Lavender Bistro

Our server was attentive and other staff ensured we had water and watched to ensure all was well. My sea bass with soy sauce and rice was delicious. However, my friend's flat iron steak wasn't served medium, as ordered, plus it was rather tough. The staff came right away and were nice about replacing it with something else. My Manhattan served 'up' was fabulous. A basket of warm, delicious bread with perfectly soft butter was brought to our table with our cocktails.

This bistro is tucked away in an unassuming area that almost makes you think you are in the wrong spot if it wasn’t for GPS. The outdoor patio area definitely gave all the right vibes for a lovely evening and the ambiance was dead on. We had made our reservations for my birthday dinner and had expectations of seating more centrally located but we were put into a corner with chairs that wouldn’t stop rocking. We asked to move tables but they kept us in the corner and just moved one table over, chairs still rocked 🤷🏼‍♀️. We ordered the lavender martinis to stay with the theme and they were ok but the thick lemon rind looked off putting and clumsy with a thick rim of sugar that was unnecessary because the drink was sweet enough. Our mushroom soup we ordered was lovely and definitely had a great flavor. As for our entrées, they felt very mid-level and not to the caliber we expected for the price we were paying. Aesthetically very pleasing but there were missed opportunities for seasoning and flavoring. All in all, a nice evening but definitely areas that could use improvement for an enhanced experience.

We went here for our 36th anniversary. The restaurant is lovely and the service is top-notch. However, we felt like we were being processed, and there was little time to enjoy the ambiance. We were seated in the back corner of the property, and there was a drain with a grate close by. It had a bad smell to it, and it had a lot of flies flying around - rather annoying. The food was lovely but my duck was over cooked. I have to say the flies took away from our total enjoyment. We had a little gift and card wishing us a happy anniversary which we appreciated very much.

Really attractive restaurant w a beautiful outdoor setting. Our food was terrific, the service was a little off. No bread or water till we asked, server didn’t really check on us to refill wine, water, etc.

I love the atmosphere of the outdoor courtyard of this restaurant, but it was cold and we were seated inside, which is just not as classy. A lot of cheesy lavender paintings everywhere. Also they unfortunately they had very few gluten free options on their menu. We had the octopus, which did not taste fresh (it had a fishy taste), and the salad was rather bland. I also had some bites of the goat cheese salad, which was lovely. My favorite dish of the night. They were able to do the lamb gluten free without the pistachio crust, but it arrived cold. They came out quickly with a new one, and it was undercooked and overall the purple yams and green beans were also quite bland. Might have just been bad luck with our dietary restrictions, but I was overall really disappointed with the quality of the food which was too bad because it was our one big splurge night out on our trip.

The place was beautiful and the service was great. However the food was very underwhelming and the portion sizes were very small, especially for the price. We ended up spending $140 on two mains, sparkling water and one glass of wine, and we left hungry. The butternut squash risotto was bland. The lobster in the the lobster ravioli was rubbery and the plate was small. Atmosphere is beautiful and the live music was great but we will never come back.

Food is not worth the price. The atmosphere is nice, but the food was mediocre. Our starters came very quick and were cold which makes me think they have the food prepped and sitting there. It’s a very big restaurant, so I understand prep has to be done, but when you’re spending so much money on a dinner you’d expect better. I got the braised short ribs for dinner and it was ok. Nothing special (especially for the price). Gave mediocre country club vibes!

Got my filet mignon and my lamb order cooked at the wrong temps. Food taste was no better than frozen dinner. They checked in once for drinks, 72 for a steak? Yet I could get a much better steak at long horn, this steak wasn't even grass fed just generic usda, the atmosphere is great everything else was sub par, don't think I would come back. You're better off down the street at Enzo's or Fortun's kitchen and bar. Please get the food quality to match the price!

Lavender Bistro: Beautiful Setting, But a Shockingly Poor Dining Experience Over the past weeks we’ve reached out twice by email to the owner of Lavender and once by phone directly to the restaurant, but still haven’t received a response! I’m sharing our experience here to alert others… A big issue was the “ hidden water charge.” When seated, we were asked if we wanted “ sparkling water,” and we clearly said “just normal water.” Yet an extra charge appeared on our bill. When we questioned it, our waiter brought another server back to challenge us and she even pointed her finger at one of the ladies in our group, and loudly stated for all to here “she had ordered it”. After going back and forth, we learned that even though we’d asked for flat (tap) water, they charged extra because it was poured from a clay decanter—something never explained to us. It felt misleading and deceptive. Makes you wonder how many other diners actually noticed this “extra charge” on their bill. The food didn’t help—two halibut dishes were bland, and the pork chop was dry and overcooked. You expect far better when entrées are $55 and up. We were celebrating two birthdays. The handling of the desserts was equally disappointing—no acknowledgment, delayed service, and they still appeared on the bill. When we asked, the waiter he said Lavender’s policy was to only provide a free cookie for birthdays (which never did arrive)! Finally, after we paid—leaving a 17% tip, which was lower than our usual 25%, due to the poor service and the quality of food — Hard to imagine but the waiter literally followed us out into the bar area as we we’re heading for the front door and loudly asked if we were “satisfied with the meal,” apparently unhappy with the tip although very aware, we were unhappy with the entire experience. It was awkward, unprofessional, and the worst possible way to end an evening. We tried to handle this privately — emailing the owner twice, with an additional email to the restaurant and later a follow up phone call — but after weeks with no response, we felt it was only fair to share our experience so others are aware. Beautiful place. Terrible management, poor communication, and disappointing food. We won’t be back.

We were greeted warmly by the host team, but the experience declined immediately after being seated. Our server never properly greeted us and incorrectly assumed we didn’t need a cocktail menu because I brought a bottle of wine (I’m a certified sommelier working in fine dining). We did want cocktails—and unfortunately, when they arrived, they were rancid and undrinkable. No one checked on them. My wine was poured into a glass that smelled like dirty socks. When I asked for a clean glass, the request was met with visible annoyance. Despite paying a significant corkage fee, service deteriorated to the point where I was pouring my own wine. We were aggressively rushed to order—asked roughly five times within four minutes. The steak tartare was not fresh, overwhelmingly mustard-forward, and poorly balanced. The Caesar salad was fine, but unremarkable. The pork chop, recommended medium, arrived in about five minutes and was badly overcooked, dry, and inedible. After waiting over 10 minutes for a check-in, we were told the kitchen had already closed and were offered a box instead. We asked for the dish to be removed from the bill. This felt like another case of younger guests being treated dismissively. Having spent years in fine dining, this was a deeply disappointing and frankly embarrassing hospitality experience. Ambiance alone cannot make up for poor service and careless execution.