Citronnelle

1. Absolutely incredible. The crab croquettes were very soft and had a excellent crab taste. The arrangement of the plates were beautiful. The inside of the restaurant was very personal. You could tell that everything was done with care, intentionality. The main courseries were fantastic. The steak was cooked perfectly, chicken was delicate with a beautiful mushroom flavor. The desserts were not overly sweet. I would really recommend giving this place a try!

2. I had Citronnelle on my list for a long time! My friends were in from L.A. so I made reservations. Overall, the food was underwhelming. Maybe I expected too much, but I wasn’t a fan of some of the flavors and also felt that the ‘umami’ was missing. However, the services was impeccable, the environment was romantic and high-end, so maybe I just had an off night (me and/or the restaurant).

3. Rude.

   Initially, when I sent an email to change my reservation the owner was very gracious.
   Unfortunatel, the young woman who is waiting on us was less so. It is rude to tell your customers, once you’ve told them that you’ve run out of french fries, after putting down the menus and not mentioning the items that you were missing, to suggest that they go to McDonald’s if they want fries.

   It’s also very strange for a Modern French bistro restaurant to run out of bread at 7:30 in the evening. Yes, it is odd that they served some sort of version of focaccia instead of a proper baguettes but maybe that’s all part of the modern twist? However, every one of us has access to even Frozen baguettes from any chain grocery store that we can reheat when we run out of bread for ourselves and in a pinch, for our customers. The waitress seem to have an attitude when she delivered that news as well.

   It is the hospitality business even in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and she did not seem very hospitable.

   As far as the food went, the appetizers were fine. We especially enjoyed the croquettes and the carpaccio.

   I found the duck and fig bisteeya to the incredibly dense and lacking in duck. There was a lot of fig. Not an interesting dish. Although my co diner enjoyed his so it is a case of to each his own.

   The fish of the day was good and so was the lamb.

   The complete failure was the dessert. The souffles, which we ordered with our mains tasted like scrambled eggs with sugar and flavorings in them. They were curdled. They were not souffles and the creme anglaise was the consistency of milk not properly made creme anglaise.

   Two good things about this restaurant are:

   One, that it’s fairly quiet.

   It’s a very plain room ambiance-wise, but you can’t hear your fellow diners, which is nice.

   Two, the corkage fee is very low.

   Another snide response from our waitress was regarding whether or not they had anything that was non-alcoholic to drink. She said only coffee or tea. I found out later there was a ginger beer on the menu that she didn’t think I needed to know about.

   It seems strange with the plethora of non-alcoholic drinks and mocktails available at most restaurants these days that this place would not have a better selection.

4. Citronelle is a hidden gem, even amongst Lancaster county natives. Only a handful of people even knew what I was talking about when I brought it up as a place I wanted to try.
   The experience itself was really amazing. We went for an early dinner, so we were able to get in there before a crowd formed which is ideal for me. I’m not a fan of a lot of noise and I suspect it gets loud in there given it’s a small space. The service was on point, and my husband and I enjoyed the BYOB aspect. There is a corkage fee but it’s not unreasonable.
   We shared the crab Croquettes for our appetizer. They were flavorful, crispy, creamy- just all of the things! For entrees, he selected the New York strip. It came out perfectly as ordered and was delicious. I had the duck bisteeya. I did not know what to expect with this and was very pleased with the result. It was very yummy, the flavor profile reminded me a little of Curry. We tried both the chocolate and lemongrass souffles for dessert. They were pretty good but nothing compared to everything else we had. We will definitely return for special occasions.

5. We have been to Citronnelle twice. Very special little French restaurant. Citronnelle is a gem, we will reserve a table again.
   The combination of the assorted seafood dish complements each other and tastes very delicious. Usually shellfish tend to leave sand in the dish, but this dish delighted me from beginning to end. The sauce tastes great.
   We tried different dishes for both dinners, and each one was a pleasant surprise…bring your own favorite wine (not provided by the restaurant) and enjoy the family atmosphere, friendly conversation…it was great! We can’t wait for the next time 😋

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