Tiger Lily Café — Restaurant in Chesterton

The service I received from the owner was appalling! As a former bakery worker myself I not only served customers from the other side of the counter, but during my stead in multiple bakeries across the country I learned the beautiful and time honored tradition of the first come first serve element of bakeries. It is a fun bit of competition in life we all enjoy! Like a breakfast sport almost.😅 The first customer has their pick of the goods and then the next customer has to pick from what's leftover, that's why you rush to get there early 😀 it's part of the joy of the bakery visit! To feel you've beat all the others to the most perfect treats!! A tribute to the good old saying of "the early bird gets the worm". Well, I was robbed of the joy of picking my treats! I was told what I could have and that there was no way around it because they are the owner period, even though there was no logical reason for this stance other than a disgusting power play for no apparent reason other than to be unnecessarily confrontational. It was a simple and normal request that was met with gross 😝 behavior. Very disappointing 😑 I was robbed of my joy because of this interaction. I hope that the owner can remember for future customers how much fun it is to be the customer ONLY when they are treated kindly and not like an irritating inconvenience when they request a specific one of their treats. Be as sweet as the goods you sell is all I'm...

I really want to like this place--it is vegan in a wasteland of awful food. However, we came in just before 8 pm after noticing they are open until 9 a few times per week. The wait staff was very friendly, but distracted. She did not bring soup or salad until we were well into our main course. We were gracious even though we were the only table. While I was at the dessert area, the wait staff dumped my coffee. While I tried to get her attention, she scurried off to the kitchen with the whole pot. When I asked for my coffee back, she offered me water. The restaurant lost a dessert sale, because I obviously was not going to choke down pastry with no coffee. I was very nice about the coffee (learned helplessness from living here for over 20 years), we were offered no discount, nothing after all those fiascoes. I am now at a ludicrous chain buying a cup of coffee in a paper cup. Pretty degrading. No one in this establishment seems to want to work too hard. I suggest the management take advantage of the vast pool of unemployed people in the area. And, for the record, my husband left a tip. We left by 8:30, so I hope the wait staff enjoys her personal time and soon...

Vegans and vegetarians beware!

Imagine going to an Italian restaurant and ordering spaghetti with marinara sauce....but when they ask if you’d like vegan cheese or regular cheese on top, and you say regular cheese, they bring you the pasta with regular cheese, but with MEAT sauce!

This is how Tiger Lily rolls. If you don’t order VEGAN, then they swap you out to TRADITIONAL, which in Tiger Lily vernacular means MEAT. They clearly don’t understand that someone might be an ovo-lacto (or ovo or lacto) vegetarian and still want to eat at their restaurant.

The wait staff also appears to be comprised of nothing but passive-aggressive right fighters. They sort of missed the service guideline that “the customer is always right” and have instead adopted the guideline of “well, we’ll maybe do what you are asking but we will surely let you know that we are being inconvenienced by your request, and also, you are probably wrong.”

These caveats aside, if you can actually end up with a non-meat item on your plate, you will probably be very satisfied with its quality, just be aware you will likely put up with a fair amount of nonsense in...