Lolo Amsterdam - Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Amsterdam

My partner and I visited this restaurant on June 19th 2024, unplanned on a Thursday night after we had flown in from Copenhagen on a delayed flight after getting married. We didn’t know a lot of the places so searched for a decent looking Italian in the area. We were starving, and it was about 09:50, so we decided to go in here and give it a try. We were met with a truly bizarre reaction which we can only put down perhaps to a little bit of old fashion homophobia (because genuinely there’s no other way to explain this and we’ve never experienced it anywhere before or after)…

The first waiter said he’d ask his manager and went off. After about 5 minutes a guy arrives with an iPad and seems totally unable to look us in the eye. He complains at us that’s it’s almost 10pm and the kitchen closes at 10:30 (yes this was said rudely, but we were so hungry and didn’t want to search any more that we ignored it). To me that means you’re still open (I’ve done his job), but clearly there was an underlying issue here… he told us we were allowed to order ONE thing because of the time… we said that was fine and eventually were shown to a table. We ordered a bottle of wine, which came with a really grumpy Italian as a side is seems. Just before they came to take our food order, we heard very clearly the table next to us tell the waiter they hadn’t had menus yet. He gave them menus, and then afterwards took their order of several courses (not only one thing). The difference between us and this couple though, were that this couple were a man and a woman, not two men.

This caused me to double check when they came to take our food order, so I confirmed “We are only allowed one thing then right?”… “Yes. Just one thing!” He says. So we order our food. It arrives completely cold and disgusting but we are starving and we eat it. We didn’t get to raise any issue with any waiters as they stayed away from our table and didn’t ask us if we wanted more drinks or if the food was ok. Meanwhile, they clear the table next to us, and bring their main… (because they are allowed more than one thing apparently). Then they clear our table…not a word from the waiter. We decide to finish our bottle and leave. While we are finishing our bottle the couple next to us finish their main and their table is cleared. We then hear the waiter offering the dessert menu…

We were in total disbelief. We could not for one second understand why out of two couples ordering roughly the same time, one is made to feel totally unwelcome and only permitted one thing. The other is given the full works. There was only one difference between us that we could tell, and the waiters were not particularly subtle at hiding their contempt for us.

My partner things is may have been jealousy. I think he’s being generous in saying that, and excusing a little bit of bigotry. Personally, in my entire life, I’ve never experienced anything like this anywhere, least of all in a restaurant.

I’m also just not used to being disrespected by these types of people… 🤷🏼‍♂️

All in all an absolutely appalling restaurant full of appalling people. No wonder their ratings are so awful. We should have seen the red flags! Avoid! (Unless maybe you are straight?! 🤷🏼‍♂️ Maybe your experience might be different…)… who knows! We won’t be returning...

Yesterday evening we visited the Lolo restaurant, ordered melonzane for an appetizer and risotto with fettuccine with truffle for the main course, cocktails. I’ll start with the first impression, we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by the administrator, who was angry, at the same time leading us to the table and arguing with the cooks in the kitchen, this does not make a good impression, even if the concept of the establishment is an Italian family"

We didn’t like the table, we asked to be moved to the next table further away from the counter and the crowd of waiters and the smell of the kitchen, to which the administrator snorted in our faces and began to nervously remove the glasses. The waiter guy was polite and nice, he smoothed out the impression of the establishment as a whole. Snack eggplant with mozzarella with red soc and pesto is difficult to ruin, but these guys did it, the eggplant was raw at the edges, and most importantly cold, Melonzano is not the first time we eat, the dish is served hot, because mozzarella should melt on top of the eggplant, even if the chef's idea was to make some kind of twist on this dish, it turned out to be a failure. risotto. the essence of this dish is that when the rice gets enough moisture, you need to add fats, butter and parmesan, which was not done in the case of my risotto, or the fats were not enough, the rice was liquid, like rice porridge. fettuccini

the pasta was fine. calm, enough truffle, but it was not revealed, because of insufficient amount of salt and pepper in the dish, the best solution for this pasta add truffle oil or paste, then the flavor of truffle will be enhanced. Overall impression of the place, the guys did not reach MamaGroup in Paris, the concept echoes, very intreny instagram, I have been following the institution in the network for several years, but in fact, poorly staged kitchen, the menu is small, and the positions are not worked out, the kitchen should invite a professional chef, put the menu to be simply delicious. in general, the format is interesting, if the kitchen is completed, I would be happy to try to come again. I wish your place the best of luck, I...

For a restaurant with such great decor and huge potential, we were extremely disappointed with our experience. To begin with, we were greeted with less than welcoming servers that seemed mostly just irritated to be at work. We then had to wait over 1 hour for our food, which consisted of 2 simple pasta dishes and a salad. The server also managed to confuse our drinks order and was going to give us a new bottle of wine although we only ordered 1 glass. He wanted to serve red wine in a glass that had previously had white wine in it, and then proceeded to serve it in a new glass that was broken. When the food arrived--more disappointment. The truffle pasta was inedible and also very unappetizing. Apparently they had recently "improved" their recipe, honestly it looked like a bowl of brown goop and tasted more like an onion soup with noodles than anything else. Nothing even close to an Italian truffle pasta dish. The sauce was not "creamy" as described in the menu and as advertised by countless instagram photos. In fact there was really no sauce at all, just cooked red onions hidden under a heap of grated truffles. The ragout pasta was also not great, something between a bolognese and a ratatouille that left a strange aftertaste. Last but not least, the fennel "salad" was not a salad at all. Just plain fennel, sliced and thrown on a plate. No salad dressing, not even a hint of olive oil. The entire service showed total minimum effort. Not to mention, when we arrived the place was empty so there was no reason for such a long wait. After complaining, we also didn't receive any proper apology or some sort of compensation like a discount or a free dessert. The whole thing was very unprofessional--Definitely...