Lilly's Café — Restaurant in New Orleans

High Hopes, Subtle Issues – Feedback from a Longtime Pho Fan:

I rarely write critical reviews, but I felt it was worth sharing this experience in case it’s helpful.

Lily’s Café has a great reputation (4.7 rating!), and I came in with high expectations. I ordered pho with no jalapeños and extra condensed milk in my Vietnamese coffee. Unfortunately, both requests were overlooked. Not a huge issue on its own, but it made the experience feel a bit rushed or inattentive.

The bigger concern was the broth—it had a slight sourness that suggested the very early stages of turning. It’s a subtle flavor change that most people might not notice, but for those familiar with pho, it stands out. I mentioned it to one of the owners (a man who took my order) and even invited him to taste it, but he didn’t respond. When I asked to take it to go, the other owner—a woman—kindly helped and explained that the pho had been cooked the night before. I completely understood—sourness doesn’t necessarily mean it’s old. Even fresh pho can sour if stored while still hot, which is something anyone familiar with pho preparation would recognize.

This isn’t meant as a harsh critique—just honest feedback from someone who was genuinely looking forward to the meal. With such a great reputation, I trust this was just an off day. Still, I hope this encourages a bit more care in how orders are handled and how the broth is stored...

I recently visited Lilly's Cafe with my family for lunch, and while the restaurant had a cute and lovely atmosphere and was clean, the experience left much to be desired. We ordered Crispy egg rolls, Pho, and Rice with pork, as well as Thai ice tea and Vietnamese ice coffee. Unfortunately, the crispy egg rolls were a major disappointment, as they had a bad smell, and the owner was not accommodating when I raised my concerns. While the Pho was good and the Rice with pork was okay, they were not particularly delicious, and the ice tea and coffee were overly sweet and not to our liking.

To make matters worse, when I asked for a to-go cup, the server gave me a styrofoam cup instead of a regular transparent cup I had seen next to the register. When I asked the owner for the regular cup, he was dismissive of my request and insisted that the small styrofoam cup was enough. However, shortly after leaving the restaurant, the coffee spilled onto my white shirt and skirt, which was frustrating and showed a lack of attention to customer needs.

Overall, while there were some positives about our experience at Lilly's Cafe, the issues with the food quality and service left us disappointed. If you're looking for a Vietnamese restaurant, I would recommend trying other options...

I was surprised that Lily's cafe has such high ratings. The food was mediocre. I got the pho combo and "grilled" beef banh mi. The meat was in fact not grilled (more like sauteed). The banh mi needs a different marinade, fattier type of beef, and a larger filling to bread ratio. The beef tasted dry and very peppery. The pho needs different cuts of meat like fattier brisket and better quality meatballs. The meatballs tasted like they were frozen and absorbed other flavors of whatever was in the freezer. The brisket needs a fattier cut because it was extremely dry. The thinly sliced beef was good. I was sad that they advertised their place as "authentic" because the soup didn't have any tendons or the bones in the soup that have super tender meat on them. Also they're missing Thai basil as one of the garnishes. The search continues to find a good pho place in the NOLA area. There have been some in the past but they closed during the pandemic. It seems that I have to venture to the east and west bank, Metairie, or Kenner. Also, If anyone finds a place close by for authentic/good banh mi dac biet please let me know.

TL;DR: Better pho and banh mi elsewhere....