Laiola Review

We had mixed reactions to Laiola, thinking it was somewhere between decent and pretty good.  Although we in general had similar responses to the food, we each admitted we could have been convinced to give any rating in a wide range.

The meal began well with good quality (acme?) bread and similarly good olive oil.  I think /S/ would've been relatively pleased.

We ordered rosemary toasted almonds, which were tasty and one of the best single things in the meal, despite some attendees thinking they were too salty.

The marinated olives were similarly appealing.  Even I liked them, and I don't normally like olives.

Unlike traditional round Spanish croquettes, our chickpea croquettes looked like fish sticks.  They were exactly what they claimed to be.  Not particularly appealing, this was undoubtedly the worst item we ordered.

Our fried brussels sprouts with bacon was good, nicely charred in places, even pleasing to the one who normally dislikes brussels sprouts.

The bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed medjool dates were decent, though two of us thought the flavors were drowned by a balsamic glaze.

The pork meatballs, served in a bowl with pork broth and sliced onions, were respectable meatballs: soft, fairly moist.  Incidentally, they had a bit of spiciness from what may have been hot peppers.

The lamb burger wasn't bad at all.  The bun as well as the outside of the burger was remarkably juicy, especially surprising given that the inside was not.  Furthermore, not only was the bun nicely toasted, but it was innately better than an average bun (commiserate with the bread at beginning of the meal being good quality as well).  Also of note: the burger came with pickled onions and carrots.  Yes, carrots.  We liked them both.  No, we didn't put the carrots on the burger, but we do so with the onions and it gave the burger a bit of a zing.

We tried two desserts.  One was churros with hot chocolate (meant for dipping).  The churros were ordinary, average, and slightly soft in the center.  The hot chocolate was similarly ordinary: the type normally drank; certainly not special for dipping churros in.

Our other dessert was a plate with sliced bread and large hunk of chocolate with a consistency between that of mousse, pudding, and frosting.  The chocolate was semi-sweet (i.e., darker than milk chocolate), sprinkled with salt, and drizzled with olive oil.  Though we weren't excited by the dish, it didn't displease us either (except for the fact that we didn't appreciate and therefore avoided the salt).  We didn't like eating the chocolate directly but it worked decently when placed in a massive spoonful on bread.

Incidentally, the menu advertises the local suppliers the restaurant uses.

Service was okay.  Most of the items we ordered came out too fast, often providing us a new dish before we even got around to trying the rest of the dishes on the table.  Also, although we had water bottles on the table, the wait-staff kept coming around to take them and refill our glasses for us, disrupting our conversation.

The decor makes Laiola feel like a trendy restaurant, yet it was mostly empty when we arrived.  About half an hour later, it filled up, then emptied again before we left.  When full, it was a bit noisy but not so much so that it was hard to hear each other.

Half of area behind the long bar is an open kitchen.  We couldn't see it at all though; we sat in the front at a corner table with chairs and a padded bench seat facing a large picture window onto the street.

The total was $31/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

We'll be going to Laiola, a trendy Spanish tapas restaurant in the Marina.  The i in the restaurant's name is supposed to have two dots above it.

http://www.laiola.com/ (under renovation at the moment)

Some interesting background: in 2007 this restaurant opened to acclaim from hipsters and foodies alike, who proclaimed it one of the best restaurants to open that year.  It's been on my list since early 2008, but I've never decided to or managed to (yes, I tried a couple times) schedule it in 2008.  About four months ago, the head chef left and the sous chef was promoted.  Let's see if the restaurant still deserves the hype and buzz it previously received.  And, regardless of whether it deserves it, let me take this as a lesson that I should schedule restaurants when they're hot, not when I get around to it.

Comments from Other Attendees

Other items that got good reviews (after the recent chef change) that we didn't get to order: patatas bravaa, tortilla espanola, and roasted cauliflower. -mark

Feel free to add remarks here.