rev:text
| - Potential = 5 *****
Reality = 3 ***
Oh how Lily's has potential!! A great bistro location including outside quaint tables. The inside decor totally fits the Italian or NY bistro vibe. The menu goes well beyond the typical Italians restaurants spattered throughout the South, with definite signs of creativity and ancestry. But that where the 5* stops. We arrived on time after calling for a reservation with our party of 5 to find there were no tables available. After a some time a booth opened and was offered placing one of our guests smack in the middle of the main aisle. While waiting for the booth to be set up we ordered cocktails. Sorry but a mojito is not made with Gin! A negroni, which is on the specialty cocktail list, is not served in a tall glass, has a couple of dashes of bitters and a burnt orange peel. All sangria, red or white, is served chilled and/or over ice. For the food, the menu offered tremendous promise. However, the butternut squash soup was overly sweet, almost caramel burnt like. The calamari came out tepid at best, in a conjoined clump. The caprese salad looked great but it obviously was the wrong time of year for tomatoes. The entrees were good but just missing the extra something or in the case of the fish special had too much something, salt. It was almost uneatable. The others were either over salted or under seasoned. I hope this was a bad night because the area so needs a place exactly like Lily's has the potential to be.
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