After living here almost 2 years and eating at Lulu's quite often and talking it up to my girl, we had the worst food and service imaginable. First off, It's truly sad that the best part of the meal was the bread that came from another bakery. The waitress was horrible. the only times she stopped by our table was to get our order, bring the food, and hand us a check. absolutely no interaction. There was a skimpy amount of  montrachet artichoke spread on Annnie's bread, the only thing good about that dish. The very worst though was my spinach and walnut raviolis. First the side salad that I got with the dinner was about 3 bites with 2 tablespoons of dressing. Then the Rav's. They were undercooked, and tasted of freezer burn. This is a far cry from what I had last time I ordered this dish. Lulu's needs to go back to the drawing board and get a solid kitchen staff and wait staff again before I return.
Review Source:Beyond disappointing. Â I always give a restaurant two chances, but I might break my rule this time. Â Mediocre food, bad service, trailer trash atmosphere. Â Ugh.
Dinner this past week:
The decor and appearance is not only outdated, but is in need of repair and replacement. Â Vinyl tablecloths. Â Really? Â Torn upholstery in booths that make for uncomfortable seating and looks nasty. Â Cooks smoking in front of the restaurant next door and then coming in to cook our dinner. Â That's just great. Â More on that later...
The pasta tasted like the kind you buy in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, and it was undercooked.
The montrachet artichoke spread on Annie's bruschetta: there was barely any spread on the bread, it was bland, and the only good aspect of the dish was that the bread (not made there!) was tasty.
The salad had so much dressing dumped on it, it was drowning.
The waitress took our order, brought incorrectly  made drinks, brought the food, and the bill.  That was it.  Never returned to ask how our meal was.
Sometimes you continue to eat the food because you are so hungry and you are already sitting down; this was the case for us.
It's even more disappointing because others have lauded the meals there. Â My guy has been there many times for lunch and once for dinner. Â This was my first time. Â First and perhaps last.
...cont... re: smoking in front of the restaurant... the same group of guys smoking in front of Guadalupe's week before last; nothing worse than having to enter a restaurant through a cloud of cigarette smoke to get your dinner. Â Lovely. Â Lulu's, get your cooks to smoke out back please.
(Now, I only give 5 stars to restaurants that are 100% vegetarian.)
Had an amazing meal here! Â I love the charm of the place, and the friendly service. Â I had never been to Sylva before and found the town very nice.
The best part of Lulu's is that they have several vegetarian selections. Â And, not just salads and vegetables, they have dishes with tofu or tempeh (some restaurants think they can pacify a vegetarian by offering vegetable side dishes or salads). Â I had a DELICIOUS vegan wrap with tempeh, rice, and lettuce in it; it came with a good tahini sauce. Â It was so tasty.
My friends (both meat-eaters) had some slab of pork that came with black beans and plaintains. Â They have ordered that before before and said it is delicious.
Very reasonable prices; my sandwich was only like $8-something.
I love Lulu's Cafe! Â I'll be back!
Nestled in a cute downtown area. Â We were greeted and sat in a requested booth. Â There is not much ambiance, so I was hoping that meant the food would be great, you know how those go together sometimes. Â The menu was interesting and I was happy to see that they offered some Vegan selections. Â My mom was with me and she is about the least picky person there is. Â She got the burger and said it was aweful. Â She also did not like the sesame sticks that seem to be the side with many of the dishes. Â I ordered the soup, salad, and 1/2 sandwhich. Â Soup was not really good, I took a couple of bites, but didn't eat it. Â Salad had a cucumber slice and a roma tomato slice and some lettuce, yeah, that was it. Â Sandwhich was tofu, grilled nicely, but VERY bland. Â We each had water to drink it the bill was just over $20 with tip. Â A bit pricey in my opinion for lunch and the food was nothing I would go back for.
Review Source:Always a nice place to visit any night of the week, Lulu's is a favorite spot of ours to chow down at. Being vegan in Sylva isn't the easiest thing in the world, unless you want to cook almost every night. So it's nice to drop in at Lulu's to have a wonderful meal, complete with vegan dessert specials they offer.
Perhaps the best restaurant in town if you're looking for something a bit off-beat, Lulu's offers great choices at prices you wont break the bank with. I haven't had a bad meal here yet.
We were heading back east after some time at Lake Chatuge and had heard that Sylva was a cute town so we decided to stop for lunch. After consulting with Yelp, we decided to go to Guadalupe's, but alas, they were closed for lunch, so we stopped in at Lulu's. Lucky for us, they had a great seat outside on the patio where we could bring our big dog Sadie to sit next to us.
The service was really friendly and good, and even brought a bowl of water for the dog. Â They had a wide variety of food; salads, sandwiches, entrees. One of us really enjoyed our meal and the other thought it was "fine". Â I had a salad that was very fresh but sort of lacked personality. Perhaps I didn't order well, but I have high standards.
Bottom line: for that area I think it's a safe place to bring the parents or grandparents without it being too upscale, weird or trendy.
Lulu's has been around Sylva for a long time--before any other good places opened and when Sylva still looked more like the place from Deliverance, than the relatively cool, quaint town it is now. Â They deserve some credit for providing good food for a long time and if you're in town visiting, I recommend giving them a chance. You'll have a good meal and the atmosphere is very pleasant.
If you're a local, however, it can get a little old. They rarely (if ever?) change their menu and even the specials seem to be repeated fairly often. Â If they'd do a little more menu rotation, but kept the same quality, I'd give them four stars.
Another cool place to go in what is a strangely hip downtown Sylva. Â Lulus has good food. Had lunch there and was not immediately stunned by the menu...lots there...not lots jumping out at me. Â A mix of italian, greek, and something else I couldn't place. Â A very popular place with the locals. Â Nearly filled up for lunch and its a big space.
I almost gave this a three but the food and service were both great. Â Friendly staff, Â fast, and my portobello pita sandwhich, while sounding "eh" was really delicious. Â I asked for a salad instead of the chips and they nicely subbed it.
The food was pretty darn good. La Bella was a great starter dish with the lemon-oil dip or the gorgonzola dip and I thoroughly enjoyed the Spinach and walnut ravioli I ordered. The restaurant seems more Vegan than anything, so I would recommend not really ordering on the chicken side but stick to fish if you want a protein. Definitely a place to check out and enjoy a nice dinner with delicious food.
Review Source:I grew up going to Lulu's and for years, and being the stubborn child I was only ordered some sort of Chicken Parmesan dish that they had been serving consistently.
Once I finally left town long enough to realize I like fish more than bird, I ventured towards the pecan seared catfish. And thus my craze began.
If you move against the grain and decided to eat here rather than one of the million chains/grease holes in this town, I'd highly suggest you try it.
I believe its pecan seared catfish with a side of veggies and a delicious Hollandaise sauce to top it off.
What a fun little establishment. Delicious food-- with generous portions-- made for the ideal lunch-time stop before heading out to Asheville for the afternoon. I got a tasty Asian Noodle Salad (with tempeh and a wasabi-soy dressing) while my dear friend Miles tried the Pork Chop sandwich--and had to ask for extra mango-chutney, as it was too good and Miles could not get enough. Not too expensive and fun to sit outside on the patio.
I gave it 4 stars because I wish our waitress didn't seem so frantic the whole time! She sort of stressed me out. My friend had been there once before and mentioned to me the same waitress couldn't be bothered to explain to him what tempeh was. Aside from this, delish! And really casual. Would totally go again...if I am ever in Western North Carolina again.