LM Social — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

I have changed my two star rating to one star after the hyper-defensive reply by the restaurant. I’d hoped my review was objective and could help them make improvements, but the restaurant miraculously described my review as “hateful,” even though I said I’d likely try it again (which of course now I won’t).

There is an unmerited pretension to this restaurant. I don’t mind pretension and culinary overlap—when it’s warranted. The restaurant’s reply to my review embodies the type of arrogance to which I am referring—unmitigated defensiveness based on a belief in one’s culinary superiority which is unwarranted based on the way their overcooked food actually TASTES. Read my un-edited review below, then read their response: their childish defensiveness mirrors the lack of sophistication in the dishes they produce.

I especially didn’t need their suggestions to review the sous vide process (which I know well), which was the restaurant’s attempt to insinuate that I don’t know what I’m talking about so that they could invalidate my review.

Their response doesn’t change the fact that their food was banal, uninspired, and poorly seasoned. You’d think small business owners would know better than to publicly disparage people for leaving honest reviews.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: The “Vibe Dining” in their description is for the restaurant’s atmosphere, not their food.

The pre-dinner cocktail was fine, not amazing but certainly not bad. We ordered the heavenly lobster for the appetizer, rack of lamb for one entree, duck for the other entree, and crème brûlée for dessert. Here’s my assessment:

The heavenly lobster missed heaven by a few paces. It was gritty (you can’t actually “cream” feta) and very much over-seasoned. The absence of any acid in the dish lent it to coming across as too rich in an unpleasant way, though there was a lemon garnish with the dish and when squeezed it did cut through the richness and enhanced the flavor some. The lobster was sparse and didn’t have much flavor, likely due to the over-seasoning (though the lobster was appropriately cooked).

The lamb lacked flavor and was markedly under seasoned, as if it hadn’t been salted. Perhaps they salted it before it went into the sous vide, but the seasoning needs to be adjusted after a water bath. It was advertised as medium rare, and perhaps it was after the sous vide, but when they threw the unseasoned rack on the grill it cooked to a chewy medium. The asparagus was flaccid, limp, and unseasoned. The mushroom risotto was good, well-cooked, and the mushrooms were great quality.

The duck had good flavor, and the thigh was cooked appropriately. The breast, however, was definitely overcooked. Despite the entire breast being overcooked, parts of the fat were crisp while other sections were soggy. The sweet potatoes missed the mark by a sizable margin and tasted more like a sickly-sweet version of grandma’s Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole. What’s truly bizarre is that the dish came with about 1.5 cups of arugula on the side. The arugula was raw and had no dressing, so I’m not sure if they simply forgot to dress the arugula or if this was a garnish with which they went overboard.

We were timid about ordering dessert at this point but took a chance with the chocolate crème brûlée. The flavor was good, but a crème brûlée it was not. It was more of a runny chocolate pudding/lava cake (see the pic). Perhaps the server didn’t mean to say crème brûlée? Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a baked custard.

No complaints about the service. The atmosphere was warm and cozy. The bill was $178 before the tip (which included a $6 card processing fee, which I felt was unnecessary).

This is a new restaurant and I will likely give it one more shot in a few months, though I’ll probably try their lunch as opposed to dropping that much money on a...

“An Honest Reflection on My Experience at LM Social”

Disclaimer: The views and experiences shared here are entirely my own. This account reflects my personal perceptions and observations and is not intended to represent statements of fact about LM Social’s business practices or operations.

On Saturday, May 10th—graduation weekend—I had the pleasure of serving a lovely family of four celebrating their daughter’s graduation.

The evening began smoothly. They ordered a fried burrata appetizer, some mocktails, and sodas. Later, the father ordered the lobster bucatini (a recommendation I personally stand by as a phenomenal choice). The mother chose the Chilean Seabass, one daughter ordered the cacio romano dish, and the graduate herself selected the artisan LM spaghetti. I recommended she add a protein, as we were trained to suggest.

About 45 minutes later, the meals were nearly ready—understandable given the busy weekend. I was informed in the kitchen that we were just waiting on the salmon.

