Lion House Café — Restaurant in New London

I looked forward to trying this new place out and arriving it was clean, modern, and trendy inside. I was first drawn to look at their pastries behind the glass and they looked tasty. As I was orienting myself, a couple folks who I think are involved in the local Chamber of Commerce raved about the food and showed me their boba saying it was "huge" (but more on that later). Next, I saw a snack wall to the right with various rare flavors of chips and things obviously shipped in from other countries which was cool. Once I walked over to look at their menu on the TVs above the work area, I noticed that it didn't have any prices, and the glass case of pastries didn't either... which was annoying. So, I abandoned looking at the menu to go to their ordering station/screen so I could see the prices. Most things had images to go with them, which helps a lot, but while the boba prices were okay - the food prices were definitely more than I expected. I was determined to get Banh Mi, so I paid the $16 and crossed my fingers it was a decent size for that price. I also got a boba. The screen gave me an order number to listen for, but I forgot it and instead caught eyes with the staff each time an item of my order was ready, got up from my seat with friends twice rather than once. The Banh Mi sandwich was unfortunately smaller than I had hoped, but there was more meat in it than other places I had been - somewhat making up for it. But if you know Banh Mi, it's best made with some nice savory/sweet meat, but is mostly pickled veggies and fresh herbs on an airy baguette. I can somewhat understand the higher price due to the added meat, but it just wasn't a version I enjoyed (best I’ve found is Banh Mi & Bubble Tea in Cranston, RI). What was worrisome, though, was how the sandwich was wrapped in wax paper, then foil wrap, and then sliced in half - I think the knife used is serrated or something because tiny bits of foil attached to the sandwich (you can even see them on a photo uploaded by "oishii uwu") and I only noticed it after eating the first half. I was able to confidently pick off the bits I found on the second half, but I hope they see this review and look at that. I thought the boba was good for most people, but I've had better (Minn Cha in Groton). It's hard to get tapioca pearls to the "perfect" level of softness and hard to find ones that have a nice sweetness to them, and I wasn't impressed here. As for the size of the boba cups, the woman who pointed it out must not understand how the strong taper of the cup effects the volume of product inside. When you take that into account, it's an average amount as others. They don't do the plastic over the top where you use your straw to pop into it, they have special tops for these tall cups that have their own straw hole cap which I don't find especially useful but others might. The business is seemingly directly associated with Tuskers across the street which helps the prices make more sense since Tuskers is a higher-end louge setting. I don't think I'll be back unless the prices on the food come down, Sift in Niantic and other locations has better prices for...

Extremely pricey drinks. The prices are not mentioned anywhere in the menu which is on display. Slushies are 9.95, Milk shakes are 12$.

They took very very long time to take orders and messed up two items. The waitress was very rude. I ordered a Capuchino, they gave an Americano. Then while replacing the debunk she kept asking me they asked me how sweet I want it (multiple times) and I got confused because generally capuchino is served without sugar. Then the server got very frustrated with me and said that they have a syrup which they use to sweeten and I have to tell them my level less regular or sweet. She then tried to communicate that there is sugar on the counter if I want to sweeten it myself which was the basic explanation that I was looking for. As this is slightly different from normal cafes where your lattes and cappuchinos are not sweetened by default, this should be communicated politely and in clear English language to the customers.

At no point did I raise my voice or loose my cool because I understand big group orders can be overwhelming.

It took extremely long to get our drinks.

Never...

Its a nice place. Good food, a good place to get quiet cup of coffee or a lunch. Most of the food items are not very kid friendly. I would try somewhere else if you have a picky eater of a toddler. The grilled chicken was very good tho. I had the lion gryon (im pretty sure its spelled incorrectly). Its a 'spicy' beef, cabbage, egg, and rice bowl. Ill include the photo of it. It was very tasty. But not spicy at all. There was basically no heat. But it was seasoned very well. You gotta try the strawberry jello they have!! That's...