Lilly’s On the Canal

Friends wanted to come here last night and I was a bit reluctant based on mixed reviews. However friend waxed so eloquently, decided we should try.
Wow not sure Lilly’s is only getting three stars. Based on the food, the service and the ambience it is definitely 5 stars to me. My pasta dish was excellent my wife also have a pasta and said the same. Our friends had pork dish and loved it. Our waiter was and potent formative helpful and yet not really intrusive. Great atmosphere and a great location. Only downside is seating is a bit tight. Other than that have a phenomenal evening

Great dinner option for an early Sunday evening. Amazing double cut pork chop with tender broccoli, pecans and sweet mashed potatoes. It’s BYOB which I love. so, I’ll certainly be back.

Bad service. Food was okay. Bill was almost $ 700 with BYOB for 12 folks (expensive as $ 55 each for a BYOB). It does not deserve a recommendation due to bad service management, although our waiter provided decent service.
Imagine if you ask for half of your uneaten filet mignon meal to be wrapped to-​go and it is never provided. Hence you inquire with the staff and they ask, «Would you like a dessert instead? «albeit at fifth of the price. Then you speak with the manager about this, only to get push back and a very tenuous conversation. I have worked in the restaurant business for over 15 years, hence I am astonished at the lack of customer service
In the end, we got a filet to-​go in a container. Really after a bill close to $ 700 and so much push back… suggest going someplace else for good service. Won’t be back.

Went with 12 friends for a post holiday dinner celebration. Location was very nice. Restaurant very pretty with a rain wall. Food was average and for the most part pretty bland. The appetizers were the best part — the eggplant fries were fabulous and the Brie was awesome as was the coconut shrimp. Our waiter was very good but when one of our ladies requested the remaining half of her dinner to go it was lost in the kitchen. Manager was most disappointing in not resolving the problem with any good solutions. Our waiter got the kitchen to cook another filet for her. Too bad everything else on her plate was lost and not replaced. She said the horseradish sauce was the best part. Things happen but it’s how those things are handled that make a difference. The tea selection was terrific. Forte! Sadly the coconut cake that was recommended was really dry. It was probably awesome last week. I doubt any of us will be back.

The service is ok. That’s the only reason this is a four star. The food is outstanding, and the place itself is beautiful. The peanut butter chocolate is the best dessert I’ve ever had. It is unbelievable.

Good service. Free parking. I had the strip steak. Loved the steak. The sautéed veggies needed to be cooked more. BYOB. All in all, worth it.

It was brought to my attention that someone indicated by a review that the cakes at Lilly’s On The Canal do not sell fast enough and are therefore stale. Being the baker there for the past 6 months I can personally assure, you that I make a minimum of 1 Skyscraper (5 layer) cake, 1 Chocolate PNB cake and 2 Coconut Dream cakes a week and that they are sold out by Sunday, because they are homemade with fresh ingredients, and delivered fresh. My integrity is my most precious possession and I do not compromise it under any circumstance! I many times get a call for an 111) extra cake because they do sell so quickly. I also provide Lilly’s with cakes for special events such as wedding rehearsal dinners and birthday dinners always following thru to see I’d the client was pleased or otherwise. I have always received rave reviews.
So please take it from me, Aliceann the baker that you can be sure that when you are served one of my cakes it will always be fresh and delicious. Thank you.

