Lily's Dayton — Restaurant in Dayton

This place is amazing! My food has never been disappointing, ALWAYS DELICIOUS as a regular. I’m mixed Vietnamese, but my entire live, I’ve learned to cook from my Vietnamese father, so it was absolutely amazing to see ingredients and foods from our culture being intigrated into the cuisine at Lily’s with credit being given where it is due! It’s always a 10/10 experience here. Additionally, the environment is absolutely beautiful and very welcoming towards everyone! The customer service has never been less than subpar and every waiter I’ve had has been very kind and helpful. The only thing I’d fix is I’d love to see more support for the staff.

Every single experience I’ve had here has been excellent, however it has become noticeable through observation (experienced with body language and pattern recognition, I apologize if that comes off odd!), the crew members are understaffed and overworked, I can’t speak for back of the house staff members, however I know these issues could very easily be shared amongst the two. While the staff expertly keep their composure and make every experience here welcoming and amazing, as someone with plently of experience in higher management and ongoing experience in the field of psychology, the stress the staff here quietly endure due to lack of support from the employer could lead to eventual deterioration of customer service / customer ratings. It could very well cause a loss of workplace morale, leading to high rates of anxiety, depression, and higher turnover rates. The environment are food are amazing, but good, experienced staff are what keeps a place running especially when you keep training and morale in mind.

Again, the only thing I would fix about Lily’s is the quality of their treatment and (possibly even) higher wages, on top of the tips they currently make. This is because every single staff member I’ve had has been extremely kind and visibly hard working and those are traits that we are sadly beginning to lack this day in age. So it’s effective to reward that behavior and encourage it through beneficial actions, not only kind words.

(Also, I tried the Vermicelli Noodle Sir Fry w/ the marinated chicken this time, and it was delicious!)

To higher management, this absolutely is not anything personal or an attack of anykind! This place is amazing and garners vast potential as I’m sure you know and work very hard to establish! I’m simply concerned and highly passionate about these topics, especially when those affected are outwardly lighthearted and hardworking individuals.

A word of advice to help this situation (I apologize for the unsolicited advice, however giving criticism without leaving actual ways to solve the issue is unproductive). I would ask for an anonymous letter drop/ opening an anonymous Google Form for staff to input their experiences, concerns, and how things can improve/ any support they might need or even giving kudos to other members! Then, ensure that you address the staff’s thoughts and get onto a plan of how to better the situation/ fix it entirely if possible. Anonymous staff input is a great way to get to the root of certain issues without causing anxiety/ hysteria over possible termmination/ reprimand within your workplace! And leaving kudos to staff builds morale and instils higher standards/ a more friendly, competitive environment. I’m pretty confident Google Forms is completely free to use, so there’s no costs to that aspect, it’s worked wonders for me in the past, at least.

You guys are amazing, and I can edit this review to make it smaller for your customers once you have confirmed it’s been read! 😁...

My wife and I had a night out without the kids and already had Lilly's picked out after stalking their socials for a bit.

Lilly's is a cute little restaurant adorned with paintings of cats on the wall next to the parking lot. They all have names on their name tags, which was fun to look at on our way in. They have a quaint patio, but the snow and freezing temperatures weren't great for outdoor dining.

We were immediately greeted upon entry and promptly sat as we had a reservation. Our server stopped by within a minute or two and took our drink orders. We were presented with the specials, but opted to order from the menu as we had already craving items that they had showcased socially. The bartender made a great old fashioned and their craft sodas were very good.

The decor is cute and unique. Not too cluttered and not too random, it fit the vibe of the restaurant well. While the dining area wasn't huge, they took care not to cram in too many tables into the space. It wasn't noisy, per se, but wasn't an intimate setting either. It was the perfect setting to have a great conversation without having to talk loudly just to be heard or whisper to avoid disrupting others. The staff all seemed happy to work there and were very courteous and upbeat.

The food was phenomenal! We ordered the musubi and deviled eggs for starters. The musubi was perfect and the eggs were great! We shared the short rib mac and cheese, which was a mistake on my part. I could've eaten 5 portions of it myself. As a huge Mac and cheese fan boy, I can confidently say it's in my top five ever. The cheese sauce was packed with flavor and coated the pasta perfectly. The short rib was melt in your mouth consistency and sweet. The saltiness of the cheese balanced everything out and each bite danced in my mouth. While everything was great, this was my star of the meal. My wife ordered the vermicelli noodle stir fry bowl. She loved it. The portion size was appropriate and the dish was well put together and seasoned. I had the Koji prime rib. While it was cooked a little more than I personally prefer, it had a great sear and bold flavor which had me overlooking the cook temp. The potatoes and vegetables complimented the dish very well. I'd happily order this again.

The prices were commensurate with portion and love that was put into the preparation of each dish. Our server was attentive and we had no miscues in our dining experience. While there are other restaurants we are wanting to visit in Dayton, we cannot wait to return to Lilly's. Perfectly crafted good and exemplary service should have you craving to...

Pros: the restaurant is cute and well decorated, the ingredients seemed fresh, the cold brew coffee was delicious.

Cons: ordered the poke bowl and the rice was undercooked to the point of almost being raw. The poke was also missing edamame, pickled onions, and Napa cabbage, which the menu lists as ingredients in the dish. The dish did include romaine lettuce and carrot, which were not listed in the description. The portion of tuna was fine and average for a poke bowl. We came from West Lafayette, IN, where there are many high quality options for Asian fare, so I guarantee that I have an accurate understanding of what poke is supposed to be and this was not it. The portions are too small for the price (I understand the economic situation caused by the pandemic, but the ingredients are all cheap, except for the fish). The Mexican coke I ordered was room temperature and not served with ice. We ordered the deviled eggs and one egg was not filled all the way with yolk mixture, yet we paid $6 for one and a half eggs.

Overall, we paid $54, including a 20% tip for our waitress who I’m assuming could not help the food quality, for a meal that was prepared very poorly. I wanted badly to like this place and am not trying to be unkind, but I left very disappointed. If portions are this small and prices this high, it’s unacceptable for the food not to be cooked properly.

It is also notable that the owner seems to frequently comment back negatively to negative reviews rather than apologizing or seeming to take the content to heart, which is not a good look. I can assure that my reviews are fair, but it is indefensible to serve undercooked rice and dishes that do not include the listed ingredients. If the restaurant doesn’t have all of the ingredients to make a dish, they should be informing diners that the option is unavailable. I’d have happily ordered...