Lilian

Really enjoyed the food here. Lots of options. Not just the pasta and pizza but amazing Steaks. Some great veg options too. I've never been the biggest fan of eggplant. But loved that dish. Wait staff were very knowledgeable and helpful too and provided us with a great experience.

Food, service, atmosphere, 5 stars across the board, could not fault the experience. Woodfired bread was amazing, like a cross between Naan and a Pita pocket, substantial and tasty, and perfect to soak up the Anchovie Butter and Chicken Liver Parfait. We had the grilled octopus as well which was beautifully cooked with a lovely char while still tender in the middle. Along with 2 beers the bill was bang on $100 and we were not hungry when we left so its good value for food of this quality, can't wait to go back

Lilian provides a cozy ambience with excellent service. Lilian is primarily walk-in; however, there are a few local bars nearby where you can wait at while a table is getting ready. Have come here multiple times and have throughly enjoy the changing menu items. In particular the octopus, market fish and duck breast have been excellent. I would recommend ordering multiple different dishes and sharing amongst your group if possible.

Overall, this is a long, honest review because we absolutely loved the food, yet the total Lilian experience feels like it doesn't quite know what it wants to be yet; stuck somewhere in the middle between casual and fine dining and because of that, it's hard to know if we'd go out of our way to come back. So, I'm honestly having a hard time finding a representative number rating based on how we feel because we talked about it a lot; I'd say overall 3.5 if I could. To start with the good, the woodfire pork sausage pizza was without a doubt one of the bestngourmet pizzas we've ever had and if we were to come back, it'd definitely be for that. The grilled octopus was also surprisingly great because unlike every other one I've ever had in various countries, this one wasn't tough and chewy so was pleasantly surprising. Cocktails were also very unique and very tasty too, so from all the food side, 5/5 for sure and I can see why there was heaps of people walking in trying to get a table. But the points of contention we had were mainly about the overall atmosphere and service experience in that when we compare the price to dining experiences at similar high-end / boutique restaurants, what they have is that extra touch. The tables could have a little more uniqueness to them. The outside seating could have something to make it more visually appealing than what feels like any other bar with seating basically on the sidewalk looking at the street (eg fairy lights wrapped around the poles alone could do wonders for the aesthetics, something like that to make the outside seating feel more inclusive and special). Then at similar calibre places, when you're given a variety of dishes, you usually get new plates bc like after eating grilled peaches with ricotta followed by octopus, I really don't then want to use that same plate for pizza too and have all these unique flavours mixed together. The last note is that whilst the servers were VERY nice, it still just felt very casual and disconnected between how everyone was dressed as if it was no different for a cafe, yet you'd never be spending $200 on a two person date night meal at a cafe. Then the toilets and inside seating have almost like a rustic appeal, but I wonder if this was more unintentional than intentional (bc like whilst the bathroom sink looks rusticly special, the toilets and doors do not).

Highly recommend booking in advance as restaurant itself is small ! Food is really really good, recommend the wood fire bread with burrata and the lamb ribs. The prosciutto pizza was very salty despite having the grapes to offset it. The Cosmo drink was very interesting, loved the hint of chilli, apple and basil. Overall, come here with a group of friends so you can try all the delicious dishes.