Lilac

I will give Lilac 5 stars for the food. We have been to a few Michelin star restaurants and this is one of the best. Food was delicious and all flavors were well balanced. Also nothing too crazy that you can't eat (have had that at other places).I would give them 4 stars for the cocktails- had two and both were average. The dessert cocktail Baklava Alexander was a bit below average actually. I would give them 3 for the ambiance - the restaurant is in the lobby of the hotel and there is not even a wall to separate it from the rest of the space. Also no table cloths... and the lighting is a bit bright.The service was great, but that is expected at a place like this. Overall we had a great night so that is why I gave them a 5 but a 4 would be fair as well.

What a fantastic restaurant we have here in Tampa Bay! Lilac was an excellent culinary experience. Beautifully decorated with multiple foliage throughout the lobby and restaurant. I also love how they have an open kitchen concept, you can see right into the kitchen and watch them work.They have a Price Fixe four course dinner where you get to choose your appetizer, entree and dessert from their many choices. Everyone receives all of the Hors D'oeuvres as the first course. They served Pain Lyonnais: Milk bread, sweet onions and thyme, Gooseberry & Soubise Tartelette: Puree vidalia onion, fresh tarragon, verjus reduction, Maine Lobster Feuillantine: Calabrian chili aioli, chive and the Poultry Liver Mousse: port wine gelee, savory almond croissant. My favorite was the Maine lobster feuillantine. It was very rich and delicious. There are 6 appetizer offerings to choose from. I chose the Heritage Pork Belly & Spanish octopus: spicy nduja sausage, sweet corn succotash. It was a bit spicy but the pork belly and octopus were outstanding and cooked to perfection. My friend chose the Diver scallops with pine nut preserved lemon risotto, rosemary embers. Also delicious. For my entree I went with the Colorado Lamb Loin: Fines herbes crust, lentils du Puy, apple mostarda, dukkah spice and sauce nicoise. It was beautifully presented and cooked with excellent layers of flavor. For dessert we shared the Dark chocolate soufflé for 2 with pistachio gelato and saffron anglaise, so rich and chocolaty but it was a perfect end to the meal. Service was fantastic, they have a wonderful wine list as well as craft cocktails. It was a meal to remember, that's for sure. The restaurant is located in the Tampa Edition hotel, as you walk into the lobby you go to the left and it's at the end of the lobby. There's valet parking, street parking or a couple garages close by.

It honestly took me so long to try Lilac because of the bad reviews and talk about it not being so great. I don't know what they're talking about. Our experience was great.First off, complaining about the cost of valet or the hotel lobby being loud does not equate to the restaurant. I've eaten at a Michelin star food stall in Singapore. You're not rating the place or surroundings. It's the food.It's a four course meal with great options for $150 a person. Additional for wine pairing. The hors d'oeuvres had 4 different types which you received each one. The lobster bite was delicious and the liver mousse was great. I don't even like liver, but enjoyed the taste. For appetizer, I had the rabbit and my partner had the scallops. I didn't taste his as mine was very hardy and strong taste. I've had rabbit before and really enjoyed this course. It was comparable to rabbit pasta similar to Italy. For our main course, I have the Dover sole which was an up charge. An upcharge for certain items are typical at Michelin restaurants or even prefix menus. It was presented nicely and the sole melted in your mouth. My partner had the duck which sliced like butter. The skin was well seasoned and crispy. For dessert, we did the soufflé for two. It was not too sweet which was perfect as we were already full. I did not care for the orange on the vanilla gelato, but my partner loved it. We definitely will return again and try the wine pairing.

Beautiful, up-scale, restaurant nestled on the ground floor of the Tampa Edition Hotel. Warmly greeted upon arriving and introduced to the very attentive staff who would be taking care of us this evening. We began with the Edition Lager and a chilled Pinot Grigio. Both drinks were perfect for the meal ahead. We began with a tour of hors d'oeuvres that included Pain Lyonnasi that is a sweet bred soaked in Dijon onion soup. It was sooo good. We also enjoyed a main lobster Fellillantine. It had a little spice but not too much and it was so delicious. For next course we enjoyed diver scallops and Heritage pork belly and octopus. We both agreed that we would order them again. For the main course, we chose the snapper for two it was prepared tableside and was served over spinach grits. The snapper was fresh and cooked perfectly. For dessert there was a choice of four different options. I chose the scotch hot toddy because I don't really like sweet or rich dessert. It was perfect and met my expectations. Can't recommend Lilac more highly. The staff is so attentive and to quote one of our servers, "they want the experience to be magical. Remember when you look at the bill at the end that you just dined at one of Tampa Michelin star restaurants, the food took hours to prepare and a team of 4-5 people just waited on you for 90 minutes. Enjoy!

This restaurant has been on my list for a while. I finally had a reason to go. Reservations process was easy enough. The staff corresponds well to explain things. Arriving, you have to valet, which adds $43 to your cost. The hotel lobby is beautiful. I loved the plants. It smells amazing. We were seated promptly. Our waitress was very friendly and we'll spoken. The hors d'oeuvres were good, but didn't blow me away. I ordered the pork belly and octopus appetizer which was my favorite dish. The wagyu entree added $35 to the meal and ended up being three small strips. They were delicious, but barely substantial for that price. The chocolate walnut cremieux was delicious. All in, I enjoyed the meal. But the best part was my date. The stairs are fun for pictures too. I am happy I've tried it, but it didn't blow me away.

