Lilly's Dim Sum, Then some does best during dinner.

SOME RESTAURANTS GO WELL with friends and some go well with colleagues or co-workers. It's important to remember that these reviews evaluate how an eatery caters to the later, specifically meals during which business will be discussed.

With that caveat, west Little Rock's Lilly's Dim Sum, Then Some is not the place to have a business lunch.

Lilly's serves some of the best contemporary Asian cuisine in all of Arkansas. And so it pains us to write that while Lilly's is a fine restaurant for a romantic dinner or a fun meal with friends, it is far from an ideal business lunch venue.

For starters, the service's leisurely pace often keeps diners occupied for more than an hour. Though we did not suffer through any wait to be seated, it took nearly 10 minutes to get our drinks, another 10 minutes to get our appetizers and at least another 15 minutes to get our entrees.

The food, fleshly prepared and elegantly presented, is worth the wait--just not during work hours.

Perhaps we could have skipped the dim sum portion of the meal to save time, but that's the best part about eating at Lilly's. Dim sum refers to small portions of Oriental food, usually steamed or flied and served in succession. It's like the Far East's take on appetizers, except sometimes people make a full meal out of dim sum.

At lunchtime Lilly's usually offers a trio of dim sum combos, some including Vietnamese spring rolls, Chinese pot stickers, gilled steak wraps and other tasty treats. Our favorite is the wasabi shao mai, basically a steamed dumpling with wasabi and pork filling.

The entrees are heaping and delicious. When asked, the servers are helpful in describing a dish's spiciness. Another plus: A vegetarian who dined with us was very impressed with all the meatless fare Lilly's had to offer.

Lilly's also excels at fusing fresh ingredients across varying types of cuisine.

Likewise, the restaurant's aesthetics are a welcome blend of casual elegance. Were it not for the acoustic ceiling tiles, guests might completely forget they are dining in a shopping center.

The problem with Lilly's atmosphere--at least when it is the setting for a business lunch--lies not in the way it looks but the way it sounds.

Obnoxious music that we can only describe as Earth beat pop pipes in the restaurant's speakers about 10 decibels too loud. It's hard to have a serious discussion with thumping beats in the background.

We anticipate eating many more meals at Lilly's, just on a Friday night instead of a Friday afternoon.

Lilly's Dim Sum, Then Some
11121 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock
[phone]

**

Cuisine: Contemporary Asian
Dress Code: None
Noise Level: Medium
Price Range: $8-$11
Credit Cards: All major
Reservations: For parties of six or more
2004 Receipts: $649,213

**** = Outstanding
*** = Good
** = Fair
* = Poor