Sounds like you're asking to talk to a girl named Lola, diminutive Lo. And the guy is like wondering if he remembers someone at the bar with that name or if he misheard you. But after he sees your hand gestuals, the meaning of your needs becomes clear. French and Italians are familiar with waiving hands and making facial expressions to accompany their words, so keep doing it, and be patient until your language skills improve. My first trips in Britain as a teenager, no one could understand me asking where the bathroom is (French is my mother tongue). Now that's not a fun one to use gestuals for. In time I got to learn about the John, loo. But hey, it's the fun about traveling in foreign land!

You might be overthinking a friendly ribbing. I had a similar interaction in Italy and he was just trying to help and I did find it helpful.

Well, maybe he was an asshole, but in his defence articles are much less optional in French than in English, thus you don't expect it standalone. It basically becomes one word in your consciousness. A bit like if someone asks you for "ater". And when you finally understand, you feel really stupid, because yes ultimately it was just missing a useless article, but it just didn't click.