NOLA Restaurant & Bar

This place is a Palo Alto staple. I've been here on multiple occasions and the ambiance is consistent. The seating is perfect whether you want to be outside for brunch or inside on the terrace for dinner. The food and drinks are great and the beignets are a must. While there are no reservations, we had no trouble finding a table within 5-15mins.

I ordered beignets from NOLA Restaurant, expecting the traditional, fluffy pastries, but what I received were chopped-up pieces instead. They were slightly overcooked, with a crispier texture than I would have preferred, but they still had good flavor. However, the presentation was disappointing because they weren't full-sized beignets.My biggest issue is the lack of transparency--nowhere on the menu does it specify that these are beignet bites rather than whole beignets. If that's how they're served, they should be labeled as such to set the right expectations. While I still enjoyed them, I would have appreciated knowing what I was getting beforehand.

Hey NOLA, pick a lane. And if you're going to use New Orleans as a muse, at least honor their excellent service. I've been to New Orleans and every restaurant staff I've encountered has been sweet and attentive. When we headed here, we were initially worried the wait time would be over an hour because it was Valentine's and they only accept walk-ins. The short wait time may have indicated why few others chose to be here on Valentine's day. Long story short, I would not recommend. Went here because it looks cute, but the food is so mediocre.Spicy Jambalaya - I liked this dish. One thing to note is the "Spicy" is spicier than I expected. Carnitas Tacos - I liked this dish. One thing to note is the lime or aioli tasted like we squeezed oranges onto the tacos. Interesting flavor, but not bad.Dungeness crab and toasted bread - Boyfriend enjoyed this. I'll say they're really generous with the crab meat. However, the taste is too overpowering for my taste... especially when they pair it with only 3.5 slices of toasted bread (the 4th toast was half the size of the other 3 toasts). Also, the way they toasted the bread was horrible. Kumamoto oysters (12) - Disappointing. Allegedly the smaller and sweeter of the two options. If petite and sweet, why bland af? Whole foods $1 Oyster Fridays will treat you better.It's a shame because the ambiance of this place is beautiful. One weird thing about this place is that servers will bring you physical menus and tell you to scan the QR code on the table to order. Why give us physical menus then? And they ended up taking our drink order verbally anyways... (did not check id). We ended up placing our food order online. However, when we placed our orders in, my boyfriend wanted to check if he actually placed three taco orders since only two came out. Unfortunately, the website timed us out or there was no order history, because we couldn't find anything. We asked our server how many tacos we got, and they said we only ordered one. So confusing. The bill came out with two though. The hosts looked younger, maybe high-schooler or college freshmen, so that would explain why they initially made a mistake while seating us and why the QR codes are still in use this far post covid. Hey NOLA, pick a lane. And if you're going to use New Orleans as a muse, at least honor their excellent service. I've been to New Orleans and every restaurant staff I've encountered has been sweet and attentive. The staff here are sweet and confused. Invest more training into your staff so they can handle rushes or maybe just hire more people so you're not thinning out your existing team.

Delicious! I went on a Saturday at 4:30pm for an early dinner and I was super happy with the food. Service was just ok but I didn't mind since we were watching the game. For starters, we got the New Orleans BBQ Prawns and Cajun fries which were both delicious. BBQ prawn came with four huge prawns, which were delicious, but not sure if it's worth the $18. The bread immediately got soggy and was kind of tough to cut through oddly enough. The fries had very light seasoning even though they were Cajun fries but the sauce saved it. Super delicious! The pulled pork BBQ burger was super messy but delicious. The jambalaya was a solid 9.5/10, soooo good! I got the spiciest option and I was thoroughly impressed. Had a lot of pieces of huge prawns and it was a good serving size.Overall, I'd be back if I was in the area! The spot is huge and I love the atmosphere.

Loved this vibey New Orleans watering hole. Tons of seating -- including outdoor street, indoor bar, and backyard courtyard -- make this dynamic space really feel like an immersive trip to NOLA.Food was excellent, albeit pricey for the size (is nothing safe from shrinkflation?!). Standouts were the spicy jambalaya skillet and crispy hot chicken sliders. The no-heat-o (a non alcoholic Mojito for us Dry January folks) was also fresh and easy to sip. The service was friendly but a bit green -- quite young, and it sometimes showed (for instance, it took a solid 15 minutes to flag staff to grab the check). Rumor has it that the Pride drag shows here are legendary, so will definitely make it back another time to have a great meal and enjoy some entertainment.

Came here on Thursday afternoon/night for a group happy hour. They don't seem to take typical reservations, although you can reserve one of the rooms for a larger group event. The restaurant is dimly lit and is packed during happy hour.Between all of us, we ordered ciders, beers, wine, and cocktails. We were served quickly, and the group was pleased with the drinks and happily shared amongst each other. We also ordered the chips and guac, mac n cheese, sliders (burger and hot chicken), jambalaya, gumbo, salad, Cajun spiced fries and beignets. Each dish came out hot and fresh, and they were all very shareable amongst a large group. They were all quite flavorful and satisfactory, making me reminiscent of flavors in New Orleans itself. The top hits of the night were the sliders and beignets, although eating the latter was powdery and messy to eat. We would probably pass on the mac n cheese next time, as some people didn't find the flavor strong enough. Overall, wonderful experience in Downtown Palo Alto at NOLA. I tried to come back a couple of weekends ago on a Friday night, and the restaurant was packed to the brim, with the wait being 2 hours. I would definitely come back earlier during service hours to try the cornbread, tacos, and steak!

Been here for company activities or just for drinks, decided to try the brunch this time. On a Saturday it was not as busy as expected and got seated immediately. One thing bugged me was we were lead to a small table in the middle when the next couple was lead to a bigger table for 4 by the window. I don't know the seating arrangement but I just felt shortchanged as there were plenty of better tables. The food tasted okay, service decent. The food didn't arrive at the same time so my husband almost finished his food while I was still waiting for mine. We kept the tab open and added dessert and while waiting for dessert my husband's utensils were quickly taken away while I was still eating which made us felt rushed. The ordering system was less than desirable. Even with their WiFi we had 3 attempts to place initial order and 2 more times for dessert add on. I understand the no touch system has been the thing since the pandemic, but I miss the actual interaction with the servers.

I loved the ambiance here with all their Christmas decorations. It's very cute and spacious. We were seated right away on a Saturday and the service was attentive. The jambalaya was my favorite, it had a lot of flavors and meat/veggies. The gumbo was a little salty, but still good. I wouldn't recommend the BLT chicken salad. I feel like the dressing wasn't as good as expected and the fried chicken pieces came out soggy.

I came here for a company-sponsored dinner.Guacamole is standard, whatever sauce they have with the fries is super addicting, sliders are well-balanced but pack a kick, mac and cheese is very saucy (not my favorite but I know some people really like it), beignets are a bit dry, shrimp in the jambalaya is juicy. The shrimp tacos still live rent-free in my mind -- they were an explosion of juices and textures, with a perfect balance between the fried goodness of the shrimp and the light slaw.Service is REALLY slow, though. While I understand we were there to yap while eating, we were literally eating for 3 hours and dishes were coming out every 30 minutes.The interior is super cute and I love the open-air balcony situation.

NOLA's is one of the restaurants I will always go back to. This time I went for dinner, but I usually go for brunch. We were seated upstairs and it was great, the ambiance was amazing and it felt great to be there. My margarita was exactly how I like it as it had the perfect balance. My smash burger was good and the cheesy garlic bread was delicious. I don't recommend getting the crabamole, something was missing not sure what, but I didn't like it. Service here is always great, they have multiple servers that help.