Lily's Seafood Grill & Brewery — Restaurant in Royal Oak

I really wanted to like this place after reading the reviews. But they missed the mark on my dinner of shrimp and scallops served scampi style. My dinner, while very generous with the seafood, was mediocre at best. The seafood came out in a deep bowl of heavy cream sauce. Scampi is a light sauce of butter, white wine, garlic and lemon. There is no cream. The potatoes were okay but presented as huge chunks. The vegetables were still crunchy yellow and zucchini squash and no added flavorings but red onion. The plate was overcrowded with no way to slice the large pieces of seafood and get them away from the heavy cream sauce. Dinner was edible but hardly delicious. And it was not what I was expecting by description. Outside ambiance is destroyed by loud traffic, ambulances and Amtrak and freight trains. Very hard to find peaceful. Service was good but rather than asking after dishes were cleared if we would like anything else the waitress just brought the check. All in all not a great experience. I stand by my review. Shrimp done "scampi" style as I requested from the menu is not a cream based dish. And if it is going to be done that way it should not be titled as scampi, nor should the seafood be swimming in a bowl of cream. I should not have to tell the kitchen how to cook this dish. Scampi has its own recipe known for ages. As far as vegetables, it's really hard to leave squash crunchy when served. It was simply not cooked long enough and with no herbs to season a very bland vegetable. Plating again is not my responsibility, but the kitchen's. You don't have to cut my potatoes. But you can tailor the presentation of the potatoes to fit the plate. One size potato cut in the kitchen for all dishes is not appropriate and speaks to the level of thought and care you give. If this is your dish, find a way to present it in a pleasing manner. And where service was concerned, the server decided when we were done. We didn't. Nothing good to be said there. Ambiance is only mentioned as a means for people to understand the full picture of this restaurant. No one is asking for it to change, but had I known of the noise here, I might have chosen differently for the evening's meal. A quiet night out on a beautiful summer evening with food prepared well it was not. I stand...

It was a Friday night, 6:45-ish, and our first two restaurant picks had 1-hour waits. We called Lily's and were told we had 15 minutes to get a table for 3 (wife, son, and myself) before they got busy.

We were there in 7.

In a nutshell we were super impressed. Service was quick and friendly (the waitress actually cleared plates from the table throughout the dinner), and the food was great. Lily's just moved up our list to #1 for our regular Friday night outings.

For appetizers we had the Creole soup and New England clam chowder. We would recommend both. I can't tell you for certain there's a hint of nutmeg in the chowder, but my wife is certain. I just thought it tasted fantastic.

For dinner we had blackened-cod fish tacos, the Hickory Charred Salmon w/ Tarragon Mustard (wife substituted garlic-sautéd spinach), and the North Shore Seafood Pasta.

All three dishes were great. I think I was the winner with the North Shore pasta. Shrimp, mussels, and scallops in a decadent white wine cream sauce. WOW. I was the only one that didn't have left-overs.

Having not been there in years, for dessert we ordered the beer-battered brownie with Ray's vanilla ice cream, whip cream, and a raspberry sauce we didn't intend to finish.

But we did. My only explanation is there were three of us and it was a really, really good.

We'll be visiting Lily's way more often.

Update 5/3/2024 Another great visit -- still surprised Lily's has such great chips and salsa.

Added pictures for the Garlicky Shrimp Scampi. It tasted terrific and we're glad it came with grilled bread because it's criminal to waste the sauce.

The New England Clam Chowder tasted terrific again. I recommend the kitchen stir the soup before serving to remove the skin that forms on top (you can see it in the picture). This happens at home, too, which is why I stir before serving guests.

The star of the Cesar salad was the sesame crusted chicken. The star of the show should have been the Cesar dressing, but the dressing lacked the personality that anchovies give bring. If you order it, I recommend asking for additional dressing...

11/22/24: I was actually searching for some good root beer, and reddit browsing brought me to this place.

It didn't take long for me to be seated on this Friday evening, as it was just me. The venue looked pretty nice(no pics (;_; )...) like "a pub on the docks" kinda feel. The maps on the tables are pretty cool too.

Ordered the calamari as a starter. Came out in reasonable time. t comes with pepperoncini and some kind of aioli sauce that was pretty good. It wasn't enough aioli sauce for me and probably should have gotten a cocktail sauce, but I wanted to eat the dish as it was on the menu. Nevertheless it tasted really good; the vinegary aspect of the pepperoncini with the tangy aioli and the sour lemon juice just matched very well together.

Root beer was just what I was looking for; not to sweet, just the right 'root beer' flavor without being over-carbonated. Waitress told me free refills after it was empty. Had to get another... SO GOOD!

Main dish was the salmon with potatoes and I think zucchini and//or squash(?). Absolutely fantastic! The sear was perfect. The salmon just fell apart in my mouth it was so good! Potatoes salted all the way through with a nice roasted skin on the exterior. Great dish through and through.

My waitress, Jennifer, was phenomenal! The salmon came out a bit undercooked(asked for medium well), and I was fine eating it that way, but she stopped by, and noticed it was a bit underdone, and suggested that she could send it back to be cooked a bit more. Don't have a picture, but my food was re-plated real nice, as if I ordered it again. That made my night =03. She would check on me at reasonable intervals, to make sure I had everything I needed. I really appreciate the attention to my needs, even if I wasn't vocal about them.

Highly recommend this place, and I definitely will...