Lola

One of Tom Douglas’ many restaurants in Seattle. I’ve eaten at three of his others, and the quality is just the same, four star quality. It’s so great how each one has its unique concept and food direction. Not one seems to outdo the others. It’s more about what you are craving, and then when going to choose any of them, you can’t go wrong.
I came here for dinner. Even with it being middle of the week, it was busy!
4 stars — Kopanisti Spread~pistachio, mavrodaphne. This one tasted like a cheese spread with herbs. It was savory and perfect to go along with the vegetable crudités served with it. We opted for that instead of the grilled pita. It was also topped with an olive tapenade. This was a good way to get the tastebuds going.
5 stars — Kebab of haloumi cheese, turkish fig, petimezi. Oh my goodness, was this one good! You get three small kebabs to an order. The figs burst in your mouth, really! And they were not too sweet. A really good balance to the haloumi cheese, which naturally has salt in it. The cheese was firm and meaty. They serve it on a sizzling skillet with the kebabs sitting on top of grilled onions. **I ordered a side of grilled bread and ate that with the grilled onions. Warm and toasty taste!
4 stars — Horta quick braised seasonal greens. This one has a variety of greens. It was hard for me to pick out, but I think it was bok choy, Swiss chard, and kale. Needed veggies, and this satisfied me!
3 stars — Pan roasted brussels sprouts garlic, oregano, preserved meyer lemon. This was your average Brussels sprouts dish. They seemed underdone to me and not as tender, but what a good and unique taste with the preserved lemon.
The kebab alone will be the reason why I come back! This place has great options to satisfy any eater, meat eaters or vegetarians. Another point for Tom Douglas!

One of the best brunch places not in Seattle but EVER!
Make sure you make reservations because on the way out, I heard the hostess telling someone that just walked in that the wait was over 45 minutes. Yikes.
Eggs Benedict
THE BEST EGGS BENEDICT I’VE EVER HAD! And I mean EVER! The egg is perfectly poached. You’ll know what i’m talking about once you cut into the egg. The Hollandaise sauce is perfect, and the roasted potatoes are just the cherry on top. Seriously phenomenal. If you don’t order this for yourself, you’re crazy.
Made to order Doughnuts
Featured on the Food Network, and I only ordered it because everyone else on Unilocal was. And boy, was it THE right decision. It’s fluffy, light, and sweet. SO FREAKING GOOD. I recommend and do what we did: order the Eggs Benny and Doughnuts and share, so you can have the best of both worlds.
Mimosa
Strong with tons of champagne. You’ll only need a couple of these to feel a good buzz. Or you can just get an orange juice like I did. The OJ and/​or the mimosa are both great.
The service was on point as our server was at our table checking up on us as frequent as we needed her. Left a nice tip and continued exploring beautiful Seattle.

This place was a nice surprise. We were seated right away even though it was busy. Staff was helpful and attentive. We ordered kabobs and the brussel sprouts.
All the food and flavors were amazing. The portions were a little smaller than I expected but it was fine.

Attentive, friendly staff. Food was excellent.
My only complaint is that the seating (booths) felt rather cramped. I heard another table make a similar comment. *shrug?*

Lola, you go girl!
We didn’t take our chances trying to snag a table for Sunday brunch the day of. Instead, I made a reservation on OpenTable about two weeks ahead of time (we had a big group).
Service was excellent. Our waitress was very attentive — I don’t think my water was ever below half-​full because she’d always come around to fill it. We ordered in no time. I decided to get the classic made-​to-​order doughnuts for the table and Tom’s Favorite Breakfast for the entrée.
The doughnuts were amusing. A server swung by our table, clutching onto a paper bag and set down a plate with marscapone and compote. She shook the paper bag and unraveled it onto the plate, where six pillowy doughnuts tumbled out.
And those doughnuts… man are they good. Lightly sweetened and soft. The marscapone and compote paired SO well with the doughnuts. The only thing about these doughnuts… $ 9?! For six tiny doughnuts?! Really???
Tom’s Favorite Breakfast was also a home-​run. Winter squash, brussel sprouts and other veggies prepared to perfection with a creamy maple yogurt that tied the dish together. Also — the Mediterranean Octopus with this dish was KILLER. Tender and seasoned perfectly. Octopus in the morning sounds a little weird — but this is how you do it.
Lola is great for brunch. My friends were all happy with it, so I was happy too. The only thing about Lola is that it’s pretty darn pricey.

