Shakespeare and Co.

The food is consistently good and the décor is eclectic enough that we tend to bring out of town guests here just for the entertainment of seeing them try to figure out the setting and menu. However, if you are going for breakfast make sure you have your coffee beforehand unless you are ready to pay ridiculously high prices (2−3x or more what even Starbucks charges). Ordering coffee can easily turn a $ 25 breakfast for two into a $ 35 breakfast. A regular cup of coffee is $ 3, which isn’t too bad, but considering a double espresso? That’ll be $ 6. Wanting an iced coffee beverage? $ 5-​$ 7. Get a better cup of coffee nearby and then stroll down to Shakespeare’s for crepes.

Great environment, great service, good food. The space is so fun, and the staff is friendly and helpful.

They have an eclectic menu and cannot seem to do any of it well. I am writing this after eating there 3 times and won’t be heading back even if someone brings it up again.
The Frutti di Mare for example used canned smoked mussels that overpowered the entire dish and I’m a smoked fish fan. This is the only dish I can remember ever throwing away from a restaurant. This was the dish I had today.
The salads are simple.
The Shakespeare Classic Chicken is kind of a bland creamy mess.
The frozen mozz sticks live up to expectations but it’s rare a restaurant makes those in house and it’s always special when they do.
Overall this middle-​eastern chain restaurant has taken dishes you know and love from other places and created poor or inedible copies of european dining.

Terrible service and mediocre food. Food was cold I have never sent food back in my life until now! They left our dirty plates on the table and put our check on a dirty plate

Shakespeare and Co. is kind of a strange place, but I’m okay with that. The décor is absolutely adorable and while my husband looks a little out of place next to all of the dainty floral things, it would be a great spot for a ladies brunch.
I’ve only been for breakfast so I can’t speak for the rest of the (HUGE) menu, but I really like the steak and eggs and the American breakfast. I’m also excited to try the Mediterranean breakfast sometime. The rest of the menu is a hodgepodge of really strange items. This is a chain that started in Dubai and Lexington has its only US restaurants, so it’s almost like the owners asked «Hmmm what kind of food do Americans like?» and then put every single one of those things on the menu along with their traditional middle eastern foods. The entire menu is available all day, so if you want spaghetti for breakfast this is your place. (Or breakfast for dinner which is kind of my jam.)
If you can embrace the oddity of this place, then it’s actually pretty cool.

I love the atmosphere. Really different. The mushroom soup wasn’t as flavorful as I hoped. The waiter, Shane, was super patient as we looked over the amazing menu.

My friend and I ate at Shakespeare tonight and were highly disappointed with the food. Here are a few highlights from the meal:
1. To begin, the Dr. Pepper was flat. We told our waitress that the Dr. Pepper was flat and she brought back a second Dr. Pepper that was less flat, but still flat.
2. The Chicken Satay appetizer ($ 10.00) that our waitress highly recommended tasted odd – the chicken came covered in a sauce that tasted like pureed red peppers and onions. On the plus side, the appetizer came with cheesy tater tots that were the best part of my meal.
3. For my entrée, I ordered the beef tenderloin sandwich ($ 13.00), which our waitress also recommended. The «beef tenderloin» came chopped up in small pieces. It was mixed with onions, mushrooms, and red peppers and flavored like the chicken satay sauce. Overall, the sandwich was terrible – I was able to eat 2 bites but my friend could only eat 1.
Fortunately, the beef tenderloin sandwich came with fries, which were edible. They had a crispy outer layer that tasted like a bland combination of an Arbys curly fry and a Burger King fry.
4. My friend ordered the Bristol burger ($ 13.00), cooked to medium temperature; however, the sandwich came out rare. She sent the burger back and the waitress said they would make her a new burger; however, the «new» burger was actually the first burger cooked more and was very, very greasy. My friend only lasted 5 minutes before she had to run to the bathroom (this was the first of many visits she would make to the bathroom).
5. Our waitress was very lovely but obviously overwhelmed by the number of patrons who came in to eat after a college basketball game. At one point I overheard a waitress saying that they ran out of cups! It was clear that neither the servers nor the kitchen was prepared for the number of people who ate at Shakespeare tonight.
Overall, I think Shakespeare is a nice place to come for a drink. The décor is beautiful and it is very difficult to ruin wine and beer. If you are looking for a place to eat in downtown Lexington, I highly recommend that you find a different restaurant.

