In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau described 16 Lovers Lane as the Go-Betweens' "straightest and catchiest bunch of love songs" and called the band "still the romantic poets good popsters ought to be." Record Mirror critic Johnny Dee lauded the album as "classic, tearful, moving." In Spin, Evelyn McDonnell wrote that the band reminded her of "whooping cranes: great gangling creatures capable of heights of gracefulness when in flight and passionate spasms when in heat. Similarly, the Go-Betweens infuse portentious poetry into giddy pop structures, then throw the uncertain songs in the air, whispering 'Fly or fuck.'" On the album's more ornate production, McDonnell felt that Wallis' "tendency to over-embellish" resulted in occasional "putrid moments", while Michael Azerrad of Rolling Stone observed "a strangely pleasant flirtation with banality in the album's honeyed melodies, soft strings and wistful, understated vocals", despite the songs conveying "a depth of emotion and a height of intellect rarely found in pop".