Nola

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#40 of 716 Restaurants in York££ - £££, Cajun & Creole, Vegetarian friendly

+44 1904 622333+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

12:00 - 22:00

Mon

12:00 - 22:00

Tue

12:00 - 22:00

Wed

12:00 - 22:00

Thu

12:00 - 22:00

Fri

12:00 - 22:00

Sat

12:00 - 22:00

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What is Travellers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

4.5

603 reviews

#40 of 716 Restaurants in York

Travellers' Choice 2024

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Food and ambience

Cajun & Creole, Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options

“... flavourful, definitely try their vegan jambalaya and vegan Mac and cheese.”

“My mussels stole the show, perfectly cooked, spicy, beautiful and everyone di...”

“... po’ boy, and Mrs Wizard the teriyaki salmon followed by the pork po’ boy.”

“We chose some garlic prawns, jambalaya, mac and cheese, chicken wings, prawn...”

Location and contact

2A Lendal, York YO1 8AA England

+44 1904 622333

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Is this restaurant good for brunch?

Yes

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Details

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About

Book a table directly https://www.nolayork.com/ Housed in the old congregational chapel on Lendal, NOLA is a new Restaurant & Bar styled in a 1920s Art Deco Theme, the upstairs bar and waiting area is decorated in period mirrors and marble. Downstairs is the main restaurant, which has large leather upholstered chairs and easy banquette seating and dark wood panelling. Downstairs is where the live jazz is performed three times a week. Our restaurant is based on New Orleans Louisiana cousine and drinks.

CUISINES

Cajun & Creole

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner, Brunch, Drinks

FEATURES

Reservations, Seating, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Wine and Beer, American Express, Mastercard, Visa, Free Wifi, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Live Music, Jazz Bar, Family style, Non-smoking restaurants

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4.5

603 reviews

Excellent

491

Very good

Average

Poor

Terrible

JillLightley

Long Marston27 contributions

Really great, just need to understand the concept!

Sept 2021 • none

Meal after matinee theatre performance, so ate at 4.30 pm. Looked at the menu and very attracted by many dishes. Staff helped to explain the “tapas” style offering. We chose 2 dishes each and a side. This suited us well and we were pleased with our choice of grilled oysters, beef medallions, crab arranchini, duck pancake rolls and fried cauliflower. The wine we chose was perfect and served in lovely glasses. Servers were charming and helpful. We couldn’t resist sharing a key lime pie for pudding. For next time we would arrive early to enjoy cocktail offerings in the bar and possibly a cocktail instead of pudding.

Written 2 September 2021

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

ChloeRose_x

Rotherham4 contributions

Good but….

Feb 2022 • couples

Good super tasty food, interior & lighting makes it a lovely setting. Upon arrival we were greeted by the host who was quite surly and upon getting seated and ordering food we felt very rushed to order and with how quickly the food came out. This isn’t usually a bad thing as I don’t like to wait it just seemed like we were getting rushed. We had our mains within 20 mins of being seated and as we had ordered a bottle of wine I think it’s nicer to be able to eat and order at a more leisurely pace. But all in all it was lovely food and wine and I would defo return.

Written 28 February 2022

TheConfessionsOfTee

Tamworth18 contributions

Amazing Experience

Apr 2022 • couples

Amazing experience from start to finish. The food is lovely at very reasonable prices and the cocktails are just perfect, so much so we returned the following evening for some more. The staff are all very friendly, Daisy in particular really made our experience, very chatty and happy to go through the menu and share recommendations. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very cosy, elegant, with very beautiful decor. When we’re back in York, we will definitely visit again.

