Jardin des Olives — Restaurant in Brussels

I always had nice experiences at this restaurant in the past and I wanted to bring some dear friends here. I could never have imagined that I would have had such a disappointing experience this time here.

I had booked using TheFork for 3 people at 21 on a Saturday. And I had also received an email from thefork to inform me that my booking was confirmed.

However, when we arrived at the restaurant, a lady (that I had never seen there before) first told us that the booking was only for 2 people and not 3 in their system, and that therefore they did not have a table for us. She made us feel as if the mistake had been done on our side.

Then, when I showed her the booking for 3 people on the fork, she told me that they did not have a table for us and that we would have had to wait at least 30 minutes and that then maybe a table would have become available. This is not the way in which you expect to be treated in a place where you are bringing your friends specifically because you think that it is a good place.

We left and had to find another place on a Saturday. Very disappointing and...

We had dinner here on our last day in Brussels. It was perfect. Nice staff, good wine by the glass, wonderful food. What we notice is that Belgian restaurants in general do not offer much in vegetarian food. Well, this Olive Garden does: my wife took a vegetarian entrée and a vegetarian entry "from the wine bar" and it worked out wonderfully. The staff understood that she wanted them together as one main course, and they obliged. I, on the other hand, had a meat course - some kind of entrecote - and that was perfect too. Just a little rind of fat, done to a crisp, and the meat was perfectly "au point", just as I had ordered. The wine is value for money. I can recommend the millefeuille desert too: very original, fruit of the season, very tasty. Service was attentive and friendly, without being pushy. And all this at a reasonable price: 100 euro (June 2022) inclusive 2 glasses of wine, a desert and coffee. Ten out of ten, as far as I am concerned. I hardly ever post reviews, but this restaurant was so good that I feel I...

Service was friendly and it was nice to eat outside (luckily no one smoked while we were there, but just as we were leaving someone picked up an ashtray and was getting ready). The food was fine, though my falafels were too greasy on the outside. They could have drained them more or fried them differently, I won’t know. My biggest criticism is that the place is overpriced. €29 for a vegetarian falafel salad? Even €13 for the pardon peppers starter is too much. I knew the prices beforehand, but there are ways and ways of making food and for me this was not the kind of food I’d expect to pay €100 for (2 starter and main menus, one beer and one small water). Even taking account of the Belgian high prices, I would have expected a dinner like this to be around...