LOLA — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

So my family and I decided to try this spot. It has a cute interior, and the staff are friendly. First we ordered the chips and guacamole, there were 8 of us, so we ordered two because the server said they were smaller portions. They were $14 EACH! I wish I took pictures, unfortunately I did not this time, but I have seen the other reviews about how ridiculous the prices are. We got some avocado, not really mashed, piled up with Asiago on it, some onions, and a side of salsa, so we literally mashed the salsa in with the avocado plate and made our own guacamole... so the price is ridiculous, but yes, it was tasty. We also tried to order flautas so we could get a mix of appetizers, but they didn’t have them.

Also, they have no regular soft drinks, my dad always has a Diet Coke or Pepsi, and they had neither.

The table then ordered food, we had a mix of things. The shrimp tacos were delicious, but for two tacos it was $18... and that is all you get, yes I understand the concept of small plates, but the prices, again, too high. The carnitas tacos were yummy and the chicharrone on top was yummy. We had two tortas at the table, I had a bite, it was good, but they put a lot of cilantro ( with the stems) on it, so it just was very hard to eat and chew through, otherwise it was tasty, but just came with a side of salt and vinegar chips which were okay.

We had three steak quesadillas at the table and that was probably the most disappointing dish. There were two triangles of quesadilla on the plate with two small pieces of avocado on the side each triangle had one small piece of steak inside, was the steak delicious? Yes, but again, the fact we paid $15 or so dollars for that is unreal. Most of the quesadilla was just cheese, and mine was way greasy.

All of the cocktails we ordered were pretty good

We then ordered the rice pudding, and I just didn't care for the orange forward approach, we grew up on rice pudding ( We are Mexican) and it just wasn't my favorite, but maybe others would like it. The rice pudding did take 20 minutes to get to the table though.

Tried to order Cafe De Olla, they were out..

To top off this expensive meal, there was an auto gratuity of 25%, as a former server of 6 years, I would understand an 18% or even 20% auto grat, but 25% ?!

All in all, good service, cute spot, good flavors, but portions and prices are not for me.

If you have the cash and want to try this spot out, then try it, but we sadly probably...

I tried Lola last evening with some friends and found it to be very disappointing. I so wanted to love this new restaurant as I love supporting local businesses, and the interior design and ambiance are so cute! Unfortunately, the entire experience was one big disaster. They lost our reservation with a request to sit on the patio so we were sat inside. They were out of every bottle of wine we tried to order, so we settled on a bottle of nice Prosecco. They brought out a bottle of Zonin Prosecco instead, which is not quite the same as the bottle we ordered. They did not realize there was a difference between the two when we pointed it out, and said that they didn't have the other bottle available (surprise surprise), so we settled with the Zonin. Our food came within a reasonable amount of time, but was nothing to write home about. The tostadas had mayonnaise on them, the shrimp tacos had dijon mustard, and the chilaquiles sandwich was pretty much two pieces of tortilla was a little cheese and beans inside. So strange and overall very disappointing, especially for the price point they charge. None of us finished our meals. When the bill came, we noticed that we were charged for the more expensive bottle of Prosecco that they didn't have. We called this out to the servers and they didn't seem to understand that the two bottles weren't comparable and that the price for the other was likely higher than the price for what we got (we were told that neither one consume alcohol and they clearly had no knowledge of their menu). After trying to explain this for a few minutes, the server agreed to go change the bill. When they brought back the revised bill, they said they had discounted the bottle (which is odd because in the state of UT, it's illegal to discount liquor sales). We thanked the server, paid the bill, and got out of there as fast as we could. What we failed to realize until after we left was that to make up for the "discount" that was applied, they charged us for an extra cocktail that we didn't order, and also added on a service fee. So shady! This left such a bad impression. I worked in fine dining for 10 years and completely understand that there can be off nights and hiccups, but this was a complete dumpster fire. The food was awful and overpriced, the servers were not trained well and had awful bedside manner, and they didn't have any knowledge of their menu or state liquor laws and...

My girlfriend and I have gone here twice so far and will definitely be back. The servers here are awesome and extremely outgoing and friendly. Our server from our first visit (I wish I'd gotten his name) came outside to where we were sitting and welcomed us back and talked to us a bit even though we were being taken care of by a different server (who was just as friendly and great).

Overall Lola offers a really interesting take on a lot of familiar Mexican dishes. For example, as a starter, we ordered Guacamole, not really expecting anything too special-- but Lola's is special. They blend flavors that I'd normally associate more with Italian dishes into their Guacamole with what I thought was shredded Parmesan (but is apparently Asiago) and olives blended in with the Avocado. The guacamole also came with an exceptionally tasty salsa verde (and the chips themselves are very good). So after having Guacamole as a first course and having all expectations blown away with such unique flavors and attention to detail, we were excited to try subsequent things we'd ordered.

We also had the watermelon salad which was a great refreshing followup to the Guacamole. The saltiness of the feta cheese in the dish pairs perfectly with the fresh watermelon and jicama and this dish is really nice.

In our first visit, for an entree, I ordered the shrimp tacos (which are likely nothing like any shrimp tacos you've ever had) and they were quite good, but the real stand out was the carne asada open face burrito my gf ordered. I believe it was hanger stake (if I'm not mistaken)-- which is a pretty uncommon cut in the US and a treat when it can be found-- superbly marinated and served over a bed of fried potatoes, comparable to home-made chips. In our second visit, my gf ordered the same and it was a reminder of how delicious the entree is, and I tried the carnitas tacos and it was, again, a unique take on a common-sounding recipe. The pork was marinated in such a way that I couldn't quite pick out what the highlighting flavor was, but it was delicious. It was also topped with the salsa verde described above and some chicharron which added a delicious crispiness.

Overall, Lola really stands out to us as one of the best places we've discovered in Salt Lake City. Sitting outside overlooking 9th and 9th--one of the nicer areas to be in the city --with festive lighting and music really ties the whole...