Lola’s Lounge

At Lola's Lounge, the Tequila Mussels are the calling card — a tequila-reduction share plate that announces the kitchen before the cocktails get a word in. It is the kind of opening order that sets the register for the meal behind it, and it doubles as a thesis: this downtown Sarnia martini lounge cooks with more intent than the drinks list alone would promise. Lola's works that idea from a narrow front on Christina Street South, in the stretch of downtown that bends toward the waterfront. The frontage is slim and easy to miss; the interior is the opposite, a long lounge strung with grand coloured lamps, intimate red light, and sparkling sequined detail.

The food reads Latin American at the root and fusion in practice, and it rewards a table that orders across it. The Bourbon Maple Lamb Chops are the entree built for a richer dinner, sweet and savoury against the char, and the clearest sign that the kitchen wants the evening to graduate past lounge snacks. Lobster Ravioli and Angel Hair Pasta hold the pasta side; Coconut Shrimp and Oysters Rockefeller work the starter end; Seafood Paella gathers the whole seafood thread into a single pan. For a diner after something squarely familiar there is a Sicilian Meatloaf and a tenderloin, and for a lighter midday plate a Cashew Chicken Salad. The fusion edge surfaces in dishes like seared sesame-encrusted ahi tuna.