Lola's Tacos and Tequila — Restaurant in Gurnee

I very rarely leave reviews but then again I very rarely don't finish my food. Buckle up, this is a ride.

We had a reservation, 2 adults and a toddler. The hostess saw us and asked if we needed just 1 kid menu. Um yeah, the toddler only needs 1. We got seated and two waittresses came by. We assumed 1 was a trainee but it wasn't told to us. Drinks were ordered and then one of them came back with drinks and we were ready to order for our toddler and the waitress told us that the other one was the trainee and we should be ordering through her. Ok NOW we know.

We ordered the nachos to start and a quesadilla for our kid. The quesadilla came out and within a minute as we were blowing on it to cool it off, a different waiter came by and took the quesadilla back as it was "the wrong one". I hope they didn't that out to someone. A different plate showed up, smaller in size, clearly the kid portion.

The nachos hit the table, and one bite in, uh, we were mad we ordered them. The shredded cheese wasn't melted at all. The black olives straight out of a can, and a pile of shredded lettuce to scrape to the side just to use the small scoop of sour cream and guac. We wouldn't order them again.

We ordered steak tacos and enchilladas. On the menu, the enchilladas said they were chicken and I could pick between a red or green sauce. So when I ordered, I was surprised when the waitress asked me what protein I wanted even though chicken was the only option on the menu. Then I had to remind her that I had to pick a sauce to top them. When they came to the table, the sauce was on the and I got both - not that I asked for that. The chicken tinga inside the enchilladas was clearly from a serving dish and the chicken was "wet" when it was put inside the tortilla making the overall dish wet, sloppy, and mushy.

The steak tacos were bland. The clinatro was a whisper of flavor and the sides of beans and rice were bland too. The rice seemed to be right out of a box or pouch, no real authenticty to them. Same with the beans.

We only got steak tacos because when we looked at the taco salad, it is literally just a salad with ground beef on it. The offered dressing? 1000 Island. No taco shell either. Really? C'mon, how is that a taco salad?

Also heads up, they have an "All you can eat" salad bar which you can also add to any meal for $7. But I don't know how they accomplish this because the salad bar has the metal covers on it and hasn't clearly been open in a while.

To round out the night, we got the bill. First notice, we were over charged for our drinks. Notifed the waitress and it was corrected. Check comes back and there are 2 different totals at the bottom. One is for cash and one higher total for paying with a credit card. Oh cool, at no point in time were we told that this was the case. You have to pay more money to pay with a credit card. They pass the cost of doing business down to you and give you no advanced notice of this. Not on the menu, not mentioned by the hostess or the waiteress. This is a poor way of doing business.

Overall we won't be going back to Lola's. The food was blah and bland. The one waitress was wearing an airpod while serving us. That is rude. We overpaid because we used a...

My family of four stopped in at Lola's for dinner after a Saturday shopping in the Gurnee Mills mall. There are many places to eat nearby, but we wanted something we could just get right in the mall that was hopefully a step up from the food court. My wife and I are both big fans of Mexican food and so we gave Lola's a try. The restaurant is fine from an ambience perspective, it is a restaurant right in a mall, after all. We were seated quickly, and the service throughout the night was good. Let's talk food.

The complimentary chips and salsa, always a hit at a Mexican restaurant, were decent. The salsa was on the sweet side, but with our kids with us that was a good thing. The chips did not seem homemade on site.

My wife went with the chicken Enchiladas with green salsa. She termed them "ok." The chicken was not dry, which is a plus as that's often a problem with chicken enchiladas. I had 3 tacos, and went with one Chicken Tinga, one Al Pastor, and one ground beef - my first big miss here is there was no Chorizo available, which in most circumstances is my go to taco. The tinga was a let down, and I didn't finish it. It was dry and didn't have a ton of flavor. The ground beef was about as good as a ground beef taco can be. The Al Pastor was the best by far. It really had the textured of good, slow cooked pork and I could taste the pineapple without being overwhelmed by it.

As far as other sides, the rice was totally standard plain Mexican rice, but the beans were more on the disappointing side. A gray color, and they also lacked any punch of flavor. I found myself using the green salsa on just about everything to try to amp things up.

This all sounds bad, but I am giving them a slightly higher score due to the service and due to the fact that it is, in fact, a mall restaurant. So if you want the convenience and Mexican food, this is at least passable. But if you want a better product, Tacos El Norte is not far from the mall and would be a...

I had to give Lola's a star in order to write this review. I am absolutely disappointed in this restaurant. There are plenty of reasons why I will never visit again.

We waited to be seated, about 6 -7 minutes. They were not busy, so we couldn't understand the wait.

We waited again for a waitress. She finally came, never introduced herself, just asked us if we wanted something to drink. She seemed like she was rushing us our entire visit.

Very limited menu. They have more liquor than food options. If you are looking for authentic Mexican food, this is not a spot I would recommend. It is an upscale/ very expensive Taco Bell.

The food took a while to make it to our table, and when it did... it was nothing to brag about. We waited a couple of minutes for silverware... food kind of stopped sizzling by the time she came back with our utensils.

I ordered the shrimp a la diabla (a known very spicy Mexican dish). There was absolutely no spice or flavor to it. The rice and beans were not good. The beans tasted like aluminum, which led me to believe they came out of a can. The rice tasted like rice-a-roni, for sure... it definitely was not house made.

My stomach started hurting before I could finish my meal. It was not a very pleasant experience. The food was NOT good. The tortillas were so full of some kind of oil. They were drenched.

I purchased the cantarito mixed drink that, again, took a while to make it to the table. It was watered-down and had no flavor or liquor. I had to send it back.

The restroom is very, very small. Somewhat clean.

Lastly, the restaurant is in a really great location. It would be a perfect summer spot if the service and food were good. I love everything about Mexican food! I know great food and drinks when I see and taste it. I'm sorry, but this...