Oh Lola, how I love thee. I was quite surprised that on a Saturday at 7pm it wasn't packed. I suppose it is Cleveland, which isn't exactly known for being a fine dining mecca (this place would make a killing in Chicago or NYC), but still. It's situated on a block full of bars and outdoor seating. All of the other places were lively but Lola was only about 2/3 full. Either way, more for me! I love the decor. The bar has a wine cellar behind it that is clear so you can see the servers going in to get bottles of wine when they're ordered. It's pretty similar to Gordon Ramsay's Petrus...pretty cool! The sommelier was very friendly. We sort of knew what we wanted, but he was helpful either way. The service was absolutely outstanding as well. And the bill was less than I expected. Totally worth the 5 hour drive to go there (yes, I did).
Onto the food. For a starter we did the beef cheek pierogi. O-M-G. The beef was super tender but the star was actually the pierogi itself. It was amazing! And I grew up on the NW side of Chicago where we have the second highest concentration of Polish people outside Warsaw (literally, not even other places in Poland have more densely populated Poles) so I consider myself a good judge of pierogis. Highly recommend. For entrees my husband got the pork chop, which he thought was the best pork chop ever. I was more impressed with my lamb. It comes with a cucumber sauce that is almost like a sexy tzatziki sauce. It was so yum! The lamb was a perfect medium rare and so good I was gnawing on the bones afterward (I know, classy). But seriously folks, go get this lamb.