LAMILL

Dining companions: Elana L and Jeremy L.

Date: 

Dining companions, Round 2: Antonella N, Emily A, Jen V, Chris C, and Chris B

Date: 4-15-09 (TAX DAY!!)

LAMILL was an expensive disappointment.

I usually try not to judge something by the first impression alone.  Truly.  I just went out on a second date with a guy we aptly nicknamed "CPK" because that's where he took me on the first date even though the date stunk.  The second date?  Cheesecake Factory.  But I digress...

Restaurants can have "off" nights.  I could have ordered the wrong thing.  So I try to go to a place twice or more before I review it.  I was disappointed both times I went to LAMILL.  

The first time I was very excited.  The website looked so cute and chic.  When I got there, the decor did not disappoint.  The food AND the service did.  I ordered a BLT made with pork belly instead of bacon.  How can you go wrong with pork belly?  The sandwich had virtually no flavor and was difficult to eat.  The waiter had to be contacted multiple times before bringing the cream for our coffee.  It's a coffee place.  You would think that the accompaniments to the coffee would be a priority.

The second time I went with trepidation.  This time I ended up paying $40 for soup, sandwich, 2 doughnut holes (we shared a dozen), and a lemonade.  Really???  First of all, some of the items are very small portions.  Emily ordered an egg dish that looked like a portion for a Barbie.  The steak salad came with the steak cold instead of hot.  This time I chose the jambon (ham) sandwich.  The flavor was lacking.  All I could taste was saltiness.  When you have a salty meat such as ham, you have to pick the cheese very carefully.  Together it was too much.

I also find it odd that in a nice restaurant you have to ask for olives and cippolini onions on the side of the sandwich.  It's free and you get three olives and one onion.  Why not just include it?  I also found it strange that the 8$ dozen brioche doughnut holes can be accompanied by a side of vanilla creme. But only for another 50 cents.  At that point, why charge?  Be a mensch!  (it's yiddish- google it).  Add it in for free.  The doughnut holes are much better with it.

I will say this for the place, they made a very nice lemonade that comes with large shards of lavender sugar in it.  The lavender is stuck in the sugar and it looks beautiful.  As the sugar melts into the lemonade the lavender release and ever so subtly flavor the drink.  

I guess you go to LAMILL for the coffee.  Well, I'm not a big coffee fan.  I like it, I love coffee candy, coffee ice cream, but frankly, I'm fine with plain old coffee.  So, the ethiopian hand picked conflict free coffee beans were wasted on me.  Give me a cup of Juan Valdez's finest and I'll be okay.