DONUTS.
I came up to Seattle on a nice leisurely trip, and my long-​lost relatives told me I just had to try this Tom Douglas restaurant called Lola. Along with the fantastic food, they said, the donuts at the end were to die for.
I honestly never turn down food and family, so this was the perfect juncture.
Seated right away due to a reservation, we started right off the bat with the freshly griddled pita spread – kopanisti (pistachio), mavrodaphne (toasted sweet red pepper), tzatziki (cucumber yogurt), cauliflower/​anchovy, kalamata (turkish fig), and fava skordalia (garlic spread). Each was absolutely amazing; the perfect pita was fluffy and flavorful by itself, so the spreads were just complete bonuses. They were also happy to provide more pita, which was quite nice.
I also acquiesced to a ginger beer (non-​alcoholic), which was incredibly refreshing. I cannot stress how happy this beverage made me; it was like something sent straight from heaven.
Usually, I also view salad as just a formality. Now, I totally advocate it because it’s, you know, healthy, but usually restaurants don’t even try; it ends up tasting totally flavorless. The horta was so incredibly flavorful that I didn’t even think I was eating greens.
The garlic fried potatoes are also super super tasty. I’m not sure how else to describe them other than crispy seasoned skins and feels like you aren’t eating a potato that you microwave at home.
I usually am not a fan at all of brussels sprouts, but the pan roasted brussels sprouts was more than edible; it was delicious! The garlic, oregano, and preserved meyer lemon really masks any harsh bitterness.
For my entrée, I ordered the wild coho salmon kebabs. Served on a sizzling platter with onions, the beauties – with a herb-​caper relish – looked as amazing as they tasted. Tender as can be, they brought me to the fourth dimension. One slight thing is that the onions started to burn, so I had to unfortunately leave them there; the unburnt ones tasted amazing.
Lastly, to top it all off, we had to get what Giada De Laurentiis claimed on The Food Network’s «The Best Thing I Ever Ate» to be her favorite fried food: the deep fried donuts! Well, technically, they’re called loukoumades, but you get the idea. Light, fluffy, and with wonderful hits of hazelnut and cinnamon, they were a fitting bookend to one of the best meals I have had the pleasure of having.
To my awesome family, thank you so much – Lola is worth all the hype in the world.

I think I read somewhere that the donuts were Giadas best thing she ever ate… And it should just be that way because the donuts were just okay… Nothing special even when I put the mascarpone and the other sauce on it. Meh.
We tried to make brunch reservations on Sunday but none were available, so we decided to try our luck anyway and got a bar seat. The bar rotates pretty fast so there were people coming and going. I got a Bloody Mary and it was decent, no crazy garnishes or anything. I got the Bavarian meat Benedict… It was nothing special, the meat tasted like regular ham. It was okay. My BF got pancakes and sausages. He said pancakes were too doughy. And he didn’t like how sweet the sausages were but I thought they were good.
Nothing wowed me or was impressive to come back to this place or recommend it.

This was my last meal in Seattle, and after a series of middling-​decent restaurants, I was hesitant (not to mention eating at 7am!). Donuts for the table, girlfriend got an omelet, and our host ordered the benedict. I got the Tom’s Scramble, which was octopus, bacon, sweet potato, and just fucking… GOODNESS. There were some things I couldn’t quite identify but were goddam amazing.
The service was top-​notch, and the coffee was solid. The price is pretty high (came out to about 80 for all of us) but I guess on-​par with this level of restaurant. I didn’t talk about the donuts. Good sweet baby Blue Ivy those donuts were ridiculously good. Pillows of goodness topped with some cinnamon sugar, paired with a vanilla mascarpone (wonderfully indulgent). This might have been the best brunch I’ve had period.

I can’t tell if I’m being more generous with my review because the money shot I took of the E. Benedict looks so appetizing at this moment in time or if i’m just bad at reviewing honestly.
But really, it wasn’t the best benedict I’ve had — It tasted okay –like the others. I paid waaaay too much for breakfast to not be blown away. The famous donuts also didn’t live up to the hype and the toms breakfast was filling, but short of anything interesting/​delicious.
But hey, look at that money shot of my eggs!

