Lola’s Café in Dundee, Omaha, is a great place to go to experience neighborhood charm.
Founded in 2019, Lola’s offers both walk up-to-go orders and restaurant style dining. Full-service dining is offered 4 – 9 p.m. on weekdays, and all day on weekends. Their menu offers a variety of options, from standard breakfast pancakes to frittatas, salads, and charcuterie boards all of the best farm to table quality.
I went the first time around 4 p.m. on a Saturday, where I got seated but only ordered a drink and a pastry. I ordered a warm chai latte and a pastry, both of which were brought to me within 10 minutes. The chai latte was served with the perfect amount of warmth and was topped with a dusting of cinnamon, all only for $3.75. This price seemed great compared to the $6 chai lattes I have gotten in other cafes around Omaha.
The café was almost completely empty, with only a few lone people sitting in the window tables enjoying an early dinner.
Lola’s is connected to Film Streams, a local movie theater, and the spaces are completely exposed to one another. However, there was very little theater traffic, which added on to the quiet, peaceful atmosphere that evening.
Seating in Lola’s includes bar seating, round tables with three chairs, square tables with two chairs, a couple booth-table seats, and small, square window tables. The windows are floor to ceiling covering the whole wall facing Dodge Street, allowing a close-up view of the street and lots of natural light. Despite the proximity to the busy street, the noise is not disruptive in any way.
The evening I went, it was quite chilly and rainy outside. The tables all had a little candle lit on them, which created most of the lighting in the room. The dim lighting of the candles was complimented by the dark greenery of the abundant plants scattered around the café. Large plants were potted on the floor, the counters, in planter baskets, and hanging from the ceiling. The plant life creates a fresh, non-stuffy atmosphere.
The coziness of the café in the evening made it very hard to get up and leave. The next morning, I went back, hoping to be seated for breakfast (served 8 a.m.- 3 p.m.). I showed up around 10 a.m., and I was greeted by loud chatter and bustling of servers busy taking people’s orders. It was packed full, so I ended up having to wait about 20 minutes to get seated. I would recommend making a reservation if you plan to attend during brunch hours, as it is obviously very popular. When we were seated, we were almost immediately served with water and had our orders taken. Our server was very friendly and helpful, as were all of the workers that day and the previous evening.
I ordered an iced vanilla latte and their brioche French toast, which came with a berry compote and house made maple syrup. My latte had a perfect amount of sweet- to-coffee ratio. The food took over half an hour to be ready, due to the business of the hour.
Lola’s has a great neighborhood community, with many regulars who may be your neighbors being within walking distance. I even saw my next-door neighbors, which was a fun interaction to have at such a popular place.
