I always hesitate to make a critical review of a small business, as I know there is a family…read moreworking very hard to grow their business. That being said, I feel it is important to note some things that hopefully they can improve upon, and customers can set their expectations appropriately. I don't know how long they have been serving dinner. It seems the reviews of the place as a cafe and bakery are strong, but dinner is where they fall short.
First off, the menu is very plain and doesn't describe the dishes. As an example...Have you had a Caprese cake before? I have never heard of it, but turns out it is chocolate and coconut and delicious. We ordered the grilled asparagus. It came glazed with balsamic vinegar, which we liked, but not all people would. I think they'd do well to better describe their offerings.
The way dinner service works (at least outside) is you place your order at the cocktail stand. We ordered everything all at once, since we didn't want to have walk to the cocktail stand for each course. They informed us they were out of the Grandma's chicken we wanted (mind you this was at 6 pm, so we figure it must be super popular). Then when I said I would have the meatballs instead, they had to go and check and make sure they still had meatballs! We were in luck, or so I thought. They don't have the typical soda products, so I ordered their organic cola. You also have to pay when you order, as well as tip. I don't care to tip before i receive the service, but I went ahead and assumed the best and tipped 20%.
As other reviews have noted, nobody brings you water. We had to go back to the stand to ask for it after we realized nobody was going to service our table. First comes my husband's drink, and the server who brought it out asked me if I had been informed of the cola situation. I said no, and found out they didn't have the cola syrup, so I opted for a raspberry soda, which was good, but not really what. I wanted to drink with pasta. Oh well. Things happen. Our appetizers came out next, via a different server, and then about 5 mins later, our entrees AND desserts were brought to the table by a different server. So there we were at this small outside table, with 7 plates on our table. I kid you not. Okay, we will go with it.
The bruschetta bread was burnt. The meatballs were flavorless. The grilled asparagus and salad with lemon vinaigrette were good. The highlight for me was the mushroom pasta , and my husband enjoyed the pasta that had chili in it. We also enjoyed the olive oil cake and the caprese cake. Nobody came to check on us over the course of our entire dinner. I really came to regret that 20% tip I had paid in advance.
Total with tip came to $140.70. The next night we went over to Cocorico, and for $8 more, had an amazing 4 course dinner, with top-notch service. Do yourself a favor and skip Cafe Lumina for dinner until they get their act together. I really hope they can improve, they have potential!
