L.May Eatery

Great place! One of my favorite restaurants in Dubuque. I have been impressed with the food and service at every visit. I have ventured around their menu without disappointment. Also, if you see their pizza oven at a local street festival or event do yourself a favor and stop by!

We celebrate all of our special occasions at this restaurant. The service is top notch. The owners really know what the public wants. I’ve never had a bad meal here.

Best people n food in Dubuque!!! Great place for Christmas parties and getting together with friends. Super chill n friendly environment. Lea, EJ, n their staff rock!!! Enjoy!

Another miss last night. Pizza with only a suggestion of meat and my husband’s meal was just average.

Even after 5 years since discovering it, L. May continues to be one of mine and my wife’s favorite restaurants. We’re still an hour and a half away, and it’s still worth the drive.
The Filet Mignon is still my favorite hands down over any other restaurant, including some of the $ 50 – 100 a plate places I’ve been to in Vegas, Chicago, Madison, etc. And it’s $ 25 like it was 5 years ago. Every bite tastes like candy, with a fantastic balance of proper cooking, melted butter, and the blend of delicious mashed potatoes and asparagus that comes along with it.
I think what separates them from other restaurants I’ve been to is the attention to the small things. Great ambiance — nice comfortable lighting, soft and relaxing music at an agreeable volume, earthy décor, and warm attitudes. I’ve been 5 – 6 times over the years and they never fail to nail these important aspects of a great restaurant experience.
On this last visit we tried the small Chicken Pesto pizza for a shared appetizer. It was plenty to share and had a nice light taste that didn’t spoil our main courses. We also later indulged in the chocolate brownie with ice cream which had the pleasure sensors in my brain doing backflips. As for drinks, my wife had a martini with blue cheese olives and a glass of one of their Zinfandel’s and was very pleased.
Service was warm and friendly with pleasant conversation and helpful suggestions. The hostess also came by a few times as usual to make sure we were doing alright. On several of our trips they’ve been very busy and wait times can be up there, but it wasn’t the case this time around and its never been too unreasonable.
Bottom line, L. May is a slam dunk and should be on your immediate shortlist.

The food tasted great but they are missing the boat b a few things that could make it a really great place. For the price of the food the staff should be better dressed, not wearing L’May t-​shirts. (dinner for 2 with one round of drinks, and a cheese board and nice tip was $ 90.00)
They charge more if you use a gift card, I’ve never heard of that.
They use butcher paper as table cloths, not very nice.
The service was very good.
Seating on the side with the big bench/​booth is not very nice. It is not good for having a more private romantic dinner, you can hear everyones conversation.

Great food, yummy cocktails and scrumptious dessert!
Our server was great. We had the new fall menu. Scallops and Chilean sea bass. Pumpkin margarita, Moscow mule and brownie for dessert. There was a kids menu with great cheese pizza. Nice outdoor seating.

Too expensive. A price which deserves a much more decent dinner. However all of my friends didn’t even have enough food with more than $ 30 each. And the Seabass is fine. But too salty.