Written 14 April 2022

L4ur40

30 contributions

A Squash and a Squeeze

Oct 2021 • family

I came to Nola with my father last Saturday night. After enjoying many meals in the restaurant prior to Nola we thought we would try it out. The food is good however I wouldn’t say it is value for money. We shared a selection of 7 tapas dishes and 1 salad. I would personally recommend the carpaccio and the gumbo. Our biggest issue was the table we were sat at. In future I would ask to be sat downstairs which seemed a much calmer atmosphere in comparison to upstairs which seemed more like a cocktail bar rather than a restaurant. In fact if you are visiting to eat and get seated on a small table upstairs either ask to move downstairs or go elsewhere. We really struggled fitting our fancy dishes, drinks, flowers, cutlery etc on the table and ended up having to portion our tapas onto different plates to stack them to make room. I am in two minds on whether I would return.

Written 28 October 2021

brian t

60 contributions

Dont have high expectations

Dec 2021 • couples

So,having found this online and wanting to take my wife for a meal to soak up the atmosphere & decor of the era i read a few reviews. Our table had been pre booked for myself & my wife but our son decided to join us which we explained when entering & they moved us to a larger table & were very helpful.After that it went down hill. Personally i think its very cramped upstairs for dinning,its a very tight squeeze as mentioned by other revues & should just be a bar area for pre drinks,cocktails etc & dinning downstairs. Our waitress who was lovely,took our drinks order,gave us time to read the food menu,again as some one has mentioned is very hard to read with the gold writing. Our food arrived and still no drinks,we asked the waitress who apologised,came back several minutes later with our drinks,one of which was wrong,but we couldnt be bothered to tell her as we had waited long enough for them. When ordered,we had four mains & two side dishes.You would expect as they state on the menu that the portions are small that if you order several dishes that they are all piping hot,they were not.My Jambalay was very tasty & full of flavour,my wifes sea bass was average It states on the web site & menu also on Trip Advisor they have a vegan option,as my son is one he opted for The burger......the only choice,apart from a couple side dishes.He was convinced they had given him a standard burger when he bit into it,and was horrified Once calling over the waitress & explaining it,she took the offending item away,to return with it stating it was vegan,my son was still not convinced. We ordered desert,of which my pecan pie was lovely,although my wifes chocolate lava bomb.....minus the lava,looked like a Goo desert that had been bought at a supermarket,a microwave pudding at an over inflated price. All in all,a lovely place,beautiful decor,but they need to tweak in several areas.Its about bums on seats,and its too cramped up stairs to eat,keep it as a bar area. Your head of house needs to be on there toes with the waitresses staff.To be fair if i seem over critical,they did knock off our drinks on our bill,but that wouldnt make me go back again in a hurry. Looked forward to going here for several weeks as a treat near christmas,the only chance we could get to dine together because of work commitments and were left very disappointed.

Written 5 December 2021

rocketgirl

Uttoxeter10 contributions

Didn't live up to the reviews, and you don't need three plates each plus sides

Apr 2022 • family

The decor of this restaurant is incredible , just beautiful. We booked a table for 6pm and were given a table right Infront of the kitchen door, unfortunately this resulted in the service being over bearing with multiple waiters constantly asking us if we were ready to order, how is your meal etc. We were advised to order two to three mains each plus sides. I think this was wrong , we had way too much food, we ordered five mains and three sides for thee of us, some plates are small like the scallops , there are two, but some plates are a meal in itself , like the salmon or the chicken wings. We left loads of what we ordered and felt a bit cheated as we didn't need to order two mains each plus sides at all. The food was of average quality. The chips went cold very quick due to us having too many plates. We were in and out within one hour due to the very fast service, this isn't really the experience we expected especially as they sell themselves as similar to tapas style food. The reviews are amazing for this place so we were disappointed, the duck rolls were oily and just like you buy in a supermarket. Wouldn't recommend for food best to go for drinks .

Written 15 April 2022

AustinSpeedy

Ormskirk250 contributions

Brilliant Restaurant

Jul 2021 • none

Not tapas, not conventional. From the online menu we were not sure what to expect but after the very helpful staff made suggestions about the quantities, we chose to share a crab arancine, I had beef medallions and my wife the pork belly, with some sourdough and fries on the side, the quality of the food was really excellent. With a nice NZ Sauvignon, bread and butter pudding and a pecan pie all for less than £90! The service was really good , but it was the quality of the food that stood out.

