This Breezy Long Beach Restaurant Is Love at First Bite
Long Beach is renowned for diverse and delicious restaurants, especially near the marina, and with the birth of 2nd & PCH, even more culinary destinations have been added to the area’s roster. Among these MVPs is Ola Mexican Kitchen, a contemporary spot with a spectacular view and even more spectacular dishes and cocktails.
Known for fresh, contemporary takes on some south-of-the-border staples, Ola Mexican Kitchen is part of a restaurant family backed by Toby Reece and Tony Andrews. If those names sound familiar, then you’ve probably been to the pair’s first PCH hotspot, Mahé, a Seal Beach restaurant that’s been serving up prime sushi and steaks for over 20 years. Located in Huntington Beach’s Pacific City, the first Ola Mexican Kitchen quickly became a favorite among locals and tourists for its panoramic views of the ocean and deliciously creative food and drink menus.
After the success of the Huntington Beach location, Reece and Andrews opened Ola Mexican Kitchen in Long Beach in late 2019, and although the restaurants share a name, the owners wanted these restaurants to be sisters—not twins.
When you walk into Ola in Long Beach, you’re greeted with a laid-back coastal vibe that carries out to a second-story terrace that overlooks the marina. “Everybody knows the Huntington Beach location because of the iconic view of the beach, but one thing that you won’t find in this area of Long Beach is a lot of restaurants on the water with the view. There are a couple down over here, but they’re all at marina level,” Reece explains.
“We’re up on the second floor, so you can see over the tops of the sailboats and get a really cool view of the Long Beach Marina and Naples,” he continues. “The view here is spectacular: Looking through the palm trees, you see down the main channel. It’s just another celebration of the coastline that we live on.”
The Long Beach location brought more than a change of scenery to the Ola brand—it shifted perspectives as well. “The restaurant in Huntington Beach is parallel to the ocean, so through the entire restaurant, you’re on the glass, looking out at the ocean,” Reece shares. “Here, the restaurant is more perpendicular.”
This inspired a much larger patio and an interior design with greater attention to detail, different textures and vibrant colors decorating everything from the booths to the ceiling—offering guests a more elevated dining experience.
Another exciting aspect of Ola in Long Beach is its satellite bar, Palapa. Inspired by its namesake, Palapa shares Ola’s sparkling marina view and features a tasty bar and tapas menu. While Palapa’s food comes from Ola’s kitchen, Palapa offers an entirely different selection of bites, including flautas, copa de sandia and poke nachos. You’ll also find a different cocktail program, perfect for pre-gaming your meal or finishing strong with a nightcap.
When it comes to food, the Long Beach location’s menu is nearly identical to Huntington Beach’s, but there are two dishes in Long Beach that steal the show: the Ribeye Caballero and the market fish. To pair with the elevated decor of Ola Long Beach, Reece and Andrews decided to also add some fine-dining items to the menu—and Chef Chris Paul Zaldana perfectly captured this intention with these two dishes.
According to Chef Zaldana, his goal for the restaurant is to put out the best quality food, and he and his kitchen achieve this by letting the ingredients shine. “We use a lot of sustainably caught, fresh fish and work directly with our vendors to make sure we have the best, freshest products from produce, to seafood to meat,” he says.
Just like Ola Mexican Kitchen in Huntington Beach, you truly can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. Even if you’re a regular, Ola keeps it fresh and exciting with frequent specials, including a taco and margarita of the month.
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“Everybody loves the tacos, and being able to mix and match them is something that not a lot of restaurants do,” Reece says. “We took a lot of time and put a lot of thought into creating our specialty margaritas. We have a specialty cocktail list that kind of maneuvers its way through the different spirits behind the bar, but being a Mexican restaurant, we really wanted to celebrate the margarita with different muddled and fresh fruits and the colors that they bring—I really love our margarita specials too.”
Before 2nd & PCH opened, the lot was home to the SeaPort Hotel, a pink and seafoam green building that stood for over 80 years. Locals flocked there for decades to celebrate special events—Reece’s parents even had their prom night there! Now, it’s only fitting that Ola Mexican Kitchen and Palapa are part of a new wave in Long Beach Marina’s history.
Food
Most of the menu at Ola Mexican Kitchen in Long Beach is the same as the menu at the Huntington Beach location, although there are some items that are exclusive to the Long Beach menu, such as the market fish and the Ribeye Caballero.
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Decor
The decor inside of Ola Mexican Kitchen’s Long Beach location is full of beautiful, enticing details. While the view of the marina is stunning, the indoor tables are just as much of a visual treat, allowing you to take in all the different textural design elements and subtle nods to the original location.
Price Point
The price points at both Ola locations are in an affordable range, offering meals that range between $17 and $40. However, Long Beach’s exclusive, elevated dishes come at a higher price point with the ribeye at $46. The market fish’s price is dependent on the catch.
Overall Verdict
Ola Mexican Kitchen in Long Beach offers a fantastic opportunity to take in sweeping views of the marina while enjoying inventive Mexican cuisine, beautiful decor and an incredibly fun satellite bar. The location within 2nd & PCH makes for the perfect start or end to your day in Long Beach.
Ola Mexican Kitchen
6420 Pacific Coast Hwy, Ste 230
Long Beach, CA 90803
562.430.0055
@ola_mexican_kitchen
Born and raised near the Pacific Coast, Jordan Nishkian is a California girl through and through. She graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a BA in Creative Writing and a BA in Anthropology, and her favorite place to be is curled up in a comfy chair with a book in her hand and a pen in her hair.
