Lola - Vermut y Tapas — Restaurant in Prague

This place was recommended by Taste of Prague so expectations were fairly high. We were a party of 2, booked less than 24 hours ahead for Tuesday dinner in July. Throughout the evening the restaurant got packed, not a single table unoccupied and this was the cause of one of the issues probably. The delivery of food was painfully slow, we ordered at 7pm and were barely able to finish the few dishes by 8.45pm. This is a tapas place, not white tablecloth fine dining, so it should be fast imho. Service was extremely friendly but as the restaurant got full it was clear the few members of staff could not deliver the level of service as would be expected and it was quite difficult to get their attention. The pre-prepared tapas displayed on the counter looked appetising probably only for the short time after they were prepared, but in the evening they looked quite tired which meant nobody was ordering them which again meant they got even sadder with more time. The made-to-order tapas coming from the kitchen were much better and some I would rate very high (octopus with potato puree, mushroom roulade). The omelette, asparagus and fried calamari were ok, nothing amazing. We started the order with naming 5 dishes (3 tapas, 2 raciones) to share between the two of us and the waiter immediately suggested we skip some as it will be too much food. Well, we listened, skipped some.. and then we were hungry so we had to order more. We would probably order many more but with the slow speed of service/delivery we couldn't. The portions were tiny (which you would expect with tapas) but you would not expect the waiter to tell you to order fewer dishes.. Just to illustrate, the 'raciones' version (which is supposed to be larger than the tapas version) of the asparagus were exactly 6 asparagus pieces with a tiny container of dipping sauce, nothing more, nothing less. The tapas version of the shrimps were exactly 4 pieces of shrimp. Which could be fine if they were 'tiger' size, but we received 4 shrimps which were about 3 centimeters in diameter.. Even the dish they serve it in was way too big for this. On their pictures I could see that on other days, they did serve actual tiger shrimps so at least it looked appropriate for the dish size. We were just not lucky. If you want to have a proper meal made out of tapas, I would suggest ordering 4-5 dishes per person, not to 4-5 dishes to share (which would increase the price considerably of course). The mismatched ordering and the speed of service were the main issues. Otherwise, the food quality/taste was solid, the interior beautiful and the vibe excellent, hence...

Very surprising restaurant with exceptionally-flavoured tapas. True Spanish charm.

We were looking for something to eat late in the evening and stumbled across this place, and we are grateful we did.

It has excellent tapas and drinks! All of the hot, savory tapas were beautifully made, bursting with Spanish flavours, and reminded me very much of Spain. While I am not Spanish, it felt and tasted very authentic to me. They also have many pintxos as well, but we didn't try those. It is a tapas bar that draws on many regions of Spain, not just one, so there is a good variety of tastes.

The pulpo skewers were the perfect texture of chewy but not overcooked, the oxtail was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the patatas bravas was some of the best I've ever had, although they could use a little more kick, for me. Every dish was seasoned to perfection.

The only disappointment was the "Basque" cheesecake which was nothing like a Basque cheesecake should be. So over-baked it was almost scrambled and dry. The flavour was nice and the compote tangy and bright. It just isn't Basque. It's not a bad cheesecake at all, it just was not what I would expect from a Basque version.

The drinks were also really nicely-balanced. I am always concerned about overly-sweet cocktails in such places, but the Rioja Sour was really even and looked beautiful too. A great slightly Spanish twist on a New York Sour. And I would be remiss if at a vermouth bar, I did not try the house vermouth. It is amazing here! Sweet, but not cloying, and very smooth. The server suggested that if I like that, I try their signature negroni. So I did! It too was very tasty. A bit on the sweeter side but I'm not picky about that in a bitter negroni. It just was so smooth and enjoyable.

You really must try vermut at Spanish bars, and their cocktails with wine or vermouth are definitely worth a try as well!

The interior is outstanding, and despite being modern and moody with tall ceilings, it was still very inviting and cosy. We felt incredibly comfortable there. The soft, yellow lighting was both calming and classy.

Finally, the service. The service was awesome! He was so attentive, funny, helpful, and kind. We had been having a difficult evening after a lot of problems checking in to our accommodation and he turned our whole mood around! It takes an excellent server to be able to do that for guests.

It is truly the best of Spanish culture in a...

Unfortunately, I have to leave a very negative review for this place. We made a reservation for a farewell party for our colleague, and when booking, we were asked if we would like something special, like decorations. We were excited and said yes because it was an important occasion, and we were assured that decorations would be arranged. However, when we arrived, there was nothing—no decorations at all.

The service was incredibly slow and inattentive. It took 20 minutes before anyone even came to take our order. When we ordered a bottle for a toast, they brought five glasses, but mine was dirty. I asked for a new one, and while I received it immediately, it was completely different from the rest of the table’s glasses. When the bottle arrived, no one from the staff offered to pour it for us—I had to pour the Cava myself for the entire table. After our toast, we sat with empty glasses for 15 minutes while waiters walked past us without acknowledging us—even though the restaurant was only half full.

We had to flag down a waiter ourselves just to get our glasses refilled. Then we had to wait again to see if anyone would ask if we wanted to order anything else, but no one did, so we had to call them over again. When we ordered food along with sparkling and still water, the water never arrived. After 15 minutes, I asked the waitress if they had forgotten our order. She looked at our table and simply said, “You don’t have any water?” As if it wasn’t obvious… When the water finally arrived, no one bothered to serve it, so once again, I had to pour drinks for the entire table myself.

After the meal, the same thing happened—we sat with empty glasses and uncleared plates for ages, and no one checked on us. When they finally cleared the table, they didn’t even ask if we wanted anything else. We originally planned to stay here for the entire evening, but after constantly being ignored by the staff, we decided to leave. Waiters kept walking past our table, looking at the empty bottles and glasses, yet showing no interest in taking our order or even acknowledging us.

The entire evening was filled with complete ignorance from the staff. Zero initiative, zero attention, zero effort. I used to love this place and came here often, but after this experience, I will never return. If you want a stress-free evening, I highly recommend choosing...