Ola Mexican Kitchen

Ola is a super bummer. We are not in the business of spending an obscene amount of money on mediocre food, so we will not be coming back. It cost almost $ 100 for 6 small tacos and 3 drinks. The stars we will give for the view. But otherwise the ambiance is off and they play songs like «wonderwall» when it’s a Mexican restaurant. I would go to Javier’s instead for Mexican food with a view.
The tacos we tried were lobster, chille relleno, shrimp, baja fish, albacore, and carnitas.
I would only recommend the baja fish, albacore, and shrimp.

I loved this restaurant. The atmosphere is great, the service was wonderful and the food is amazing. I am very rarely that impressed by a restaurant and Ola was
delicious. Our server was the happiest person on the planet and he made our first experience that much better. Plus the meal was so inexpensive it was nice to know there is a restaurant that is affordable to go out with a group of people. I can’t wait to go back.

First time here. It was 8pm Saturday. Sat in bar area at the first corner window table. Nice view of the Pacific city space and the inside. It was busy and took 15 mins to get chips and salsa. 20 mins for water. 25 mins for our drinks. Otherwise the chips are dusted with a chili salt and the salsa is a nice solid medium-​hot. Ordered a Punta Negro margarita and El Jefe margarita with Elote to share with my wife. The Elote was sublime. Came out quickly. Ancho chili, lime, salt, butter, corn, fire. On a stick. Actually 4 sticks. $ 7. Fantastic, but a little slow start to a date night. Will come back and try a different time of day to see if we get faster service.

I always like giving positive reviews but I feel bad to give this one. If I was just giving a review on the food it would be 5 star review. The food was amazing. Our waiter was very nice and attentive.
Let me start with the fact we were taking a friend from out of town here and our three year old. We also went out on a Friday night. We knew that there would be a long wait. So the hostess said it would take about 20 – 30 minutes for a table. Ok great we’ll wait. And did we wait not 20 – 30 minutes but a hour and half. Now I mentioned we have a three year old. I was getting upset. So my husband was told we were next not once but three times. Then we noticed that the manager kept seating people that came in after us. Now I get certain people have reservations but this was not the case. They were friends of the manager. We didn’t say anything just let it go. We were finally seated and had a great time at dinner.
We get up to leave and as we were leaving the hostess station apologize not once but three times to us. Not just apologizing but basically yelling at us that «we treat our customers like family» finally my husband was like «really it’s ok. «But really come on please don’t yell at us when we’re leaving. It was rude and not believable that they were sorry.
I would probably go back here for the food because it was incredible. But I feel a little awkward and uncomfortable to go back. Maybe takeout or something.

I chose Ola to host 65 guests, adults and children, for my son’s 1^st birthday. I would rate them a 10 if I could. The food… everyone commented on how amazing everything was. (We did guacamole, ceviche, chips/​salsa, rice/​beans, Baja fish tacos and rib eye tacos). Everything served was SO good. The food came out in a timely manner (not easy for such a large party).
I worked with Toby on getting the menu together (they even printed out our set menu for every booth/​table), as well as the seating arrangement. Toby wanted nothing more than to make us happy. Service was EXCELLENT.
Travis, the manager, had his staff completely «on» for us. He was the nicest, most professional, and accommodating guy ever.
I highly recommend this restaurant for ambiance (ocean views), food, and service. They haven’t even been open that long and were able to serve our huge group, glitch free. Amazing. Thank you, Ola! We will be return customers!

Nice atmosphere, Great View Friendly staff that seems happy.
I think the food was ok Not bad but far from off the hook good. I feel the portion size was small for the price. I felt rushed from the time we sat down to the time we finished. I also felt our server was pushing add on items. The tortillas were very good, I only got three with my carnitas order I was going to ask for more but Tonja pointed out that she has read in the menu it was four dollars for four tortillas. Douglas didn’t like the fish tacos. Not because they were too big just didn’t like the way they tasted. Tonja had the Posole she wasn’t impressed didn’t even eat it all. Kimberly didn’t like her cheese enchilada but she did like the French fries. We started with the Queso Fundido it was good but small for four to share; also it only comes with three corn tortillas. I doubt we will return.

I absolutely LOVE this place! The view is outstanding and I still am intrigued with the décor. Problem is, it is way, way overpriced for Mexican food.
I’ve been twice now, and dropped a small fortune!
First visit, with a few friends, was on a Sunday Funday. I got Dos Tacos: a lobster and a ribeye. That’s it. Smallish tacos and a grilled lemon. That small treat was $ 19.
Keep it to 3 drinks, and left spending $ 72.
Second visit, with a date for Happy Hour (but they don’t have a Happy Hour. Thanks Obama!) and again we each had two small tacos, and 5 (non premium) drinks. I left spending $ 122. Then the topper! After parking validation, I spent an extra $ 10.
I LOVE this place, but it’s gotten out of control… Maybe a small bar bites menu that is affordable? It’s just Mexican food! I would have spent ¹⁄₃ as much at another Mexican joint… I guess I just can’t afford the view in my hometown. Dang.
Oh, and the service each time was excellent, that’s why I went for 3 stars instead of 2…

