Lilac

I have been here twice for dinner and once for brunch. All 3 times, the food has been excellent. There menu is always evolving, and includes very flavorful and creative dishes such as scallop ceviche with blood oranges, wild boar, rosemary ginger sausage, and homemade donuts with coffee ice cream. The service is timely, friendly, and professional. This place is above and beyond some of the best food in Billings.

We are pretty much the only ones here. Been waiting a half an hour for our food. The staff is busy talking to each other. Not my idea of a fine dining experience.

Possibly the best restaurant in Montana. Innovative, delectable, great service, great wine, great prices. Sunday Brunch needs to be a weekly occurrence in my life.

Hands down my favorite place I’ve been in Billings. The service was good, it is a great location– especially if you are art walking after. They are mostly farm to table small plates. The food was excellent– I’m sure you’ve already read try the gnocchi– and the ambiance was great.

One of top 2 restaurants in Billings. He’s a genius. Menu constantly changes but the classics remain. We always look forward to the creative appetizers. Friendly, knowledgable staff and professional service. Chef Jeremy often walks around to visit. One of the only places we will say yes to dessert-​no matter how full we are. Raspberry toffee with earl grey ice cream is unbelievable.

Normally very good, but total loss today. They were out of fried chicken brunch so I ordered duck confit hash. It arrived looking like duck slop soup. Waiter never came back to check in or refill coffee. When he finally came, to collect payment, I gave him feedback that the dish was pretty bad. He said «huh» and went back to what he was doing. Waste of money and time. I hope this place isn’t going downhill.

Nice place. I enjoyed my meal… As well as the two people I was with, however they did not like it. The lamb wasn’t the best I have had, the ribs where a little overdone for me, but none the less a place to try!

This was amazing. I had the pork loin with masa spaetzle. It was done perfectly and tasted awesome. The service as friendly and I really enjoyed my time there. Had the sticky toffee pudding for dessert and it was very good. I highly recommend it.

I loved lilac. Much, much more shockingly, my boyfriend really liked lilac. I have spent so much time and money and emotional energy looking for a restaurant that does this sort of food well, and I always leave disappointed. My boyfriend bet me that it would be bad, «Mark my words» etc, and I finally got to be the one who was right! Lilac provided the delicate, fancy, tiny bowls of delicious I’d been longing for. We had the grilled caesar, braised short rib and the sticky toffee pudding. All awesome. The sticky toffee pudding was probably the best dessert I’ve had in years, honestly. We didn’t order more because of the aforementioned constant failure of other restaurants like this, trying to hedge our bets, but i wish now that we had. Will make a special trip here if we are ever even remotely near here again.

Good food, but overpriced which is why it rates 3 stars. For what ends up being $ 40+/plate for three courses, I expect something tastier, though the presentation is definitely in the $ 40 range. They get props for buying local.
Beware vegetarians, the veggie game is poor here, unless there is something off menu I don’t know about.

Lilac was a nice find in Billings. Here’s what was great (5 stars), the wine. I appreciate getting a good bottle of wine at a fair price. Their multiplier was about 1.5X which is about as good as you’ll find anywhere. Thanks for not making me pay $ 60 for a $ 15-​$ 20 bottle.
The main course (Beef Short Ribs & Gnocchi) was very good (4 stars). The beef had a great flavor. The gnocchi was maybe a little dense & under seasoned when eaten individually but with the beef it was a perfect bite; rich & tasty. The portion for the price was a bit skimpy but I left full so no major complaints.
The salad was ok (3 stars). I had the charred Caesar and the bottom of the romaine lettuce was charred but the top (leafy portion) was just soggy because apparently the heat wasn’t high enough to char them so they wilted. The flavor of the dressing was good. Excellent concept, just in this particular instance the execution was a little weak.
The ambiance of the restaurant is nice, the bread was good, I’ll definitely come back. This is a solid 4 star restaurant in my book. Increase the portion size a little bit and fix the execution on the salad they’d be looking at 5 stars from me.
Thanks for a really nice meal.

