On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Loading...
The perfect dive bar!
If you like cheap strong drinks this is the only place you need to go.
The bartenders are like family.They will greet you at the bar, keep you going all night with bad ass drinks and stories.
watch out for the fake parking attendants down the street.
Where do I even begin to start, Lola's is the most surreal dive bar I've ever been in. Its dark and down right seedy looking. The drinks are cheap and the place seems like something you would read about in a novel, not just any novel but a cheap murder mystery. Lolas would be the place where the crime went down. The jukebox is amazing and honestly if you sit at the bar for a night and watch the regulars wonder in and out you get a real idea of what its like to be a true low life scuz bucket lookin for a cheap fun time in a dirty Texas city.
Now I know the above paragraph may sound scary but if you know and love dive bars you will love Lola's. I dont think they make them like this anymore. The only thing that makes me sad is that you can no longer smoke inside bars in houston. Theirs something about the inside of Lolas that makes me want to stop and smoke a cheap cigarette, not something tasty like a camel but a GPC extra light, something that doesn't taste like tobacco but like burning chemicals and gives you a slight head buzz
The cheap drinks are always a plus also getting drunk here is one of the single greatest experiences of my life. When I left Lola's i had to stop by the liquor store across the street and buy a bottle of thunderbird for the ride home. If you are even considering going to Lola's do yourself a favor and act on it now! You wont regret your visit to this wonder haven from all that is good in the world.
I was in Houston from out of town on a Friday afternoon, and searched Yelp for a dive bar in Montrose. The cab driver had never heard of it, and when I arrived it was still light out, so I saw Lola's exterior in all it's aesthetically unappealing glory. No sign, just a purple house on an alleyway with a ragged fence and a big black door.
I caught a few unwelcoming and untrusting glares when I walked in, but after 30 mins I was yukking it up with Kenny the bartender and several regulars. It's certainly not a place I'd recommend to someone with any apprehensions or ideas about how clean a bar should be, but if you're used to the divey kind of scene then this place may be up your alley.
Cheap drinks in a charmingly dingy, small place, with a few people who may not like you very much. But as long as you aren't a jackass, there are some good folks, strong drinks, good music, and an enjoyable scene to be had.
I didn't know there was a depot tacked on to the end of the name...
This place is always fun, be careful going to the bar and back again from your car. I first went here about 15 years ago or so with my x brother law. I didn't realize it was going to feature in a lot of random stories I have to tell. It's a cash only bar and the back patio is mostly where I sit it's great for big very casual get togethers, sometimes I see people dressed I here, but what's the point. I have seen what looks like a lot of slumming occurrences taking place here, so it's best to stay away from any potential dating situations here. The place is grungy, smelly, dangerous, your apt to wonder what your watching or participating in later on, but good for people watching as the whole atmosphere is very dark.
DIVE!! lol This is my aunt's bar so I've got to give it props. The music here is always the shit... no joke. The bartenders are like family. Drinks here are strong and cheap. Watch out for the fake parking attendants down the road. I went here last saturday night with my brother and there is now a painting behind the bar of a guy who looks like a mix of Robert De Niro and George W. Bush. TIP!
Oh, man. They sure do pride themselves on being the "Home of Reality." (They even have a sign behind the bar saying this.)
Yeah, it's a dive bar. Yeah, they have cheap drinks ($1.50 wells during happy hour...with Tuesday being happy hour all day, I'm told), and yes they have an awesome jukebox. But this place is filthy. I sat on the patio with friends for 10 minutes until we could no longer endure the cockroaches jumping onto us. Then sitting by the bar inside my friend noticed her feet soaked in dirty water leaking from the restroom. Also my friend was bewildered by the used car-salesman-looking guy groping his ladyfriend under her shirt next to him.
So yeah, go if you still think dive bars are kitcshy and ironically cool.
Or if you're unemployed and would rather use your busfare to get to an AA meeting on getting tanked.
When we pulled open the black door to the bright purple building with no sign, I automatically felt like I shouldn't be there. Very dark, very punk, very dirty, very perfect when I was 17. The whole vibe of the place makes me want to shoot pool while smoking inside, get wasted and start a fight. I heard it was cash only and relatively cheap so I stopped and pulled out $40. We only wanted a few drinks. Ordered a Vodka Cranberry and when he gave me my total I felt like a millionaire. $1.75. Seriously buddy? Once happy hour was over the drinks moved up to $3.25. Hannah L giggled when he gave her the total. It was a giggle of pure excitement and wonder. Even though while we were there we decided Lola's would not be a good place to come on a late Friday or Saturday, morbid curiosity has gotten the best of me, and I need to see what sort of trouble happens here.
