Lulu’s on Main

I have been eating at Lulu’s for over 20 years. Every time I have been there since new owners have taken over I have been incrementally disappointed.
On my last visit my husband and I ordered what we have ordered at least 100 times: Pasta salad ala Greque for me and Italian Pasta Salad for him. Thankfully they have kept these very popular dishes on the menu. We were shocked to see how small the servings had become – maybe half the size we were accustomed to. I mean, how expensive is pasta??? The most shocking aspect of the meal, however, was that our servings were cold. I know that this is called a pasta salad, but it is supposed to be WARM pasta salad. The menu clearly states that the pasta is supposed to be warm. It was COLD. I took mine home and warmed it up, the way it is supposed to be. And from now on I will stick to my own version.

I’ve been here a few times over the past year. The food is usually very good. I had the duck this visit and it was excellent quality. Nicely cooked with little seasoning that allowed the natural flavor to come through. Sides of rice and broccoli were bland. Others at my table had a special compromised of scallops and shrimp over angel hair pasta. They were pleased with it.
My main reason I don’t give the restaurant a four star rating is the service. The staff seems to be in no rush and indeed not overly concerned about anything related to the food or needs of the patrons. My friends commented a few times during the meal about not seeing our waiter for awhile and one was angry that it took nearly 30 minutes to get glasses of wine.

When we arrived, there was no hostess around and no sign indicating what we were supposed to do about seating, so we stood awkwardly until a hostess finally came in. We were seated by the door to the outside dining area, which was fine, but people kept leaving the door open and flies were all over our area.
Our waitress was apparently very new. She brought me the wrong beer, we had to ask for bread when our salads came, we had to keep asking for refills on our water, and she wrote down my order wrong. I had a special that came with collard greens on the side. I hate collard greens, so I asked for Brussels sprouts. She wrote down broccoli, I found out later when she brought our ticket. But they sent collard greens. UGH! The flavor of the juice ruined the taste of the dish I ordered. When I asked why they didn’t substitute the Brussels sprouts as she said they would, she shrugged and said she wrote it down.
We live in Sylva and I had high hopes for this restaurant, but we won’t be going back. The food is expensive ($ 24 for the specials we ordered, over $ 100 for the four of us to eat) and decent, but the service is definitely lacking.

Based on a friends recommendation, we skipped Asheville and stopped for lunch at Lulu’s on our way up the mountain. Glad we did! Food was delicious, great service and reasonably priced.

Wonderful place with great food and patio dining. Food was healthy and excellent prices

Lulu’s never disappoints! Quality, taste and always has great specials to mix it up! This is a locals favorite… visitors will quickly understand why after one visit!

I think is place is over priced with boring food. There are several more exciting restaurants in sylva and on Main Street

My grandmother, the pickiest woman in the world, and my grandfather, who can’t eat anything without getting sick, LOVED THIS PLACE! Fantastic food!

I am physically still sitting in the restaurant as I type this… It’s been awhile since I’d been back to Lulu’s-having had inconsistent food/​service over the last year and a half. Regardless we decided to give it another try… Long story short, the food was VERY good but the waitress was clueless. Having been seated and brought waters by the hostess the waitress came rushing in the front door and directly to the table, apparently from a smoke break. She didn’t ask about appetizers or drinks, just if we were ready to order. We had to ask if there were specials, of which we ordered both. She simply pointed to a section on the menu which explained the options of sides, salad dressings, etc… After the food arrived and HAVING TO ASK for bread with the meal, we received TWO small pieces of bread and a single pat of frozen butter… Upon later asking for more bread we were told that the oven had been turned off and that no more bread was available… REALLY??? You didn’t bake it in house… Can you REALLY NOT EVEN HEAT SOME BREAD!!!
Additionally, there was a tri-​fold display card on the table advertising an upcoming event at the restaurant whereby on a particular night a percentage of the sales would be donated to local non-​profits… My girlfriend asked the waitress what she knew of the event only to have her pick it up and read ‘verbatim’ what was on the card… We simply stared at each other in disbelief… finished our wine, left her an overwhelmingly-​too-​large of tip of 15% based on her skill and interest in her job, and left the restaurant.
It’s unfortunate, we LIKE Sylva, it’s people, and it’s restaurants, but unfortunately this is just more of the same old thing… Someone comes to town, opens or purchases a restaurant with great intentions, creativity and work ethic only to entice people to come to their establishment and then consistently over time lose interest and care in turning out good food and/​or good service, or both. I would say that of the number of restaurants in Sylva that Lulu’s has the ability of consistently being in the top two, but unfortunately with such poor service will not consistently see the benefit of being able to turn out good food. I, as well as most diners with any true ‘taste’ require a ‘full experience’ of a meal out that commands $ 18-​$ 25 per plate. Lulu’s missed the mark tonight.

