Review of Lily Garden Chinese Restaurant

I REALLY hoped this place would be amazing, but sadly it wasn’t.

We drove up from Miami just to try it out. The reviews looked great, the food looked like it would legit mom & pop awesome. It wasn’t even “mall” good…

When we arrived we were the only people dining in. The inside looks rather old and rundown. The carpets are stained, the varnish in the tables all worn away, the silk flowers on the tables are dusty and faded by time/the sun. We were seated up front, near the entrance. Our table was under constant barrage by sugar ants. I killed about 20+ of them while we were there.

The menu is incredibly extensive. They have PAGES of dishes that are GF. We were rather excited. The prices were incredibly steep. But if it was good, it would be worth it, or so we thought.

2 of us ordered 1 appetizer, 2 main dishes and some fried rice. The bill was $120.

When the food came it was incredibly disappointing.

The appetizer were fried chicken dumplings. A rather bland dumpling with a super bland filling. It tasted like canned chicken (imagine tuna, but chicken).

The sweet and sour chicken was just fried chicken. No onions, bell pepper or pineapple or things one may expect with S&S Chicken. The sauce had absolutely no tang. Zero vinegar kick to it. It was super sweet but tasted like honey. So a fried honey chicken.

The server talked us out of our other dish and had us try an Orange Beef. The beef definitely wasn’t like any beef texture or flavor I’d ever had before… it was incredibly squishy and odd… imagine the texture of steamed calamari. There was a very minimal orange flavor, but again, incredibly syrupy sweet.

The fried rice was the most decent dish.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had worse Chinese food. Pre or post diagnosis. This meal makes Panda look like its Michelin star.

Incredibly disappointing experience, flavor, cleanliness etc. especially for the high prices!

How confident are you that this establishment takes safety precautions against cross-contact?

— Very

Is there a gluten-free menu?

— Separate gluten-free menu

How much of the menu is available gluten-free?

— Most/All

How would you rate the taste and quality of the gluten-free food you tried?

— Poor