Restaurant Review: Zola Pub & Grill - Covington, KY

I'm always looking for new places to go for lunch - sometimes it's not even all together new - just someplace I haven't been forever. I'm really lucky in that my coworkers are really flexible and open to trying new places - so I take advantage of that all I can.

We needed to try something new and went to Zola Pub and Grill in Covington Mainstrasse. I used to work in the Cov so I went all the time - I just hadn't been in a long time. I remembered them having great burgers... 

While the burgers are good - I was in the mood for salad - and I ordered the Fried Chicken Salad ($8.25). The salad has a lettuce, fried chicken breast, tomato, egg, avocado, onions and cheddar tossed with ranch. Well - it's normally tossed with bleu cheese dressing but I subbed ranch. I like that the salad came all tossed with the dressing and the chicken breast was super juicy and crispy.

This was a really great salad - there was plenty of toppings besides lettuce - it was dressed nicely and the chicken was perfect. I would highly recommend this one.

FYI - Wednesday is burger day and burgers with up to 5 toppings are only $6. $6!!! And after seeing this burger - you're going to want to mark that on your calendar.

Susie got the Mo Town burger ($7.95) with housemade BBQ sauce, bacon, onion straws & cheddar cheese. She got the chips as well which were really crisp! I like that so many things at Zola are made in-house - they really take pride in their kitchen.

Dawn got the Blackened Chicken Cobb Salad ($7.95) with grilled chicken, avocado, bleu cheese crumbles (which she left off), bacon, egg & tomato served with ranch. She also commented on how great the salad was. It's a really nice portion size with plenty of toppings. Good stuff. 

Why Should You Go? Well - as you can tell - we all liked our food. There is one STRONG drawback. The place is smoky as HELL! I mean - wowza - full of smoke - the whole downstairs is just people smoking. Thankfully - the upstairs is basically empty and un-smokified. I saw the steps leading upstairs and asked if we could head up there - the waitress looked at me with shock & dismay - like "Why would you want to do that????" Up we went. It was dark and drab - but not smoky. We opened the curtains and enjoyed a peaceful, smoke-free lunch. I don't normally think of myself as that persnickety but it was horrible. So - as I climb off my smokebox - I mean soap box - I'll say again - the food is great - if you can handle smoke. If not - head straight upstairs and holler for a server as you sprint up the stairs.