Olive Restaurant — Restaurant in Adelaide

Olive Thursday 8th August 2024. A Laid back comfy place for a great group night out. It’s a relaxing place with excellent attentive people. Everyone is so relaxed happy enjoying the evening.

FOOD Rosemary focaccia, brown butter hummus, crispy chickpeas (V) Zucchini chips, whipped feta, oregano (GF. V) Kingfish crudo, blood orange oil, Espelette, chive (GF) Light as a feather spongey bread with well made hummus. Bread is excellent Tempura zucchini delicious very difficult to stop eating them. Feta excellent choice to balance and add salt. I’ll admit perhaps too much oil Kingfish you naked delight just yum So delicious. Ricotta gnocchi, pork sausage & fennel ragu, cavolo nero Fantastic pillow gnocchi with tasty pork in light spicy sauce. Yum Crunchy cavolo with parmigiana yum. Spicy sauce is developing beautifully on my taste buds. The more you eat the pork you realise how special it is. Fennel seeds paprika and whatever makes the perfect balance of a dancing taste buds. It’s bloody good. I think I like it. Fennel, green apple & hazelnut salad, white balsamic (Ve, CN) Moorish mix. Went brilliantly with the white Grenache. Portuguese chicken, turmeric rice, almond, pomegranate, garlic yoghurt (GF, CN) Roasted carrots, harissa butter, house tahini, za'atar (V.GF) Succulent chicken on the bone in delicious light peri peri like sauce. Delicious. Carrots are sweet nice. But wait what is that. It’s the tastiest TAHINI in the world. It has fire from spices it’s has nuttiness from sesame it has amazing taste from love its is absolutely amazing beautiful delicious I want more. It’s that good. No it’s bloody good. The balance of Portuguese against yoghurt against lime I squeezed is brilliant. Alas I’m getting to my limit in my tiny tummy. Pistachio baklava olive oil ice cream sandwich, thyme (CN, V) Lovely light creamy dish. Too much crunch for me many would love it. I am so comfortably full I’m very happy.

Overall a very good dinner. Thoroughly enjoyable. You leave wanting nothing. You taste buds have been satisfied. You remember wonderful food in a friendly atmosphere. With awesome service. Thanks Olive I really...

Opening night some time ago was going to be new.some staff were on the ball,others very fresh! Floor manager was entertaining so that was new! Food was very different than the former gaja .but as opening night goes,most items hit the mark, a few missed but I put that down to opening night jitters. Now,most lunch hours and evenings I go past, they're flat out.as there are more tables crammed in,it's tight.if you can see past that,I'm ready for a return visit soon to re evaluate hopefully,some ciders will be available as it was only wines, cocktails and beers.but that was almost 2 months ago. Fingers crossed!

Ok,revisited today with fingers crossed and they did not disappoint! Apple cider was now available and if you ask,they'll make the effort to knock up a cocktail to your liking if not listed or go a mystery pick! We went the zucchini chips and fried Fetta and smashed cucumber salad combo,oh man that lit the taste buds up! Then the slow cooked lamb with couscous,another level of flavour.but it's a generous serve and we began to struggle, definitely a share item! To finish off,the Basque cheese cake and passionfruit granita and coconut sorbet ,perfect finish to cut through the main meal. Staff were on point as they've settled in and the floor manager,listen to his suggestions,they work! I see why day in,day out this place is buzzing.i was disappointed to see gaja close its doors but these guys have gone next level. I just hope they know what items to keep and what to drop as the seasons roll on So if you walk by,look at the menu,don't look at it,come in and just have a crack,it's worth a try and a testimant to the creators for having a go. It works for lone diners,couples and...

TLDR: Give it a miss

We had high expectations when booking, (MasterChef and all that) but overall, a poor dining experience compared to the many other superb Adelaide City and Suburban options.

Waitress who served us appeared artificially enthusiastic about everything and had no idea how to deal with customer dissatisfaction eg : Chicken "cortoletta" sandwich had Tooth Breaking Pieces of Hard objects in both pieces we tried. When pointed out to waitress she initially said she had no idea but came back and said " Oh yeah, that's just the Pancetta crumb we put in there, sometimes you get a hard bit"... Well fxck me, if it is a known problem why keep putting it in the crumb, particularly when, in our opinion, it adds nothing to the overall taste of the dish?????

We decided to have one other dish to give them the benefit of the doubt before cutting our losses. So how can you mess up Steak tartare? They did. So sub par that we chose not to finish either of the two dishes, pay and walk.

Unfortunately, there was "Care Factor Zero" from our waitress I E. : no acknowledgment of the leftovers on our plates or enquiry by waitress as to how our meal was ... so (after being told not to make a scene by the wife) we (silently) paid and left to find a restaurant that was worthy of the outstanding Adelaide food/wine vibe that we have previously experienced.

Ambience: think mid 80's suburban kitchen with IKEA as the main design influence (but not in a good way)

Service: False, fake or just plain oblivious to any actual feedback on quality of meals.

Value for money:...