Lola — Restaurant in Municipality of Heraklion

Cozy, welcoming, great original (non)traditional cuisine. Tasty and delicious. Kind and welcoming staff.

Found this cozy tavern at the corner of Kydonia street accidentally while walking (being lost) in the streets of old town of Irakleio. Menu is very original (not like typical cretan tavern) but very Greek Mediterranean style. I immediately fell in love with the menu, as it is full of vegetarian dishes or seafood. The stuff will kindly give you an advice if you get lost in the local names of dishes. As soon as I tasted my meal, I knew it had been very good choice for the lunch. Cuisine there is soooo tasty. It was the reason why we have returned for the evening meal as well. Again satisfied. For the evening I would recommend to make a reservation to be sure with place, but the staff is very helpful even if you don't have any, they try to arrange it. We tasted there delicious mixture of chickpeas, beans and lentils with fish, eggplants filled with cheese, great "mushroom risotto" in Macedonian style, cheese assortment, tasty fryed octopus, good white and red house-wine and creative luxurious sweets as well. Portions are smaller and prices may seem to be just little bit higher, but it worths to eat there and enjoy the cuisine, because it is about the gastronomy and atmosphere - if you want fast food, go to the McDonald's at the bus station ;-) . A lot of locals and Greeks are eating at Lola's, family and friends gatherings took place there - so it is the best sign of the authenticity of the place. It will be my gastronomy lighthouse for the next visit...

Pitty.

Something was wrong yesterday.

We have been more often here( all nice) but yesterday was disaster.

We ordered a cretan salad, but got horta with cherrytomatoes and 2 olives ( this time a veeery small personal portion, not as usual full plate. ) dressing just strong vinegar ( not dressing).

The bread was nice. No complains, but for 3 persons just 12 small olives in a small dipbowl ( size of half egg).

My friend ordered a risotto. Consistence ( structure) of mashed potatoes. Not nice! ... and no deco at all. loveless.

My other friend ordered pasta chilopites with meat and the portion was this time also small. On top was misithra (?) But not as usual one tablespoon, it was half teaspoon.

I ate liver with caramelized onions.

No sauce at all???

Liver was tender and tasty. But no sides sauce or deco.

As 2nd i ate porcetta with spicy babypotatoes. ( the worst)

They have been just regular( not baby) cutted in 3 slices. And too dark fried.

The porcetta was veeery crispy ( ok if there was sauce and not just few under the food on the plate). At al this dish felt like i ate dust...

Positive was the yoghurt icecream with apricot and raki.

... but this did not cover the food. Sorry.

We spend 58 euros for 3 persons and was not value. Here we eat for that money in a tavern 4 persons...

We headed out of the main tourist crowds and ended up at Lola's, located at a smaller crossroad. Some scooters passing adding to the feel of being more of a place for locals. It was Sunday so maybe more traffic other days of the week? Friendly staff speaking good English giving excellent service. I had a beetroot/feta cheese 'wintersallad' that turned out being a very delightful dish. My dear companion had the (veal?) lever with unions that she stated as being perfect! The house red wine...well worth the price. We were seated outdoors and what they have to offer regarding seating (and ambiance) indoors I can't comment on. I was told by my picky authority that the lavatory was nice and clean. I'm sorry the only picture I've to offer is the one of my perfect beer; Nymph on tap! Cheers to...