Lillie's At The Culver - Culver City

The "short-staffed" excuse works to some extent, but when no one is actively working, forgetting our drinks multiple times is unacceptable (though they did remove those from the bill). If you're a manager and you're removing drinks from the check, shouldn't you also be stepping in to assist your team? Having worked in hospitality for over two decades, I see being short-staffed as an opportunity to excel and earn better tips, but there was a noticeable lack of teamwork and urgency this time around. Receiving just one cocktail during a brunch and not being offered more was disappointing—it's almost like leaving money on the table. My friend and I opted to pay in cash so we could leave quicker, but after two hours for just two courses and one drink that took 47 minutes to arrive, come on, guys!

My friend and I had an amazing experience at Lillie's. We would absolutely return.

I am quite disappointed with the food and, in particular, the service. This is my first time feeling let down at this restaurant, as it has typically been very good.

I enjoy eating in the lobby of the hotel and people watching. The afternoon tea was delicious and my guest had such a relaxing experience.

We were first seated in an almost empty lobby within inches of a couple. When we asked about a number of different open tables we were told that they’d either been reserved by request or not available because they were for hotel guests. Strange. Our first server didn’t know what she was doing and didn’t write anything down. We ordered two drinks, steak and frites and the crudo. Our waitress didn’t know that frites were fries-she thought they were mashed potatoes (NBD). Our food arrived well before drinks even though the place was almost empty. When the waitress saw this she said that the bartender was in the basement looking for ingredients for my drink (vodka Ricky: vodka, ice, lime, simple syrup and soda). I’m not sure what they’d be missing from a bar from that list, but ok… Except what I received was whisky with soda and bitters… Eventually I did receive a drink but not what I ordered. Our waitress was replaced by Jessie and Alejandro. Both gave excellent service. To make up for this lack of quality in our initial experience we were offered a free dessert and accidentally received two. As we were leaving I met some friends and stopped by the bar to buy them champagne on me. What happened next explained a lot about my drink order debacle: 3 bartenders couldn’t identify a single bottle of champagne nor could they identify what to offer me instead. The staff clearly needs training here. We’d intended on a long evening of cocktails after dinner but decided to go to the bar down the street instead.