Liv & Charlie's...Real Food — Restaurant in Lambertville

Not the 1st time I've been there, and it won't be the last either. Last Sunday we had a wonderful brunch at Liv & Charlie's in Lambertville. Wonderful really doesn't do it justice, as there is nothing that is short of 5 stars on all counts. Food, service, ambiance, professionalism, and love of what they are doing and that love extended to the people who dine with them. The them I'm referring to, as most know, would be Eileen and Nicole - the owners. Nicole holds down the front of the house, and Eileen is in the kitchen. It's actually hard to know where to start as everything that they do knocks it out of the park with solid 5 stars. There are many restaurants that you want to return to because of the food, but Eileen and Nicole's restaurant is different. You want to return for not only the food, but also for the love and concern that both of them and the staff extend to the guests. The challah french toast with warm maple syrup was spot on, as was the Southwest omelet. The freshly squeezed orange juice was great and the good coffee was strong and hot. They allow you to get in and out quickly, or make it a little longer brunch - whatever your preference. We were fortunate to have a chance to chat with Nicole before leaving and to meet Eileen. After of few hugs, we were off to see the colors of the changing leaves. You felt like you had "come home". A super restaurant that makes dining out even more special. Prices...

This level of poor service truly deserves a bad review. First we waited 25 min to get a table. The person doing the waitlist is not the friendliest but no big deal. We got seated after 25 min and ordered. Drinks arrived in a timely fashion. Then we waited and waited. About 40 min into our wait for two breakfast wraps and a waffle, we asked about how much longer and were dismissed with a “kitchen is backed up”. For reference, they offer a super limited menu, with pancakes, waffles, omelettes and breakfast wraps; extremely basic breakfast food that a bagel store or deli makes in under 5 min. About 1 hr into our wait the two tables that arrived after us received their food while we still waited. Upon asking our waitress again, she offers no reason or apology; just “some things take longer.” We ordered the most basic things! At this point we told the waitress that we are leaving and to please bring the check. She walked away and proceeded to gossip to another coworker about how we wanted to leave and still did not bring the check. Like we were unreasonable to want to leave after waiting almost 90 min for a breakfast wrap! From beginning to end, very poor experience. No one is so big and so popular to treat...

The original Liv & Charlie’s Real Food impressed us and we were excited to try their new location for dinner. We were unfortunately highly disappointed. The kids menu and the regular restaurant menu were very limited and the quality of the food was below average. My son and husband could not eat the hot dog; the salad was sub par and had wilted lettuce; the potato tots had awful taste of bad oil. The smash quality of the burger was fair (It looked like and tasted like, what it might if, I ate a dog's upscale food (pets are not so picky)). So overall, have to say this restaurant has become a fail. The atmosphere too is very cookie cutter. All the charm of the original place is gone in re: atmosphere, food and service (we waited 20 min for table even though there were a lot of available spots) and the wash down of the table was rushed, so never dried. The waitress was kind, but not particularly helpful - concrete basic service with minimal sense of attention to...