Lil Rita's - Schenectady

OMG this place is delicious, cozy, fun, and just really special. The food is fresh and healthy, or indulgent if you want. It 's a tiny local business where the service is personal, and it 's becoming a community spot. I can 't recommend it enough.I 've started ordering the Roll the Dice, where you list any ingredients that you want to avoid, and the owner surprises you with a custom entree. The suspense is half the fun, and so far it 's always been wonderful.At lots of places, in order to get many vegetables, I have to order vegetarian. Here the carnivore menu items also have plenty of veggies (if you want them .It 's a convenient stop during the Greenmarket and sometimes has live music.Outdoor seating. Clean bathroom. Free refills. Interesting lemonades, teas, and coffee drinks.(No, I 'm not related to the owner, although I know it sounds like it. I 'm just a huge fan.

Terrible coffee (tasted like cloves) cup was chipped, dirty plates, toast was moist, and my everything bagel was not good (soggy). No salsa and the potato chips were soggy. Water was served in what appeared to be used paper cups. Bacon was missing or under cooked between two sandwiches. There was half an avocado pit in the avocado on one of our sandwiches. Zero Stars!

This is a fantastic restaurant in Schenectady. We eat here once a week. You can order roll the dice , which is whatever she feels like cooking and she is very imaginative. Yum Yum

Lil'Rita's was just a joy. The food was different and creative, there was some live music at lunch (how often does that happen? and Rita herself was a delightful host. There are not as many LGBTQ positive spaces about as I could wish for, and I really enjoyed myself and Rita's welcome. It's also the most expensive lunch I've ever eaten anywhere, even more expensive than the four course lamb medallion and champagne preis-fixe I had, invite-only, at the Staatsoper in Weimar. Why? Not because Rita herself charges anything unreasonable, but because of downtown Schenectady's punishing parking enforcement. I bought a permit for the parking I had not far away on Liberty street, and the city does not dispute that and even shows my permit in the window on their picture. They claim, however, in the absence of any nearby signage that it was a handicap spot (no sign, no blue stripes . When I had the audacity to contest it, as it seems unlikely that I would gonto the trouble to buy a permit and park adjacent a police station if I was trying to get away with something, they doubled the fine. So to make up for the $350 fine that cost a week of my family's food budget, I shall have to forego my next 23 meals at Rita's. My advice? Absolutely do not display a rainbow sticker, or only go if you can walk there or have a handicap permit to hang, no matter what the markings near your parking spot say. Or, for a change of pace, park at Amtrak and take a roundtrip to Manhattan and dine there for the same price as parking nearby Rita's. I'm not convinced Rita's entrepreneurship is well supported by her local police, but perhaps they view her as an undesireable or their profits as more important than hers. In any case, I very much look forward to my next meal with Rita, some 3 years hence at present budget! If you don't have a car, don't miss it for anything!

Stopped by here for a quick snack before a college tour. Amazing service, wonderful food, and even given extra to go. The lavender lemonade is to DIE for!!! Highly recommend.