As a server, I take pride in ensuring that my guests receive a memorable and seamless experience. So, I waited attentively for that final dish. When the salmon-topped pasta was finally ready, I served the meals. The family was gracious and patient, despite the wait.

Shortly after, the graduate called me over and mentioned that her salmon was cold in the center. I immediately apologized and promised to correct it.

Back in the kitchen, I requested a refire. What unfolded next was disheartening from my perspective. While waiting, I overheard a chef say, “I told them we should have 86’d the salmon, but no one listens. The only salmon we have is frozen.”

Trying to remain calm and professional, I declined when another kitchen staff member suggested I ask the guest to switch to seabass instead. I didn’t feel comfortable with that, especially since I had personally recommended the salmon.

I stayed in the kitchen, closely observing the preparation. It seemed to me that the team wasn’t confident in how to prepare the salmon quickly—it was placed in a sauté pan with another pan on top, and I overheard a discussion about whether to finish it in the fryer. Eventually, the salmon was placed in the fryer, and in my view, it didn’t hold together well during that process.

At that point, I made the call to serve the pasta without the salmon. I returned to the table and explained honestly that there was no justification for what had happened.

To make amends, I removed the artisan spaghetti from their bill, along with all their drinks and their appetizer. I knew even that wasn’t enough to fully compensate for the experience.

The family remained gracious, and I’m thankful they recognized that I did everything within my power to care for them that evening.

This experience stayed with me because it highlighted how much representation, integrity, and the customer experience matter. Mistakes happen—that’s part of life—but in my view, mistakes that repeatedly go unaddressed, at the expense of both customers and employees, speak to a deeper issue.

I truly enjoyed working at LM Social and believe there is heart and potential within its walls. But during my time there, I experienced more moments like this than I felt comfortable with.

Honest feedback—whether through direct conversations or negative reviews—is important. Not to tear down, but to illuminate where care has been lacking.

I share this experience not to disparage anyone, but simply to bear witness to it. To remember that every guest deserves to feel cared for, and every employee deserves to work in an environment where that care is possible.

Thank you...

thank you for the response. I do not feel obligated to call the restaurant, to ask for a cell number, to leave a message for the owner ASAP and spend any more time on this since the information is all here and we won't be back, but here is the screenshot of the original response from the first bad visit where we were told the bathroom was broken. If this wasn't the owner replying, who was it? This response came AFTER I reached out to the restaurant and was told the kitchen should have been open for our confirmed reservation. So when I saw the response saying the bathrooms were closed, we refused to return since it was not truthful. Then over a year later, this week, we visited a second time which is the review below**

Original review: I have now tried twice to visit LM Social. We live downtown and love to support new places-and love a happy hour. The space is beautiful and we use to go to the old spot when it was next to Kittys.

First time, I made a reservation for dinner. The dinner reservation was confirmed. When we arrived we were told the kitchen just closed and our reservation should have never been confirmed. When I contacted management, the response was the restaurant had to close early because of a bathroom issue, which was a lie, because the bar was very much open and was full. I also must mention I used the rest room when we walked in to check in for the reservation, so I am confident it was open. We chatted about revisiting a few times for a second chance and we decided to retry it last night.

Walked in and the bar was not busy. There were two open seats at the end of the bar and no one sitting at the high tops in the bar area with two bartenders on. After not being acknowledged walking up to the bar (just a hello or any eye contact), we walked up to a server and asked if we were in an area for bar service or server service and was told bar. We sat back down and watched one bartender struggle(we heard her say to someone she was new and training which we get-we both have side hustles in the service industry) but another bartender, presumably the trainer, was just standing there and not helping. I actually heard the new bartender say she didn't know how to make a manhattan, which means maybe she shouldn't be training during dinner.

We waited five minutes at the bar which was not busy for someone to just acknowledge we were sitting there, or give us menus, or say hi it will be a few minutes, and no one did. When she came up to the people next to us who had already ordered and walked away, and still did not acknowledge us, we left. I would typically contact a restaurant directly, but I tried that once and the response was dishonest, and it looks like most of the restaurant responses here are defensive, so here's the review. Looks like we won't have the opportunity to visit LM social, because we...