Written 28 July 2021

Josie

Leeds45 contributions

Gorgeous birthday meal!

Jul 2022 • couples

Had my birthday meal here with my boyfriend! Last minute my friends cancelled so couldn’t attend and I hadn’t managed to tell Nola but they were absolutely fine about this and just took two place settings off our table. The staff were so friendly and attentive, no waiting for ages trying to catch someone’s eye but also they gave you the space to just sit and enjoy your drinks/meal and chat. We sat downstairs and the ambience was amazing, muted lighting giving it a cosy atmosphere and loved the jazz music in the background. The food was so delicious - we had calamari, duck spring rolls, burger & lamb kofta and then a chocolate pot to follow and would recommend all of the above! And definitely get a raspberry mojito. Sadly I can’t remember the names of any of the staff but our main waiter (lovely Italian man) was so lovely and charming and told us all about the jazz nights they have on which sound great. I think the value for money is actually brilliant considering how much food you get. Would definitely recommend ☺️

Written 15 July 2022

Jakesport

Ilchester114 contributions

Lovely atmosphere

Aug 2022 • couples

I booked Nola for my wife’s 30th, and it did not disappoint. Booking was easy on the website via Open Table. We arrived on Friday evening and were shown to our table downstairs. We were shown to a four seater table, and encouraged to sit next to each other, with the view of the restaurant open to us, which was odd but a little different. This meant I weren’t as close to the table as possible, hurting my back a little, but I could’ve moved and made myself more comfortable but I did not. My bad! The menu is tapas-esque.. small plates, so you can sample more. The menu suggest you order two mains and a side, which is what we both did. I ordered beef medallions, calamari and sweet potato fries, coming to around £30. My wife ordered two mains and fries, at around £25. We were served randomly by three people throughout, which is baffling. I’d rather be served by one, or two max, but several interruptions by many staff to ask the same questions is annoying. Now I was unsure whether to mention the next bit, so please take this with a pinch of salt… after mains were served, I felt super full for some reason. Long story short, I went to the toilet and threw up everything. Really bizarre, but probably something else, or something I drank. My wife ate most of mine, and she weren’t ill, so please don’t think it was the food! After I were sick, I came back and felt brand new, and ordered dessert ha! I will caveat this and say three days later and I am positive for covid, so it could be that, who knows. So in conclusion, good food and drink, good service, good ambience. I’d go back there in a heartbeat, but I’d love just one member of staff to serve us, if possible. Also, toilets were lovely.

Written 31 August 2022

eiry1979

Ruthin44 contributions

Highly Recommended

Aug 2021 • none

This was our first ever trip to York so when we happened to meet the owner, Danny, at a local village pub, we just had to try this restaurant! The restaurant is beautifully decorated in an art deco style; the service is impeccable - all staff polite and professional and the food is top notch! The restaurant is based on a Tapas style menu but of New Orleans / Cajun style. We opted for 5 plates and a side dish - Chicken Wings, Venison, Monkfish, King Prawns (huge!), Lamb Kofta and a side of Dirty Rice. All the plates were tremendous but my favourite being the Monkfish and my partner's, the Venison. My partner finished off his meal with the Chocolate Lava Cake whilst I settled on an Espresso Martini as I was full to the brim!!! It was certainly the best meal we had during our 6 night stay outside York! We will definitely be back! Thanks Danny & Co!

