Aracely Lounge — Restaurant in Danville

I'm very torn as I submit this review. We've come here twice before for breakfast and were supremely impressed and would've rated 5s across the board. The previous visits, we were able to sit in the gorgeous courtyard out back, we were the only customers, the food was exquisite and the service was exquisite. I meant to write reviews earlier because my biggest fear at that time was that because there weren't many customers, this wonderful new addition to Danville might be shut down. Or at least breakfast service would be shut down. There are so few creative, high-quality yet approachable menus with a welcoming family atmosphere downtown.

Today we visited on a rainy day and sat inside for the first time. We were only the 3rd table there, and the other two tables were families with very young kids. I thought well that's nice, a place for families in the morning with good food and a sophisticated atmosphere!

However, our experience quickly soured because there was only one server, he did not give us any menus, I had to get up and go get menus for our table, and then service was incredibly, painfully slow. How that happen when only 3rd tables were occupied? My son could have ordered off the kids menu, but chose to order off the adult menu and the server asked him if he would like toast. Of course he said yes. I asked the server if that was going to be an extra charge and he said yes, toast is not included. 🙄

We wait an exceedingly long time for our food, and when it finally arrives, he puts the plate in front of my son with sausage on it instead of the bacon he ordered. I quickly told him he had actually ordered bacon. A good server would have gone to the kitchen and brought back an extra side of bacon for us while we started to eat. I had even commented that my son was hungry. This server whisked away the entire plate we had waited so long to get in the first place. We had to wait for the plate to come back with the correct bacon on it.

As we were waiting, they seated a new couple that had come in between us and the other party from whom we had been reasonably spaced. Now we were all crammed in one corner of the restaurant together! They could've easily sat them on the opposite side where there was more space. It's not like it's such a big restaurant that it would be trouble for the server.

Then a baby shower party showed up and they were loud and boisterous and took up a ton of the servers' already limited attention.

As we were leaving, I passed by both the server and the bartender and almost said thank you as I always do, but I paused to see if they would acknowledge our existence. They didn't. They requested payment at the table with one of those handheld devices that automatically asks for 20% or higher tip, and ask you to give them a thumbs up or thumbs down. Would you really give a thumbs down right in front of the server there? I didn't, but seriously thought about it.

I'm so torn because food was quite average this time, the service and the atmosphere were sorely lacking compared to our previous 2 wonderful visits. Plus they had gotten rid of the carrot cake pancakes which was the best thing on the menu.

Really hoping the restaurant management reads this review and takes it to heart in the spirit of prompt improvement. Maybe they've already given up on the Danville restaurant. Who knows. But that...

I realize this is a brand new restaurant in downtown Danville and have a lot to work out, but my party and I were pretty disappointed during our visit. I'm writing this in hopes that the owner reads it and makes corrections to get it right.

We were seated outside and noticed the nice decor and ambiance. Was a warm, pleasant evening so this part all worked. However, soon we noticed that the music selection that was playing for some reason did not fit the vibe of the venue. Music was more of a bar/club vibe and did not seem to fit the clientele (later as more people were seated, someone had turned UP the music which made it a bit more comical).

There were several other "misses" during our visit wife ordered hendricks (server came back saying they don't carry hendricks) wife then ordered Tito's.... (a few minutes later, bartender himself came out saying out of Tito's....so went with another alternative). Overall seems like the alcohol selection is limited? appetizers came out... but no plates to eat them on. We asked the runner for plates and took over 10 minutes for him to come back and give us 2 plates for a party of 4 and say "this is all i could find" (that was strange... we were scratching our heads the rest of the night) one of us had flagged down the server after a few minutes into the apps and was able to order another round; the rest of us needed refills as well but she quickly turned around and left without asking about our refills during this time, our menus had been sitting on the edge of the table (since before appetizers were served) as an indication that we were ready to order entrees. The server never came once to take our order for entrees. by the time the 1 drink for my friend was delivered (quite a while later), we had decided to call it a night at this place. Our server THEN asked about ordering dinner but we were well past the point where we wanted to continue with the experience. Went to another local restaurant to finish dinner....

Not sure if this was more of a soft opening? Not sure if they were severely understaffed? But the experience overall was not good. They have quite a few things to work out before we'll come back and try again. Hoping they do make adjustments...

The atmosphere is nice and pretty. There's a large back patio but there's no air conditioning even though it's a hot summer day.

The food looks nice but it was bland. Can't really eat it without hot sauce. The duck mixed grain bowl had totally dry and blasted duck pieces. Just change the protein if you don't know how to cook it.

The service was bad. The host looked lost and gave us too many drink menus and not enough food menus. No one knew whether our order was taken. We had to get our own drinks from the bar because we were tired of watching the ice melt while sitting on the counter. One server asked the bar tender if the red wine was the rose (wow!). There was no manager in sight so maybe no one is being trained or organized.

I may try to come again to see if it improves but I don't know. Seems like time may be better spent going to known and reliable...