The good: the waitress, abundant tp in the bathroom, and a powerful flush on the toilet (both of which were necessary on my visit).
The bad: pretty much everything else.
The story: A friend and I went after a UK game, and it wasn’t crowded at first, but it got busy quickly. We ordered the chicken satay app, and it was drenched in a weird peanut sauce. It had a lot of red bell pepper, which didn’t fit well w/​the overall flavor. However, the potato croquettes on the side were good. My friend ordered a steak sandwich, which the waitress encouraged her to have served in a wrap. I ordered the Bristol burger (mushrooms, onions, and cheese). The food came quickly, but our hopes of good entrees were quickly dashed. The steak wrap had a very weird flavor, similar to the peanut sauce. The menu claimed it was beef tenderloin, but the cut of meat was unrecognizable. The meat was cooked with some onions and perhaps red pepper, but the wrap didn’t have anything else in it.
I ordered my burger medium, and it came out red and cool in the center. I sent it back, and it came back quickly. I soon realized it was the same patty, as there was a cut mark where I had cut it open before. I’m not sure of the food safety rules, but this seemed odd to me, as the burger was topped with crunchy onions, cheese, and mushrooms. I don’t know how they reheated it. I ate about half of it. The flavor wasn’t bad, but it was quite greasy. The fries served with both of our entrees were fine, but nothing spectacular. The pickle served with my burger tasted old and almost rotten. The Dr Pepper was flat. I could go on, but I’ll end it here… the total meal cost $ 50 (including tip), we ate less than half of the food, and we both had to make sudden trips to the bathroom.

Beautiful atmosphere with Victorian pastel décor. You can chose to sit at a table with chairs or a sofa and coffee table. This is a great place for a date. It’s a little pricey and you can get a better deal across the street at Saul Good. The food is presented well and tasty. I had the Cobb salad on my last visit. It was filled with lots of fresh lettuce, avocados, eggs, grilled chicken, and tomatoes. A piece of toast with a slice of bacon on top is also served with this salad. Our service was spotty.

Had brunch here with the fam and loved the 1800s décor. I ordered the smoked salmon Benedict which was AMAZING– the salmon was top quality, the eggs were cooked to perfection and the waiter even asked how well done I wanted my poached eggs which I never here other places, the hollandaise was delicious and the Rosemary potatoes also incredible. My sis got the Cobb salad and loved it. My only complaint was the music was club/​dance music which didn’t seem to match the vibe of the restaurant at all

I ordered a Stella Artois which ended up not being an optimal choice. It was a tasty choice, but a Pinot Grigio or Prosecco would have been a better choice. Let me start. I ordered the Penne Arrabbiata with chicken. It was very good and slightly spicy, but for a chili head, not spicy. The penne was nicely al dente. The balsamic vinaigrette on the mixed greens side salad was good, too. Beverly had the steak and eggs. The tender steak was perfectly on the rare side of medium rare. Her I’ve easy egg was properly done.
The highlight, however, was the chocolate and strawberry crepes. After a nice meal, it was big enough to share. The crepes was filled with a chocolate sauce and some fresh strawberry slices. The caramel sauce went well with this whole preparation as did the strawberry preserves.
I’d also like to thank Stan, our waiter. I know today was not a busy day, but his service was exemplary while not being intrusive. Thanks.
All in all, I’ll be visiting Shakespeare & Co again. I didn’t give it 5 stars because I have eaten at better establishments, but it is deserving of better than average (3 stars).

Wife, daughter& I had a great brunch here today. Attractive venue; broad menu; excellent attention to preparation. We had crepes, an American breakfast, a cup of soup & a Caesar salad with shrimp. Everything was great– crepes and soup were stars. A nice break from the everyday fare about town. We will return.

