Good Food & Service Tucked Away in Millis - The Lilac House
Written: Apr 09 '07
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Pros: Combination plates, Extensive menu, Good service, Fresh food
Cons: Can get pricey depending on orders, Tucked away in the plaza - easy to miss
The Bottom Line: I’d easily recommend the Lilac House for anyone looking for decent Chinese food at a reasonable price with good service
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| jps246's Full Review: Lilac House |
If you’re traveling along Route 109 in the Millis area and you want some Chinese food, consider stopping at the Lilac House. This restaurant serves a large selection of Chinese food both for take-out and for sit-down service and no matter what your tastes are, as long as you like Chinese food, you’ll probably find something you enjoy.
Located at 34 Milliston Road in the Milliston Common Plaza off of Route 109 in the town of Millis, the Lilac House is between a CVS and Bagel’s Best, a bagel/deli shop in the plaza. As the restaurant is in the plaza, there’s plenty of free parking available that should never completely fill up.
The interior of the restaurant is clean and simple with what I would consider a typical Chinese restaurant theme. There are a number of tables that can fit groups from two up to six to eight people at them.
Generally I’ve found that most customers at the Lilac House are ordering take-out food and I’ve never run across an evening when the restaurant has been full and I’ve needed to wait to get seating. The worst that’s happened is with larger parties, we’ve waited a bit while they rearrange tables.
The menu at Lilac House is fairly expansive and gives you plenty of different choices to choose from. They do offer lunchtime combination meals, which are also available at night for an extra few dollars. The combination meals come with soup, a choice of appetizer, fried rice and the combination that you choose. I generally go with the L1 – chicken with broccoli, as I’ve always liked chicken with broccoli.
Beyond the combination plates, Lilac House has a pretty big menu that includes seafood, lo mein, vegetarian, moo-shi, chicken, beef, pork and house specialties. There are also the normal Chinese appetizers such as chicken fingers, crab rangoon, and beef teriyaki. For the vegetarians out there, there’s a whole section of the menu dedicated to vegetarian dishes.
My favorites for full meals generally start with a bowl of wonton soup, followed by some chicken fingers or beef teriyaki, then chicken or beef with broccoli with pork fried rice. I know, kind of generic, but that’s what I like.
An even better idea for anyone eating at Lilac Garden is to let each person order a dish that interests them – then since everything is served family style on platters, you can pass each dish around and get a little of everything. It’s a great way to try things you might now have had before or would be afraid of buying around in case you didn’t like it.
Service is excellent and from the time you walk in to the time that you leave you should have a pleasant experience. The wait staff is very attentive, keeping water glasses full and making sure that the pacing of your meal is maintained so that you don’t get your meal before you’ve finished your soup.
The prices at the Lilac House go from a few dollars for the soups and the appetizers, about $7 for most lunch appetizers ($9 for dinner), to $10 to $15 for the various entrée plates. It can get a bit pricey when you start ordering numerous different plates – but like I said, if you have a big group and each person gets something (or a few people group together to get things), you can easily pass the plates around so everyone gets a little of everything and when you break it down overall, the average cost per person won’t be so high.
For the combination plates though, the prices are not that high and are comparable to other Chinese restaurants in the area that offer combination meals.
Food quality is also high with the meals in the sit-down side of the restaurant always hot and fresh when they are brought to your table. For take-out food, it depends more on how far away you live – as to how hot your food will be when you get home.
Take-out service is available for Lilac House’s entire menu but there is no delivery service. Expect about a 15 to 20 minute wait for most take-out orders unless it’s New Year’s Eve and then you better put your order in first thing in the morning since everyone in Massachusetts seems to think you need to have Chinese food on New Years.
We have ordered many times from Lilac House for take-out and while the food isn’t quite as hot or as fresh as you would get sitting in the restaurant, it’s still good and I’ve never been disappointed with something that we’ve gotten there.
I’ve always been very pleased with both the food and the service at the Lilac House, either when I’m eating there or taking the food home. They have very good service for the sit-down portion of the restaurant and quick service for the take-out side.
Between the combination plates and the rest of the menu, most people will find something they like. In addition, with such a big menu, it’s fun to order up a whole mix of items with bigger parties and let everyone try something.
I’ve never heard a complaint from any of my friends or acquaintances about the service or the quality of the food here – if anything, people almost always say “oh yeah, I like that place,” when I talk about the Lilac House. If there’s one failing – it’s that the restaurant is tucked away in the plaza and is easy to miss.
Overall, I’d easily recommend the Lilac House for anyone looking for decent Chinese food at a reasonable price with good service.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: No
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Go with a big party and get a number of different dishes to share - helps keep costs down and lets you sample a whole bunch of different things
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