We were really excited to try this place as our last breakfast in town.
Lola breakfast: average, nothing too special about the bacon or the sausage. The potatoes were well seasoned and a little better than average.
Toms breakfast: different and seemed like something I’d order for dinner instead of breakfast. The octopus was really good and tender and was the highlight of the dish. The combination of the butternut squash and brussel sprouts and sweet yogurt was interesting but I’m not sure I’d order it again.
The one thing that stood out to me the most out of all the food though was surprisingly the house made scone that came with the continental breakfast. I rarely order scones because they’re usually dry and hard but theirs was really moist and I loved the hint of orange.
The donuts ended up being a disappointment to me. They were fresh and hot but in my option not worth $ 9 for 6 pieces. It tasted like a fancier version or the sweet fried sugar biscuits I used to eat at Chinese buffets.
Service was great though and everyone was very friendly. I just don’t think the food is worth the hype.

The MADE TO ORDER DOUGHNUTS with the vanilla mascarpone are heavenly
Came across Lola during my trip to Seattle and all I can remember is how divine those donuts were. I am salivating as we speak. I would suggest calling in especially during the weekends when it’s packed and have them put your name down on the wait list while you drive over there!

It’s neither mindblowing food or very memorable, just, all around «good» fusion-​y food, great service, and wonderful ambiance, so I would say if you want to come in for some good food for the night, Lola won’t do you wrong.
It’s flavorful, very true to some Greek tastes (killer tzatziki sauce and the hummus for example)… But don’t kid yourself if you think you’re eating «Mediterranean» food. It’s all Mediterranean styled I would say. (Such things I mean are like that the pita bread was thicker than a pizza crust, and not even a sign of baklava on the menu, etc. Just pointing things out, not necessarily bad.)
Anyways, what was ordered for the night… Pita with tzatziki and one of the hummus, Chicken skewers, octopus, garlic smashed potatoes, and for dessert, donuts, triple cream coconut pie, and the chocolate bar.
Pita bread was delicious, a bit too thick for what I’m used to, but the sauces are what I was there for. Chicken skewers were a bit bland on the outside? But the meat was very tender and hefty. (You get 4 or so cubes of chicken on each skewer (which you get 3 of)). The garlic smashed potatoes were really good as well. Not very oily and at the same time, very soft in the inside. It looks like they give you like, a small portion, but the thing packs a punch! My octopus dish though, I did love it. It was grilled (and not too spicy) and the meat was tender with the outside slightly crunchy. That octopus was grilled right, for sure. However, the spicy sauce. Too overpowering in my opinion. I honestly thought I was eating a tough piece of chicken meat, that’s how masked the octopus flavor was. So, seafood lovers might want to opt out of the fish here.
Dessert on the other hand, definitely good. The donuts are itty bitty cute bits of soft chewy dough covered in cinnamon. The triple crème pie is giant and if you loooove creamy pies, this is one on your bucket list! The chocolate bar was also very delicious to me, a much different flavor with a denser fudge on top. Also, someone told me their desserts were really sweet, but I didn’t feel like it was at all.
Anyways, if you’re in town and want a good place to eat out for the night, Lola’s isn’t a bad option. It will charm you.

This restaurant had the most amazing Mediterranean food. My friend and I found this place as we were randomly roaming the streets of downtown Seattle. I would say, that this is one of the best places I’ve ever discovered by accident. The food is mainly Greek tapas (small plates). I cannot stress how flavorful it was. Each bite was like an explosion of flavor in your mouth. Kudos to the service as well! I appreciated how we were treated during our meal.
It’s a must try when visiting Seattle!

4 stars for the homemade blueberry jam and beignets! Must get.
Seriously the best I’ve ever had. Something about their blueberry jam that makes me so surprised that it’s so good. I don’t expect much from jam but theirs is homemade so it’s even more unique.
Their beignets comes with a vanilla mascarpone, powder sugar and jam. They shake up the beignets in powder sugar in front of you. Beignets are so soft, fresh out of the oven, put some creamy mascarpone and jam with it and it’s like heaven in your mouth. 6 pieces a plate is such a tease! I could eat 2 of them myself! They are a little pricey for 6 pieces but they were worth it.
Breakfast: ordered eggs Benedict and tasted average to me. Potatoes were good though.
Overall, you must try the beignets here, my mouth is watering just writing this review.

