JoLa. Coffee-Bar-Kitchen — Restaurant in Portland

EDIT / UPDATE:

The general manager reached out to me immediately to figure out what happened, which I really appreciated. We figured out that their online POS system had a flaw that made effective order communication difficult (specifically when editing an order before checking out). They are diligently looking into the issue to get it resolved, and offered to refund me the amount for the item I ordered that came as a burrito instead of a bowl. My experience now has been improved drastically thanks to their commitment to improvement and customer satisfaction. Thank you again for resolving this so quickly and effectively, JoLa!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I want to give this place a higher rating but I’m a little frustrated with their online ordering experience.

I did my best to pick certain options when editing each item in the online ordering section, but some of my choices apparently did not save correctly (as my receipt reflects a different choice than I actually made — and I triple checked my choices). For example, I asked for one of the items as a bowl instead of a burrito (which is an option they offer). In the receipt though, it says I chose a burrito. I even wrote a note in the “note to restaurant” section when ordering to ensure that it went through correctly (I wrote to them that I chose this particular dish as a bowl, not a burrito, as I try to limit my gluten intake otherwise I get sick). I also chose to add sausage and I got bacon.

So while it seems that their online ordering platform may be to blame, I did preface my preference for the bowl versus burrito and it shows up on the receipt, yet they neglected to pay attention to it. It’s disappointing.

The food is good though. I’d give that 4 stars. Would love for this to...

I have been to Jola many times during the week for coffee, pastries and lunch. Today my son and I decided to try the weekend brunch for Father’s Day. As on the weekdays, it’s counter service, but they have a full brunch menu. Not much of a line and ordering was easy. Everyone was very nice. I left a 20% tip on top of what I thought was a very reasonably priced meal. We ordered juice and coffee. It took me three trips to get all the drinks and water glasses and silverware out to the table. They brought our food. Nobody offered any refills, but I’m sure we could have gotten one if we cared to. The food was fantastic and we enjoyed our meal very much. Then, when we were ready to leave my kid asked if we needed to bus our own table. I looked around, didn’t see any obvious signs one way or the other and decided it would be okay if we didn’t. Since we had several plates and glasses each it would have taken several trips. And it wasn’t so busy that people were waiting for the table. I just figured that when they were serving full meals they probably had a bus tub or cart they could bring out. But before we got out the door the “server” called us out loudly across the room full of diners to let us know that the “house rules” were that we had to clear our own table. So this is my message to Jola owners, managers, and staff: (1) I enjoy your food and will come back, but maybe a little less often., (2) I’ll be hesitant to recommend the place to others or to take guests or clients there who might be offended or put off by this kind of treatment, (3) I am not going to tip you in the future for providing the service rudely telling me to clean up...

If I could give a negative star, I would. We waited about 30 minutes before we went up to the counter to ask where our coffees were, and they had not even started making it until we asked them even though there were 3 people working (They all seemed to be taking a break?). Apparently there was a photo shoot happening , which boggles my mind why they would choose to do that on a busy Sunday morning. So of course, this made the workers have to step aside and take ANOTHER break. When we finally asked, it seemed like they completely forgot. Then we waited another 30-45 minutes for our food. I passed the kitchen a couple times to go to the restroom and saw there were a bunch of people in the kitchen and a couple servers standing around, while food just sat on the counter getting cold. I cannot imagine what everyone was doing, as the cafe was not that busy. Then as we waited, we watched everyone else around us get food, even though they were behind us in line. Finally, after an hour and a half, we just got up and asked for a refund on our food. Thankfully, they did not give us any push back and we got a refund. The coffee was super watered down and tasteless. As a business owner, I cannot fathom how I could employ that many people to do nothing. Do yourself a favor and go down the street and go to Elephants, that was what we did and we got good food in a timely manner and it was cheaper. This place was a waste of time on our precious...