Lola - Cleveland

Lola is another Michael Symon resturant located in the Gateway District on E. 4th Street in Downtown Cleveland.  We had never been to this area of Cleveland and immediately loved it.  There is valet parking although a little expensive at $15.  The rest of the "street" which is more like an alley has restaurants and shops.  We will definitely be back to try more of the restaurants.  When you walk in Lola you are greeted by a open bar area to the left with a beautiful glass wine cellar as the backdrop.  To the right is the hostess stand.  We had reservations which I would recommend, the restaurant was pretty full.  We were immediately sat at a small table too close to the other tables around.  We ended up talking to the tables around us throughout the meal because you couldn't avoid hearing others' conversations.  Other than that I liked the atmosphere.  The high ceiling was pretty and the place was larger than I expected.  The kitchen was open so you could watch what was going on if you wanted.  The waitress greeted us after we were served water and when we asked for a wine list we received an ipad.  It was really great to be able to look at the wines you want by country or grape and each wine had a picture of the label.  It was hard to tell how many wines they actually had but it was a lot.  Everything we would want they had.  The prices are actually on the cheap side for a bottle of wine at a fine dining restaurant.  In the meantime bread was brought to the table.  It was perfectly warm and garlicky with whipped butter. 

After we decided on a wine we ordered the beef check pierogies.  We were each presented with one large pierogi with a horseradish creme fraiche, wild mushrooms, and a BBQ sauce.  I could have eaten a whole plate of these.  The horseradish made the dish and the beef check was so flavorful.  The whole thing was actually creamy and smooth.  Next we ordered our entrees.  I ordered the wild boar cavatelli and TBG ordered the pork chop with cheesy polenta and BBQ onions.  The wild boar was great.  It was tender and flavorful.  It was not gamey, if you like pork or beef you would like wild boar.  The cavatelli was cooked perfectly and made the whole dish feel like comfort food and was very filling.  I only ate about half even though I wanted much more.

  The pork chops were moist and flavorful.  The cheesy polenta was the best we have ever had and the BBQ onions were also good.  I thought they were a little sweet, but TBG loved them.  The presentation was nicer than mine but both dishes were great.  After we were finished eating we still had some wine left so we ordered dessert.  We got the 6 a.m. special which is brioche french toast with a maple-bacon ice cream and carmalized apple.  Even as full as I was I wanted more of this dessert.  It was great.  The maple-bacon ice cream was unique and perfect with the warm fried french toast.  The maple flavor was not too strong and there was small pieces of bacon throughout.  The french toast was crunchy and soft on the inside.  I would go back just for this dessert.  After all this the waitress brought us 4 pine nut tyme lemon cookies.  These sound weird but were really good.  The texture was crispy at first, but chewy throughout.  The service overall was great.  The manager stopped by to make sure everything was going well and the bussers were always on top of clearing our plates and crumbs.  The food came out relatively fast too.  We didn't even look at a beer list.  The prices were high, but the food was worth it.  I would reccomend Lola to anyone willing to spend money for good food. 

Service____ 10 Chipps

Food____8 Chipps

Atmosphere____8 Chipps

Beer List____? Chipps

Wine List____10 Chipps

Value____9 Chipps