Lolita's Mexican Cantina — Restaurant in Westwood

This restaurant had such promise, and started strong. Alas, it was not to be as they fell flat on their face in disgrace before our very eyes.

We were looking for a Mexican restaurant in the area and I came upon Lolita's. We were a party of 9, which included 4 children. I called Lolita's and was told they only take reservations for 8+... check! I made a reservation for the same evening at 7pm (it was a Saturday).

We all arrived on time and were promptly seated. The inside decor and ambiance seemed great! There is a pretty nice looking and very busy bar, but most of the space is for the restaurant. The whole place has a feel where it's a good/fun/cool setting for a bar or restaurant, and while it wasn't specifically designed for kids or families, it was perfectly comfortable for such. It wasn't too dark or too light but right in-between, and the noise was an an energizing level without being too loud. They definitely got this part of the experience right.

At 7pm it was very busy without being over-crowded. The bar was full but not 3 people deep, and the restaurant tables were about 90% taken. About 30% of the tables had kids, but the atmosphere/noise was such that they didn't ruin the environment. Again, it worked well for families without being a family-specific restaurant (still good for a date night).

We ordered drinks and appetizers, and they came out promptly. The drinks were fabulous, and the appetizers were very good. I wouldn't call it fine dining... rather a bit higher-end than your typical Mexican restaurant.

At this point everybody at my table commented on how great this place was, and couldn't believe we'd never been there before. THIS was the bad luck/omen moment that signaled the turning-point in our evening.

Now remember... we were seated at 7pm, and our drinks/appetizers came out at around 7:20pm. Our dinner was brought out at...9pm!!! That's right, we sat there for 2 HOURS waiting for our dinner. But it wasn't just a 2-hour wait, it was a 2-hour wait with 4 small children (ages 2, 4, 6 and 7). The time dragged on and on and on. We made a remark to the waiter at about an hour, then several outright complaints... but still no food. We BEGGED them to just bring out food for the young children, who were at this point somewhere between tears and falling asleep, but still no food.

They had plenty of servers mind you, it just seemed that the kitchen was way under sized or staffed to handle the volume. MANY other tables were going through the same experience, so it wasn't just us. And if you now read through the other reviews, it's pretty clear it wasn't specific to this evening either. The servers were ultimately useless in resolving any of this.

Finally at 9pm when we started looking for our coats they came rushing out with the food. Now if you're going to take 2 hours to bring out dinner, it had better be the best dinner ever. The dinner wasn't even just fine... it was outright bad. Two of us ordered fish tacos, and they brought out the driest, chewiest fish tacos you could imagine. The rest of the meals were either over-cooked, cold, hard, or flavorless. And of course they completely forgot to make one of the kids meals altogether.

Knowing we weren't sending anything back at this point, we half ate the garbage they brought to us, asked for the check, and vowed that to be our last visit.

--- Pros --- Great ambiance Superb drinks Good apps

--- Cons --- Terrible, awful, horrible service Unjustifiably bad main courses Unhappiness all-around and a...

The first issue is that the parking lot is not huge and there is only valet parking which sets a somewhat pompous tone. Once seated, the service was spotty and the waitress was unattentive. Kept having to ask other staff members to have the waitress come back to the table to follow up on the food orders, water and drinks. We, my girlfriend and me, ordered initially two margaritas, guacamole and water. The guac came out almost instantly, brought out by a different staff member than the waitress. Waited at least 5 minutes for the drinks with no update from the waitress that the bar was busy or that she was busy. Also no water was poured into the glasses. The waitress then came back to inquire about our dinner order, still no water or update on the margaritas ordered. When we asked about the drinks we were told that the bar was busy. Accepted that explanation. We requested the water so we could start to eat the guac that was still sitting on the table. We requested a little more time to allow us to eat the guac and drink our margaritas prior to the dinners being dropped on the table. Once this was expressed the water and drinks were almost immediately brought to the table. At that time the waitress again pressed about the dinner order. We ordered the salmon dinner and the shrimp with garlic sauce dinner. We also ordered a beer and white sangria to come out with the meals. The food came out about 10 minutes later, which was acceptable in that it allowed us to enjoy the guac. The guac was very good but the chips were bland and very thick. Almost like eating wood chips. The food was cooked well, salmon was moist not dry and the shrimp were tender not rubbery. That being said the sauces with the dishes were very bland and the accompaniments, rice with the shrimp and potato mash and brussel sprouts with salmon somewhat over powered the flavors of the meats. We also again had to push the waitress about the drinks that were not delivered with the meals. By the time the drinks got delivered we were almost through with our dinners. Overall the food was over priced and very disappointing. The waitress then pressed us about dessert which I said we would not be ordering. I requested the check, which again took about 5+ minutes to get brought out to the table. When the check was delivered, the waitress pushed about a bunch of promo advertisements that were included with the check. She was almost like a used car sales person everytime she came to the table, pushing specials, dessert or promos but very lacking on the details of being a waitress. Overall not terrible but very average and somewhat overpriced. It would seem that this restaurant is best for drinks and small plates of food at the bar. Tacos and apps. After that experience we will probably not go...

I use to love this place ! This was our go to spot to celebrate but unfortunately I don’t know that we will be returning. The parking is tight but we have always found a spot. It is very LOUD in here, so no real private conversation can be had but no so loud you can’t talk to the person across from you. The service, food and drinks are normally spot on ! Tonight unfortunately was not like any other time. Parking was actually decent for a Thursday night. It was so loud I could barely hear my husband across the table. It was just the two of us. The table barely fits two plates. We both ordered sangria , one red and one white. They were pure wine - no flavored liquor or rum like stated in the menu. We did have some sorry excuses for fruit though. Our appetizer(soup and guac)took forever and then went to the wrong table. Once we finally got them. By the time our waiter came back so that we could let him know about the drinks we were already done with the apps. When we did tell him about them he explained that it how them make it. When we pointed to another table who clearly had sangria, they said it looked different because it was peach flavor. At no point in this interaction did he offer to fix the drink. Another 20 minutes or so goes by where we just sat at the table while the waiter walked passed multiple times. It wasn’t until he was flagged down to come that he was asked to take the drink away. After he brought it back to the bar and tasted it he came back and asked if I wanted anything else. I declined. My husband also brought to his attention that his sangria was also completely wine and he offered to top of the liquor in it. It didn’t really do anything as his glass was already almost full. He then disappeared again for 20 min before we flagged him down to place our dinner order. The food was eh. The steak was like rubber. The rice was dry and crunchy. Like day old rice. It was horrible. We didn’t even eat it. This was the most upsetting and unpleasant experience we have ever had there. For 90$ I’ll go...