Zola

came here last night for pre 10-​mile cherry blossom run dinner. we ordered the truffle linguine w/​scallops. major disappointment. pasta was overcooked and the flavors just wasn’t working.

Wanted to go to Zola for dinner the other day and found out they are closed for good :(

The halibut was salty. The mussels were very good.
Décor is very modern and hip.
Drinks are good here, and they have good happy hour specials.

I heard that Zola is closing. With that said, when I went, I understood why. However, reading these Unilocal reviews, it appears that at some point this place was good.
Service: Mildly cordial hostess seated us
Waitress appeared with water after quite some time
Took our drink orders
Took our food orders
Food came out in ample time which was good.
My Korean short ribs were well… basically a big piece of thick steak. It was cooked well but it was not as advertised. The pajeon that came with it was really really bland. I love pajeon, and I couldn’t even try to make it taste good. Bok choy — okay… slightly overcooked/​wilted. Not exactly «stir fry».
My friend got the beet ravioli dish. It was like a lemon exploded on it and then someone thought it wasn’t enough lemon so they threw another one and let the juices run wild through the dish. The texture of the ravioli was also odd. She ate it b/​c she was hungry, but was not pleased. Also did not taste any pesto-​like flavors.
The drinks. Yes, definitely cool b/​c they are not standard drinks. Specialty cocktails yes. However, we both ordered the same one, and they sucked. But you know, maybe our taste buds weren’t fancy enough for it. Who knows. The Don Juan’s.
So when the waitress saw we didn’t finish or even really get even halfway through our drinks, she said oh, did you not like that? Should I bring you something else to replace those drinks? No wait, she didn’t…she totally didn’t. At any other «upscale» establishment the waitress would have offered a solution.
Instead, she came by like once throughout or entire meal to see if we needed dessert. Um heck no. Then she gave us the bill.
The busser who removed our plates was a little rough, just reached across and started grabbing our stuff.
So basically, $ 90 wasted.

I give this place 5 stars based off of the cocktails alone. Creative cocktail list. Classics with a twist.
We came here after a disappointing experience at Zaytinya’s. Perfect for a pre or post meal cocktail.

We decided to come here for their late night happy hour after a movie nearby, we probably should’ve went somewhere else. The layout was cute and trendy and had the theme of the spy museum which is next door/​downstairs.
The bartender that served us seemed a little uptight and not all that friendly. We ordered the Lemongrass mussels (which were ok, but I’ve had better), for drinks the Zola (their signature drink, which was good) and the Whistle after work (a little bitter prob because of the blood orange in it so I changed it for the cherry royale which was better). Overall it was ok, may or may not come back not sure just yet… I may give it another chance so I get the chance to try the tacos and the sliders which I hear are pretty good.

Made it just in the nick of time for Happy Hour drinks, and boy, are they tasty!
Gulped down a nummy-​licious Zola martini (vodka, white cranberry, lime, triple sec, with an orange twist) and ordered up a glass of white wine five minutes til 6:00pm. The bartender felt bad for me and made me an amazing cocktail for the Happy Hour price. Obvi they will get a good review for that gesture alone. Well played, Zola.

Right across the street from the Donald Reynolds Center for Art, Zola was conveniently located, so we popped in for a late lunch. It wasn’t crowded at all. We sat right next to the windows and had a great view of the block. We ordered the beef burger and the carnitas tacos, and they brought out a great bread basket with honey rosemary butter that was top notch — a teeny baguette, some tomato-​ey bread, and a rye cracker.
Our lunch was delicious. Three carnitas tacos with a charred salsa, fresh limes, and lettuce. The pork was juicy and flavorful and dripped all over the place in a good way. The burger was juicy as well, and I especially loved the melted cheese and the caramelized onions on it. The chips that accompanied the burger were the best fresh chips I’ve ever had.
Zola is obviously trying to be super trendy; the bathrooms look like they are from Lando Calrissian’s Cloud City, and the booths in the back were 7 feet high. NO ONE is seven feet when they are sitting down. Maybe giraffes, but I doubt Zola would allow giraffes to eat there. Or maybe that is trendy too! And the huge swingy door to the restrooms that I so graciously provided a photo of if you are so inclined. But when it comes down to it, they serve good food. If you serve good food, you can be trendy in my book, even if you overdo it.
The only thing that really bugged me was that our server had a 2 inch rip along the seam of her pants RIGHT at my eye level and right at her butt level. It was just awkward, because you gotta think she knows, but you don’t want to tell her if she doesn’t, right? I left a larger tip because she was a good waitress and maybe she can get new pants, huh?

