There’s always something new on the horizon in Hoboken, especially in the food scene. The Hoboken Girl got the exclusive about a brand new restaurant and bar concept coming to town a few months back, and we have a bit of an update for you. Brought to you by the owner of Wicked Wolf, locals can gear up for the debut of The Lola, a cocktail lab and eatery, in the near future — set to open in a few weeks, as long as things go to plan. Read on for what we know so far about the opening of The Lola in Hoboken at 100 Sinatra Drive.
What We Know
Hoboken resident Sean Sullivan is the owner of popular bar + restaurant Wicked Wolf, also located on Sinatra Drive, just a few doors up from where The Lola will be. Sean explained that The Lola will specialize in brunch, next-level cocktails, and being an IG-worthy venue inside and outside (aka prime Manhattan skyline views).
When it came to the concept behind the eatery, Sean told us, “The first Lola location was opened up in Glendale, Arizona and as the restaurant developed, it gained a fantastic food and brunch reputation. I had the idea a place like that would be fantastic for the residents of Hoboken and surrounding areas.”
The initial concept for The Lola was to host the best brunch experience for all customers with good food, drinks, music, hospitality, he shared, and they offered brunch Saturday and Sunday — eventually becoming very popular.
“We now offer it 7 days a week; which is also the plan for Hoboken. After gaining a great brunch reputation, it also just led to happy hours and dinner becoming busy as well, which just really tied everything together.”
Sean also wants to focus on hosting larger parties and events in the private party room that would be perfect for birthdays, bachelorette/ bachelor parties, bridal showers, all of the above!”
Updates on the Opening
On May 19, 2022, The Lola posted on Instagram and wrote, “We are almost at the finish line for the opening of The Lola! Expecting to open up in the next couple weeks, we are looking to hire and train the best staff in Hoboken!”
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The Aesthetic
The space is in the former Melting Pot location at 100 Sinatra, so it’s been vacant for a while. But Sean and his team are getting to work to transform the space to its clientele.
“There will be an Instagram wall once you walk into the restaurant so you can take some photos with your friends. It will consist of a flower wall with a neon sign in the middle, with a couple of hanging egg-shaped chairs. There will be a lot of greenery covering up a majority of the walls throughout and more neons appropriately placed inside of the greenery,” Sean shared with us.
The plan is to have about 3-4 neon signs around the restaurant, according to Sean, and exposed brick inside of the restaurant — as well as some local imagery curated by local artists. “We’d love to have a local artist come in and potentially paint our logo on the exposed brick, or some other imagery we believe fits our theme well,” Sean told HG.
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The Menu
The focus of The Lola is brunch and craft cocktails, but it will also offer American-style lunch and dinner menus that will consist of small plates, sandwiches, entrees, and more.
“On our brunch menu, we will be offering boards that are meant to feed 2-3 people. A few of those boards will be our ‘Chefs Board’ which is basically a charcuterie board with Burrata cheese, prosciutto, bread, and seasonal fruit, as well as our ‘Lola Pancake Board’ which will be served with one dozen pancakes, seasonal fruit, and a variety of toppings. The boards are great for us to come up with seasonal pancake boards such as Valentine’s Day, St. Patricks Day, Christmas, and any other holiday we can think of,” Sean explained.
The lunch menu will offer a variety of toasts such as avocado toasts and fig + crispy prosciutto. Some of the entrees on the dinner menu include lobster mac n cheese and chicken pesto Alfredo.
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Now for the fun part – the cocktails. “Cocktails are a large part of the concept because we do not want to be serving traditional cocktails that really do not have any flair to them. We have been working with mixologists to create the best cocktail menu with a lot of color, over-the-top garnishes, and of course, amazing tastes.”
The Lola will also be serving cocktails inside of some fruits, such as pineapples, watermelons, coconuts, and more. “If we can get them when they are in season,” he explained.
The Lola is situated in a prime spot along the waterfront, directly across from Pier A, of course with an amazing view of the Manhattan skyline. It will join Wicked Wolf, Del Frisco’s Grille, Halifax, Union Hall, The Ainsworth, and House of ‘Que along Sinatra Drive.
We will keep you updated as more details unfold in the coming weeks.
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