Good food! Very cozy atmosphere, with just a quick walk from where we were visiting. I had the vegan wrap, which I surprisingly enjoyed. Lulu’s reminds me of one of our favorite places to visit back in California. If I’m not mistaken, Harrison Ford dined here while filming The Fugitive, and he praised the food, and service.

Yum!!! The chef CREATED an amazing mushroom and artichoke bisque that all must try. His dressing for the salad was perfect. The addition of glutten free bread made the ride from Athens worth the taste. I’d never been there but i’m definitely coming back. Thank you chef Devin

I used to love Lulu’s. The food was good and the service was nice, but this last time I visited was a different story. We came around dinner time (I had never had the dinner menu before this). We started off with the mozzarella appetizer, which was good, but nothing fantastic. My friend and I both had the Scampi Pasta (mine with shrimp and hers with chicken) for dinner and we both reached the same conclusion… it was BLAND. It didn’t really taste like much of anything. The sauce just tasted like butter (it was a white wine garlic butter sauce but it didn’t even smell garlicky) and there was no seasoning. Not even salt! I don’t know if the chef doesn’t use salt or they ran out or what, but it was a boring dish. The shrimp was cooked well and tasted great but that was the only saving grace for that dish.
Don’t get me wrong, the lunch menu is wonderful! The Shroomwich is a must have! Just don’t expect much flavor if you’re there at dinner time.
On a good note, our waitress was great!

Delicious food, but a tad pricey for lunch. I love a restaurant that looks outside the box when thinking about food, especially comfort food. Everyone has meatloaf, mac and cheese, and tomato soup on their list, but at Lulu’s one of the dishes caught my eye… falafel cakes. Growing up in a Jewish household and loving Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food it was such a treat to see this on a menu — especially in a small town. I order the fafafel cakes which came with an Israeli cous cous salad and hummus. My husband had the meatloaf sandwich and he enjoyed it. Let me start off my review by saying I am super picky about my falafel, as a woman who takes the time to make her own, I am usually both weary and disappointed by restaurant falafel. While this was in no way falafel — it was a soft chickpea cake with a fried outside it was good, the tahini sauce is what brought the house down. I cous cous salad was average, something I could make at home and the hummus same deal. I was just pleased to see something ethnic on a menu that wasn’t Italian.

Nice place, friendly thoug slow service, and EXCELLENT falafel, hummus, etc dish. Would definitely eat here again, and try other food
My only unhappiness was re slowness of service, notable due to lack of ppl in restaurant at time gone

Best restaurant in town. Period. The food far exceeded expectations and the chef took the grouper special and changed it up for me to include crabmeat, spinach, peppers and a few other items. Staff is great and service perfect. Nothing I would change, and so happy I came in. Will be back ASAP!

Outstanding! The tempura vegetable appetizer was yummy! Also loved the eclectic décor!

