Cecil and Lime — Restaurant in Springfield

This is the second time I've had to give an establishment lower than four stars. I want to be fair here. If I don't like a restaurant, I just don't review it usually. To be fair to Cecil and Lime the Lamb Chops and Caesar Salad were excellent, but that is where the flattery stops and I had to really think before judging.

I went on a Saturday night for a date after a Candle Light Orchestra concert. We called and the receptionist was very friendly when taking the reservation. Upon arriving the outdoor and indoor decor did not match the prices that were being charged. Everything is ala carte first the dishes I did not care for.

The bruschetta was $9 and had the taste and appearance of a $2 loaf of Italian bread cut up and lightly toasted. Tomatoes were from a generic can and had Kroger crumbled Parmesan that you put on a cheap midweek spaghetti dinner to feed a family of five. "Do not get this dish" it's not how properly made bruschetta from a restaurant should be.

The $32 steak was a Ribeye and it was flavorful but tough. My date was unimpressed and disappointed as steak is what she wanted.

The $38 Rack Of Lamb- I have to say this dish was divine. I extremely liked it and it was the saving grace for this dining experience.

Service started okay. However we were left for a long period of time after we received our drinks and during and after the meal. The waitress was friendly but very inattentive.

The ambience was semi nicely decorated. But you could tell this was a gutted double wide modular home that was then priced together to try and play Springfield's high end establishment. Paisley Curtains everywhere, houseplants, a makeshift bar, and creaking floors did not help this reviewer.

For this lack luster eating experience the total came too $125. the gratuity was cash. No I did not cheat. The waitress received 20%.

I wanted to love this place, and find a gem in in this city. However when the prices,service and ambience don't match I can't in good conscious tell anyone to eat here.

I have dined in a lot of high end and mom and pop restaurants. I could not in good conscious give this a two because of the Lamb. That again was the only...

The Entrance and first impression:

Wife and I tried this place today. Was just a random stop. Knew nothing about this restaurant. Employees were SUPER friendly. Soon as we walked in we could tell we were under dressed. T-shirts, shorts and flip flops. Everyone else was nicely dressed. Even seen Porches in the parking lot (yes, seen several fancy cars in the lot). Yet, We didn't get treated any different. The atmosphere had a "higher class" feel to it. First thing we seen was a man on a white piano playing with another guy singing. Nice thick white table cloths with black fancy folded handkerchiefs on the plate next to a salad and dinner fork. (Pinkies up people!!) Our waitress was a sweetheart. We told her we've never been there. She took the time to explain the menu, how their pricing worked, recommended foods ect. We sat outside in the covered patio area. It was getting later and the lighting came on. My wife loved the night air and the lighting. We ordered steaks and had a salad. This place is "Ala-cart". No bundle deals. Everything is separate, yes even salads. My wife is in a wheel chair with a service dog. They didn't give us any grief and accommodated us with a friendly smile.

The food:

The salad had a good flavor to it. We ordered steaks (Ribeye) medium well. The steaks were cooked well and had a nice flavor to them. No A1 sauce needed. She had a strawberry margarita and said it was very good! I don't drink, so I don't know. I would rank it almost as good as Texas Roadhouse.

Other customers:

Other customers inside were extremely nice. One lady came over and talked to us for a bit. She was so friendly. I'm not use to this and it added a calm peaceful mood.

The Pricing:

Defiantly not a place you could eat at daily unless you got some extra cash. As the pricing and Ala-Cart style ordering makes each meal rather expensive.

Overall:

Overall. I was surprised and enjoyed my experience here. I would recommend it if your looking for a nice place to take a date or just want a fancier place than McDonalds.

Would I...

We ate at Cecil & Lime last evening for our Christmas Celebration with close friends. We have always loved the food in the past and left not much more than the bone from our Tomahawk Ribeyes.

This year things have changed and we as a group have decided we won’t be back. For 2 people who had an appetizer, salad, ribeye and 1 other side item; drinking only water our bill was $111 with gratuity $20 and tax came to $141. An expensive dinner without drinks, but worth it in the past. Last night however was a huge difference for us.

The ribeye was not the Tomahawk, but that was fine. The part that made the decision not to return is the quality of meat we got. At least a fourth of my ribeye was un-chewable gristle that was left on the plate. While what I ate was ok, it was not great like years past. Our group decided that the quality of food this time was below what we could have gotten at LoneStar.

No doubt recent times have made everyone make decisions based on financial reasons. We were still willing to pay for what we expected would be great food. When what we got was far below what he have gotten there in the past we were shocked. We discussed this point as a group before even leaving and made our decision not to return before we finished talking and left. If I could offer anything to the owner I would say; Not just any steak made your reputation! What you have now will only keep the friends of family returning, and that is not likely to keep you open for years to come.

Signed, Very...