Casa Lola Strachan — Restaurant in Málaga

TL;DR: Tourists be aware - food is slightly above average but the service is pretty disappointing. You can get better food elsewhere without being constantly ignored by the waiters or have your orders completely forgotten about.

We were excited to try this place out after reading many good reviews - this was our first tapas experience in Spain. On a busy Sunday afternoon, we were able to get a table after waiting for 15 minutes.

Once we were seated, we ordered everything within the first 10 minutes - 6 tapas and our drinks. The first tapas came in 25 minutes, another came 15 minutes after the first, but the rest never came, even after an hour of waiting - during which we saw 2 - 3 groups of locals arrive after us and ordered, got their food, ate and left the restaurant.

We tried asking a couple waiters, some "didn't see" us even though they were walking past our table, some told us that the food was coming in 1 minute (which wasn't the case). We tried to cancel the rest of the items but was informed that it wasn't possible. During this time, the server of our table ended his shift and took off.

Finally, after waiting 1h+ for the remaining 4 tapas, I had approached another server and asked, in my frustrated Spanish, where the food was and how the majority of the items hadn't arrived. He had clearly not been briefed by his colleague who left - we had to tell him which dishes were served and which not.

Fortunately, my frustrated Spanish must've worked some kind of magic, because bam, those missing 4 dishes showed up within 15 minutes. Here's the kicker: if they could whip those up and get them to us so quick, why the long wait in the first place?

When it came time to settle up, getting a server's attention was like trying to catch a unicorn. Not just for us, but for another bewildered tourist couple too. We gave up and went to the bar to pay.

So, here's the deal – this place seems to be doing just fine without us tourists. We won't be making a comeback...

This restaurant Lola (Strachan) is the best to me. I love the atmosphere, the quality of the food and the service. These people move mountains for the best experience of real authentic Spain.

I have eaten here more then three times and everything is always on point. Everything is made from fresh ingrediënts, well taken care of and all in a fashionable serving.

The waiters know exactly what to ask you to give you the best personal experience and they consult very well on your personal taste.

What might be most important (as I will not describe all the dishes I ate) is to tell you this is apparently the only chef in Malaga or around that knows how to serve a real Langostinas/ Gamba Pil Pil!

All other places serve gambas in oil with garlic! But they always seem to forget the most important part of the sauce, which can be seen in the picture. (The residu of cooked Cod)

Best Langostina Pil.Pil I ate! (And I tried many, for many weeks) To give you some hints. Just order away. Some Pinxto Tartar Atun, patatas, Pil Pil and fill the table with Croquettas (casera) ham, cheese, order a beer and enjoy...

For a start you wait 10 minutes for someone to take your order and then you order 3 tapas, an two drinks (aperol spritz and water) and they bring you 1 tapas to the table after 10 minutes your order and you l get the drinks about 15 minutes of sitting at the table and after the one tapas of three. The aperol was dark red, without bubbles (no gas) and there was not even a straw to stir the drink. The water was brought in a tiny, cheapest plastic bottle. There was no ice or lemon in the glass, while the next table had high-quality water with ice and lemon (just for comparison). The last 2 tapas were brought another 5 minutes later. Completely ignorant service. Not a word of English, although it is understandable that we do not speak Spanish, although we tried to order food in Spanish. In addition, 1.50 was added to the bill for bread that we did not order. The positive thing was that they brought the aperol spritz back and I got a glass of white wine 5 minutes later. And the food was good based on these 3...