French cuisine finds representation in Spokane’s woman-owned bistro, Lorén. In an eventful and populated area of downtown Spokane, Lorén offers an experience that staff and customers describe as thoughtful and unique.
Staff members of Lorén work to ensure that guests have an elevated customer experience. Dimitri McLendon, a waiter at Lorén, prides himself in his ability to nourish this effort.
“I like doing the most that I can for my customers and making sure that they never have to ask me for anything because I’ve already done it for them,” McLendon said. “We really hold ourselves to a certain standard here for our customers.”
With a high-end atmosphere and a higher-end quality of service highlighted by staff, guests described leaving Lorén with a sense of appreciation.
“I’m used to my local burger joint. But I have to say it, the food was as tasty as the service was great,” Kara Lynnea said, a first time customer of Lorén’s. “I definitely felt underdressed and a bit out of place walking in, but I left feeling like royalty.”
Staff members have attributed their dedication in both the kitchen and in customer service to the owner of Lorén, Juli Norris, and her business approach.
Ashlyn Norris, events and hospitality director of Lorén and daughter of Juli Norris shares a passion for the business.
“When you come into Lorén, the fine dining and the level of service is very high, and I take great pride in how my staff is trained, how the menu is curated, how the cocktails are, and how everything comes together to create a really high level experience for our guests,” Norris said.
Ashlyn Norris also recalls her mother’s inspiration in the creation of the French-inspired bistro.
“She designed Lorén completely by herself,” she said. “When she saw the main arch to the restaurant, she thought to herself, something beautiful needs to be on the other side of that arch. How can we bring something new and different to Spokane? And so she designed Lorén.”
With an aim of an all-welcoming experience to guests, Lorén also maintains a sense of exclusivity with its social club, which is limited to 25 individuals of an annual membership.
“They get various perks such as using our Sofia room a specific number of times per year,” Norris said. “There’s a lot of fun perks that we have for our social club members and for our premier wine club members.”
Following the social club memberships, Lorén offers guests premiere wine memberships with an experience of high end products.
“All of our wine we serve at the restaurant is either from Washington or from France and our premier wine club members get access to a list of some of our higher end wines, like Leonetti or Casita Creek or Colesolar, anything like that, and we give them a great price for that as well as discounts for our wine dinners,” she said.
To provide this sense of exclusivity and value to all customers, Lorén features a purple curtain entryway and intimate lighting.
Building onto the note of decor, accents and location, customers can easily pinpoint Lorén’s location by the lilac butterfly located in Riverfront Park. This piece of Spokane culture gave birth to the name of the Papillon building which hosts both Lorén and Kasa Taphouse, also giving inspiration to Lorén’s butterfly accents.
For those looking for comfort food and a casual atmosphere, Lorén staff recommends guests visit Kasa Taphouse, which is partnered with Lorén and located within the same building.
“It really depends on what the vibe is,” said Thomas Shultz, a Lorén and Kasa Taphouse customer. “This is a great area, a very busy area, and whether you need a quick bite or a date night spot, this is the place to be.”