Do NOT go here! Horrible! Worst dining experience I’ve had in DC yet.
Strike 1: Terrible drinks… actually maybe the worst drink I’ve tasted in my life. My friend’s Strawberry basil smash cocktail tasted like strawberry jam and cough syrup. not in a good way. In the painfully sweet way with a gross aftertaste.
Strike 2: Right now I’m obsessed with Mac N Cheese. Their «lobster mac and cheese» was straight up kraft. Bright yellowy/​orange, watery consistency, yup it was Kraft. We also got sliders where okay but nothing to call home about. We also got carnitas which were good.
Strike 3: SO insanely expensive. 18 dollars for the kraft Mac N Cheese… wtf.

Zola was great except for the food… which was just okay. I was excited to eat here — it has nice décor, the food sounds great from the menu descriptions, and we were with some great friends plus an amuse bouche came out which is always fun. Our waiter (Kent P.) was awesome and was the high point — very knowledgeable, friendly/​funny, and honest about what to steer clear of at the moment.
We ordered the Rockfish, Pumpkin Scallops, Smoked Venison x 2, and a Lobster Mac&Cheese side. Nothing stood out at all so I won’t bore you with how average it all was. I will say that the (med rare) venison was supremely disappointing as it was very mealy/​mushy as if it had been frozen/​thawed/​frozen/​thawed and the integrity of the muscle fibers had given up the fight. The Lobster Mac was good — however at $ 18 for a very small dish you are probably better off buying a whole lobster from Whole Foods, chopping that guy up and throwing him in your Kraft Easy Mac.
Disappointing unfortunately. I expect much better for entrees in the upper-​$ 20 price range.

Love their happy hour & mini burgers! Despite the fact that my now bf stood me up on our first date here, I still come back here ;)
Food/​drinks: yummy & satisfying
Ambiance: upscale, classy
Price: reasonable during happy hour

When you make a great seasonal drink and it does soooo well, and when I come in with a party of four just to have that wonderful elixer called ‘Smoke’ and you don’t have it anymore and we leave and are just disappointed with that fact and even when the bartender looks annoyed with the fact that they no longer are serving the drink and before I make this the world’s longest run-​on sentence rant over a drink.
Breathe…
REALLY? Bring it back… Come on! You know you have to. You know that it’s the right decision… just look at the review I did earlier on this. Really. Look down. This is ROTD material here. This is what we Unilocalers are about. Finding something really cool and sharing it with everyone and anyone cause we are Fly like that.
Ok, I realize that this is a seasonal drink. So, I contend that we are in a season now. It’s a good season. There are four seasons in one day. But, when you don’t have it anymore… I will consider that a… wait for it…
EPIC FAIL!!! Yes, EPIC!
Ok, but the rest of the menu, food, happy hour and service is still good.
But, for my sake… please, please bring it back.

Zola is one of the better restaurants in downtown DC. The elegant dining rooms and bar are beautiful and the atmosphere has an aura of sophisticated mystique.
There were some real standouts at dinner. The sweetbreads were extraordinary; if you have never sampled them before, this is by far the best place to do so, as you will be an instant convert. The venison leg has the perfect amount of smokiness to balance to gamey meat. Others in my party gave high marks for the lamb shank and the corn-​crusted scallops. For high-​end dining, the portions were well-​sized and appropriately priced.
Like most DC restaurants, service was a bit of a let down. Our waiter was alright, but drink refills took forever, and the «leisurely» service was about an inch away from being inattentive. On top of that, he was rather stern and never smiled, and certainly did not exude warmth and friendliness. We also got bad attitude from a hostess when we asked to move tables; she wanted to cram our large party into a tiny booth even though there were plenty of spacious tables in the otherwise empty dining room.