The one word that comes to mind when describing our LMay experience: disastrous.
We chose LMay to celebrate three birthdays in our party of eight adults. The fact that it took several minutes to get the hostess’s attention and take us to our table was the first indication that the level of service would be sub-​par. However, no one could have foreseen what happened next: not two minutes after being seated and waiting to place our drink orders a bus boy dumped an ENTIRE GLASS OF ICE WATER on my mother’s lap. I’m not talking about a small table spill with a little bit of run off — I mean a full glass of icy cold water directly into her lap!
Now, I have enough friends in the service industry to know that accidents happen, and lucky for this bus boy my mother is an extremely even-​tempered person. However, the response, or lack thereof, from our server and the management was a joke. The bus boy, horrified, apologized profusely and made a weak attempt to lighten the mood with some ill-​timed humor. Meanwhile, our server’s solution was to simply dump a pile of napkins on my mother and proceed like nothing happened. In this situation the first thing the bus boy or server should have done was inform management, who should have addressed the incident with my mother personally. Instead, my mother was forced to sit through dinner soaking wet with a pile of napkins beside her. My entire party was left in a state somewhere between dumbfounded and disbelief for the remainder of our meal. We finally said something to our server about it when our check was brought out, and eventually the manager came over, made a somewhat flippant apology, and comp’d my mother’s meal.
Besides the ice-​water incident, I found the entrees middling in both quality of taste and presentation, did not care for the «communal» side salads, and was wholly unimpressed with our server’s lack of attention (especially after being told/​acknowledging our request for three checks and then, after lumping everything into one, shrugging and stating that they don’t split checks for parties of our size. Why she didn’t state that after we made multiple comments regarding who’s food/​drink was with which party I cannot understand. I ended up splitting it for her since she was so flustered by the end). I think the only redeeming quality was the space itself, which I thought (other than the tacky fake candle light) was beautifully decorated. Maybe Chicago has spoiled me but, drama-​aside, I was underwhelmed by the whole experience. I believe the Dubuque/​Galena area has other superior options in the same price range.
We will not be going back.

We found L. May for our first anniversary and it was amazing. We started with a complimentary champagne toast and the roasted stuffed poblano peppers. Which were incredible. I had the cashew chicken. The chicken is organically raised at a lock farm and so tender could cut with a fork. My husband had the delicious veal and we finished with the fudge brownie with ice cream. The interior and atmosphere were perfect and the service great. Highly recommend should anyone find themselves in Dubuque looking for a wonderful place to celebrate or just have an amazing meal!

As current Twin Cities resident, who was born and raised in SW Wisconsin, I was so pleased to find L. May so close to home!
We had reservations at 8:30 pm on Friday night, but arrived a little late. The hostess seated us without issue and mention of our lateness in their cozy dining room.
We started off with some cocktails– I had the Iowa-​Fashioned which was their take on an Old Fashioned. It was refreshing and I enjoyed sipping it throughout the night.
We started with the savory french toast as an appetizer. Our entire party loved all aspects of this dish, the chutney, the goat cheese and of course the french toast. We were all talking about how we could attempt to recreate this dish at home.
For our entrees, we had two surf and turf specials and one filet. The steaks were cooked to perfection and had wonderful flavors. When our waitress read the specials, we were told that we would be getting two jumbo shrimp. We were pleasantly surprised to find three large shrimp once our meal arrived at the table. Our waitress informed us that the chef didn’t think the two shrimp alone were large enough to be served, so they added a 3^rd. LOVE IT! I thought the shrimp were slightly overcooked, but that was the only minor flaw in our experience.
The service was professional, present and personable.
I can’t wait to return!
*Tip: Don’t bypass the bread. It’s made in house and served with some BOMB pepper butter.

I LOVE this place so much I can’t wait to go back to Dubuque! This restaurant is super cute and inviting, and the food we tried was outstanding! Impressive wine list. Stellar cocktails. Something for everyone on the menu. Great wait staff. Order a modern relish tray and a glass of wine and you will be in such a happy place that if you don’t already live in Dubuque you may want to move there.

I’ve looked forward to a visit since you opened, but have bypassed on many days and evenings through Dubuque. I finally gave your lunch a try on my way from Milwaukee to Cedar Rapids. The time was right, the weather, the season, etc. But, not the food. I ordered $ 20 worth of a salad and pizza to get the full experience. Salad with buttermilk dressing was blah. Like a salad drenched in milk. No flavor. The pizza was supposedly award winning, but tasted worse than a Totino’s frozen pizza. Stick to dinners? Might be back. You’re great marketers though.

I love trying new restaurants in cities I’ve never explored and L. May did not let me down! We ate outside on the gorgeous patio in the perfect weather. I ordered the special — a roasted turkey sandwich with pesto, roasted tomato and spinach, side of roasted sweet potatoes. The food was fresh and delicious, plus I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I can’t wait to come back and try a pizza!

