Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Café

Food is great. Cupcakes are heavenly.....so is the ice cream. This place has never disappointed me. Yes...it gets busy. Need to exercise patience or comeback when it's not busy.

OK, so I've been to Jilly's for lunch several times and just cupcakes other times. Up until last week, each visit was acceptable. Nothing special, but OK. But last Wednesday (Dec. 30), the last day of 2015 that they were serving lunch, we decided to take advantage of a "free cupcake with purchase of two entrees" unsolicited offer Jilly's sent us. We arrived between 1 and 1:30, a long line of customers wrapped around the inside waiting area. Took 15-20 minutes to arrive at the counter. Once there, a woman from the back came to speak with the cashier. When she left, he proceeded to tell us that the kitchen was backed up and it would be an additional 45 minutes until we rec'd our food. Mind you, I had not even placed my order yet, so it wasn't like I had ordered something unusual. Maybe I wanted a simple bowl of soup. Is the soup not made yet? How long does it take to put a ladle in a pot and bring the ladle of soup to the bowl? Sure, they were busy, but there were empty tables, so how did they get so backed up? And being a holiday week, one would expect more staff would be brought in to cover the busiest time of day. Obviously they had not planned ahead. Seems to me they should know better after nine years in business. I did send an email to their general mailbox that day explaining my disappointment and requesting a reply, but a week later and I have not heard from anyone. They obviously have more business than they know what to do with and do not care if they lose a few customers along the way. Well, I am one of the latter group and will not be returning to Jilly's. Period.

I'm not here to talk about the cupcakes (which are fantastic). I'm here to let you know that the food at Jilly's is to die for.



If you haven't heard by now, Jilly's serves lunch, and brunch every Sunday. I can't deny that their lunch is a pleasant experience. But, if you want your culinary socks knocked off, make a reservation for brunch. It has to be, hands down, the best all-you-can-eat meal I've ever taken part in.



My husband and I decided to give brunch a try, since we love the cupcakes and the lunch we had there years ago. We didn't make a reservation, but managed to luck into hitting the door at just the right moment. I wouldn't recommend that approach, though, because when Jilly's gets packed it gets packed fast!



For $15/adult (fountain drinks included) you'll be shown to a spread fit for royalty. Almost every food you could want for breakfast or lunch is available: giant bowl of cool, fresh fruit, Egg Strata, Brisket Hash, 6 Cheese Mac & Cheese, Chicken Salad, Egg Salad, Maple Sausage, Caramel Apple Baked French Toast with Praline Walnuts, mini cupcakes, tartlets, cookies and much, MUCH more.



Pace yourself! Get a plate with a little bit of varied interestingness on it, eat and drool over it and then go back for your favorites and to try whatever you couldn't fit on the first plate. I actually got full before being able to try everything I wanted, which would have made me a sad panda. But, I was so high off the glory of good food that it barely mattered.



This is absolutely worth the price of admission. So, do yourself a favor and make time for Jilly's on Sunday morning. If you work the buffet like a pro, you won't need (or want) anything else to eat all day!

Jilly's is awesome, the lunch menu was great and the cupcakes are unmatched in the STL. It would be a wonderful place to take children, saw it first hand as the kids eyes lit up when they ordered their cupcakes. They were so excited. My fellow employees all felt the same as I did as well. We have all returned.



Super!

Fantastic!

Awesome!