Heard many good things about Zola, so I made a stop during DC Restaurant Week. Since this was my first time participating in RW, I decided to order the most expensive, richest dishes (why not?). To start, I got a plain appetizer though; cooked asparagus and artichokes drenched in oil. The veggies tasted good, but the oil was too much for me. For the entrée, I orded medium rare steak with arugula and red potatoes. The presentation of the dish was artistic; I was expecting everything to be partitioned, but the steak lay on top of the other sides. The steak was a little on the rare side, but I thought overall it was delicious. I finished the meal with a Chocolate Bombe cake. Chocolate dessert shell atop of chocolate ice cream and this chocolate cookie-​like substance. Surrounded by raspberries and passion fruit sauce.
I really enjoyed the meal. But I think the only reason why I give it 3 stars is that I felt that it didn’t sit well in my stomach. Probably didn’t help that I wasn’t feeling well, or that I ordered the most indulgent things, and also that I’m not used to eating a 3 course meal during lunch… Who knows, but I had to factor all that in towards this review.

This is only a review for HAPPY HOUR. I was with a large group, but we got there early so we had the whole back corner of the bar. This is a really small bar, it almost reminded me of a hotel bar. My biggest complaint was the bartender. He was not friendly at all and almost acted like we were putting him out every time we ordered a drink and we were eating and drinking A LOT.
However, the cocktails were good and strong, only $ 5 too! I had a martini, which was pretty good and I don’t really like martinis. I also had the mojito, which was decent. My favorite drink was the strawberry blon! Sooo good and strong. I don’t even like tequila, but loved this drink. I only had to miso crab sticks to eat, but they were good!

Happppyy HourS!
Came here for HH since they started a new $ 5 drink menu and discounted food. Thank you Mike for putting up with my crazy out of town friend that dropped in. (I know he’s weird.) Anyway, that has nothing to do with this review.
Started off with the Strawberry Blon. Well actually, I WANTED to start off with the Strawberry Blon. But they were out of the stuff to make it. So I got the mojito. It was ok. Like Mike said, a little sweet — probably from the passion fruit. Still good though.
Ordered the tacos which you get 3 for $ 7. They were SO GOOD. Amazing even!
Decided to get one more drink and wanted to get one of their drinks off their regular menu, so I tried the Cactus Margarita (on the rocks!) It was um, made pretty strong! I’m a weakling (plus had to drive later) and I totally couldn’t finish it.
I tried my friend’s «Smoke» drink, which is a strange drink. It makes your entire mouth feel like a campfire. Actually, it makes you smell like you just came from a campfire too. If you’re a whiskey fan then that’s totally your drink.
I may have rated this place 5 because I enjoyed my experience but it sucks that they seemed to be out of a lot of things to make many of the drinks. Not only were they out of the one I mentioned, but they were out of something else Mike went to order too. So booo to that. So it’s 4 stars with potential to be bumped to 5 since I’d like to return and try more drink creations.

