Lava Fusion

My friend and I came at 8:30 pm mid-​week and sat outside on the patio, which was pleasant. (I didn’t notice any flies, which seemed to be a concern of other reviewers?) My salmon salad was pretty good, and my friend enjoyed his pad thai. The service was fine, other than the waitress trying to take away the food too early — though I’ve been noticing that happen more in many places lately.

Just finished eating my fish tacos, awseome and very filling, shared them with my boyfriend. They make a mean caipirinha they are they best caipirinha I’ve had are here.
Very friendly and quick service.

Terrible service. Food is expensive and not good. I could make better at home. Their drink specials are their only redeeming quality. Try the blueberry lemon drop martini. The only reason this place is still around is overflow from zepalanis.

Not quite sure why this place got only 3 stars before but our experience was very nice however we came for lunch on a slow Monday afternoon. Maybe that was why? The only reason I didn’t give them 5 stars was because I wasn’t asked how I’d like my burger done.
I ordered the bison burger & my husband ordered the mushroom burger. As usual, I ordered the burger my way meaning no bun and, instead of the jalapeño crema, I got plain ‘olé jalapeños. The burger was done medium well & I prefer medium rare at most. I got the shrimp & corn chowder soup as my side and that was very good! It is cream-​based with tidbits of shrimp along with corn & chunks of potatoes. Very flavorful!
My husband got the mushroom burger and very much enjoyed it. He also got the sweet potato waffle fries which were the best I have had in a long time! Oh, yeah… he thought so, too! ;). They also had a 2 for 1 happy hour which was nice considering it wash our vacation day! :-). All in all, a great experience!

It was kinda an all-​in-​one bland that’s perfect for visitors.

I am not as familiar with the restaurant scene in C.R. anymore, so I am usually open to suggestions by family and friends. My dad and his wife wanted to take me out for dinner and thought I would really like Lava as much as they do. We were a little on the early side so we had pick of most tables in the restaurant.
The décor is a bit confusing for me and to be honest, it looks a little on the cheap side. We also had to fight off the flies. They didn’t have the doors propped open, but it was just a bit disgusting to have to keep swatting to keep them off of our food and drinks.
The menu is a bit confusing… it says it is Latin Asian Fusion and it does have some Latin and some Asian dishes, but there are dishes that are neither. I also thought if it was fusion, that there might be some interesting Latin Asian combinations like I have had at some places in San Diego. However, it really just means you can have tacos or sushi.
My dad went with the Beef Tenderloin, his wife went with the Pad Thai, and I had the Spicy Hawaiian Burger. I didn’t order a starter, but they ordered the Truffle Mac and Cheese and the Thai Spring Rolls. I had one Thai Spring Roll and it was nice, but wasn’t anything different from other spring rolls. My dad had said that there is usually a bit of a wait for food because it is being cooked fresh. I don’t actually have a problem with that. Having lived in Europe, I like that eating out is an experience and don’t like to be rushed. I also like to think a little extra waiting time for fresh food is not a bad trade off.
Everything looked good when it came to the table. My dad’s Beef Tenderloin looked wonderful and of all the plates looked the most gourmet. My dad’s wife usually enjoys the Pad Thai but had mentioned it was a bit dry. It is also a really large portion, far too much for her to eat by herself. My burger… well it seemed promising, but a few bites in and 1) there was no red pepper aioli (or I couldn’t taste it) and 2) the greens smelled a bit funny. I don’t know if it was a type of green they used or if it was something else, but it kind of put me off for the rest of the meal. I did take the meat off of the bun so I didn’t have to smell the greens, but I did find it a bit on the salty side. I went with the herbed fries for my side and to be honest they looked herby, but didn’t taste very herby.
I really wanted to love the place, but it all just seemed a bit mediocre. If someone suggested we go again, I would be happy to try again. However, if I were making suggestions, it wouldn’t be at the top of my list.