Oh man this was exactly what I wanted out of Houston nightlife. The Galleria is fun and all, don't get me wrong, but this is what I love. Old cable spools for tables in the backyard patio (and an oddly flooded chess board? what was that eh?). Cash only, which is rough sometimes, but get over it. They don't dick around here!
Many thanks to the illustrious Jim for showing me the divey side of Htown!
Recently dumped? Fired from your job? Loss in your family? Cat was run over by a car?
Lola's is where you go if one of these things or all of the above has happened to you. Strongest of the strong drinks. So dimly lit no one will ever see you breaking down from your life crisis.
Location is perfectly placed so that you can stumble into more fun trouble in the neighborhood.
Enjoy
Very sketchy at first beings there is no sign and you basically feel like you are walking into a dark alley where you have no idea what to expect but beings the price for a vodka cranberry was only $1.75 it made up for it. Not crazy about the fact that its cash only but I will definately be returning for the entertainment i.e writing on the walls, locals.
The superior of all Houston dive bars.
I hadn't had the pleasure of actually checking the place out till a month ago when a veteran Lola's customer brought me here. I had it on my list of places to visit for like a year but never got around to it.
My first impression was memorable. It was 2 mins away from my new place and we came here after moving a butt load of my crap all the way from NW. It surprised me that I hadn't laid eyes on it before seeing that it was so accessible and right behind the Hollywood Viet /Chinese restaurant. Don't know why I never drove down Fairview, but that has since been rectified.
Kenny was at the door and recognized my friend, apparently they went wayyyy back. I walked in to be taken aback by the captivating darkness and glowing bar lights of Lola's. (The back mirror with all of the out of state/country stickers is the places Kenny's visited- -very neat)
My first order was the Wholee's infamous Cape Cod with a splash of pineapple. Difficult to fuck up, more difficult to master. The first sip almost gave me the involuntary reflex to close my throat, ...nothing but vodka. Awwww yeaaaa!!!
Needless to say the drinks were dirt cheap, more so since my buddy had a mad hook up. The price he charged him for 3 mix drinks and 3 shots were equivalent to what I paid for one drink at a douche midtown bar. The rest of the night was carried out getting drunk and getting the bartenders drunk. My second night was just as entertaining watching two bartenders fight and break a bottle of Jack ....priceless.
On one occasion I took two buddies here because they had been drunk fighting all day at Rudyards, Poison Girl, Brasils, so I figured what better place to let them brawl in peace? Fucking Lola's!
So after about 2 minutes of being there one friend fell off the bar stool, 5 mins later the shoving match between the two resumed, 8 mins later they were on the floor of the bar wrestling, 10 mins later they were at it again out on the patio and even managed to knock down the huge metal fan outside. I think the most that was said to them was when the bartender gave them drinks and said take it outside.
Good times!
Oh, and the patio is very 420 friendly from what I've seen.
I personally love dark,grungy, dive bars, so i really love Lola's.....good jukebox,great bartenders,stiff drinks,and always an interesting crowd! parking is sometimes hard to come by,and transexual prostitutes sometimes offer to "watch your car" for you, but the outside patio is spacious and usually entertaining!
To be very honest: I have only been at Lola's in a state of, ahem, deep, reflective intoxication, so my review may be slightly suspect. Lola's is the end of the line. When my friends and I go barhopping, where we'll go for last call is never, ever in question. We want cheap, strong drinks and utter, shameless mayhem and we know where to get it.
Lola's is a dark little bar covered in stickers, graffiti, and glowing lights; it feels almost as though you're underground. There's a pool table (and a tranny regular who will kick your ass all over town) and an outdoor section with a gazebo. But that's not important. What's important is that more bizarre, crazy, and pleasantly messed-up things have happened at Lola's than anywhere else I know. You have an absolutely diverse crowd, and you're as likely to run into a friend as some random 'homeless' guy who was begging you for change a few hours back. Scuffles are not uncommon-- but really, not all-out brawl-fights. This isn't nasty, belligerent drunk, this is rowdy, silly drunk. The attitude (and occasionally, the harassment) is friendly in nature, but don't come unless you want to play along; just be entertaining and you'll fit right in.
And the bartenders like to see you drunk. On more than one occasion, a very far-gone friend has gone please man, I'm so wasted, just a water or coke, only to find vodka slipped into it (the bartender and I sharing a grin all the while). It's pretty shameless, and that's really why you go there.
LOCAL bar
Very Dirty punk rock place
great jukebox
If you haven't wanted to off yourself because of a bad hangover in a while, or slept through an entire Sunday because it was too bright to move, head over to Lola's.
The drinks are $1 and are served in plastic cups.