Salmon with Blueberry Ginger Sauce was amazing– it was a special but coming out on their current menu is what our waitress told us. With Quinoa and a salad with the nicest vinaigrette I have tasted in a long time. Amazing and we just ordered waters but were well cared for!

Hubs and I dined here for the first time on a Sunday night. The place was buzzing!
We were back in Dubuque celebrating our anniversary. My husband chose the restaurant based on Unilocal reviews and word of mouth.
L. May didn’t disappoint. We ordered the bruschetta as an appetizer. Delicious. Salad and bread w/​red pepper butter followed the appetizer. Delicious. Hubs ordered the filet mignon and I ordered the sweet potato hash. Hubs loved his meal, but I was a little underwhelmed with mine. I’m a vegetarian, so there were very few meat-​free items on the menu. Most of the patrons appeared to be eating pizza, but there weren’t even any vegetarian pizza options. I debated between the mac ‘n cheese and sweet potatoes. I chose the healthier option, so maybe that’s why I was slightly disappointed.
Apple crisp for dessert made up for my main course. Drinks were tasty and strong!
Our server, Mary Kay, was super friendly and attentive. All of the waitstaff was friendly and there was always someone available to clear plates and refill glasses.
We spent $ 105 on drinks, an appetizer, 2 main courses, dessert and tip. It was definitely a splurge for us, but well worth it.
Highly recommend L. May Eatery!

What a wonderful treasure here in Dubuque! Our meal started with a green salad with a Parmesan garlic vinaigrette dressing. We have finally found a filet mignon that is quality in taste and texture! It has a perfectly crisp outer texture and melt-​in-​your-​mouth inside and topped with a Caesar butter. It was served with real red mashed potatoes and perfectly steamed asparagus. Homemade stoned wheat bread (super soft and warm) with red pepper butter was served as well. For dessert, we had a delicious apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream. Many say the prices are high but I’ve paid twice the price for an equivalent steak elsewhere. They also have lower priced items. We will definitely be returning.

Solidly average to below average experience.
The drinks were terrible. We ordered the holiday margarita, the Italian 76, and a Manhattan that were all awful. They all tasted like water. We sent two of them back and the re-​dos were improved but still tasted watered down. I’ve never had such weak and flavorless cocktails.
The food, though, was good. We really enjoyed the caprese pizza– the thin crust was great, the basil was fresh, and the mozzarella was creamy and chewy like it should be. We also enjoyed the lobster lasagna (though beware: it is crazy rich) which had a healthy helping of lobster inside, as well as the maple-​glazed salmon (the lemon mashed potatoes were the highlight, though, of the plate!)
Overall, I wouldn’t go back here really except for the pizza… and there’s got to be somewhere equally good to get pizza in Dubuque. Right?

So disappointing! Our party arrived a couple of minutes early for our 7:00 pm reservation on a Saturday night. Happily we were greeted and our table was ready. The restaurant was very busy so I thought this a very good omen for the evening but I was wrong.
We began our evening by ordering some cocktails. I ordered the Holiday Margarita. I asked the waitress if it was good and she responded by saying yes and that the bartender was a very talented mixologist. Our drinks arrived and three of the four were downright bad. We sent two of them back to be redone but really should have sent all three. The one we didn’t send back was my holiday margarita and it was left glass full. All of the three bad drinks tasted like there was no alcohol what so ever. The holiday margarita basically tasted like water and salt/​Yuck.
The entrees arrived and I had ordered the lobster lasagna. While my daughter ordered the same dish and liked it, I found it bland, lacking in depth of flavor and overall too rich without any good reason. The husband had the grilled trout and it was fine but not imaginative in any sense.
I was so disappointed that even though I was still hungry (the husband ended up eating both my dish and his) I wouldn’t give this another shot or any more of our money by gambling on a dessert.

My wife and I really like this place. Interesting menu selections. Elegant atmosphere and mixed attire.
This is our favorite restaurant in Dubuque