The food was okay, there were flys everywhere, the severs was not good they kept stopping by every two seconds it seemed. And it was kinda pricy for the over all experience.

They can pour a good Guinness but the shrimp dish I had was close to burnt Alpo. I am at sea as to the fusion craze. Chefs who can’t get a job at McDonald’s?

I’ve been here for happy hour (3−6pm) after work about a dozen times. They have good beers (at least 1 IPA always on tap), although Zeppelins has more taps next door. Lava has a nice outdoor patio which Zeppelins doesn’t have. I prefer Lava to Zeppelins after work any day the weather is nice… but the better beer selection and more indoor-​bar-​area at Zeppelins is better otherwise.
The appetizers and tapas are good, but I’ve had poor entrée’s every time. The alcoholic drink prices are are also too high during non-​happy hour time (Most recently I paid $ 9 for a ~12 oz Moscow Mule that was served in an imitation copper mug and I could pretty much only taste lime).
In terms of entrée’s, here are the last two I had:
Hummus Wrap 1 out of 5: it’s full of mixed greens, diced tomato and cucumber, onions, and is drenched in a red-​wine vinaigrette. And I mean drenched. I ate it as carefully as I could, but still had vinaigrette running down my wrist (luckily I had short sleeves on). I could barely taste the hummus and was only able to feel the texture of the greens & veggies. Maybe this wrap is supposed to be eaten with a fork? I ended up trying to let gravity drip the vinegar out (which completely filled my plate) and it was slightly better. I only ate half the wrap, the other half I took home and refrigerated. 18 hours later when I was going to eat it, the wrap was super soggy. I was hungry and still bravely took 1 bite, but couldn’t stomach the rest.
Honey shrimp fried rice 2 out of 5: This was better than my wrap, but it had way too much soy sauce. The shrimp was good, but I felt like every bite of rice contained 100% of USDA daily recommended sodium. Aside from the tasty shrimp, the rest of the dish tasted like it could have been from a microwave frozen dinner.
The tapas and appetizers, like the Lava sweet potato fries, are a rare commodity in Cedar Rapids and are worth getting. Given the small bar area at Lava, I think this place is fundamentally a restaurant and the entrée’s I’ve tried have been so poor I’m giving this place a 2-​star rating.

Lava has some big news! They are now open on Sundays for brunch at 8:00am AND they are also serving breakfast on Sundays as well. I got a chance to see the new menu today and I am so excited! Omelettes, pancakes, and lots of the usual egg dishes plus the special ones like Eggs Benedict are offered. Some sandwiches too which is great as some people like my daughter just don’t do a traditional breakfast. Prices are very reasonable for such a nice place. Can’t wait to try Lava for breakfast tomorrow! Brunch is $ 12.99 for adults and $ 7.99 for kids. Can’t beat that either.
Perhaps the biggest news is that Lava now offers 2 for 1 drinks from opening till 6pm! Better watch out Zepp’s because the lunch at Lava is very good with a nice selection of burgers, sandwiches and salads PLUS the drink special too. Can’t beat that.
We just ate there for lunch today and my Chicken BLTA was yum and now comes with a side of fruit included instead of chips. Hubby loved his mushroom and Swiss burger on wheat berry bread. He said it was the perfect size burger, big and satisfying but not too big. His fries were a small extra charge.
We live pretty close to Lava so we are very pleased with all the positive changes. I hope lots of people check them out soon. Oh, and once winter is really over Lava has a very popular outside space for drinks or dining too.

Great selection of tapas dishes. The Baked Goat Cheese baquettes were interesting… goat cheese was great however there was basically just warm salsa surrounding the cheese. The carne asada tacos were delicious. I was not impressed with the sushi as it resembeled something store bought. The duck quesadilla was fantastic. Cooked to perfection and extremely flavorful. I would highly recommend this dish.
I will go to Lava again, as their menu is very large and there were many things I would still like to try. The ambience was great, there were just a few dishes that I thought were too basic.

