NoLa By Brian

if food quality is the only criteria by which to review a restaurant, then give NoLa 5 stars. The pasta, chicken, duck, fish, braised beef, fresh local vegetables, risotto were all excellent and certainly worth the drive.
The menu changes frequently, but the web site doesn’t. The menu on their web site reflects the type and variety of cuisine, but not necessarily the specific menu on a particular day. The restaurant is very small so reservations are recommended.
Service could be described as «doing us a favor» rather than attentive. The sign on the front window indicated that they were attempting to hire servers, bus persons, host/​hostesses. My guess is that the restaurant was so short-​staffed because of the unpleasant off-​putting hostess’s generally sour nature. She most likely alienated other employees as much as she did the guests.
The restaurant is BYOB but should also be BYOSW (bottled sparkling water), BYOC (coke) or any other beverage. They don’t typically serve sparkling water or other carbonated beverages. If a guest prefers beverages other than wine, the «hostess» will go out to the parking lot and call the store across the street on her cellphone to arrange for someone to bring over a bottle or can of the guests preferred beverage.
The espresso machine is very loud and situated in the dining area. Be prepared to put dinner conversation on hold while the machine is in use. Overall, service is poor. Ambiance is poor. The restaurant appeared to be some sort of temporary «pop-​up» place… here today… gone tomorrow.
Bring cash. Credit cards not accepted.

First off… the menu we saw tonight bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the menu on the website… annoying and a bad signal from the start. Apps: mushroom soup and savory onion cheesecake. The soup was blended wild shrooms with a lot of heavy cream. I can do this in my kitchen. It was quite good, but any home chef can do this. The savory onion cheesecake was just an onion quiche… I guess it had some cream cheese in it. Entrees: halibut and a braised beef. Beef was unremarkable. Halibut was fine… had a wine sauce with some capers. Fish came with a risotto that was the one highlight of the night. Service: asked the waitress for her opinion on one app vs another and one entrée vs another we were thinking of getting…“they’re all great, it depends on what you’re in the mood for”. SO lame… have an opinion. I think we’ll stick to Brian’s in Lambertville.

Service was okay but the food elevates the dining experience.
Fluffy layers of fresh lasagne, enveloping a beef and tomato ragu finished with toasted cheese. The lasagne was very hot on the edges but slightly cold in the middle.
You know what, 5* for making lasagne sheet from scratch the same day and for the creativity. This menu is different, adventurous and good.
And it’s byob. They’ve partnered with a specialty wine shop across the street and they selected a value-​priced Pinot Grigio that was delicious and 100% complemented my meal.
Thank goodness I had cash with me today or it would have been a long night washing dishes.
Cash or check only

This was our first visit to NOLA, and it won’t be the last. I figured, based on our visits to their sister restaurant, Brian’s, that it would be good, but it exceeded our expectations! The gnocchi appetizer was delicious, the chicken entrée was very good, and the chocolate mousse dessert was a perfect ending!

Small restaurant. Décor not that exciting. Presentation of food was beautiful. Uniqueness of dishes are top notch. Portions are small; prices are high. Service was wonderful but server was a little strange. He was sure to tell us after being in the restaurant and done eating that our table was reserved in 10 minutes. I found this odd since we were just in the restaurant for only an hour it wasn’t like we were sitting there all night. One of the desserts was chocolate fondant. Who likes fondant? They should definitely call it something different. We didn’t eat dessert since we would have only had 10 minutes and do not care for fondant. Not sure I will go back here since the food was just slightly above average definitely looked better than it tasted. I felt like the prices should’ve warranted a little bit more.

We really enjoyed this restaurant. Food was delicious, the service great, and the atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant. We stayed for quite awhile and when we realized how long we were there, the staff emphasized it was not a problem and to stay as long as we liked. Warm, friendly, efficient, AND great food. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Great meal here last night. I had scallops with mascarpone cheese ravioli and halibut. Both were great. My wife had a salad and lemon ribolita ravioli. Food was great. Need to work on the décor but perhaps that is because it’s still a new restaurant. Walls were completely bare. Credit cards would be nice but only cash for now. And of course like other reviews the mascarpone olive oil focaccia at the start was great. Overall food was really good but have to give 4 stars instead of 5 because of the bare bones room.

Have now been to NoLa by Brian twice and are enthusiastic fans. A worthy replacement for the now-​closed The Pass in Rosemont for creative, forward-​thinking food at a fair price. There is a Mediterranean influence here, with a menu featuring appetizers, pastas (in appetizer and main course options), meat and fish mains.
On the current menu (
), I was particularly blown away by the lemon-​robiola ravioli with squash blossoms (somewhat less than perfect photo, below) and the flounder with braised leeks in a herb sauce, which reminded me of something you might get in a classic French preparation (without the crème).
Local ingredients are used wherever possible. In fact, I’ve seen Brian sourcing ingredients across the street at the Stockton Farmers Market and he uses the excellent peaches produced by Manoff’s in Solebury, PA.
Be aware that NoLa is cash only. It’s also BYO, so bring a bottle or two of excellent wine to complement your meal. The main dining room is a bit noisy when full (I was told they’re taking steps to baffle the noise), but the front room, with its farm table, is much quieter and affords a view of the kitchen. With a shared dessert, NoLa is a $ 100 per couple dinner, well worth the price for the quality. Service is very attentive (at times, very, very attentive).
NoLa by Brian has become one of our top three or four Bucks/​Hunterdon restaurants. A welcome addition to the local scene.

Long time fan of Brian, consider his Brian’s of Lambertville one of the best restaurants in the area. The promise of another restaurant under his stewardship brought my wife and I here to try it out. Solid-​very good, however it was far too similar to Brians for my liking. I was expecting a strong Mediterranean twist-​but he really didn’t go too far outside his comfort zone.
Started with great, great, crusty Focaccia, then moved onto a Corn Soufflé with Crab, just fantastic. Entrees were kinda lame-​the wife had the Tilefish Puttanesca, very tame, needed seasoning, no sear on the fish. I had the Short Ribs-​they were very good, but more of a winter dish, and similar to the Beef a la Mode from Brians at Lambertville. Menu needs work, but a solid start from one of the best chefs in the area. This restaurant, unlike the other, is a la carte, still BYOB and Cash Only. He should start taking credit cards. Same relaxed, professional and mature service, which is very hard to find in Bucks County. Looking forward to testing the waters again if the menu gets updated.

We tried Nola for dinner and loved it. We usually don’t like going to restaurants when they first open to let them work out the kinks first but gave this a shot after 3 weeks of being open. The servers were very friendly and attentive but not as polished as the food. I almost feel like they need one more on the floor to make sure you aren’t waiting around for anything.
The décor is minimal and doesn’t look like there were any changes made. If you last came here when it as Miels you might think it is stark. The food reflected locally sourced and seasonal freshly prepared creative dishes. The tables are set nicely. The food: The fresh foccacia is served with house-​made Ricotta (yum).
The Shrimp and endive salad to start was awesome. The perfectly grilled, Shrimp Fra Diavola came with Shaved Fennel. (amazing) My husband had the porcini ravioli — soft pillows of freshness. My main was the halibut (cooked perfectly) with a little-​too-​much Israeli couscous for my liking. We also tried the tuna prepared with lamb cheek which wasn’t my favorite combo but my husband loved it.
Dessert was amazing — blueberry lemon pots de crème and a «s’mores» tart.
BYOB. I’ll definitely go back.