Zola Kitchen & Wine Bar

A group of five, including a toddler, had dinner on a Friday evening and it was fantastic! The restaurant is certainly moving in a positive direction under its new ownership.
I had the short rib ragu from their Winter Menu. It was delicious. The braised short rib was quite flavorful and the pappardelle with which it was served was delightful. Just right for a cold February evening. The bar didn’t have the particular wine I was hoping for but our server Anne was just right in recommending a Shiraz to compliment my meal.
One of my dining companions chose the crispy whole red snapper after seeing it presented to another table and was not disappointed. We shared several desserts, but the lavender crème brulé and the blueberry sorbet are worth highligting.
A great experience overall and while I might not recommend taking a two year old with you, the staff was very gracious and quite accommodating. I look forward to seeing the next seasonal menu!

the Worst services i have never had before in this restauant. we have been waiting for 3 hours to get the food. should not come to here anymore！I wish i can give zero stars. unfortunately I have to give him 1 star for this experience!

Let me begin by saying I had high expectations for this place after hearing about it from some State College locals. I travel often for work so there is nothing more enjoyable than the kind of meal I had here while being solo on the road.
The staff was very welcoming, and Jonathan in the bar made one of the best Manhattans around. The meal started with the mixed greens salad which was a real treat; fantastic textural contrasts, the greens were crisp, and vinaigrette was perfectly tossed in (full disclosure: I am a Stilton fanatic, and it is amply supplied in this salad). The kalamata olive bread was also excellent. I had the lamb shank for dinner which was braised and mouthwatering. The flourless chocolate torte and coffee for dessert were also flawless.
As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Nice new menu and wine list. Zola’s feels refreshed, finally. I like the food pairings however please note, the fries (TRUFFLED FRITES) are dripping in truffle oil… and it KILLED it for me. There’s no point in doing this as there’s not enough flavor. True Frites a la Belgium are CRISP, not soggy. True Frites come with a dipping sauce! Please, please new owners, take note!
Thank you!

Okay. I downloaded this app just because of Zola. I’ve had some pretty sub par meals over the course of my eating career and none have made me want to publicly complain… or download something so that I can complain more easily. Okay… Here it is. The furnishing is like IKEA and Pier 1 imports had a child. The staff was nice but they weren’t genuinely nice. They were fake and pompous. I fully expected to pay for something that was more expensive than Applebee’s and I did. My wife’s meal «scallop salad» was literally lettuce with terribly bland bay scallops. I’ve seen better presentation by Sheetz gas station. My snapper was good at best. Tasted like over priced fried chicken. Nothing to brag about but it was good. I wouldn’t go back there EVER!

This is one of those places where you get what you paid for.
Price: expansive
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Food: ⁵⁄₅
Cleanliness: ⁵⁄₅
Atmosphere: ⁵⁄₅
We came here for graduation dinner. Their food and service were really up there. I will definitely come back again to get some more of the lamb that the owner made. I’m adding this place to my favorites in the area.

Went here on a date with my girlfriend celebrating our 1 year anniversary.
I can’t speak a single ill word of this place. Food, drink, service, interior, cleanliness, everything… it was all great. Our waiter was knowledgeable and made a quality wine suggestion for our meal which paired perfectly. He knew his way around the menu and was prompt and polite.
Perfect place to take a date to impress them. Would highly recommend.

best calimari in the area. It is listed on the menu as calimari salad. It is well worth the visiting for just the calimari, but the rest of menu is just as good if not better. It is on the expensive side and dressing up is needed to fit in with the crowd. Hands down one of the best restaurant in state college.

With the new management starting this fall, I think this place had improved so much relative to the past. Their full fried fish is current favorite now. Hope they keep up their quality.

It has been a while, so we stopped in for a meal. A little more upscale restaurant in the area. Really like the décor. Darker lighting and a nice atmosphere.
We split the calamari app. It had an Asian theme with some cherry peppers and a peppery aioli. Had the pheasant for my main course. The meat was tasty with a maple bacon glaze and well prepared. All in all a very good meal.

I agree with other reviewers that this is a nice alternative to the other local restaurants, but being an alternative doesn’t mean it’s okay to phone it in. A friend and I ate here the Friday of homecoming. We had reservations, but noticed that the inside are was fairly noisy, so we asked to cancel the reservation and ate at the bar. The bar area is much nicer and more intimate. The restaurant was full, but it didn’t appear that anyone was waiting in line. This was about 8pm. Took more than an hour for a cheese plate appetizer. It was 5 or 6 pieces of cheese with a baguette (read crackers) on a cutting board. Not sure why that took over an hour? That’s an easy thing to push out the door. We waited almost 2 hours for the main course, my friend had the soup and crab cake, which she loved. I had the risotto. Unfortunately, that tasted like a bullion cube and the color was weird. It did not look appetizing at all and tasted too salty. $ 20+ down the drain. I did try the Jon Collins off the drink menu and that was tasty. I do hope the restaurant works out the kinks because I would like to give it another shot.