Piping hot, Shrimp Fried Rice, Cesar Salad, both tasty. A nice glass of wine. Criag was a wonderful server with excellent suggestions. Bananas Foster! Alone today, returning Monday with a group. I’ll re-​review then.

I was with my family and sadly no one wanted to order Tapas. Seriously? Umm, we are sort of at a Tapas place. Oh well…
We ordered the hummus which came with pita bread and celery and carrots. Very nice and our server quickly accommodated our request for more bread.
I ordered the pad thai while others had the honey shrimp fried rice, herbed chicken, and sweet and sour chicken.
Everyone in our group gave those dishes high marks, notably the shrimp fried rice and herbed chicken.
Personally I wasn’t a fan of my pad thai. Too much pepper and not enough sauce. Also, the martini’s were a bit watery.
However, I will come back when visiting CR and try some of the other menu items, including the cheese and desserts. Also, our server and the service was fantastic.

Good atmosphere. Really enjoy the look of the place. Chairs and tables comfortable.
Service was very lacking. Waitress wasn’t attentive. We had three people are the table. One meal came out 15 mins before the other. My meal came out after my father finished his. I had a chicken and broccoli meal. The only thing good was the broccoli. Chicken was horrible.
They did try to make it right. They offered free dessert for the table. I didn’t get any, I was done with the place. The other people at the table seemed to enjoy the dessert.
I will not be going back to this place. The only saving grace was the comfort and vibe you have at the place.
Also it’s expensive for what you get. Three people an the bill was 75. I would expect better quality of good and service.

A great place to make a meal out of several of the tapas available — - — really provides a much wider assortment of flavors to enjoy when you order multiple dishes to share. We really enjoyed our meal.

This restaurant was okay. I was really excited about it while looking at their fb page’s cuisine pictures, and I don’t think it lived up to what I was expecting.
Meat loaf– very disappointed. Was not hot and it was dry, not enough sauce. I would not get this again.
Lava roll-​good. I would definitely try this again.
Macaroni and cheese– tasty and creamy.
We had the chocolate raspberry lava cake, this was also good.
I liked the atmosphere, too. I would probably go back to try other items.
$ 35 bill for 2 people (including tax) was kind of an expensive lunch.

Went there for an after work visit with a friend. Sangria was yummy… especially the 2 for 1 pricing on all drinks everyday 3−6pm. Ordered three tapas… asparagus, grilled shrimp and BBQ brisket lettuce wraps… all good, but the BBQ was the best. Atmosphere was nice; will want to come back to try out the outside patio area.

Went for lunch, excellent service. Split the Mongolian beef and sweet and sour chicken with a friend… the beef was nothing to write home about and the chicken was crispy and pretty good.

While in town for a few days my friend suggested we go to Lava for dinner, she told me it was Latin-​Asian Fusion, it sounded like an exciting combination. The restaurant was tastefully decorated, clean and had a good feel. The wait staff was good although we asked the server what she would recommend and why, her suggestions were nice but she didn’t seem to describe why she liked what she liked, it gave the impression that she hadn’t actually eaten the food and was only going on what customers order most.
At any rate, the food was excellent, if I lived in the area I would make that a regular place.
I shouldn’t forget — the menu has so many options but a lot are small plates so it’s great to get several and share with each other, on top of that the desserts are top notch!

Less than what I expected. The décor is fantastic but it almost sets you up for a so-​so meal. The service was slow, which could be credited to the fact it had only been open a week when I ate there. The food was mixed. I had the fajitas (with an asian twist) that were good but not great. My wife’s chicken dish (I can’t remember what it was called) was so bland she could only eat a little bit. The lava cake for dessert, on the other hand, was delicious. Price was not outrageous, but I expected slightly better food quality for it.
For me, the jury is still out on this place. I love Cibo, the owner’s other place, so I’ll give it another chance.