We flew in from San Francisco and headed to this great reataurant with a friend that lived in town.
We loved it. Several draught beer choices. The homemade bread is served with a lemony butter.
The braised short rib with gnocchi is the best dish ever and would order again.
The asparagus appetizer was delicious, the pea agnolotti pasta dish with a Parmesan chicken broth was so flavorful.
The sticky toffee pudding with earl grey tea ice cream was wonderful.
We arrived after 8 and they let us chat until 10 even tho we were last ones in there, which was very sweet of them to not rush us and we could catch up with our friend we had not seen in 20 years!
(The chairs were a little tough to sit in for 2 hours, hard bottomed, we all were a bit stiff)

I can honestly say that this is the best food I’ve had in Billings! We stopped by and ordered multiple appetizers that we shared. (This is a great way to get an idea of the range of the chef) Our favorite, the beef tongue tacos, were great! Well worth ordering – but I’m a big fan of beef tongue. Our next favorite, the grilled asparagus, was perfectly cooked (just the right amount of firmness). The octopus was solid as was the pea & pasta soup. My least favorite dish was the cheese plate.(but it wasn’t bad) The selection of cheeses could use a bit more thought and maybe more of a focus on local cheese but considering that our least favorite cheese was the Montana cheese, maybe that isn’t an option.
If you are in Billings and are looking for some good food that is a little more upscale, Lilac is worth a visit!

Went for dinner & every dish was awesome! Got the fries as an appetizer & they were hot and plentiful! All 4 of us got a different dish so we could share them, and they were all amazing. We ordered all 3 desserts as well, and again, all were amazing. Make a reservation ahead of time to make sure you get a table & there is a parking lot in the alley behind, just in case you can’t find a spot!

This is a great restaurant. The food is consistently delicious. The chef always has creative offerings on the menu, both for brunch and dinner. The service is polite and professional, never overbearing, creating a relaxed atmosphere. Still, it’s a great place for special occasions, anniversaries, an important guest in town.
The Billings dining scene is up-​and-​coming, and we’re fortunate to have Lilac here, but it would be a successful, fantastic restaurant anywhere.

I stopped here before I needed to head to the airport to catch a flight out. I didn’t try the wine, as I don’t like drinking before flying so this review is solely about the entrée I ordered. I decided to try the braised short rib and was blown away by the flavor! The stew was rich with undertones of wine and onion. The gnocchi was amazing and the best I have ever had! It was evident they pan fried the gnocchi before putting it on the stew so it was crispy on the outside! Yum! The only thing I wish the dish had was more short rib, as it was sparse and it seemed the gnocchi was the star of the plate.
My server was knowledgeable and attentitive, there is top knotch service here!

Great small plate dishes. Great craft beers from Carters Brewery. It’s farm to table where possible.
DEFINITELY get the cheese plate.
The wait staff are awesome and super knowledgable about the food and drink.
It seems like their chef is emerging as the premier chef in Billings.

Great food and service. First time in Billings and I came here for brunch. Delicious Croque Madame. The mimosa menu looked awesome too– I’ll be getting one of those next time for sure.
I’ll definitely be back for brunch next time I’m in Billings!

Quaint little wine and tapas bar. Had a lovely family dinner here. Interesting small plates — the shrimp on curry pancake and spinach salad looked the best. The lamb was SO tender, wish it had come w/​at least a few veggies or potatoes on the side, though.
The standout was the wild boar stroganoff. Wow! Homemade noodles, amazing sauce, and chunks of smoky, tender boar. Wonderful, attentive service, too.

Great comfort food and good beer! What is better? I am from out of town so got the (semi) locally brewed huckleberry wheat beer to drink since apparently huckleberries are a thing here.
I skipped the appetizer so i could preemptively save room for dessert! So for my main course i got the braised short ribs and gnocchi. It was amazing comfort food wow. The waiter gave me extra bread to dip in the sauce, heavenn. The gnocchi are pan fried (i think) so they have a little more texture than just mushy which is what i usually expect from gnocchi. The short ribs fell apart and melted in my mouth.
For dessert i got the sticky toffee pudding which was nothing like i expected. It comes with Earl Grey ice cream! Like the tea! I love green tea ice cream so i was so pumped to try it. Was not disappointed at all. The pudding was actually more like a bread pudding with the ice cream on the side and two sauces on the plate to mix in. I was dying and ate the whole thing in pretty much under 5 minutes.
Lilac is a great place to eat in Billings!