Lellis — Restaurant in Auburn Hills

Sadly one of Oakland County's top restaurants has FAILED to deliver. Our family was looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving and a 92nd birthday.

6 pm reservation - table of 5. We arrived at 5:50 pm to check in. "It will be a few minutes." We are sitting in the beautiful lobby, enjoying small talk.

Lots of activity at the hostess stand. Next guest with reservation. "It will be a few minutes." An unhappy customer approaches the stand, "May I speak to a manager?"

Now the rumors are spreading, that they are running an hour+ late, not a few minutes. Several tables only had water and bread after 40 minutes of sitting. Some people have been at their tables for 3+ hours - waiting for food or simply hanging out.

7:05 pm we are seated, after four tables that came after us were seated before us. Not sure why? The assumption is 4, 3, 3, 3 (not 5, so we needed a larger table)? Still frustrating. No communication with us.

7:25 pm Water and bread arrive. It's better than the 40 mins rumored earlier.

7:35 David, the Waiter, arrives. Very nice young man. Polite. Fast, low talker, and with the background noise, practically impossible to hear. We immediately order our simple Thanksgiving a la carte meal. A traditional Thanksgiving plate. Figured if we got the order in, we would receive our simple single plate in a reasonable time. NOPE.

8:20 pm Food arrived. (More than an hour after being seated.)

Food. Good amount of food for $36. Inconsistent portions. Carbs were plentiful and tasty - mashed potatoes (Fine), sweet potatoes (Very tasty, not too sweet), and sausage stuffing (Cold with a bit of spice). The gravy was poured onto everything to make the plate hotter and mask the poor quality of the turkey. The cranberry sauce was family-style and very good.

Turkey. Well, one would expect breast slices and/or dark meat portions. Nope, it looked like pulled Turkey (think pulled pork). Unfortunately, it was LOADED with turkey bones. Yes, 5 out of 5 plates - BONES. It is dangerous for our elderly parents dining with us.

David was not around to discuss. When the plate clearing happened, and we all pointed to our pile of bones, the young man commented. "Yes, many people have been saying that tonight."

8:45 pm exit.

Hostess Philicitie is a wonderful young lady. While a bit elusive with the estimated wait, I guess that is her job. She did communicate and even came by our table to see how things were going. (Before we got our food.)

Bussing team - AMAZING. Showed up often with water and drinks, quickly cleared plates, and was generally around to help.

Waiter David - Polite young man. He seemed engaged during the interaction. There was no follow-up, and obviously, we didn't put our order in quickly. The 6-top next to us ordered after us, got the food before us, etc. And he wasn't brave enough to ask how things were going. We were so disappointed in the whole evening at this point there was no reason or hope to discuss what occurred. Plus, we would have been in a long line of upset customers.

Front of House Manager - Who knows who this is? Who knows why he/she wasn't engaged on this busy important family holiday? This is the biggest failure and my reason for saying this restaurant is failing miserably.

Finally, a rumor was heard - The head chef left several months ago, and they have three cooks doing the work. I believe they need to hire a 4th cook specializing in picking bones out of the meat for the customers.

Now, before you go saying this is just one busy day. While I agree.

Again, the main issue is the total lack of management checking on the guests, essentially no customer service or concern for the guest experience. This, combined with an obvious lack of a head chef, will doom this once legendary...

First time / Last Time. So I had a very mixed experience. I had made reservations for my SO, and I about a week ago for her birthday. I came across this restaurant as I was looking for an upper scale restaurant on Groupon. I primarily did this just to have something to show her on her birthday a few days prior as I had to work until 5pm, and shortly after I get home she had to go to work the graveyard shift in the hospital. So I made plans for dinner on her next day off. I made the reservation for Saturday evening, and in the comments field I disclosed that I had a groupon for this reservation. This may be where I made my mistake. As from the moment of checking in for our reservation, it was pretty obvious we were not getting the same treatment as other patrons. There was a large group of 8 that checked in before us, then we were next, and another younger couple walked in after us. They first attempted to cut lines, and I stepped in and informed them we were in line and politely stepped forward to check in after the group of 8. We were checked in, and then the couple behind us was checked in. We both had 6pm reservations for 2. We checked in first, but the couple after us was called first by the hostess at the computer. As the younger couple walks by, they have gawked backed at us chuckled. Whatever, mistakes happen. Another lady who was standing near by (I believed to be the manager) witnessed the situation and noticed us standing there approached the hostess at the computer and asked for our name as she noticed we were skipped and wanted to seat us. The hostess response was, "What's it matter?" If it weren't for my SO Birthday, I would have walked right out, but I bit my tongue as this wasn't about me. So we got seated, our server was absolutely amazing, and she was prompt and kind. The food was also amazing, but my experience at the beginning had already spoiled my mood. As we were in our main course, another couple had been seated at the booth next to us. Now keep in mind this is an "upscale, candlit environment" with a more private and personable experience. The servers were generally softer spoken and until this point couldn't single out and hear "nearby" conversations. Until i heard the server speaking to the minority couple next to us loudly and clearly explaining the terms of the Groupon. It was so loud that not just our heads turned, but half the restaurants patrons glanced over. I never want to speak out on someone elses behalf, but this felt intentional.

