Lola Taverna — Restaurant in New York

Arrival at Lola was pleasant with the lovely decor as its centerpiece.The waitress let us know she would give us the specials when she brought our drinks. When they arrived we had to remind her of that. She then told us she didn’t think there were any because the menu had changed. As it turned out at our table of two we had two different menus. One correct, one not correct. Neither of our menus, nor the wine list matched the online menus. The staff was squeezing in around the tables in the highly decorated structure they built to light was appeared to be large incense sticks. After our first course arrived two ladies from the table next to us came towards us, without stepping too close to inform us there was a mouse walking onto our table. The two other ladies and we immediately jumped and ran to the side. A larger group also in the structure saw what was happening. The staff came over and one waitress starting ‘shooing’ the mouse. No one asked what had happened. They started moving our plates around. Their plan was to reseat us all inclusive of our full plates with now cold food. They literally didn’t even give us clean water glasses. Still no one asked what happened. We were moved to the 6th ave side of the restaurant next to a bus stop, with cars and people and zero ambiance. Likely the walk in section. For people who had just had a mouse on their table, seemed like a pretty big downgrade. I was on the verge of throwing up because of what had happened. The larger table who had seen it were moved near us and some of them had to stay standing Bc they too were so disgusted. Next we asked for the waitress and then told her what had happened and requested they clear everything on our table Bc we wanted nothing that had been on the table with the mouse. She asked what we would want replaced. She also tried to say she didn’t know. Of course it because you did not ask. You were busy trying to make it out like it’s not a health risk to have a mouse on the table. The manager Rob, I believe, came over and told us they were going to try and make our night better. Of course it is not the staffs fault there was a mouse. Next the bottle of wine we had ordered at our last table arrived and there was a cork in it. The staffs solution was to throw the first glass out and discount the wine by 1/5. That’s actually just us losing a glass and not paying for the glass we lost. They don’t leave the bottles at your table so our glasses ran empty and we would sit there waiting for the return of anyone. We had just had a mouse at our table. Make sure the wine we are paying for is coming to us. We asked for the food that had not come yet to be cancelled. They brought it anyway and said they wouldn’t charge us. My friend was still able to eat so tried the food. It was fine but the memory of the Mouse couldn’t be forgotten. We also saw that 5 min after moving all of us they seated people where we had been. The mouse had just gone back into its home within their structure. It was a mouse at table height walking around. It is obvious now that they have the incense to keep critters away. They should have called an exterminator and closed that area. Service quickly dimished as they just wanted turn over to seat more guests. When walking into the restaurant to use the restroom you pass many staff inside and out. No one is friendly. In retrospect I don’t know why any of us stayed. We should have just called the...

Service is awful, seating is terrible, but food in nice.

I made a reservation for me and my mom with very high expectations. It is my mom's first time visiting New York so every dinner has to be top of the top.

As we arrived, we were led to our table by the hostess and the first issue has risen. The table is simply too small to fit two people with their bags. We had usual hand bags, nothing extraordinary and there was literally no room to put it. We let it slide since it might happen sometimes and we understood that it might be a busy evening and tried not to inconvenience guests around us and staff.

After we were seated, a very rude server came up to us, and just by his looks I could see how uninterested and annoyed he looked. We asked for a few more minutes to choose which turned into 20 minutes of simply waiting for him to get back to us. After we asked for a few minutes, made our choice, we could not see our server so we asked the nearby member of staff to call him. It took him 20 minutes of hugging and chatting with guests (we saw him get the memo about us and do all of the above), to get to us. When we tried to order and mentioned a gluten allergy, I was looked at like a fool when i double checked whether my meal and a sharable was safe for me to eat. I always double check about cross contamination even when the food originally has no gluten in it.

We had to wait for our food for a normal time as in terms of a busy restaurant, and the food was honestly delicious. We were very pleased with it.

However here comes the best part. When we tried to pay for our food and mentioned twice that we are paying in cash, it took our server 10 minutes to come back with the bill and mind you it was not even a physical bill, it was the machine for card. When I asked how much I owe, he asked me how much tip I would like to add, I said that I would like to see the price first and decide then. I was met with a confusion and disgust because apparently you have to say the tip to get the bill. I worked in service industry and I always leave tips but this made me have a few questions. When I said that I do NOT want to leave tip, I was told that it is not the way and he doesn't have this option. When i said 10%, I was told yet again that he does not know how to do it so I opted for the lowest tip possible to do on the check (15%). After I tried to pay in cash (WHICH I MENTIONED TO HIM TWICE) I was told that they do not have change. When I was paying he was looking directly into my wallet telling me that I need to pay cent to cent. I gave to closest amount I could, I was told that he needs to go to the manager to grab change. We had to wait for another 10 minutes and even when he came back, he tried to give me less change than needed because they dis not have the right amount.

Overall experience was completely ruined by staff and even the food could not make it any better. Would not recommend this place ever and yet again, even the food...

I wanted to write this review for a few reasons. 1. We had such an amazing night. The night before my little cousin and I tried to walk in but obviously they were booked for the evening. They had a wonderful wonderful wonderful hostess named Nas who got us into a restaurant around the corner and made our night perfect. She also booked a reservation for the following night for us at lola's. I live in Chelsea but had relatives visiting and it was impromptu. 2. The entire staff was wonderful. They were and are always busy and we had a magical time. Our drinks were wonderful, even my baby cousins nonalcoholic one. We had a Mediterranean platter that was out of this world as is there walnut cake. Now I'm going to lead into this couple sitting right next to us. A very attractive looking couple, very well dressed was finishing up drinking their wine and started (The Woman) to argue with our waiter over something to do with hand sanitizer and covid regulations. She was rude, aggressive, haute and vile. She said she was going to write a bad review here regardless of how the waiter was bending backwards over for them. We were privy to this as she was being intentionally loud which I found to be insane since I had a child at the table next to her. She was unaware of her behavior. They compt her check and her response was thanks but I'm still writing a bad review about you and this place. After the waiter left she laughed and said she will lie about the way in which they dont follow covid regulations which was baloney. I wouldn't take my loved ones or myself anywhere intentionally to a place that didn't follow regulations. The audacity of this privileged horrible couple was appalling. Although the man looked embarrassed and just followed lead because he was on a date with an attractive well coifed woman and probably just ..... These workers are risking their lives so you can sit in a fancy restaurant in Soho Manhattan drinking and eating fancy food and people are dying and impoverished and you are being a lying vile entitled person. I wanted to beat you to the punch since you were so sloshed and selfish and mean and couldn't care less how you were ruining it for a minor sitting right across from you as well as harranging a wonderful waiter and lying about him. DO BETTER! I will be back next week and wanted to thank the staff for a delicious meal and beautiful ambience. If I could remember my waiters name I would have added his name here but you know who you are. Xoxo The host and busboys were working so hard too and didn't know there name either. Definitely my...