La Papillon — Restaurant in Lancaster

Date: 2/14/25

Trust me when I say: GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!

Extremely disappointed with the service from this establishment.

My husband made reservations for us (party of 7) for Valentine’s Day ahead of time. Of course we expected some wait due to the high demand for the night but to see how unprofessional the so called “manager” was should’ve been our red flag and our queue to leave. Making a reservation was definitely a waste of time since she wasn’t verifying and was just putting everyone’s name down on a pad of paper as people were arriving. They had people blocking the entrance, people waiting in the back by the bathroom and people waiting outside.

We waited over 45 minutes just to be seated in an area she claimed was “the best table” due to having 2 employees waiting on us. (That was a lie lol)

They had a set menu. We were never notified of this when we called to confirm our reservation, nor was it on their website when the initial reservation was made. Had no choice but to get their 4 course meal which came out to $100 per person.

We ordered and after waiting for over an hour for food, here’s what we got;

Let’s start with appetizers:

-Coconut shrimp- Horrible!!! You can tell it wasn’t fresh. So disgusting. I couldn’t eat a whole one.

-Calamari… even worse!!! By far the worst calamari I’ve ever had.

Salads were okay. You could tell they had been made in a big batch and had been sitting out for a while.

Entrees:

-Chicken Fettuccine Simple but only 3 small pieces of chicken and it came with mushrooms which wasn’t stated anywhere on the menu.

-Filet mignon with Asparagus (3 of these) Ordered them medium One was medium One was well done One was medium rare None had asparagus, instead they threw on burnt zucchini and when asked they said “ohh yeah, we just ran out. You want free rice?” Umm no, I’d like some better service and communication.

-Chicken Marsala with asparagus Dried old chicken (probably frozen) and you guessed it, burnt zucchini.

Never got a refill on drinks. The waitress never came around to check on us or ask if everything was okay and then when i finally asked why our meals were so bad she just said she’d get the manager but that she was too busy. I asked for our bill… and she gave me $40 off but tacked on 20% gratuity!!!! What a joke! I don’t mind tipping, when you do your job correctly, but seriously? You’re going to expect 20% from a big bill when everything was so bad?!

Do yourself a favor, invest in a better dinner and go to Broken Bit or somewhere else. Go to In-N-Out. You won’t be disappointed there. Guaranteed!

NEVER will I Ever come back to this horrible...

I just went there tonight because my wife has been wanting to go for months. The restaurant has a very cozy vibe which made it very appealing to sit in. When we ordered, the waiter was awesome! We never had to ask for refills or even look for him if we needed anything. He was very kind and attentive.

For appetizer, we had oysters Rockefeller. It was slightly overcooked but it was very delicious. For our drinks, we both ordered blackberry mojitos which was heavy with a cough syrup tasting substance and blueberries in the drink.

For the main courses, my wife ordered duck breast and I ordered a 6oz fillet mignon and lobster. The duck breast was sliced before cooking which dried it out and the skin wasn’t rendered making it very rubbery. My steak had 0% of it seared and was cooked as a well done after asking for a medium cook. My split lobster tail (wasn’t advertised as split) was so over cooked it actually tasted burnt and I couldn’t pull any of the lobster meat out of the shell because it was so dry and overcooked. Not a single thing on either plate had seasoning on it. We didn’t even raise the complaint until the waiter asked how our food was and we told him the truth. He demanded the kitchen to make us another plate even though we told him it was fine. Another young lady who we assumed was the manager was very courteous and ensured us a new order was being prepared for us to go. She took our dessert orders and was so friendly and apologetic.

The desserts came (fresh peach cobbler and crème brûlée) and both were fantastic. Though the food was horrible, the customer service of the waiters and the dessert made up for it to us so we decided to tip well.

For some strange reason, the actual manager decided to come to our table and ask how everything was. This is what made us put such a low rating. We didn’t actually anticipate rating this place because of the great service, but the manager was so off-putting. She relayed that their steaks come packaged, her chef isn’t that well of a cook, the chef doesn’t know how to sear steak as it appears to be broiled as well as the duck, the chef and manager isn’t aware that you don’t slice into meat before cooking it and until after it rests, and she relayed that she has a hard time with this chef cutting the steaks too small. We considered giving this place a second chance, but after learning this information, I don’t suggest anyone to dine here. Which is unfortunate because it really is a beautiful interior and the waiters are great.

(The pictures are of our to-Go plates which the chef actually undercooked both the duck...

Our experience with La Papillon went from bad to worse. It started with our reservation. Knowing they would be busy on a Saturday night at 6:30pm, I used their website to make a reservation 4 days in advance for 4 people. When we arrived at 6:28pm we were told that they didn’t show our reservation (after consulting a paper book). When I told the host that I had made the reservation on their website, I was informed that “oh, no one copied if over to the reservation book. All tables are occupied so you will just have to wait unless you want to sit outside.” It was cold & windy so we declined that option. We asked if we could sit at the bar and have a drink while we waited for our table and was given the OK. However, when we tried to order drinks, we were told that our server would have to serve us at the bar, and since we hadn’t been seated, we didn’t have a server yet so no drinks for us ! After waiting 15 minutes, we were finally seated. A young man was our server and took our drink order – 2 espresso martinis and a regular martini. When the drinks arrived, they were terrible – it was obvious that this server had no bartending experience. My sister-in-law sent her espresso martini back and asked for a Cosmo – it was just as poorly made. Then there was the food. I ordered the herb encrusted Halibut (at $56). My wife ordered ravioli, my sister-in-law ordered steak and gorgonzola pasta (steak medium) and my brother-in-law ordered the chicken. Only my wife enjoyed her meal. My fish was bland, dry, and overcooked. My sister-in-law’s steak was practically raw – she sent it back to have them cook it to medium as she ordered but she also didn’t like her pasta at all, so she wound up not eating her meal. My brother-in-law’s chicken was tasteless. We ordered two desserts – the bread pudding (I have never had bread pudding with ice cream on top (!) - very sweet yet lacked any flavor) and the tiramisu (just OK). Now… they did take one of the espresso martinis and my sister-in-law’s steak and pasta dinner off our bill, but with the corking fee for the bottle of wine we brought and tip, our bill was still over $300. I found that very expensive for what was at best a mediocre meal. I would not recommend this restaurant for dinner. And if you do go, make sure you CALL for a reservation! To the restaurant - 1) make sure that reservations using YOUR OWN WEBSITE (or OpenTable) get posted to your paper reservation book and 2) hire an actual bartender at least for Friday and...