I spent $35 for the $60 Groupon. Which requires you to buy at least 1 traditional meal (5 courses), we like to discover new places that have good steak, and I decided on Lellis of a recommendation. Our total for Two 11 Oz Filet at market value + 1 alcoholic beverage and a Coke since I was driving came to $202 before Groupon bringing my new total to 142. I left a $48 tip as our servers, the backbone of this restaurant, well deserved it. So after it was all said and done, I paid $35 for the Groupon plus $190 (including tip on pre-discount amount) = Total $225 just to be treated lesser, just because I purchased a "$25 discount".

To the servers: Thank you for the amazing experience. My SO loved her meal, and that's all that mattered to me at the moment.

To Management: If your place is serving $100 plates, you better know my name. It's definitely not "What's it matter?" Your favoritism towards a particular crowd shows, and it stinks.

Skip this place, the steak was amazing, but at $100 a plate, theres plenty of other places where that would be...

Had dinner at Lelli's of Auburn Hills last night (July 3, 2012). My first time there (wife's 2nd time). Went early, about 5:45pm. Not busy yet. Sat in a nice booth. Servers and maitre d are formally dressed. Formal-ish dining room. Server, Bohdan, is well groomed, polite, and pleasant. Informative, too. I went with the standard filet (8 oz), she went with what she had previously, Chicken Marsala. The "regular entrees", come with the full 6 course meal (antipasto, salad, soup, pasta, entree, & dessert). There is a "lighter meal" section, with less choices of entrees. You save maybe $5 or $6, and you lose either the salad or the soup, and also the antipasto and (going based on memory here). There is also an a la carte option, too.

We're not salad eaters, so we skipped that. They bring a bread basket, to start. Then they get on with the antipasto and soup. We aren't big on antipasto either, but ate the shrimp and salami. Nothing too exciting. The soup was very good, in my opinion. It's a minestrone, but a bit pinkish in color. Perhaps a splash of cream added? It was good, anyway. Then, a course of spaghetti. Not a large portion, but enough to sample. I had meat sauce; wife had palomina (pink sauce). I liked the meat, but didn't care as much for the pink.

I'm not a real big fan of filet, in general. My prefered cut of meat is ribeye. But, they are famous for filet here, so that's what I opted for. It came with "zip sauce". I was expecting something that looked like a very loose A1 sauce, never having ordered zip sauce before. The steak was sitting in a medium-sized "pool" of clarified butter, with drips of what looked like balsamic vinegar. But it wasn't balsamic. I couldn't tell you what it was. It tasted "ok". Mostly just butter tasting. I asked for my filet to be medium, and it was exactly medium. Light pink throughout, no blood. Perfectly medium. Very tender piece of meat (they say they have all prime meats). But, as expected, being the filet, it just doesn't have that big beefy flavor of the ribeye. So, it was probably very good, far as filets go. Ribeye isn't on the menu, but it was offered as one of the night's specials. If I ever go back, I will probably try the ribeye, or perhaps try one of the veal dishes. The wife's chicken marasala was quite good. BTW, the entrees come with a side of mashed potatoes and some string beans. The potatoes were just a little bit loose, and mine was slightly over-salted.

They finish off your meal with a "slice" of spumoni ice cream. I've never had this much. It was "average". We also added a slice of tiramisu. It's a slice, like a slice of a round cake. I normally expect a square slice, like that from a 9x13 tray. It was tasty. Not sure it was the best I had ever had, but tasty to be sure.

Filet ran me $41. Chicken Marsala ran $33. They forgot to charge for the tiramisu. With tax, it was $79. I had a Groupon certificate worth $70 (paid $35 for it). So, adding a tip of $22, I walked out paying $31 + the $35, for a grand total of $66. The meal should have totaled $101.

Very good food, very good atmosphere, excellent server. Was it worth $66? Yes. Was it worth $101? I don't think so. I think the true value lies between there, but closer to the $66.

There is parking, but a lot of the spots are reserved for the valet. I parked it myself, cuz I'm cheap like that!

If you have a groupon, or have a gift certificate, it's a no-brainer. Also, it's a bit far, being in Auburn Hills. Nice place, but a tad over-priced. ...