Lilie's Margate — Restaurant in Thanet

I booked on a Sunday with my partner, we were the first table to arrive of our booking slot. The initial welcome was quite warm but sadly went very down hill from there. The Sunday menu only consists of a beef and veggie roast, we love beef so was no issue for us and given the few choices we were expecting the quality to greatly exceed the quantity.

I had a wine for myself which was served in a regular glass, still a decent wine though. Generally the place looked quite nice, it was nice to piece together the art on the wall to local attractions. The music selection was ok, it would cut out/music would be switched around quite often that did start to spoil the atmosphere. The Chef’s whistling was quite loud as well and we were sat well away from the kitchen. There was a dog present in the restaurant as well Hazel I believe I was not informed of this when checking the website or when we rang up, she was pretty well behaved however whilst we were eating she did come to our table begging, I found this quite strange as given they have breaks in between table bookings I dont see why she couldn’t be fed then.

Now onto the food, I feel there were a few good ideas but the major issue for the both of us was our food wasn’t hot mine was luke warm in parts whilst my partners was stone cold. Her plate sat for maybe 2 min whilst she was in the toilet. I was there when mine arrived and can confirm it’s not the case of that it was sat out to get cold. Keep in mind we were the first table to receive our dinners, in a relatively quiet restaurant two tables of two had arrived after us and a table of 5 later on so orders would shoot to the kitchen at a steady pace. We were not asked if we needed any condiments or more drinks when our food arrived but we were offered more gravy which was very watery, some salt and pepper was already put on our plate and in our opinion it was distributed poorly. We both had an excessive amount of pepper on our Yorkshire puddings with a minuscule amount on our meat. They forgot to put potato’s on the side, which is forgivable but as they were cold too they were also tough and ultimately unpleasant. We were eating for maybe 30 minutes and we weren’t checked back on at all, don’t even think anyone glanced in our direction. Our bill arrived and in total for 2 roasts and a medium wine it was roughly £46, I paid the entirety whilst still letting them know our issues as on a better day with more attentive service I think it would’ve been ok.

I’ve seen a lot of the replies other reviewers have been left and I hope when you see this you just take our feedback...

Jules is a true gent at Lilie’s!

The restaurant was fully booked due to incredible weather, but he opened up for us to have lunch.

And what an awesome experience! The venue, Jules and his food is pure colour & flavour.

We immediately felt at home, taking to a good N chilled bottle of white, menu regulars and specials very telling of the incredible produce Kent offers.

Croquettes de Jambon came beautifully perched on top of saffron aioli, accessorised with green dressing that’s telling of a chef with wicked character making every plate a photo shoot.

Chorizo Al Vino was juicy, rich and the chorizo almost soaked up the quince, garlic and red wine that we dived into with local bread from Staples and dill butter.

Being with my Madrid partner, we were keen to try the Tigres. Bechamel, dill and green lip mussels bubbling away in the shell and crisped off. Yummy!

The Octopussy was another work of art with tender octopus and potatoes that gave freshness to a hot day, bathed with crisp sea air from outside. A picturesque setting for two, but I bet a great place to party too!

One of the specials was crab beignets that were stunning and like every dish, required all sauces mopped up with hearty wedges of bread… the true Spanish way!

We finished with Raspberry Muscavado and lemon curd brûlée. A super cute journey, with Jules playing great tunes in the background, dancing and singing.

You can’t cook good energy like Lilie’s without the character as a key ingredient Jules brings. We had great chats and totally resonated with how some people and places are politically correct, rather than being themselves. The head boy and girl at school, when who you really want to hang out with is the drama class, listening to tunes and geeking out over comic books. Thanks Jules, you and...

Came with high hopes and was unfortunately underwhelmed. As professional chefs it’s difficult not to be picky when dining out but some basics you expect from a restaurant when that restaurant has such good reviews.

We had the specials of meatballs and scallops which were swimming in a blended pomace olive oil and seed oil. One would expect a good quality Spanish olive oil to be used in a tapas restaurant of a high standard. This oil was also offered as an accompaniment to the bread when we requested olive oil for the vegan diner at our table; the dill butter that came with the bread also wasn’t 100% butter and left the same oily coating in the roof of your mouth. It was a shame as this ruined our meal.

The tortilla de patatas was very good but too salty, where as most of the other dishes lacked seasoning (patatas bravas, pisto, chickpea salad). The cocktails were the best element of the whole dining experience.

Overall we felt the meal didn’t offer value for money and as stated before the cheap oil used in the dishes ruined the taste of everything. A real shame.

Expecting a negative response from the owner as others have when reviewing the food with anything lower then three stars - please bear in mind this is constructive criticism and it doesn’t have to be perceived as an assault...