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 1000 times. If what you want to eat isn’t on the menu ask to speak to the chef. Today while in Sylva NC we stopped for lunch at LuLu’s on Main St. Sherri was craving a steak… not on the lunch menu the hostess told me. She then suggested maybe I could get a steak at Bogarts across town. Just then the chef and owner, Devan walked out of the kitchen. I asked him if I could get a steak and some fresh veggies… How thick would you like your ribeye’s sir, he responded with a smile What happened next was wonderful. Fantastic aged USDA Chicago stockyard beef cooked over a coal fire to perfection. A platter of fresh local veggies which consisted of sauted spinach, broccolini, green beans with bacon and portabello mushrooms. All the veggies were cooked perfectly and coated with a bit of spice, sweet cream butter and olive oil. The steaks were a good 16 ounces each and melted in our mouths. Ahead of the steaks came a wonderful house salad of mixed fresh greens, sprouts and local black tomatoes. All dressings are home made and I chose lemon oil, Sherri chose ranch. The house cab was very good served in an overfilled large wine goblet for 4 bucks. By the time we had finished our meals and enjoyed 2 glasses of wine each we still had a good amount of food to bring home. The bill you must now want to know…$ 56.00 pre tip! I rate this meal a 10 out of 10. The place itself is not where you’d expect to find such a great meal but it is homey and comfortable, unrushed and personable. Next time you’re looking for a great steak give LuLu’s on main in Sylva a shot. Tell Chef Devan I sent you!

I haven’t dined here since a few years back, apparently there has been a change of ownership or something of the sort.
We came for dinner last weekend as I was craving my Greek Chicken and Spaghetti favorite that we just never had time for in previous visits. I was so surprised to see a new menu with only some of the items from the previous menu, and most importantly not my Greek Chicken!
I opted for the Italian Pasta Salad because I was still in shock. Ha ha. That was a favorite from the menu before as well as the Pasta ala greque, I topped it with some grilled tofu. My husband had the special, which was a 12 oz ribeye with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. We also decided to try the appetizer on special, fried green tomatoes with lump crab meat on top. I tell you — that was my favorite part of the meal. If I had ordered only that, with a house salad with szechuan dressing and a side of bread (I LOVE their bread) I would have been satisfied.
Not much you can do with tofu, but I think if it was seasoned a little bit and then thrown on the grill, it would have made my dish better. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the lemon oil really makes the dish, so be sure to mix it all up before you dive in, it settles at the bottom. There was an over abundance of red onions, so I might put those on the side next time. My husband enjoyed his steak, but also said that it wasn’t worth the price, we’ve had better. The garlic mashed potatoes were creamy and flavored well, the asparagus were a little tough and overly charred.
Our service was slow. It seems like the waitress had several tables she was trying to keep up with inside and out. It took a while to get refills on water, a box for our food and then we sat a good 15 minutes just waiting on the check.
Hoping to have a better experience next time and fingers crossed for my Greek Chicken to be on special!

I got the stuffed steak special with mashed potatoes and green beans. We also got the bacon wrapped gulf shrimp app for the table.
This place is downright great. The service was a little edgy, but I think they were stressed because they close early (like 9 o’clock), there were a lot of people there, and probably not enough staff. Anyways, the food was outstanding. I am usually not shy about eating a steak rather quickly, but I took my time on this. Was it the best steak I have ever had? No, but it had great flavor and was totally unexpected from a place like this in the middle of nowhere. The side dishes were great. I’m usually not a fan of super fresh green beans, and these were awesome. The bacon wrapped gulf shrimp we basically deep fried bacon with a hint of shrimp. So good though. I mean, who doesn’t love deep fried bacon? I would suggest this place for sure. Great great great.

We were visiting Sylva and sought out a place with vegetarian options. I had the Veg Stir-​fry and it was OK. My wife had a Portobello mushroom sandwich and said it was good. Our waiter was fine. The ambiance was fine.
Our table was extremely small and empty. This was OK. There were only two of us. Then a candle and flowers were added. A kind gesture but we needed the room. The problem was the speed with which we were served. It was way too speedy. I like to enjoy drinking and eating at a leisurely pace. The salad (wilted lettuce and chopped veg) was on the table before our first glass of wine was downed. The entrée arrived even before our salads were finished. The table was very crowded. I guess they wanted us out of there. We left as soon as we could.
Overall, it was not a great experience.