Lola has been sitting on my bookmarks tab for such a long time. I continue to hear raving reviews about this Tom Douglas establishment and have been dying to try it. Finally on Christmas Eve I walked in to see what kind of magic was behind those doors.
On Christmas Eve morning there were a fair amount of people, but thankfully no line out the door. Lola does take reservations so if you are planning to have breakfast or brunch here, I highly recommend you do. Once being seated, menus were given and water was served.
Lola has an assortment of breakfast dishes so I have no doubts that you will find something that will sound delicious or comforting to you. The top three things that I consistently hear about are the following: eggs benedict, smashed potatoes and the donuts. So of course I decided that the eggs benedict was a must. The eggs benedict comes with four pieces of garlic smashed potatoes. As an appetizer, we started off with the freshly made donuts. And of course, to add to this breakfast galore, we also decided an order of the golden pancakes. The pancakes come with maple sausage.
The fresh donuts came out for snacking while the rest of the food was being made. There are six freshly made pillows dusted in cinnamon sugar. They come with vanilla mascarpone and homemade seasonal jam (cranberry during the holiday season of course). These donuts are so fluffy inside without being too sickeningly sweet. I found the vanilla mascarpone to be creamy but a bit on the sweet side. I do really appreciate the use of real vanilla bean pods. You can see those little black speckles everywhere! The cranberry jam was delicious and tart. I actually preferred to use the jam on the donuts because it balanced out some of the sweetness with the tartness.
The eggs benedict was split between two plates for easy sharing (two smashed potatoes each!). I love piercing poached eggs with my fork and watching the yolk ooze out. They do a phenomenal job poaching their eggs here. There is a hefty amount of ham underneath the egg. The eggs benedict was delicious but my only complaint would be the hollandaise sauce. The sauce was a bit too rich on the buttery side. I may ask for the sauce on the side next time because there was a lot of it. The smashed potatoes are no joke. They are so crisp on the outside yet creamy and heavenly inside. There is a good kick of garlic without making you worry that you’ll walk out with garlic breath.
As simple as it is, the show stopper for me were the golden brown pancakes. I have never ever had pancakes so fluffy in my life before. I could cut off pieces with my fork without damaging the integrity of the fluffiness. It would cut so easily yet still retain it’s fluffy, soft structural build. I could’t believe how delicious these pancakes were. If you want them to taste more like dessert, you can add the vanilla mascarpone and maple syrup to it. Whatever you add to these beauties tastes delicious. I pretty much gobbled these pancakes up.
The maple sausage that comes with the pancakes was a no go though. I did not like that the links were still connected with their lining and the maple flavor. The sausage didn’t really taste meaty. It was too much sweetness to something that should be savory in my mind.
Service was good and we were checked up on despite it being pretty busy. We had to give a reminder about the check, but it wasn’t a big deal. Lola isn’t the cheapest place for breakfast since it’s a slightly higher end place so be prepared for that. Overall, it’s a great breakfast/​brunch date spot and the food is pretty comforting. I don’t think I’m ever going to find better pancakes so I’ll have to dream of Lola’s every time I’m craving pancakes.

We heard a lot of good things about Lola, so the girlfriend and I visited for breakfast on a Tuesday. We ended up arriving around noon without a reservation, and they had nothing open but the bar so the bar is where we went.
I always use Eggs Benedict as my litmus test for a breakfast/​brunch place, but I was pretty intrigued by this seemingly random amalgamation of ingredients that made Tom’s Favorite Breakfast. Octopus, peas, onion, bacon, yogurt, egg. wtf?! Had to try it.
The girlfriend got the omelette (should have forced her to get the eggs benny) and we shared a bloody mary.
The Tom’s Favorite Breakfast seems most similar to a stir fry with all these different ingredients. They actually harmonized pretty well, and you could tell that there was some serious skill that produced this unique and delicious combination of flavors. The actual dish seemed to have more ingredients than listed and I noticed a lot of nuts and cabbage. The homemade jam they gave with the dishes was also good. All in all, a pretty scrumptious and unique breakfast offering.
The omelette was just a very well made omelette with greek flavors. Nothing too special, just a well cooked omelette. The potatoes were interesting; they seemed to have been smashed and the skin fried to a crisp and were probably my favorite part of the dish.
Price for the place was a bit steep. It was 19 bucks for Tom’s favorite breakfast (which at least was unique and had a lot of different ingredients) and 16 bucks for a pretty normal omelette (albeit pretty well made). Bloody Mary was definitely not worth the ten bucks. I actually liked the serving size, which was filling but not overwhelming.
All in all, a good meal. Everything was well cooked and seasoned. Tom’s Favorite Breakfast was something new. I’d come back and want to see their take on the Eggs Benedict…