Disappointed… but the ocean view is worth trying it again. Enchilada sauce tasted exactly like maranera sauce. Cheese enchilada was just a block, tasteless, couldn’t even melt in the tortilla. Salsa had no flavor. Added Serrano purée, had heat, but no flavor. Rice and beans are an extra charge. Surprised they didn’t charge us for the chips.
Ribeye was cooked just right, but half of it was fat.
Hoping we could get good Mexican food in HB, but now it’s worth the drive to Javiers in Crystal Cove and Red O in Newport Beach.

Really good food. Large portions. A little pricey buts it’s not your casual Mexican restaraunt. A la carte style. Really good food great ambiance

They are definitely still working out the kinks, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. The restaurant itself is beautiful and the location is awesome; gorgeous beach and sunset views. I like that they bring you complimentary chips and salsa, the chips are tasty but a bit too greasy though.
We ordered carnitas tacos, shrimp tacos, and fried fish tacos. The food is not good. Our tacos came out lukewarm and we had to send them back. Our waiter was a bit awkward and seemed caught off guard with us sending back the food. When our food came back out, my carnitas taco was still cold and the shrimp tacos were so heavily spiced they were inedible. The rice and beans we ordered on the side were okay but they were cooked with a lot of lard and gave me a bad stomach ache later that night. After a couple bites we told our waiter that our food was still cold/​not good and asked for our check. He apologized and asked us if we wanted to-​go boxes!
The saving grace was that we did get a nice visit from the restaurant manager apologizing for our experience, acknowledging the issues, and comping our bill. He explained that they were rushed to open earlier than anticipated and had a very short time period with which to train their kitchen staff and were still ironing things out. We totally appreciated his attentiveness and based on that alone I will probably give this place another shot in a couple months, once they’ve had a chance to get on their feet.

We heard mixed reviews but my husband and I both agree:
Josh was our waiter, he was awesome. In fact all the bus boys (especially Juan) were super friendly (and sweet to our baby as well)
Chips and salsa– so dangerously good
Guac– good, little too much lime for my taste
Tacos– we tried 6, my husbands fave was the rib eye and mine was the carnitas. They were all good.
Drinks were fine. Nothing noteworthy.
View is exceptional. The restaurant itself is beautiful
The hostesses weren’t super friendly but not unfriendly.
Will be back!

Of all the restaurants at Pacific City, Ola is the one I was most looking forward to and it turned out to be the most disappointing.
We went there early on a Friday night and there was about an hour wait, which was to be expected. My daughter was too hungry to wait, so we took her to Saint Marc’s to get something while we waited for our table at Ola.
The plan was to get her a dessert while we enjoyed our dinner at Ola. Alas, when we were seated and she had chosen her dessert from the menu, we were informed by our sever that they didn’t have any desserts at all. Not only did they not have desserts, but they had kids’s menus with coloring, but no crayons. If you have kids, you can imagine how all that went over.
We moved past that and on to our food. We had had samples of the food at a grand opening event for Pacific City and it was delicious! I ordered the shrimp tacos on blue corn tortillas. They were fine, but they were plain flour tortillas, not blue. My hubby had the carnitas, which he liked a lot. My daughter ended up ordering shrimp, which were bland at best. The kids’ menu says that it comes with two sides, but she only got fries, no veggies.
The view was amazing, the drinks were yummy, but at the prices they charge I need to be amazed by the food and that just didn’t happen. We’ll give it another try, and hopefully time will help them to improve.

Awesome high end Mexican dining experience! Had the Chorizo y Papas taco and grilled shrimp taco. Pomegranate on the grilled shrimp taco… who would have thought that combination would be so tasty!

Delicious!
The menu is so unique and everything we got was just delicious.
Great good!
Great drinks!
Gorgeous view!
We Loved it

I will echo what everyone says about this being on the «pricier» side, but to be expected for the location and view. Two tacos and a margarita plus tip ended up being $ 32.75 for just myself. Luckily I enjoyed everything I had, so it was worth it for that night, but for a regular meet up dinner place, this place can’t be it.
I’d come here more regularly just for cocktails. They make a real good cucumber jalapeño margarita (I wish they made their own house mix though but the drink was still good). My friend also enjoyed her raspberry mojito.
I had a classic carnitas taco and the chorizo y papas. Despite it being a street taco size tortilla, the generous filling helped make up for it. Two tacos were just enough to satisfy but I’m a 110lb girl, so you’re looking at about three-​four tacos for extra hungry guys. My tacos weren’t particularly exceptional or superb, this is the place you go for the view and atmosphere rather than unique mexican food.
Our server Kamran was superb, and I have actually been served by him at another restaurant prior to his move here at Ola and was happy to have him again. He was very gracious about my friends mix up with her drink, and had no problem sending her drink back to get it the way she wanted.
Overall, this is definitely a place to enjoy the atmosphere and vibe, and let yourself splurge a little, but as for my regular mexican food fix I’ll go elsewhere.

