Do You Think There's a Difference in Food Quality at Le Cellier Lunch & Dinner?

tarheelmjfan

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For those who have eaten both meals at LC, since they changed to a signature restaurant for dinner...

Completely discounting menu price &/or credits, do you think there's a significant difference in the quality of food at dinner vs. lunch? We haven't been to LC in years, because we weren't impressed the last couple times we ate there. We've decided it's time to give it another try, but I can't decide which meal to book. Of the times available for our stay, lunch on our departure day fits into the schedule better. Though, if the quality at dinner is noticeably higher, we'll go with the less desirable time & eat dinner. What do you think? Is the difference in quality enough to take a less desirable time? TIA :thanks:
 
We went last May for lunch and there was no difference in the quality just price. ;)
 
I will say I am sorry we havent tried the new dinner since it changed to 2ts...

We got ressies for lunch in June 2011, and I had an amazing time, the food was soooooooooo good!!! We will deff be back for lunch again!!
 
In October we had lunch and dinner at Le Cellier.

There were some things that tasted the same at both meals: cheddar cheese soup, chicken & chipotle sausage and breadsticks.

Some items were similar such as the mushroom risotto, but the dinner preparation was much better - greater variety and larger pieces of mushroom. The filet has always been smaller at lunch than dinner (5 oz vs 8 oz), but now they use Canadian beef at dinner and non-Canadian at lunch. Unfortunately we couldn't tell the difference because both were well prepared. :confused3

The poutine is much better at dinner and the dinner menu has a grilled rib eye steak that was the best steak I had on our trip.

Overall, the ambiance, attention to detail and service are not up to the level of the other Sigs. Unless there is something exclusive to the dinner menu that you want to try, I think lunch is fine.
 

It depends. Among many dishes on the menu, there is a difference in food quality. Here's the most noticeable contrast:

Lunch Poutine (heavy and disgusting, I hated it)

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Dinner Poutine (with red wine reduction, real cheese curds, and truffle salt - loved it)

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That comparison is easy to make, since the two dishes share the same name. Overall, I still think there's a difference in quality.

Some Lunch Items:

Steak and potato skillet (the potatoes were greasy, and overall it wasn't amazing)

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Salmon burger (a fine lunch, but not fine dining)

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Some Dinner Items:

Salad with lobster (the lobster chunks were substantial, and the vinaigrette was great)

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Pacific King Salmon (loved this dish)

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Duck (this was also very good)

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Cod with oxtail ravioli and bok choy (another satisfying entree)

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Lemon cheesecake (very light and refreshing)

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The real question is if dinner is worth it or not. In terms of food quality, I personally think Le Cellier dinner definitely offers some things in the same category as other signatures (some items were even better than our most recent meals at Cali Grill and Narcoossee's). However, as pointed out, many components of the experience (atmosphere, service, etc) are basically the same at lunch and dinner. Frankly, if you really enjoy Le Cellier's signature dishes (cheese soup, mushroom filet, maple crème brûlée, etc.), you might as well do lunch.
 
Frankly, if you really enjoy Le Cellier's signature dishes (cheese soup, mushroom filet, maple crème brûlée, etc.), you might as well do lunch.

Have to agree with this. Did a lunch and dinner ADR during September and the lunch was actually better!!
 
While we do lots of dinners, I've always found we enjoy TS restaurants better during lunch time. Less crowded, better service and have found the food freshly cooked and served promptly. Plus there's the added benefit of the price.
 
Thanks to all of you for the input. After seeing the pictures (thanks for those), I realize I need to check the menus again. I most likely won't be ordering steak, but my DH will. The salmon & duck both looked great to me. If those are only available for dinner, that will help me decide which meal to choose. Both of the poutine dishes look nasty to me. :laughing: I'll have my DH look at the pictures to see if he may want those & which one. When I looked at the menus earlier, I remember thinking the duck meatballs looked good, & I think those were only available at lunch. I don't remember what the difference in entrees were though. We'll probably decide based on those. Thanks again. I appreciate the help. :)

ETA: After looking at the menus again, I see there are a couple appetizers that look good on the dinner menu also. I don't see duck on the menu now. I'm also curious what the difference is in the quality of the salmon dish @ lunch vs. dinner.
 
I can point out another difference since we just had lunch and dinner there during our recent trip.

DH had the medallions of beef with pommes frites and those fries were very garlicky! Too garlicky to eat in our opinion. Later in the week I had the house burger for lunch with regular and very tasty french fries. I guess since they are labeled differently on the menu they are meant to be that way. But I don't think of garlic when I hear "pommes frites" which seems to be the way fries are listed in many restaurants these days.

Not so much a quality issue (maybe some people would love all that garlic??) but still a difference. And it was another 20 cents worth of ingredients ;)
 
They have more "upscale" items for dinner, that's it. Lunch doesn't suck, but if you were disappointed in it before, you are likely to be disappointed in it again. I didn't like what they did to the mussel appetizer though - it's much smaller and with far less seasoning than it used to be. It was good, but not what it used to be. Have also noted that the same cheese soup they serve at lunch is $9 a bowl at dinner now.
 
The real question is if dinner is worth it or not. In terms of food quality, I personally think Le Cellier dinner definitely offers some things in the same category as other signatures (some items were even better than our most recent meals at Cali Grill and Narcoossee's). However, as pointed out, many components of the experience (atmosphere, service, etc) are basically the same at lunch and dinner. Frankly, if you really enjoy Le Cellier's signature dishes (cheese soup, mushroom filet, maple crème brûlée, etc.), you might as well do lunch.

Donald, Thank you for the great info and pictures - it is rare to see non-steak reviews here. Now I wish I had tried that lobster salad instead of the old standby, cheese soup. I am surprised to see the differences between lunch and dinner. Poutine can be really good if done correctly.

I also think that Le Cellier is not lacking in overall experience and food compared to CG, HBD, Citrico's and Narcoosee. We had a great server and meal at CG this trip but it is chaotic in there. Whereas LC seemed cozy and welcoming. It is very rare to get 100% - perfect table, perfect server and every dish with every course perfect but to me the value is not much different (caveat that we were not on the dining plan this time) between these restaurants.
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While we do lots of dinners, I've always found we enjoy TS restaurants better during lunch time. Less crowded, better service and have found the food freshly cooked and served promptly. Plus there's the added benefit of the price.

I feel exactly the same way! We also found (last trip in June) that during the hot & humid weather in Florida's hot sun, a late lunch is the perfect refresher to get out of the heat & avoid the sticky cranky crowds :thumbsup2
 
Thanks again for the input. :) I was able to get an 8:30 ADR on arrival day, so we're going with that. We're hoping it will be a little quieter that time of night. It is ridiculous that the same bowl of soup is much more at dinner, but we didn't really like the soup anyway. We won't be ordering that. The scallop appetizer looks good. I'll probably get that, if it's still on the menu. If we were both ordering the filet, we'd definitely go at lunch. I doubt either of us will order that though.
 


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