At the beginning of January, my friend Olga invited me to a tasting dinner at Zola as a late Christmas/​New Year’s present.
We had the option of the chef’s tasting menu or choosing from different sections of the menu to compose our own tasting. It was hard to pick exactly what I wanted since everything seemed delicious. We were pulled away from the menu a few times by interesting attention to detail such as: black napkins so that the white napkins wouldn’t leave lint on our laps; interesting place settings of marble and decorative cut-​outs; an inventive use of wall-​space by way of a square window cut out that let us see directly into the kitchen.
Thankfully we were given the option of choosing a drink while we mulled over the menu. Olga had the bartender create an off-​the-​menu recommendation called «Passion» which had mango rum, passion fruit juice, sparkling wine, and a sugar rim. I chose the Poire, but was later informed there were no sage leaves. I asked for what Olga had chosen, but by that time, sage leaves had magically appeared again and I was able to have my Poire as intended, with Mezcal, pear brandy, pear nectar, ginger syrup, and garnished with pear segment & sage. It was deliciously sweet, complex, and tempered with the savoriness of the sage.
After receiving our drinks, I had finally made up my mind on what to order. Sort of. The tasting menu seemed perfect except for one dish, which I swapped for one of Olga’s dishes.
Before the food started coming out of the kitchen, we received a tiny amuse-​bouche of fennel brioche, crème fraîche, cured salmon, Ossetia caviar, and amaranth microgreen. We also received a hot bread basket of spicy lavash w/​hawaiian sea salt, hard rolls, pumpkin bread, and olive bread.
[ 1 ] My first dish of quail was delicious, especially when stuffed with one of my other favorite meats-​duck. Polenta can go very wrong very easily, but this was smooth and rich, though not to heavy.
[ 2 ] The turbot that I had for the second course was seared wonderfully, but it seemed a bit out of proportion. The turbot fillet teetered on top of the greens and was almost the size of an entrée, not an appetizer. The accompaniments had a nice bite to them that helped to even out the meatiness of the fish, but they quickly ran out and I was left with just a hunk of meat. Juicy, flaky meat, but a bit ill-​balanced.
[ 3 ] The veal that followed afterwords for the third course was succulent. The pearl onions underneath the slices of veal were peppered with sweatbreads and soaked up the fennel purée and blood orange glaze. Olga’s sablefish tasted a tad fishy to me and the scallion and short rib fried rice seemed a little dry, but all in all it was still a well-​balanced dish, especially with the brightness of a pomegranate glaze to cut through the heavier parts of the dish.
[ 4 ] The next, and final, protein course held duck for me and lamb for Olga. The duck was cooked perfectly, but I was thinking back to that turbot from earlier-​wishing I had eaten less of that so I could eat more of the duck now. The hedge hog mushrooms were earthy and firm, especially when covered with a house-​made huckleberry jus that Olga declared she wanted to eat by the spoonful by itself. The only low point of the dish was the roasted endive, which seemed acrid and bitter amongst the rich, soft, and sweet flavors of the rest of the dish.
During the course of the tasting menu, we had also received a second hot bread basket consisting of Greyere popovers. Great flavors, but at this point we were too full to enjoy them to their fullest potential. Fortunately, I always have room for dessert. We were given a passion fruit dissolvé and a tiny square of raspberry cheesecake. The dissolvé was firm like a meringue but was slightly chalky and one-​note. The raspberry cheesecake had a presentation that was tiny, yet beautiful, like an afternoon tea treat. The flavors were clean, citrus-​y, and tangy.
[ 5 ] The final course on our journey was dessert. Olga’s dessert was pears poached in brown butter served with soft gingerbread cake and hazelnut ice cream. I was adventurous and ordered the eggplant baklava which was crispy, butter, sweet, and not too heavy. Unfortunately, after a few bites, I couldn’t fit another thing into my stomach and had to request a to-​go bag.
The end of the meal was brought with a box of treats for each of us and a note of thanks from the house. We met with the chef at the end of our meal and were able to tell him face to face our opinions of the new menu.
All in all, I whole-​heartedly recommend Zola’s new menu if you’re in the area. It takes a unique spin on many ingredients and it has dishes for everyone on the spectrum, including safe diners or adventurous foodies. I’d go in to see what they have, if only for delicious drinks, the hot bread baskets, and some huckleberry jus.
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+ + Full review & more pics:
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Ugh, it breaks my heart.
I’d always wanted to have dinner at Zola’s but for whatever reason never got around to it until this past Tuesday.
Normally I would stop by Zola for drinks after having dinner at Rasika or Zaytinya and was always satisfied with their drinks. I should’ve stuck with that.
The atmosphere is great. The Spy museum décor runneth over, all over Zola, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The wait staff are wonderful and attentive. Despite the crowd or day of the week, it’s always eerily quiet and conversations are easily held. So, why the 2 stars?! Gah.
I had a crap dinner AND dessert. The sablefish and the Pina Colada crêpe. Yuck.
I may be all sorts of wrong about this, because the waiter assured me, before I ordered the sablefish, that it was the most popular fish entrée, that everyone loved it, it was fresh from local fishermen, and blah blah blah…
Who the hell cares? It wasn’t yummy.
The piña colada crêpe was all my doing. Word to the wise, it’s nothing like a crêpe and if by piña colada, they mean they’re going to give you micro pineapple chunks amidst a pastry log and citrus spread, then, um … Yeah, I guess that’s a piña colada crêpe.
Minus the piña colada flavor.
Minus the crêpe.
Minus everything you thought you were ordering.
Heavy on the wtf!!!
I should probably add that I’m super particular about fish. I generally don’t like it and the only fish entrees that I’ve consistently liked have been striped bass and mahi mahi. However, the waiter sold the sablefish as the next coming of Christ and he seemed to know what he was talking about. Who was I to question him? He was wearing an ascot for Christ’s sake.
I should’ve just ordered the chicken. The sablefish comes sitting on top of a small rectangular bed of rice mixed with what seems to be stuffing drizzled with a tart pomegranate sauce. Kind of sounds good, and it was okay but, the sablefish is baked with the skin on. Deal breaker. The skin makes it taste super «fishy».
Does that make sense?
I don’t like fishy fish. I was told a long time ago that if fish were fresh, it wouldn’t have a «fish» smell or taste and I believe that to be true. I like fresh fish, not fishy fish. Am I saying Zola’s gave me three day old fish? Oh. I don’t know, but I wasn’t a fan,
My date ordered the duck. Again, it was okay. A little dry, which is weird because I normally associate duck with being really moist and succulent, more so than chicken. It had the texture of unsalted pork, with very little flavor. No bueno.
I don’t know what the hell happened, but I wouldn’t do dinner at Zola’s again. Go to Zaytinya, Rasika, Zengo, almost anywhere else. Sure they may not have the «sophisticated» décor of Zola’s but you’ll have tasty food and a ridiculous bill, not just the latter.
It’s all about balance folks.