CONCEPT– Lola is one of Tom Douglas’ many restaurants in the Seattle area. Let’s be real, I wasn’t aware of him prior to my Seattle trip. Wikipedia says he’s an «American executive chef, restaurateur, author, and radio talk show host.»
AMBIANCE– Kind of reminded me of Chicago for some reason. Perhaps it was the coat racks next to each booth. Music was feel-​good classics; wish I could tell you the name of the artists, but I can’t.
DRINKS– Last minute decided to order the grapefruit juice instead of OJ. Poor choice, what was I thinking? Way too sour that it made the spot under my ears hurt… and I had to add a TON of sugar to make it drinkable. With sugar, it was delicious though.
FOOD– I like unique foods that I definitely cannot make at home, so I opted for Tom’s Big Breakfast (Mediterranean octopus, winter squash, black kale, maple yogurt, sunny egg, bacon, and toast). Loved the sunny egg, octopus (for breakfast, wow!), and kale… a little to much winter squash and random nuts for my liking. I felt like a squirrel in the winter!
However, their donuts are ON POINT. Bite sized and fluffy, it’s a cross between a churro and a beignet. It’s fine if you’re iffy on the food — go for the donuts.
tl;dr: DONUTS.

Being Downtown and next to a hotel, I can see how they think they can justify $ 19 for a small breakfast. But really? Unless you’re from out of town and have no other options, I just couldn’t see myself being a regular here when an orange juice is $ 6.75. This place is beyond pricey!
They do have wonderful Eggs Benedict, I will give them that. I got the Eggs Benedict both times I came here and I never order Eggs Benedict when I go out nor do I really like it to begin with. But here, they are indeed quite tasty. You can get a half order for cheaper than what the menu says, you just have to ask since it’s not listed.
I had the same waitress both times I came here and she’s so sweet, so I can say service was a plus!

My boss told me I *had* to go to a Tom Douglas restaurant whilst in Seattle ~ and after visiting several, I recommend you do the same, as they do not disappoint.
We loved Lola!
I believe we visited on an early Tuesday afternoon, and we were surprised to find the restaurant bustling after the lunch hour. The friendly hostess told us it would be a 20 minute wait, so we opted to sit at the bar instead. You know I can’t wait that long without getting hangry!
We sat down at the bar and immediately ordered drinks. For le boyfriend, le Bloody Mary. Pour moi, le blackberry cocktail. Unfortunately (or fortunately, actually), Lola had run out of blackberry purée, so the barkeep substituted with half blackberry purée and half peach purée. Friends, this is a delicious mixer that you want to try immediately. I think Lola should add this drink to the menu (and name it after me, actually). Yum!
I ordered pancakes and sausage for brunch, and my boyfriend ordered the eggs Benedict. Both dishes exceeded my expectations. My pancakes were creamy and rich, served with a mind-​blowing mascarpone butter that I feel I deserve a lifetime supply of. The sausage was special too, cooked just until it was tender with Mediterranean flavors. My boyfriend’s eggs Benedict was so decadent, served with garlic fried potatoes. You are going to want a nap after that dish.
I followed up with a coffee, which I recommend having after every meal in Seattle, to the extent that is possible. I did not have a single bad cup of coffee in this lovely city — even the Starbucks was different in a better way. And I thought we were spoiled in San Francisco!
The bartender was really nice. She comped my drink due to the lack of blackberry purée and even offered to give me a cup of coffee to go ~ when is the last time that happened? Never!
My only regret is that we didn’t get to come back for dinner, as the pasta dishes look delicious! Brunch was a wee bit pricy ($ 18 for eggs Benedict), but worth it. If I were you, I’d make a reservation. Highly recommend!

Greek food?! Yes please!
Came here for dinner on a Saturday (I advise you to call and make a reservation) and immediately loved the atmosphere. It was dim and romantic, yet perfect for a business dinner. They have a fireplace to the far left and straight ahead is the kitchen where the magic happens.
Ended up getting the sear scallops with Mellon (appetizer), grandmas dot Greek spaghetti, lamb with smashed potatoes.
The scallops (only came with 2 and is on the pricey side off ~ $ 22, was delicious! I have to say, one of the best scallops I’ve had). The melon and chilies were a nice compliment to the scallops too.
Grandmas dot Greek spaghetti was yummy as they were super generous with the mizithra cheese. I would of liked if there was other textures or a protein in this.
The lamb was delicious! As they were also generous with the amount they gave. It was literally a plate of lamb! YUM. The smashed potatoes (an extra as a side ~$ 5) were also delicious. They were so flavorful and filling.
Great place!

Es un pésimo servicio, la persona que está al frente tiene poca ética y muy mala actitud.