We visited Lilac during our first time in Tampa, knowing absolutely nothing about the food scene and as guests staying at the Edition Hotel. It was our children's first Michelin rated dining experience and I'm so pleased with how everything turned out.I felt like my husband had to do some initial cajoling when he made the reservation over the phone to have them agree to let us order a la carte for our kids, ages 11 and 6. He was informed over the phone that they didn't have duck for my daughter who has a lot of food allergies so they were going to try to get chicken from somewhere else in the hotel. When we got there, our server informed us they do indeed have duck and it wouldn't be an issue accommodating my daughter's food allergies. We were seated in one of the banquettes as a party of four. I'm kicking myself for not catching our main server's name. He was great and attentive. Service isn't pretentious at all.We were the only party with children but we didn't feel like we were treated less. In fact, our server went above and beyond every time in doing things like giving my daughter another Sprite without asking and bringing out extra hash browns cooked in duck fat when we realized she could eat them. Both of our kids loved the hash browns. Our server explained we could do a la carte or the prefix menu for our 6 year old and that it was up to us. Our son isn't the most adventurous eater so we did a la carte for him.There's a bar situated next to the dining area of Lilac. I'm not sure if it's part of Lilac or just the Edition's lobby bar. The bar itself was fully packed when we were seated and the patrons were lively. We could definitely hear noise from the bar but it was more so background noise and didn't affect our ability to have a conversation amongst ourselves or with the server. If anything, it made it easier being our kids' first Michelin dining experience because it wasn't in a stuffy, overly quiet atmosphere.We were also the most underdressed but weren't treated differently. Both my husband and I were in sandals. All other female patrons were in heels. Our kids were wearing crocs. I had a nice but simple short dress on and my kid was wearing her swim team jacket. In our defense, our checked luggage successfully went home to NY and we didn't in the wake of Hurricane Debby cancelling flights.On to the food! We got the optional caviar service (an additional $175 charge). We've had caviar service before but Lilac's version absolutely blew us away. The combination of the osetra, sun dried tomato dip, and hash browns cooked in duck fat was complete perfection. My husband doesn't even like caviar and he enjoyed it immensely. We even broke off pieces of the bread and spread the dip on it to savor the dip more after the caviar and hash browns were gone.The menu is broken down into four parts. The hors d'ouvres, appetizers, entrees, and dessert. You get all four hors d'ouvres and then choose one from the remaining parts for your meal. The caviar service came out before the hors d'ouvres. We were asked if we wanted the kids' a la carte food to come at the beginning of the meal or when we got our entrees. We opted for them to receive their entrees when we got ours.Hors d'ouvres:* Pain LyonnaisIt was suggested we enjoy this last. Great, savory milk bread. It was described as their play on French onion soup. We used it to enjoy the rest of the dip that came with the caviar service.* Heirloom Tomato TarteletteIt was suggested we enjoy this as the third serving and palette cleanser. The middle of the tartelette was soggy. I was slightly surprised by that. I thought it would've been crispy throughout. A little difficult to pick up because of the soggy middle.* Maine Lobster FeuillantineSuggested that we eat this first or second since it's one of the more intensely flavored hors d'ouvres. Has a nice, satisfying crunch to it. * Poultry Liver MousseTheir play on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Suggested we eat this first or second. My personal favorite but I love liver.Appetizers:* Spice Braised RabbitWe chose it because how often do you get to eat rabbit? Nice, warm flavors.* Black Truffle Tajarin (Supplement 35)Delicious but when is creamy pasta topped with shaved black truffles not?Entrees:* Duck au PoivrePerfect duck breast. Neither my daughter nor I are big on heavily peppered food so I was a little wary. This had just the right balance of pepper. I enjoyed the bits of crispy duck confit. I normally hate carrots but they were delicious.* Colorado Lamb CoteletteMy husband said it was one of the best lamb he's ever eaten. It was tender and well cooked. He was asked what temperature he wanted it cooked to.* Australian Wagyu Filet MignonMy son's dish. They graciously made him the filet and French fries. I'm limited on how much I can write so this is the end of my review. Amazing food, great service. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this restaurant to anyone.

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary at Lilac this year. Even though it is Michelin rated, I didn't have super high expectations. And I will say that it's probably not the Michelin quality of a NYC one star restaurant, but it was a nice meal. There were a couple things that were not quite Michelin level. First, the wine pairing was a bit off and didn't quite match the dishes served. And second the main dish of red snapper and shrimp cataplana was good, but served with a giant bowl of green grits, which was unnecessary and took away from the dish. The chocolate soufflé was excellent and so dinner did end on a high note.

As someone who is a frequent "food tourist," I was excited to go to Lilac - a Michelin star restaurant in my own background - yay! The restaurant is located on the lobby level of the EDITION Hotel. It was pretty crowded and very loud and there is no formal waiting area, so you're just shoved up against a wall until the host calls on you. The food overall was good, but it lacked the imagination that I expected. My favorite thing that I ate all night was the bread that was put on the table. We did not do the wine pairing, but opted to get ala carte glasses of wine and cocktails instead. The service here was fantastic and major kudos to the staff who were attentive, friendly, and knowledgeable. As someone who has been to several Michelin star restaurants, I expected more, especially at the price point. There was a lack of general creativity and presentation that most Michelin star restaurants have. It was underwhelming. I would not return.

The service and attention to detail was outstanding; from a handwritten note for my birthday to presenting my fish before the chef prepared it. However, the food was a bit underwhelming. All 6 of us tried different things and everything was good. But just GOOD. We all agreed that is not a place we would return considering that there was not one dish that we felt was unforgettable.

Elegant atmosphere. Service was impeccable Food was delicious and presentation was excellent!