I won't say for sure that some of my vodka tonics haven't been made with Sprite.
This place isn't fashionable. It's not down-and-out. It's not kitschy. It's just a dark bar with a pool table and a big outdoor area with picnic tables and a weird little gazebo. The last time I was there, it was raining and rowdy outside, and at 10:30 a man in an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt motioned to me to play along while he lied into his cell phone, "No, honey, I'm out with the kids right now. We're at dinner."
It's the perfect stress-free ending to any day.
I love Lola's!
It's so dark and divey, and the people are cool. Their drinks are hella cheap, and that's fine with me.
Lola's is everything a dive bar should be. Unpretentious, people won't bother you, but at the same time, everyone's really friendly if you want to talk. The jukebox is good, too.
I'll be back to Lola's soon.
As Houston Dive Bars go, Lolas HAS TO be the best and authentic.After visiting Lolas many, MANY times over the past (?) years, it has remained unchanged in that when you look at the bar patrons, there may be a businees man next to a punk rocker meth head, next to a local artist, next to a lesbian cowgirl, next to a college student.......and it goes on, and on.
Veteran bartenders Gary and Danny have poured there a good 20 years now possibly?....and the legendary Kenny at the door and behind the bar is part of the charm of this place.I have played pool with a "Bandito" biker there, as well as a crossdresser who will kick your ass EVERYTIME in pool!.....one of my favorite stories about this dive is that on a slow Monday night years back, who is sitting there at the bar looking deshoveled" and like a local alcoholic...was Harry Dean Stanton the actor!.....quietly blending in!......this place is legendary when it comes to dive bars.
If you're having feelings of nostalgia for Emo's, this is the place to go...well, there's no stage or band, but the outdoor area reminds me of Emo's. If you want to spend half the night slamming cheap drinks made from even cheaper liquor, this is your place. Actually, I think mine may have had vodka? And since they didn't make doubles, I think at one point, a friend of mine and I had a drink in each of our hands. (I think that's the progression of cheap vodka logic...anyway, to continue.) If you want to spend the other half of the evening/next 48 hrs unable to make the entire planet and all of its contents stop spinning(!), you need to go to Lola's. Make certain you have a ten dollar bill (or twenty, if you're feeling particularly courageous).
Good place to go when you get the sniffles or just want to hang out with a bunch of scumbags.
another dive bar
Ca$h only... Great place to get a cheep drink. Love the mixture of people, outside the box non cookie cutter type. Place is kinda dark/grungy has tha clutter collage retro souvenir theme behind the bar and black walls w/ murals painted of former music stars. Place has the right amount of dirt and grimy bashrooms, that kinda adds to its style. Last time i went i saw a chick fight that was allowed to go on w/out interference, normally have to pay for that kind of entertainment. Its always been a place to go if you need pick up something other than alcohol i have noticed as people seem to walk in then out after a brief conversation w/ the guy who keeps having guest arrive/leave . They do have an outdoor patio for smoking, go any day of week. This is a favorite spot of many people, I usually make it a stop if I am bar hopping or need to waist a hour or two. Its a great change of pace if your tired of yuppie bars.
this is the ultimate dive bar. when you walk through the doors, you are transported into another world. the bar is small, dark, lacking any windows and the black painted walls may scare at first, but let go of the feeling and only then can you enjoy some of houston's interesting characters. all types can be found at lola's - hippies, suits, rockers, biker boys, and all in between. the bartenders have the same edge and character as the bar and make some of the strongest drinks in the city. if you need a break from the characters, there is a large outdoor (cemented) patio out back, or use up your quarters on the pool table or pinball machine. be careful - the strong drinks and lack of clocks/windows have made afternoons and weekends disappear with a trace, with only a freshly painted tattoo as evidence of your visit to lola's.
I've been going to Lola's since I was 17 (there was a long 15 year absence when I moved to California, but I came back and Lola's was still there, familiarity is nice when so much in Houston has changed in that timeframe). I know some of the regulars now (after the first time I was there and only because I'm super-ultra sociable...or drunk...or both). I have to agree that it is the best dive bar. Drinks are $1.50 nowdays btw. Nice, dark, dank atmosphere. Back in the day there wasn't all the development around and the streetlights didn't permeate the darkness of the patio. All sorts of lascivious and illicit activities took place. I guess they still do, just now a little more visible for all to see. Lola's is literally within walking distance for me, so that's always a plus. A lot of the Rudyard's and Next Door crowd go to Lola's as well. They are the 3 incestuous dives in the area I guess.
Neighborhood: Montrose
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: Montrose
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: Montrose
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: The Heights
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: Fourth Ward
Category: Dive Bars
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty. Been…