I went to Zolas to celebrate my first anniversary with my wife.
My wife ordered the steak which was good. I ordered the pheasant and I regret the decision. The dish was unpleasantly reminiscent of a hot dog.
What really takes it to a two-​star review is the fact we were offered a complementary dessert but were charged for it. It’s a little thing (both the portion and the $ 5 charge), but it’s not what I expect in terms of service.
I’d recommend going somewhere else (maybe Kelly’s steakhouse) for a special occasion of your own — That’s where I’ll be going.

Really decent restaurant /​lounge whether you are up for drinks or good food. Food menu is very limited but drink choices are plenty.

A nice gem in downtown. The seasonal menus was well rounded and I opted for the snapper. It was an excellent dish with a great presentation.
The atmosphere was conducive for both business and personal meals. The lack of college students in the restaurant was refreshing.

Absolute gem in downtown State College. Feeling too long out of college for cheap pizza and wings, we decided to take a chance on Zola Kitchen and Wine Bar’s new identity on a State College reunion. The departure from Zola: New World Bistro – the underwhelming jazz club of my collegiate days – was obvious. As Zola Kitchen and Wine Bar, the redefined restaurant aggressively pursued fine, French dining and provided exemplary service.
Even as a party of four on a Saturday night, we did not have a problem quickly being seated, though the restaurant was busy. A back-​waiter greeted our table with an amuse-​bouche while another filled our water glasses, and we were piqued. On our drive up to State College, I casually mentioned to my beau how long it had been since I had enjoyed a Bijou; imagine my pleasure when I found the libation on the cocktail list. The entire beverage menu reads perfectly – you’ll find all of the classic cocktails, but many have a contemporary spin. Zola even casks and distills their own gin, using Tito’s vodka as a base for a house Negroni. The «gin» was perhaps a little light in botanicals, but the cocktail was still delicious. And in a town of $ 10 *bottles* of wine, Zola offers the best and most impressive wine list.
Regarding the menu, we did not taste a disappointing dish. In fact, we enjoyed our dinner so much, that two of us returned the very next weekend. I almost feel like I should let the food speak for itself. The small, seasonally-​focused menu featured local ingredients where appropriate. We enjoyed three of the salads between the two visits, and I cannot pick a favorite. The oysters ordered on our first trip were grainy enough that we skipped them on the return, in spite of the apple mignonette being a tart delight. The black sea bass was a particular highlight – and the only dish we had to enjoy both weekends. I have already tried to emulate the vegetarian soup of our second visit twice at home. For the gluten-​intolerant, the chef was incredibly accommodating, serving the crispy whole red snapper dusted in rice flour instead of its usual blanche. Our meat-​eating guests of the first visit both loved the oak-​smoked pheasant.
The biggest highlight of our experiences: the staff at Zola was incredible. The front and back waiters perfectly executed «swarm service” – multiple servers cleared all dishes concurrently or simultaneously refilled water glasses. Despite this level of care, our waiters did not seem to loiter at the table or overwhelm the experiences with unnecessary visits and check-​ins. The staff was very knowledgeable about the menu, and, seemed proud to be associated with the quality of the establishment. Even on our return visit the following week, while Penn State was playing an evening football game and the town was empty, the restaurant was staffed for a busy Saturday night, as to not give a guest a lackluster experience.
While the charm and nostalgia of State College may be associated with the $ 2 pours at the local bars and the artery-​clogging late-​night pizza stops, I now most look forward to dinner at Zola my next trip to State College.

This is an update since the new management.
Kitchen couldn’t keep up tonight. Food took twice as long to come out.
Butternut Risotto was over cooked and over seasoned.
My usual Snapper was very fishy.
They were off their game tonight. But the live jazz music was nice.

We dined at Zola last night for our anniversary. We travel extensively and have dined at some of the world’s finest. We were pleasantly suprised by Zola. The food was excellent, the service was great and the atmosphere was enjoyable. We were given a very nice table and complimentary champagne. We both had the filet mignon which was cooked to perfection. I would say it is slightly superior to the Carnegie House and is so far our favorite restaurant in Central PA for fine dining. Highly recommend it.

We have been to the new restaurant many times since they opened and each time we come the food is even better. Chef Andrew keeps the menu updated and is putting a lot of energy into making it fun, new and different. While they continue to serve a few of the old favorites to keep the previous regulars happy – the calamari now has yummy peppers in it. They are serving an amuse bouche that is always a big treat and you will love the warm Russian Tea Cakes at the end.
Jason and Jonathan are still making great cocktails and the new wine selection is fantastic. Wines by the glass are being preserved with a new system and there are great new bottles to check out.
Last I checked they are open 7 days a week – for lunch and dinner. The sandwiches on the lunch menu are very tasty.

This was my first time here. I was invited by my professor who looked to be very familiarize with the menu. I didn’t want to eat a lot, so I just ordered a salad. The salad ended being an amazing combination of flavors. The taste was very sublime to my palate. I will go again for the ceviche, they didn’t have it for that occasion.

amazing!!! I got the black truffle risotto and my boyfriend got the mussels and rainbow trout. both portions were perfectly sized (not at all what we expected), needless to say each entrée was delicious, and the servers were extremely friendly and helpful. I would suggest that anyone new to the area or even just visiting for the day like we were to dine here at least once.