Ouzeri Lola

🇬🇷 Ουζερί Λόλα
📍Thessaloniki, Greece
Eatery type: Ouzeri
Food: Seafood
Vegetarian score: 🌱🌱
Quantity score: 🥣🥣
Quality score: ✅✅✅
Housewine score: N/A
Location score: 🗺️🗺️🗺️
Parking score: 🅿️
Ambience/comfort score: 💺
Outdoor score: N/A
Kids score: 👦👦
Service score: 💁💁💁
Price level: €€
Overall score: ⭐⭐
Score system
Intro to Greek eateries

Ouzeri Lola (in Greek “Ουζερί Λόλα”) is really authentic Thessalonian seafood restaurant, where one can enjoy traditional seafood meze dishes, such as mussels, smoked fish, squid and various dips as well as fresh fish, either grilled or pan fried. As a typical “ouzeri” restaurant, Lola features a great selection of ouzo and tsipouro to match the seafood and meet every expectation. We tried the really succulent and delicious grilled octopus tentacles (“chtapodi sti schara”) in olive oil and vinegar sauce. Also the grilled fresh squid (“kalamari sti schara”) was very good. Further highlights were Thessalonian mussels “saganaki” (pan cooked mussels in mustard sauce with peppers and feta cheese), a very balanced taste, and the grilled smoked mackerel (“skoumpri kapnisto”) with the delicious and strong characteristic taste. We also tried the rich “Lola salad”, made of red cabbage, rocket, tomato and Greek hard cheese topped with seeds and a special salad sauce. Last but not least, the “taramosalata” dip, a dip made of salted and cured roe, was exceptional. A treat of a very nice homemade chocolate and cream dessert came at the end of our very fulfilling meal. All in all, ouzeri Lola is a highly recommended restaurant for enjoying authentic Northern Greek and Thessalonian seafood cuisine.

Steamed mussels: a classic meze dish of Northern Greece

European barracuda (“loutsos”) fish grilled to perfection and topped with some parsley.

Location

Ouzeri Lola is located in the eastern part of the centre of Thessaloniki in a residential area slightly to the south of Egnatia avenue. It is therefore easily accessible by any means and the location score is 3 out of 3 (🗺️🗺️🗺️) whereas the car parking score is 1 out of 3 (🅿️), as it is almost impossible to find parking space near the restaurant.

Ambience, comfort, decor

The restaurant has a small seating area and has a cozy ambience. The decor is simple and evocative of Greek summer. Although seating area is small, it is fairly comfortable once you are sat. The restaurant has also children seats and staff is really friendly to children. It receives a 1 out of 3 ambience/comfort score (💺) and a 2 out of 3 kids score (👦👦). Note that the restaurant does not serve outdoors, thus the outdoor score is not applicable (N/A).

The seating area of Ouzeri Lola (left) and the entrance (right)

Food, quality, quantity

Ouzeri Lola offers all the typical and authentic Thessalonian seafood meze dishes at exceptional quality, thus receiving a well deserved 3 out of 3 quality score (✅✅✅). Portions are not huge although they are good for the standards of Thessaloniki; therefore receiving a 2 out of 3 for quantity (🥣🥣). Ouzeri Lola is not the ideal restaurant for vegetarians, however lacto ovo vegetarians and vegans could find things to eat. For pescatarians there are plenty of options, justifying a 2 out of 3 vegetarian score (🌱🌱).

We tried the really succulent and delicious grilled octopus tentacles (“chtapodi sti schara”) in olive oil and vinegar sauce. Also the grilled fresh squid (“kalamari sti schara”) was very good. Further highlights were Thessalonian mussels “saganaki” (pan cooked mussels in mustard sauce with peppers and feta cheese), a very balanced taste, and the grilled smoked mackerel (“skoumpri kapnisto”) with the delicious and strong characteristic taste.

Worth mentioning is the grilled European barracuda or sphyraena sphyraena (“loutsos”) fish, a characteristic long and aggressive fish of the Mediterranean. The fish was really fresh and was grilled to perfection so that it retained its moisture. We also tried the rich “Lola salad”, made of red cabbage, rocket, tomato and Greek hard cheese topped with seeds and a special salad sauce. Last but not least, the “taramosalata” dip, a dip made of salted and cured roe, was exceptional. It was made of the high quality and expensive white roe as opposed to the lower quality red row that is used most of the time.

Furthermore, we tried the shrimp pasta (“garidomakaronada”) which was cooked in shrimp broth and a bit of tomato and it was very tasty. The steamed mussels (“midia achnista”) is one of the Northern Greek classic meze dishes, a great accompaniment to ouzo.

In ouzeri Lola we accompanied our meal with a great specialist ouzo, named “kazanisto stoupaki”. This is the common practice in an ouzeri restaurant. Therefore, we cannot assess the house wine at this point and therefore the respective score is not applicable (N/A) for this review.

Grilled smocked mackerel (“skoubri kapnisto”)

Thessalonian mussels “saganaki”: a dish you must try in Thessaloniki

Service

The service is very good, fast and extremely friendly, deserving a 3 out of 3 service score (💁💁💁).

Treats at no extra charge

A very nice homemade dessert made of chocolate and cream came at the end of our very fulfilling meal.

A typical homemade dessert of Ouzeri Lola

Reservation advice

The seating area of the restaurant is small and the place is really popular. Reservation is almost necessary irrespective of the day or time.

Price and overall score

Ouzeri Lola is a seafood restaurant, meaning that is more expensive than average. For a full meal including drinks (bottled ouzo option) prepare to pay around € 25,00 per person (price level: €€). Taking account of the offered quality the price is reasonable for the standards of Thessaloniki. It receives a 2 out of 3 overall score (⭐⭐).