Written 25 August 2021

YorkYorkiegirl

209 contributions

Great entertainment and lovely food

Mar 2022 • none

We visited on a Tuesday evening and really enjoyed listening to the jazz music, which was excellent. Possibly the singer could do with a bit more volume for his voice in a busy room (sax was perfect volume). We enjoyed the food as well, which seemed fresh and looked very attractive as well. If I was being picky I would say that the "warm baked sourdough" bread for £3.25 was a bit on steep side as it was actually just a (cold) bread roll; and the glazed salmon at almost £10 was expensive given it was not really a whole fillet and was on a bed of coleslaw. The cheese board could have done with one of the four chesses being a soft cheese like camembert or brie. Other mains were much better value (eg pork belly and crab arancini). Given the drinks were also quite expensive (eg £9.95 for a dry martini - not the cocktail on menu but just a dry martini; and £7.95 for a small dessert wine), that led me to only go for 4 stars. But we would visit again for the jazz and the ambience. It would probably depend on them changing the menu periodically though as if you are a vegetarian, there is not much choice.

Written 4 March 2022

phil

Kingston-upon-Hull3 contributions

Not as good as you think

Dec 2021 • couples

So we visited on a Sat night with some friends and was stead quickly, had a drinks order taken and then it will went down hill from there. We waiting 30(ish) mins for the drinks, food came as we sat on what was definitely not a table big enough for tapas. We had finished our drink and struggled to get the attention from anyone to get drinks, after we got someone’s attention we ordered drinks but they decided not to take away our empty glasses who make it even worse when the came with the next drinks (not to mention my parter had a cracked glass which took 30 Mins to replace). We was going to get desserts but clearly they wasn’t that interested as we even struggled to get them so gave up and only just managed to get drinks. Will I be revising, I doubt it very much

Written 1 December 2021

TheBoatOwners

North Yorkshire34 contributions

A brilliant first visit!

Oct 2021 • none

We live in York, are regulars at Rustique, so decided to try Nola for a special lunch. And not disappointed....!! We were able to choose our own quiet table, not pushed in with everyone else, great for me as I used to be a drummer, which affected my hearing and I struggle with a noisy environment! Efficient, attentive and really friendly staff were on hand to serve us, and I just want to make the point that the staff really made the experience for us, and should be congratulated - we felt special , valued and welcome. My wife has a chilli allergy, but fancied the arancini...no problem, the dressing was changed to a lemon mayonnaise which was even nicer! Fabulous venison, and a spicy gumbo, plus lovely large black coffees to finish off. A brilliant first visit and we'll definitely be back!

Written 15 October 2021

P0cca

Birmingham227 contributions

Lovely Ambience , top service, but the food isn't great

Nov 2022 • none

the service has been great. All staff from bar personell, management and waiters were great and very attentive! The interior is absolutely amazing and the jazzy style music compliments the gatsby style restaurant! The concept of offering several tapas size dishes is great but the food quality isn't great. There is not many veggi options on the menu and glutenfree is very difficult too. The buffata mozarella was okay but not the best quality also only accompanied by 2 cherry tomatoes. The bacon on the iceberg wedge was overcooked and way too hard to bite. The spring rolls weren't great either the sauce that came with it was good though. The prawns were undercooked and the calamari's better wasn't cooked enough. There wasn't anything majorly wrong but considering the amount of money one spends on the food it is a bit disappointing. The presentation of the cocktails was lovely and the care of the team made it a nice stay for us.

Written 27 November 2022

Lisa B

York42 contributions

A hidden gem

Oct 2021 • none

Firstly it was so lovely to be in a really lovely atmosphere , secondly the food was amazing the flavours were there and you could really taste it ( if you know what I’m trying to say , we often go out and say yes it was lovely and it was but !!!! ) this WAS really good , the lava cake was to die for an£ we don’t usually eat puddings bu5 please try it 👍, the next thing I’d like to say is it’s been along time since we have had a waitress like “ daisy “ , I would like to pinch her for my bussiness she just is a natural lovely person and the owner is lucky to have her she was just lovely without being in your face “ pure “ uneffected nice ! . Would fully recommend this place and we will be going back . Thank you

Written 15 October 2021

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