Jan NorrisThe Palm Beach Gardens restaurant was a slice of New England on Northlake.
The challenging restaurant business has taken another toll. Lola’s Seafood Eatery in Palm Beach Gardens has closed.
Famous for its lobster roll, the small spot on Northlake Boulevard just west of Military Trail opened in 2009, touting New England-style seafood dishes.
The counter service, and casual dine-in, take-out model proved a hit with patrons who became regulars and left glowing reviews online.
“We have people who have been coming here every week. We know them and know their orders,” said Denise DeGray. The manager had worked there from the start along with three other employees.
“It’s heartbreaking. I’ve been here 16 years. This was a shock to all of us.”
Lola’s Seafood Eatery’s last day was Sunday
The employees were notified Friday that July 27 would be their last shift.
Lola’s is owned by Laurie Paolino, whose son Chad managed the stores after his father died in summer 2020. Three other Lola’s, in Tequesta, Stuart and Port St. Lucie, were closed by 2024 following the pandemic.
The mini chain was started by Bernard Uffer and Charlie Paolino in 2009. Uffer sold to Paolino in 2012.
“It’s unfortunate,” Chad Paolino said. “But the cost of running the business is just too much. We were sinking. It wasn’t making any money.”
The restaurant’s lease in the Villa Palma Plaza is up at the end of July. Paolino said he tried to work out something with the landlord to stay, but, “We couldn’t come to an agreement.”
The number of potential customers in the area declined, too, he said. “It used to be there were a lot of Northeasterners in the area. Not as many people are moving down now.”
Paolino also wanted out of the restaurant business, and has no interest in opening elsewhere. “It’s not really something I want to do. I stepped in to help my mom when my dad passed.”
Customers were calling all day Friday once word was out, Nancy Costello, counter worker, said. “They’re heartbroken. They can’t believe it,” she said.
Orders for take-out were lining up on a table near the register Friday night. Seafood baskets of clams, fried fish and chowders were staged for pickup.
Goodbye, orange-basil vinaigrette
“The favorites were the lobster roll, of course, and our salad,” DeGray said. “Everyone loves the salad dressing.”
DeGray said the orange-basil vinaigrette was a big hit, though “everyone thought it was made with avocado, because it’s green, but there’s no avocado in it.”
The unique dressing was made in house, five gallons at a time to get it just right, she said.
Ron Kendall of North Palm Beach was sitting at a window seat eating his favorite: seafood paella. “It’s very sad,” he said. “I’ve been coming here eight years.
“My daughter called me to tell me they were closing. She knew I liked to eat here. I had to come for one last meal.”
He said he’s “really surprised” they’re closing. “Their food is so good.”
“Oh no! This is so sad,” said Taylor Morgan, a Boston native, upon hearing the news. “This place always reminded me of home.”
Morgan, a local radio personality and longtime promoter of Palm Beach County restaurants, was an early fan of Lola’s — specifically the lobster roll.
“It was the real deal. It was always a very generous portion of fresh Maine lobster. Not frozen. The bun was the New England split-top bun, perfectly grilled on either side.
“And the surprise was their side salad. I don’t go on and on about salads, but Lola’s side salad was the best I’ve ever had in my life.
“Their citrus dressing was so good I would drive 40 minutes to buy a pint of it.”
Belly clams on a roll or fried, were also popular, DeGray said. Menu prices were listed on a blackboard hanging over the kitchen pickup window. They changed with the cost of seafood, upticking recently.
But price was no matter to the regulars.
Palm Beach Gardens resident Gloria Claiborne had been a frequent diner at Lola’s for three years, after moving here from Massachusetts.
“This is the closest thing to the New England seafood places I’ve found,” she said.
She came in Friday nights for the belly clams. “It’s the first place I’ve found them down here.”
Jan’s a journalist covering the South Florida dining scene for 30-plus years. (She knows where the bones and onion peels are buried.) She’s a Florida native, remembers the state pre-Disney, and travels frequently to visit family and friends from the Keys to the Panhandle.