I ate dinner at Shakespeare after running the Bourbon Chase Relay in October. As the name denotes; walking into Shakespeare and Co. I thought I was traveling back through time. The restaurant is large, and decorated with old furniture, and many bright colors. The décor is odd, to say the least.
Some of my friends ordered fancy cocktails at the bar; they all gave them the thumbs up. We probably should have ended our visit to Shakespeare after the cocktails but we decided to wait for a table and eat dinner.
The service was slow, and the food left something to be desired. I had the arugula salad with goat cheese; it was large and had a decent amount of goat cheese — hard to mess up. I also had a bowl of their tomato bisque — also pretty basic, I couldn’t complain. Most of my friends ordered entrées that they all said were «just ok». The restaurant was loud and very crowded that Saturday night. We were all really antsy and wanted to leave but it took our server a while to get our check, and then bring us change.
It was not our most enjoyable experience while visiting Lexington.

Let me start out by saying that the décor is absolutely gorgeous. It was the main reason I wanted to try out the restaurant and it didn’t disappoint at all.
That being said, I really did not enjoy my food very much. The flat bread with halloumi was rather bland, dry, and overpriced. It needed a dipping sauce or something. The goat cheese pizza came completely covered in goat cheese, making it way too rich and salty. It also lacked sauce, making it dry. It would have worked better with much less cheese. The prawn and avocado sandwich was good, but I really wasn’t expecting it to be cold! The prawns were peeled cocktail shrimp. I think it would have worked better if the prawns were warm. The sandwich itself was a little bland.
I guess I was expecting the food to be more of a flavorful fusion of food from around the world. I was pretty disappointed with the food in general. I would love to go back to have drinks and hang out and enjoy the atmosphere, but I don’t think I would return for dinner unless they drastically changed their menu.

Fresh and tasty and I think actually healthy.
That is how would describe my lunch choice, the salad nicoise. The greens, asparagus, cherry tomato and the lightly seared ahi tuna were well executed.
The menu is extensive and there are many choices if you don’t want a salad. Service and management were both attentive as well.

Loved the ambience of the place. Good was excellent and plentiful. Service was exceptional.
I highly recommend this place for a girls night out or dinner before the theatre.

We had the calamari. Far too salty. Almost inedible. So gummy and just pure salt
Steak sandwich. Not. Great but edible.
Made a big fuss about swapping out a chicken breast for a burger on a sandwich.
The classic chicken was by far the best, but was not overwhelmingly good.
We will probably not be a repeat visitor here.

Interesting motif. Not that I have been in one, but I kept waiting for the Madam of the house to greet us. Comfortable atmosphere. Our waiter Kevin was personable and knowledgeable. Our party of 6 ordered different items items from the large menu.
Everything was well plated and very tasty. I had the braised ribs and would have them again. Only drawback we agreed on was food could have been served hotter.
Still gave a 5 star. Will be back soon.

With its glamorous interior, I really want to like this place, but I can’t. I’ve tried it now several times, and I always leave underwhelmed and sad that I didn’t go somewhere else. The food is average and the service is just okay. Overall, it’s just «meh»…

The good: the interior, the customer service, selection of different items from drinks to food. The bad: paying to park and unfortunately the food.
The rundown: walking into the building you are met with a vast array of pastels and Victorian esqu paintings and décor. It definitely has a style of its own. You can choose to sit on couches or at tables to change up your experience. The menu has several options and is broken down based upon the style of dinner you want. Our waiter was very nice and knowledgeable of the menu, though pronunciation may be lacking. The problem here is that the food itself was bland. Though it is well plated, the taste of it leaves something to be desired, like salt, and other general seasoning. The desert we got the apple crumble, it was flaky and warm with golden raisins which gave it more substance.
The impression: I see this as a cool place to maybe have a few drinks, to wind down and maybe an appetizer or desert. Off of my first venture I am not to excited to try another main course. With having to pay for parking downtown I would suggest spending your money on a restaurant with better food if your intention is to eat.