We spent a couple hours at the International Spy Museum and came here for snacks/​dinner later. I gave this place three stars overall, but really I would give them 1 star for service and 4 stars on food.
So we walk in, and as we’re kinda deciding whether to sit at the bar or not, the hostess asks us if we want to see the menu. And it wasn’t just one of those «Would you like to see what we offer?» It was «Check out the menu because I don’t think you’ll be able to afford this place.» And we all got that feeling before even discussing it with one another so I know I didn’t make it up. Ridiculous. Whatever, we decided to go to the bar.
The bartender was some woman with a stick up her arse who did not seem at all happy to be there. She musta also thought we were too young to tip well (we were all 25 and she couldn’t have been that much older). When I asked her what ramps were, she said she’d ask with an impatient air, and she came back with this answer «They’re like onions.» *Sigh. Zola, your people suck. Anyway, we ordered off the happy hour menu and the regular menu — got the cheese fonduta, sliders, some sort of tomato, mozarella bite, a couple Zola’s (those were really good and I don’t drink) and a sangria, the ramp mashed potatoes, and pulled pork sliders. All the food was really good and we thoroughly enjoyed it, especially with happy hour prices.
The service was terrible overall, which really made this place suck. The bartender, though super prompt with our order, was just such a jerk and would make drinks with the drinks sloshing out of the shaker and onto the floor and counter. Yeesh.
We decided to leave comments and I went to the hostess to ask if they had comment cards. The two women looked at each other and said no, then proceeded to rip me some odd ball piece of paper and hand me a pen. After I was done, I asked if I could give this to a manager and they immediately hopped up with bright smiles and said they would go find him/​her. After like 5 minutes, one came back and said that he was busy. WTF. Are you serious? I look young but I ain’t born yesterday. Honestly people.
Like I said, great food, but terrible service from beginning to end.

Zola has quickly become one of my new favorite happy hour spots. I first checked out their hh on my birthday in February and my girlfriends and I loved it so much we returned the following week.
Their happy hour runs for two 2-​hour periods of 5−7pm and again from 9−11pm. For these blissful four hours, one can enjoy several $ 5 cocktails and snack on $ 1.50 sliders. I personally loved the «Zola» which is basically a white-​cranberry juice cosmopolitan (white cranberry juice, cointreau, fresh lime juice) garnished with dried cranberries. The red wine sangria with fresh fruit was also a favorite among our group.
The sliders are delicious. I think the lamb meatball and the triple crème brie + tomato sliders pack the most flavor of the bunch but the others are also very tasty (steak and cheese, bbq pork). At only $ 1.50 each, you easily get more bang for your buck than ordering sliders across the block at Matchbox.
Both times we went on a Tuesday and the first night it was completely packed. However the second time it was less crowded so it’s really hard to say what night to skip and what night to check it out. I don’t know. All I cared about was the $ 5 Zola, a few sliders and a few good looking men to look at while enjoying the afore mentioned items.
I still need to make a return visit to try more of Chef Bryan’s culinary delights but until then, I’ll just stick to the sliders at the bar.