I went here for lunch on Mardi Gras with a Meetup group of, like, 60. The way I understand it, Lola doesn't actually open the restaurant until 5pm on Saturdays now, but she opened for lunch especially for us because we were bringing in so much business, and insert-your-favorite-supreme-being-here knows she needs all the biz she can get.
Frankly, I don't think the event was planned all that well. I love the Meetup organizer who put this thing together, but trying to fit close to sixty people at once in a room the size of my thumb was a Cajun nightmare. It was like Bourbon Street on Fat Tuesday (today!), without the street. Sure, the Meetup organizer expected people to come at various times because people are sometimes late, but the turnaround between people leaving and other people arriving did not flow very well.
I, luckily, got there a half hour early. This wasn't because I normally show up everywhere early (I do), but because I misread the meetup details and thought it said to show up at 11am instead of 11:30. But once the mosh pit started forming in that tiny room, I was glad I'd misread the details.
Also, our group had a specific menu made up for us. Had I known this ahead of time, I likely would have chosen to try Lola's fare another day instead. I was very much hoping to try a shrimp po' boy, but that wasn't on our menu. What WAS on the menu was fried chicken, gumbo, or crawfish ettoufee. We had our choice of two sides: mac 'n' cheese, yams, collard greens, and rice 'n' beans. I chose fried chicken with mac/cheese and rice/beans.
The food was good but not excellent. The chicken was breaded in panko crumbs with some nice spice added, and the beans and rice had other great spices in it. The mac and cheese was nice and creamy. I definitely didn't feel like I wasted my time driving out there, but I did feel that the price was a bit high. I paid nearly $11 for my meal. I would have been comfortable paying maybe $8 for it. After all, Lola's ain't Gumbo's. I did, however, get four wings/legs, some cornbread, and some of Lola's delicious Cajun iced tea. I had actually ordered regular iced tea, but the Cajun was so good I kept it. It's sugary, though, so watch out.
The meal was quite messy. I'm glad we had an abundance of napkins on the lazy susan. I paid in cash and gave a couple of extra bucks to the *cause*. Lola and her daughter are very sweet individuals. They were genuinely hospitable.
Others have stated there is a long wait for food, but there wasn't in our case. I suppose Lola was simply prepared because she knew we were coming, but I think I only waited about ten minutes for my food. As far as cleanliness, the floor and walls seemed like they could use a heavy spring cleaning, but the tables and place mats were fine... until we got there.
Mardi Gras heureux! Et n'abandonnez jamais le chocolat pour Careme!
No comments:
Post a Comment