Cafe Lola Bistro — Restaurant in Johnson City

We set our reservation for early on a Sat. evening (5pm), to avoid a 'crazy', over crowded, 'too busy for comfort', romantic holiday dinner for 2. We arrived before 5. Sat outside at their less than clean, unattractive sidewalk until about 5:05 waiting for doors to be unlocked. We were then quickly ushered (felt pushed into) a tiny, crowded table in a corner. Drink menus were pushed at us with no suggestions and immediately the server (who later told us he was the owner) disappeared for quite some time. **Now there was a large retirement party going on - it took up the main concern of the restaurant. We were definitely never a priority at any time during the entire visit. The drinks took a long time to be delivered as did a shrimp cocktail. This app, though good sauce, was the least appealing looking dish I have ever seen (the old 'shrimp hanging on a glass' presentation really needs some love & imagination). So Surprising! Dinner finally came (it took way too long for the 2 dinners, - a MR steak & a crab cake plate) the Steak Au Poivre was inedible - could not cut the meat- both my husband and I sawed and sawed - never could cut through. It took about 7 min before anyone stopped back to see how dinner was going...- &, it wasn't our server who checked in, it was a woman who at least asked if I would like to order something else...! We weren't asked about wine or any other beverage to consume with dinner - we had to guess at which of their offerings might compliment our food. Thankfully I have over 25 yrs as a Bar Mngr so have a good knowledge base but we did have a few questions that were never addressed... I ended up finally getting to reorder and, of course, the fastest item would be a salad w/chicken. I figured maybe it would arrive while husband was still eating... His food was set aside while he waited to eat with me. His food was cold, mine was a dish that I could have ordered at a drive thru down the street... Dinner was a disaster. We tried to save the evening with a Creme Brulee and a coffee drink. One coffee had a proper pour of alcohol - the other tasted of coffee only... Did we do something to offend? Why/how could this simple 5:00 dinner for 2 turn so sideways? WHY DID U TAKE OUR RESERVATION IF U COULDN'T HANDLE THE SEATING?! We did get a "Sorry" but it truly was so cold and disingenuous that it showed the amount of concern ... - NONE. We were so nice and understanding - until the end - when your continued lack of professionalism was just too much, warranting this review. We didn't get a "please return", "it will be better next time", "Have desert on us",... absolutely nothing - not even a "have a good night, "Happy New Yr", "Bye" "SEE U LATER, SUCKER!!" ... So very, very disappointing for what is supposedly one of Tri-Cities better restaurants. Well, dinner at Cafe Lola ended the same way Sept. ended for us - just one more disaster & more loss - but these people that 'run' Lola could have cared less. Thanks for absolutely nothing. Please change your customer relations attitude as the other night, it was horrible and definitely not worth the money or time that...

BEFORE the pandemic, Cafe Lola was my TOP choice for delicious, and unique cuisine. THEN - Well, you know the rest. Other than a few days in Atlanta for business matters last November, I have not frequented ANY restaurants. Picking up groceries, and “cooking” for one became de rigor (I am not proficient in the kitchen, so “cooking” is an overstatement!). I received a wonderful letter a couple of weeks ago from a good friend of mine from my many years living in Washington, D.C., his family lives in Abingdon, and my first visit to Cafe Lola was during the first week I moved to J.C. It was the Christmas holiday season, and he came to J.C. for a visit. Although I was new here in town, Cafe Lola had already been mentioned by two of my neighbors - in separate, unrelated conversations. After that first night - I knew I had found my new “favorite” (I still miss my favorite restaurant in Washington - Mrs. Simpson’s. That name, synonymous to many with the end of an British Monarch, was the “theme” of the decor, not a reflection of any incident in England! I digress)! Although I knew of DoorDash, and other similar food delivery companies, I had never considered taking the food delivery plunge. In he included a very generous gift card for DoorDash. Setting up my account as quickly as possible, and once I verified that Cafe Lola was an available restaurant - I wasted no time in delighting my palate with the Cafe Lola appetizers, I chose BOTH their perfect muscles and the asparagus. Moving forward to ravioli with a intoxicating combination of different cheese in each round pasta “pie,” I had the feeling one experiences when an dear friend has suddenly appeared after a long absence. I am very pleased to be able to experience the food that the owners have CONTINUED to offer up - pandemic notwithstanding. (Although I am not acquainted with the couple that has honed Cafe Lola to perfection, I thank them for their passion - in addition to their food, their staff has always provided wonderful service! Did I mention that I also had desert - and I do enjoy sweets! I am looking forward to returning to Cafe Lola, with friends and family for more...

I've worked in Restaurants for almost 15 years. Whether the front of the house, kitchen, bar, dishwasher, fry cook, or management. I've worked from mom and pop joints to ethnic cuisine, to fine dining, and I've eaten well for my troubles over the years. Let me start by saying, the service was excellent and the ambience was perfect. They're a bit pretentious on the service end but that's in the job description, so I tipped very generously. The server and hosts were not the issue at all. I also don't know if I just ordered the wrong things on my 1st and only visit. So I'm yet to blame the chef either. The food I did order however, was not consistent with the type of place Cafe Lola purports to be. My fiancée and I ordered a charcuterie board appetizer to start and we were somewhat disappointed to find that it wasn't up to par. The salami, prosciutto, and cheeses were all much lower quality than you would expect. The sesame crackers and crostini were very stale. The cheeses were thrown on the plate in big chunks instead of serving sizes. The gorgonzola was cheap. (Good gorgonzola doesn't have the strong ammonia like this one did.) The prosciutto was piled on top of itself, forming a gelatinous blob, from which ascertaining a single slice to place on a cracker was impossible. There was also no fruit compote included as the menu said. My Italian panini was great but unfortunately for this sandwich, the Italian BMT at Subway is just as good. The chorizo empanadillas were very soggy and lacked in flavor. My fiancée ordered a Stuffed Chicen entree that she somewhat enjoyed but I once again found lacking in value for the pricetag. I once again, don't want to blame the kitchen staff. They can only work with the ingredients available. I would like to say to whoever owns the place, or at best the person who orders their food service, "Please order better ingredients! Your chef can't make fine dining food without fine dining ingredients."

Wanted this place to be a contender, but until the quality of the ingredients and execution of technique to prepare those ingredients improves, they're...