Nothing special, seems like they are still learning the ropes. Food is a bit pricey for what you get, I guess your paying for the real estate view.
Would come back for drinks during the day probably skip the eats.

We debated about trying Ola based on the hot & cold reviews, but since we live around the corner we decided we needed to give it a try. In short, we will probably only be back to the bar for chips and salsa + drinks.
Everything started off wonderfully: the décor is great and the ambiance is nice. It was pretty crowded so we grabbed a drink at the bar while we waited for table. The bar areas were both pretty small. The cucumber jalapeño margarita was good – a little too spicy but the flavor was great. The only downside was it was so heavy on the ice here was literally 3 sips and it was gone. The blackberry jalapeño margarita was better, the sweet blackberry mellowed out the jalapeño a little so you could definitely drink more than one. I saw the Cadillac margarita which comes in a tall glass – for only $ 2 more this would definitely be worth the price since there was more than 2 sips in the glass.
Next is the chips and salsa: chips were good! Warm, flaky, good seasoning. The salsa was fine; I personally like my salsa a little on the chunkier side rather than watery, but the taste was still good. We asked if they had a hotter salsa and they said yes, it was the Serrano purée. Um, gross! It was not hot and it tasted like grass… maybe if you added it to the salsa it would have been ok, but definitely gross alone.
Next came the meal: we had the lobster, albacore, shrimp, chile relleno, and ribeye tacos. Lobster meat itself was good, but the taco in general was very dry. The shrimp taco was fine, dry and still lacking something in the flavor department. The albacore taco was mediocre, dry and also lacking in flavor. The chile relleno taco was ok, a little lacking in flavor as well. The ribeye taco was the best by far, the only downside was there was quite a lot of fat in the ribeye that kind of grossed me out as I had to literally pull pieces of fat out as I chewed.
The menu was also a little annoying as it is very misleading. The tacos are pretty much choose any dos or tres you want, and if you order tacos that have an additional price next to them you will pay that price for each taco you order (for example, if you ordered two lobster tacos you would pay $ 13 for two tacos plus $ 4 more per taco for the lobster). The menu does not say this at all, so unless you ask you’ll be surprised at the end. You also need to order beans and rice on the side for $ 5 more because it does not come with the tacos, only positive being one order of beans and rice is enough for two people to share.
The service was great though! All the staff were very friendly and attentive. The management (I assume it was management because they were in button ups and seemed to be managing things haha) were distracting – they kept waking back and forth with iPads (it seemed like they were keeping tabs on which tables were open) and they weren’t discrete at all. One of them also literally pushed my significant other near the bar area as he went to tell the bartender something – it was kind of shocking and extremely rude as he didn’t acknowledge it or apologize – it was almost like it was second nature and he didn’t even realize he had just pushed a customer in the back.
Based on this, we may be back for drinks + chips + appetizers, but unless the entrees step their game I know customers will leave feeling as though something was lacking. Also, for the price it definitely wasn’t up to par. I don’t mind paying $$$ for good food, but Ola definitely didn’t make us feel as though the food was worth it. If I feel like good tacos and an ocean view, I will probably keep visiting Sol or Javier’s.
Pros: margaritas, chips, friendly staff, good service
Cons: tacos were mediocre, distracting management, not worth the $$

What a great place! The view is amazing and the restaurant is beautiful. It’s a little on the pricier side for Mexican food, but the view makes it worth it. We just had apps… guacamole and the elote corn and micheladas. The guac had pomegranate seeds (nice touch!) The corn was a bit too spicy for me.
Equally as amazing was the service. Since they are so new, I was expecting spotty service. not at all. We had Alli as our server in the bar area. She was so attentive and nice.
I will definitely be back to try more on the menu.

Cucumber jalapeño Margarita & the chips and salsa are amazing. Great service, the view is ridiculous and I love the Baja Fish taco.
This is another great restaurant for Toby!

I’ve been waiting awhile to try this place as they have had a big delay in getting the doors opened. I finally got the chance, on the second night they were open. No sooner than I sat down the bartender told me that I could not order any food, as the kitchen was backed up. I decided to hold out and see if they would be back up and running and about an hour later they let me order. I ordered something simple, as to not back up the kitchen too much more. So the fresh ceviche it was. I’m glad I did, as it was excellent!!! Tender pieces of fish with avocado and lime sherbet on top. The martini glass was garnished with a plantain and many on the bottom of the plate as well. As I sipped on a margarita, I decided to order another ceviche. It was that good and even better than the first one I ordered.
I figured there would be glitches during the first few weeks and there were, but this place is the real deal and I am looking forward to returning and trying the lobster tacos. Olé’ Ola’s