It takes time to establish an identity.

That’s especially true, it seems, when your name is Lola. It took awhile for the Kinks to figure out just who and what she was. (Give them a break: She walked like a woman and talked like a man.) And it’s taken even longer for the fabulous Back Bay restaurant space at Comm. and Dartmouth — newly reincarnated as Bar Lola — to land on a worthwhile theme.

First it was a little Italian place. Then it sat empty for years. (Such a waste.) Then it was Geoffrey’s and then the Dartmouth Cafe. At Lola, the focus is old-school tapas (garlicky shrimp, white asparagus, and stuffed squid) at reasonable prices. The wine is cheap, too. You can sip a glass of decent house white or red for six bucks.

But the biggest draw is the location itself: a cheerful, convivial dining room, a warm and friendly bar, and an expansive outdoor patio just below street level — all a few steps away from the beaten path (a.k.a. Newbury Street) on one of the city’s loveliest residential boulevards.

No matter what’s on the menu, here’s hoping that part of Lola’s identity never changes.

Bar Lola, 160 Commonwealth Avenue, at Dartmouth Street, Back Bay (617-266-1122).