Lilly’s Authentic Indian Cuisine — Restaurant in Jenkintown

We were really excited to try this place out. We didn’t make a reservation and just strolled in one night after thinking we were being overly cautious by paying for 2.5 hours on the parking meter. If we’d known we’d need every last minute of that meter time to be seated, ignored, and apologized to we’d have skipped it.

The place was empty except for two tables. A few tables had “reserved” placards on them. We were seated at a two-top between two of the reserved ones. We were in the middle of the restaurant but might as well have been invisible. Two or three tables were seated around us and after us. They were all visited by a server as soon as they sat down.

As all of this was going on around us, it had been over a half hour before someone told us they were sorry for the wait but she’d be right back. At least twenty more minutes passed and she never came. We waited a little longer and finally asked the hostess what was up. A man came over and offered a lot of excuses about being new, lots of people being in training, the chefs do not speak good English (totally offensive), and they claimed they were sooo busy (which was not true yet still).

We finally ordered. The food took forever to come. We finally began eating an appetizer about an hour and 45 minutes into our stay at Lilly’s....while everyone around us were well on their way to getting their checks.

Despite everything the food was good. It wasn’t amazing but it was good for the price point. The samosa chaat appetizer we got was a little too soggy and stale tasting, but the entree and naan were tasty. The plates being delivered around us looked amazing too.

Overall this place felt mismanaged by a crew of people who had no experience with actual food service or restaurant dynamics. There was no communication between servers, the host stand, the kitchen, or management. The server who said she’d be right back closer to the beginning of the night said at the end of the night that she complained to the manager on our behalf. Apparently not remembering our first interaction at all, she inadvertently might as well have been telling on herself.

Honestly, the whole experience was so confusing, disappointing, and time consuming, that I don’t recommend anyone go here if you’re the least bit impatient naturally, expect to eat within an hour of getting a table, hungry, in a hurry, or don’t want to hear empty apologies all night. It was insane and super annoying.

It’s almost as if they just couldn’t handle anything they didn’t expect. Maybe it was a coincidence that the reserved tables were doted over continuously and given preferential treatment while we were skipped over completely and got there way before those tables were seated, but I don’t think so.

We will give it a few months to see if this place is still open and try it again. The food is worth trying again for sure. I hope everything improves for the better and the staff trains up quick so the rest of the experience can have the potential to live up...

They really nailed it when I requested extra extra extra spicy! We went to Lilly's on my hair stylist's recommendation and it was the right place to go for my birthday dinner 🙂

Originally, I did not take time to take in the decor, but on my second visit, I had a moment to look around and it's really nice. This would be a great spot for a date.

I ordered the Madras curry with chicken, naan, raita, and gulab jamun. Everything was excellent, raita was balanced and the curry was as good as the best I've ever had.

Things I don't love (but would not dock points for): the music is not really my thing. I will stick to takeout--I am a homebody by nature, though. Also, when I placed my order for takeout with the hostess, she asked me to specify how hot I wanted the dish, and I had to say "hella spicy" to convey it using their scale. That is so embarrassing! I'm 31 and I dress like a frumpy mom. Anyway, the food was worth the silliness.

Portion size was normal/generous, so I was able to split my order across two meals in one day. The curry reheated well in the microwave, and the naan reheated well, covered, in a 200F oven.

My favorite dish (of all the food in human cuisines) is Chicken Xacuti--if Lilly's ever adds this to their menu, I would be really really into it.

For anyone who finds Tiffin to be too bland, Lilly's is your new go-to spot. My favorite is still Sitar India Cuisine in University City (they've been my fav for over 10 years now), but I can't get down there often at all. Lilly's is a little more expensive, but the quality of the food is worth it to me. I hope they prosper in Jenkintown so that they can be here for many...

I was there to celebrate my wife birthday with my friend family. Food was ok ….. when we asked for bill our server name mani gave us a bill didn’t ask how you like the food nothing. Just gave us bill and left. Not a professional service. When i was looking at the bill there was auto gratuity %18. I asked to mani what’s that about he start getting rude. He said nothing to me just throw menu card and told me to read bottom of menu where they mentioned 6 or more they will charge %18 auto gratuity. I asked him we are not 6 we are 5 adults and two small kids. He said no matter what you have to pay this and he left. When I asked for the owner he was super rude. He told me to go out of the restaurant to he can threaten us also other guests of restaurant will don’t notice how they treat their customers. He start saying bad words to us. He start getting rude, aggressive. He even don’t respect of women. I will never go also will never recommend to any family it’s dangerous place with family if you will ask anything they will start fight with you. Also I want to clear on owner comments which he gave on my friend review. That server asked for his service if we liked or not. He never mentioned that if we didn’t like his service will take out auto gratuity. Mr. owner (jiji) you are not allowed to do business with threatening. Gratuity it’s part of customer satisfaction how much he want to give. You can’t force if you are saying it’s part of service actually it’s call begging. You need a lesson to learn about...