We are locals and have been to Lilly’s many times over the years. It has always been a charming setting and a so-​so menu.
Today my husband and I had a rare weekday to have lunch together and chose Lilly’s as a cute place for lunch. We could not have made a bigger mistake. Wish we had checked Unilocal to see all the one-​star reviews.
We are both doing Weight Watchers and have learned how to tailor a dish to keep the calories/​points down. I was particularly starving when we arrived today and handed a menu. Scanning the salads, entrée’s and sandwiches, I was dismayed by the high calorie ingredients, which included candied nuts, cheese, sausage and white bread or flour tortilla. Cream-​based soup. There wasn’t a simple salad or entrée that I could easily modify without taking all the flavorful ingredients out. And the prices are not cheap
So I asked our waitress, a not-​too-​friendly woman, what she might suggest as a WW-​friendly dish. She had no suggestions, but offered to give us more time to review the menu. I had already done that — wasn’t going to see anything new when even she had no suggestions.
When she returned for our order, I was no closer to seeing an option. My husband ordered the half sandwich and soup first. I ended up saying «I don’t see anything, so I guess I won’t have lunch.» I realize this seems petulant and childish, but the waitress could not have cared less. From this point on I was only waiting for the «meal» to be over so I could leave and get lunch elsewhere.
My poor husband ate his lunch alone, disliking the cream-​based crab corn chowder and regretting the high calories of his ham/​swiss/​bacon sandwich. The soup and half sandwich cost $ 17. We could’ve stayed home and eaten for a lot less. I did ask to speak with the manager before we left, but was told that our indifferent, smug waitress WAS the manager. Which explains a lot.
I should disclose that a friend is the baker behind desserts, which I can assure you are made in her home with love, and she is the reason we keep giving them another chance. (It’s not her fault if Lilly’s doesn’t sell them fast enough and they become stale.) But this is the last time — there are too many good places to eat in our town to waste anymore time or money on Lilly’s.

Very disappointed with the entrée. Chicken and shrimp veracruz… not worth the $…small dry filet of chicken and 2, yes only 2 shrimp… really can you spare it ?
Sitting on top of mashed potatoes that were so soupy I never got any on my fork. It was loaded with peppers and onions but it was more like I was eating soup than anything. .too much Chipotle sauce made everything swim. Sad. Not to mention the obnoxious music.
Sorry, not coming back.

Average food and service. A bit chaotic. An interesting building. More vegetarian options would be great.

I would give this place zero stars except you can only go down to 1. The only redeeming things about this place was our waitress who was exceptionally sweet & the fry cook whose fry-​game was on point because I had the most perfect onion rings ever.
But in bad news: The gazpacho was watered down salsa. Seriously. What? I was so disappointed. The fish tacos were super bland and boring. The pulled pork sandwich was smothered in obviously bottled bbq sauce and made my husband super sick in the aftermath. Overall, this was a sad, sad experience for a Saturday afternoon. Oh and, before I forget, they were playing some mix of horrendous lounge techno music. Not only was my palette let down, but my ears died.
The conclusion: not going back, probably ever.

Had lunch here yesterday. We were looking for an outdoor place, as the weather was perfect for al fresco dining.
We had patio seating, which faces the canal. Shrubs block the view if you are sitting at a table, but we chose to sit at one of the counter-​height tables close to the building, so we saw people walking and biking along the path.
I had the salmon BLT, on multigrain bread, which came with a large portion of fries. It was a packed sandwich! Perfectly done salmon, cucumbers, tomatoes and bacon. My husband had the fish tacos, which included avocado and great crunchy onion rings. Everything was quite tasty.
We were stuffed, but I had to try one of the appealing cakes. We chose carrot cake, which is my favorite. Well, the slice was huge! It was the best carrot cake I ever tasted. Moist… yummy! Another couple saw it being served to us and decided (after my first bite and thumbs up) to give it a try. They agreed it was the best they had ever had.
It’s a BYOB place, so we brought a bottle of wine, which our server, Jess, opened, poured and placed in an ice bucket. She was friendly, professional and courteous and quite knowledgable about the town.
The restaurant, being in an old structure, has a lot of character and charm, both upstairs and downstairs. We plan to go back again soon for dinner and to enjoy the cozy candle lit patio ambiance.

A memorably bad experience. None of us will ever go back. This is how a restaurants put themselves out of business. Either start to care about your food and service or close the doors!
Sure Saturday night can be a bit busy but the waitress was forgetful and of little help, and the kitchen was worse. Forgotten apps, horrible pacing (deathly slow) all topped off with lousy food. Both orders of Crab cakes were cold (even though served 20 minutes apart and had no discernable pieces of crab. The coconut shrimp were not even as good as some frozen boxed ones I’ve had. The salad was limp and inedible. The chicken & shrimp platter contained only 2 shrimp. The burgers were not bad but rather greasy and the fries were like limp lifeless noodles. Sorry Lilly, but that was the most disappointing meal any of us has had in a long time.

Wonderful choice across from New Hope before our show. Great dinner and the chocolate Kailua cake was possibly the best layer cake we have ever had. Definitely coming back.

MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT!!! Because of the… Chicken Prosciutto, pan-​seared chicken breast prepared in a sundried tomato cream sauce topped with melted provolone
and prosciutto, served eggplant french fries.
That dish is orgasmic! I don’t know about the rest of the menu because over the 25 times I’ve been here I’ve ONLY ordered Chicken Prosciutto. The cream sauce with the chicken with the fries… heaven on earth!
Love eating upstairs watching the kitchen do their magic. Outside is nice too but not in the summer; too hot!

Stopped in for dinner. Place gets busy on a Saturday night. Staff is very accommodating… they even served water to Meatball the bulldog! He greatly appreciated it. NY strip and tuna steak came out perfectly cooked and in a timely fashion. The sides were flavorful and nicely matched to the entrée. Topped it off with the delicious carrot cake. Great day for dinner al fresco on the patio.

I used to work in Lambertville years ago and would have lunch here often with a coworker on mine. Back then they had a delicious Cuban Sandwich which sadly they no longer have. About a month ago I came here for Sunday lunch and was not disappointed. Although my reliable Cuban sandwich was retired, another similar sandwich had taken it’s place which was just as good.
This is how I would break it down:
1. The food is very good
2. The service is also good
3. The ambiance is great for lunch or early dinner. The place gets packed at night and you can barely hear who you’re speaking to.
4. The prices are reasonable for Lambertville
Overall, i would recommend Lily’s for lunch or early dinner to avoid the noise level.

I have never given this place a great review, but last night I was especially disappointed when we popped in for dessert.
Lilly’s touts its desserts in a major way. The cakes greet you in a glass case as you first walk in, and you can tell the staff are used to a dessert-​only crowd, with special seating and dessert/​drink menus.
The problem? Their desserts are kind of awful. I’ve eaten dessert at Lilly’s a number of times and consistently, the cakes have been dry and tasted refrigerated. Last night took the cake (pun intended). Waiter told us about their dessert special — a fresh, lemon, raspberry «Skyscraper» cake. Huge, it was, but delicious and fresh? Not even close. The cake was SO dry, flavorless and the buttercream frosting was inedible. Frankly, I would’ve preferred a grocery store cake.
The only highlights of our visit were the homemade whipped cream, service and always charming atmosphere.
But, Lilly’s, I think you and I are over.

Let me start off by saying that the eggplant fries with the horseradish sauce are extremely good. Unfortunately, little else during our lunch made it past the average point. The sweet potatoes fries were the first I can recall from anywhere that I didn’t like. My house salad entrée made a valiant effort, but didn’t cut it in the end. My wife enjoyed her black bean burger enough, but nothing but the aforementioned eggplant fries were truly enjoyable.
The worst part, however, had nothing to do with the food. It was the service. They’re chaotic. The hostess was quite nice, but the waiter was so bad that the hostess ended up taking our drink and food order because we were left unattended. My water glass had something foreign in it so we asked a runner to get me a new one. He took the glass but never returned. By the time we flagged down the waiter to get my glass replaced, my wife and son needed refills. On top of the generally poor attentiveness, the waiter wasn’t ever apologetic or even pleasant — until we were waking out after paying the check.
I noticed that there are a fair number of «not recommended» reviews for this place on Unilocal,and most mention poor service, so I don’t believe my experience is out of the ordinary.
In the end it boils down to this: the eggplant fries are not good enough to warrant ever going back.

We stumbled upon Lily’s on the Canal during a day hike along Delaware and Raritan Canal. My oh my, this town sure has become a lot more commercialized since my last visit, many moons ago. I was glad for this location which allowed us to eat, and then immediately get on with our trek.
We shared the grilled vegetable sandwich (saving room for dessert); pedestrian in flavor, and it fell apart as we picked up each half. They get three stars for the decadent, sky-​high cake selection. I would suggest stopping here for a cup of tea and sweets after you’ve had your meal elsewhere.
The restaurant sits at the most beautiful point on this side of the village, and the interior décor aims to be hipster with its full wall of silver metal ‘fish scales’ fountain that looks like a good idea gone wrong. The stained plexiglass may have been an afterthought to prevent from splashing visitors; sadly it’s unappealing and make the space feel unclean.