ordered that dish. Oh well.

The bill came quickly, but it was wrong to my advantage. It was missing a dish. I had them correct it. It came back and it was wrong again, this time to their advantage. They manually compute the deduction of the reservation paid , but not computed correctly. When i brought it up , the waiter had to take it back to the cashier for correction.

The 3rd time the bill was presented, it was still wrong, but just by 0.50, so I let it go and paid. It was too much effort already.

Again the food is very good, although I wouldn't say it's completely French. They have some Italian, Mexican, and Spanish dishes.

Would I come back?...

TLDR: Ambiance was good, service was great, and the tuna pepper steak, raclette platter, and lemon-passionfruit cake are must haves.

We booked around a month ahead to get an available Saturday lunch-time reservation for Lemmy's.

The ambiance was nothing pretentious or out-of-the-world. The dining space is quaint but clean, minimalist but not bare (dotted with quality reprints of famous European paintings that you CAN purchase), and had that casual "Parisian" bistro feel. The tables on the second floor were lined with a simple gray tablecloth and the usual plate and silverware on top of a rather slippery mat. It is NOT a fine dining experience, but I do think the majority of diners do not expect an "haute" feel. It is friendly and laid-back, which I really appreciated.

Food overall was good in flavor, presentation, and quality, especially for the price. The tuna pepper steak (₱380), raclette platter (charcuterie and melted cheese; ~₱400), and lemon-passionfruit cake were among our favorites. They were robustly flavored while being refreshingly light.

We (3 people) ordered 2 sets, one with steak (₱2500) and one with poached cod (₱2200). The starting course was broccoli soup for both, good, creamy, and comforting but nothing otherworldly. Then the amuse-bouche were pork rillettes and sliced baguette and salmon tartare with avocado and caviar respectively. The salmon tartare is zesty and is much better than rillettes in my opinion. Next, a calamansi fizz palate cleanser was served in preparation for the entree. Thereafter, steak with red wine and cod with white wine was served. The steak was a sirloin cut, so it was not the most tender thing in the world. However, seasoning was just right. It presented itself as very savory and not at all salty. And it is paired with a good mash and greens. The poached cod was paired with mussels, some risotto or risotto-like rice dish, and mashed sweet potatoes. Out of the two entrees, it was the more polarizing option, especially if you don't like the taste of tarragon. However, the sides were quite flavorful and well chosen to balance out the heaviness of the strong herb. The course ended with the aforementioned cake.

Service was the true highlight dining here. The servers, especially Mark, were very cordial and courteous, combining professionalism with light-heartedness. Mark was very accommodating of our requests and was able to provide extra servings of bread and soup.

In conclusion, while it is probably not a place you'd go back often (wallets may start to wail at some point), it is a good experience especially for those who wants a break from the usual flavors of American and Asian cuisine that we Filipinos...

The entire experience was excellent!

The food was of top quality. I broke my diet for this, and it was worth it! The food in general is flavorful without being too rich. The texture is amazing. I don't know how else to describe it, but every bite is just 😙👌. The presentation? It's like a masterpiece! The raclette is a must-try. I already love cold cuts and cheese. The cheese used for the raclette is something I have never encountered, even in buffets. Just seeing its picture again is making me drool. The mashed potatoes - when I get them in restaurants, my thought is usually: "I can make better mashed potatoes." (It's my first savory recipe so it sticks out to me.) But this one? The mashed potatoes were so good! It's just as good, if not better, than the mashed potatoes I can make.

The service was flawless. It helps that we were the only ones there. On top of serving our food well, the staff was quick to attend to anything, from water refilling to the dessert menu. We were even asked if the temperature was okay, and even before we came, it was already perfect. As I've almost never eaten French cuisine in the past, the staff was really good at guiding us on the appetizers and main courses. Staff was also nice and professional!

The ambience, oh my gods, the ambience is so fancy yet relaxing. The atmosphere is not too dim nor too bright. It was just right. There's relaxing jazz or French music playing too. What actually caught my attention the most is the artworks displayed. As an artist myself, it was truly a magnificent sight to see so many of them displayed inside a restaurant. It made me wonder why most restaurants don't do this. The entire place is like a piece of heaven.

The only catch: It's very pricey! I can't bring my friends here. 😂 I'll be back with my family though! Also, staff informed us that the menu changes every month. Most of their items will remain the same, but the set menu updates monthly.

I wanna go back. It's just that I can't afford it every night, or every week. 😆 Hopefully my family would be as interested in trying it (or trying it again)...