Lilo — Restaurant in Carlsbad

Our occasion for experiencing Lilo was to share a happy 21st wedding anniversary celebration for close friends. Lilo begins with a genuinely warm welcome into an exquisite garden space creatively designed to feel like an inner courtyard, with beautiful wooden walls that mimic the curvature of easy summer waves. Your final course is delivered in that same space, ending your journey where it began with a heartfelt send-off and love from the artist professionals who have been assembled here to create this experience.

How to describe the culinary journey? I could not do it justice in writing. You must go and experience it. A few words that come to mind—it was surprising, vibrant, and utterly gorgeous artistry, paced precisely so we were able to savor the endless flavors presented like paintings in a museum to be admired, and completely delicious to savor. I found myself wondering about the careful curating of ceramics we ate from; each piece speaks of a design sensibility infused in this whole experience. If you love design, this is part of the experience. As someone who adores music, I enjoyed how perfectly the playlist complemented our experience and the vibe it created. The music to send us off felt fun and rhythmic in a way that celebrates the evening. Every beverage pairing spoke of the countless hours someone(s) spent getting it absolutely right. I always think the last chapter of any experience always leaves its imprint on your memory and in your heart. On that note, the desserts showcase the creative brilliance of Pastry Chef Madeline Biehl, who, like the rest of this devoted ensemble cast, is clearly thriving in a space designed to nurture artistic expression and genuine warmth among each other and their guests.

We will be back. Thank you to every single person who made our visit to Lilo so memorable and such a lovely way to celebrate our friends and...

Best restaurant I’ve ever been to, hands down. Been to Michelin restaurants all around the world including Greece and Italy. And 2 weeks prior to coming to Lilo, went to Addison for the first time. LILO, is hands down, the best food I’ve ever had.

Why? Bc there’s no gimmick, it’s not trying too hard to be something it’s not. Yes, the presentation is beautiful, but the taste is mindblowingly better.

The experience started outside, beautiful courtyard, music at perfect volume. (They brought sound engineer in to create the perfect environment of music without you having to lean in to hear someone talk, who does that?) This may not seem like a big deal, but when you get there you’ll see what I’m saying, it’s perfectly executed.

When we were sat, another table was sat maybe 5-10 minutes after us, and the runner accidentally brought our starters to their table after we had already been waiting. Without saying anything, they realized their mistake, and when our starters came out, they brought some free rose champagne which was honestly the perfect touch. No complaining, no excuses, just fixed the problem.

Every dish was better than the last, but the dish with caviar was definitely my favorite.

The open concept kitchen was fun to watch every chef do their thing then bring their dish to present to you, added that personal touch that they were proud to show you their creation.

After dinner you’re escorted to the yard around a bonfire for some hot tea and additional wine if you’d like. Here is where you get your parting gift and menu. It didn’t even occur to me that we hadn’t seen a menu the entire time, and every meal was a surprise. Again, nothing special, just a really nice touch.

100/10 recommend, I’m going again tomorrow...

4.5 stars if I could! Food and presentation was amazing. We split a drink pairing and the flavor profiles matching the food was perfect. A couple smaller details that caused me to knock off half a star. They gave us our first round of bites and took the plates away and we had to flag someone down to get water bc it was never offered. They ask when you book if you're celebrating anything, and then what we were celebrating was never acknowledged- so why ask? We bought the drink pairing when we booked, and then we had to tell the sommelier that we had booked it bc she had no idea so that was unorganized. How they do separate cocktails is a little strange too. You have to select it in the beginning, and they bring it out based on when it'll fit best with the course you're having. But if you have the drink pairing, you don't know yet whether you're going to want another cocktail or not. They also were trying to upsell us on truffles in the middle of the meal and it just felt off putting. They said it was $30 and we did add it and then when we went to pay realized it was $30 per person plus 20% on top of that, which is not how it was sold to us when they said it was a low price of $30 to add. The other weird thing is we saw others having tea service outside at the end of the meal, but we didn't get to do that. They gave us our envelope inside and walked us out and said bye and that was it. I feel weird that we didn't get the last step that others did. Overall the food was really good, just had to knock a half a star off for some...