Bella Cafe and Grille at Palomar — Restaurant in Lexington

I was unfortunately disappointed by my first visit here. The truffle fries we ordered as an appetizer were ok but far too salty. The burger my husband ordered was good, but not as great as the hype (granted my husband ordered it with just sauce and cheese so it may not be a fair assessment). It tasted exactly like a burger you'd have at a home cookout, which isn't a bad thing but again, just not amazing. I ordered the chicken tenders with a side salad. Honestly the chicken tenders were just bad. I've seriously had better chicken tenders at Applebee's, Raising Cane's, etc. They come with ranch and a honey bbq sauce that tastes like Lays BBQ chips. (Odd options for a fancy-ish restaurant like this.) I don't really like either of those options but found myself dipping the tenders in it anyway just to give them SOME kind of flavor other than salt. They were also pretty tough. The service was good UNTIL the end when they bring out a little credit card machine and literally stand over you and watch how much you tip. So awkward. We are decent tippers anyway and she did give good service but if she hadn't, we still would have felt forced to tip more than deserved because of her staring at our selections on the little screen. At least at most places with that style of tipping (selecting tip on a screen) they either leave or turn away so you don't feel as awkward and pressured. Finally, i don't recommend sitting on the patio-- nothing wrong with the patio itself but you will be forced to listen to loud, and in this case TERRIBLE, live music from the Mexican restaurant nearby. That's not anything against Bella, they can't control that, but if you go there I would definitely sit inside if there's live music going on at Papi's... unless it's my dad Scott Collins playing of course ;) (this time it wasn't) I wanted dessert but couldn't take the music anymore so I...

Walked in and the entire dining room was empty. The host took one look at our party of 3 and asked if we had a reservation. I asked if we needed one in order to have dinner. He looked extremely confused and made it very clear that our casual dress was not appropriate for his liking. He sat us down in the empty dining room. Our waitress seemed friendly at first, but when we asked for a couple minutes to look over the menu, she came back for our order 10 minutes later.

A complete country club vibe as the servers and staff congregated around the bar area. Dinner was decent, salads and buttermilk chicken fine, but side of Brussels sprouts were 1/3 of a ramekin full. After serving coffee, our waitress came back as she cleared the table to bring the check. While paying, she stood directly over my friend while she tipped and signed the bill. Watching to see how how much her tip would be. She returned and began clearing the table. In a passive aggressive voice she said “we have a lot of reservations coming in” to signal it was time for us to leave.

As we walked out there were empty tables, no one waiting, and plenty of parking close to the door. It was clear from the beginning we were neither welcomed, appreciated or encouraged to stay. I will not return and would never recommend this “local eatery” to anyone in...

First time to visit this location and will definitely try again. Very nice atmosphere and friendly service! Compared to other locations in the area on prices and quantity I couldn’t score high due to small portions. For the price the portions were small. I ordered the steak and eggs on the brunch menu and it was good however my scrabbled egg appeared to be maybe an half of one egg? The steak was very tasty and the portion was small and maybe a 2oz portion. I know it may have helped if I added a pic but maybe best I didn’t:) I actually added a 30% tip since the service was good and they didn’t control the portions. So for $104 for three people wasn’t bad but since I’m hungry again an hour later the portions were too small. Another note, another person in my party of three ordered eggs and toast and got a half of one piece of bread and it was too hard to bite so it was never touched so $25 for one egg with some garnish was kinda comical:) Like I said I’ll try again and maybe the portions...