The Olive Board Kitchen & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Grimsby

The food and wine were both excellent. However, it was disappointing, especially given the location, not to see more Niagara wines. We also had a bad experience with seating which negatively impacted our experience. We tried to make a reservation for 5 people but we were told they only take reservations for groups of 8 or more. The restaurant is quite small, not a lot of seating. When we arrived, at about 6pm, the only seats available were at the only large table in the restaurant. We were told we could be seated there but the table was reserved for 7pm. We said we couldn't promise we'd be ready to leave at 7. We were told we could be moved to another table when one became available. We said we had no problem with that. While we were there, two tables became available and we were not asked to move and other people were seated at them. At 7pm the large group who had reserved the table arrived. There were no empty tables at this time. It wasn't until about 7:10 that the waitress came and asked if we wanted anything else. We asked for the dessert board since we were there celebrating a birthday. She came back a few minutes later and said she had talked to the manager and apparently there was a conversation when we arrived about this table being reserved at 7pm. We explained that there had been a conversation, however, we were told we'd be moved to another table when one became free and that did not happen despite two tables becoming available. The waitress said that was fine. Keep in mind the restaurant it's so small that the 10 people waiting were a few feet away and staring at us giving us bad looks. The person whose bday we were celebrating said she was very uncomfortable and no longer wanted to stay for dessert. We told our waitress and she got the bill for us and gave us wine openers for the inconvenience. At no point did the manager come to speak to us again. We were essentially asked to leave despite not being done with our meal. At a minimum the manager should have come to the table and given us the dessert board to go. This was very poor customer service and definitely put a damper on...

I had booked a reservation for 10 people to celebrate a 60th birthday in June. We arrived Sunday at 5pm for our dinner. Our server was friendly and took our drink order. The server was managing at least 4 tables and was behind the bar making drinks for our table and others. Our server was great but definitely needed help. Given that they knew there was a large party coming I would have expected for our server to have had more help. We ordered 2 boards for the table and 2 additional apps to share. It did take a little longer than expected but the appetizers arrived and they were very good. Our server was working so hard trying to best serve each table and work behind the bar. I cannot fault her as she never stopped and continued to be friendly throughout the service. Our party had ordered 2 land & sea platters and 3 Flatbread meals. Our meals came out at various times with the 2 platters coming out last. We encourage our family to eat and not wait. When our platters did come out the steaks on both platters were over cooked. We had ordered Medium rare but received medium. The issue is the steaks were sliced and would easily be identified as over cooked. The lobster tails also were lukewarm. We ate the steaks and seafood because at this point we had waited a long time for our mains. Our waitress was informed the steaks were over cooked. At no time did anyone from management come and check on our table or address our concerns. We paid our bill and left. I contacted the restaurant to address my concerns and the manager called me back to talk. She said she wanted to talk to the staff and would get back to me to address the issues. I spoke to the manager back on July 2nd and have not received a call back. There are some brights spots but their customer service to large groups as well as their preparedness for large groups is lacking. I would not recommend this restaurant for a large group or for a...

Must have been an April fools joke in promoting this as a place that is worthwhile to dine at. It was anything but today at lunch. Four of us arrived at 12 ( opening time - perhaps our first mistake). There was one person at an adjacent table waiting for his company. Even when they eventually filled they only had one (overworked/overwhelmed?) server taking care of everyone. The order was simple enough - 3 drinks, 3 soups, 2 warm prosciutto sandwiches and 2 orders of sliders. The results - all 3 soups were sent back as they arrived cold. They were taken away and replaced 10 minutes later with warm but but not hot replacements. 20 minutes later the sliders were delivered cold. When the warm sandwiches were delivered a few minutes later (yes they were warm) our sliders were sent back with the simple instruction "does the chef know how to turn on an oven). As our spouses finished their sandwiches, new orders of the sliders were received. The pulled pork ones were warmer - not hot but sufficiently warm that they were eaten anyway due to time. My buffalo sauce chicken sliders were hot enough but 2 of 3 of the had been so ridiculously smothered in sauce to the point that you could not even pick them up nor want to eat them. Even the buns oozed out. They offered to make them for a third time but in my mind they had already struck out. They were eventually taken away. This is a restaurant that has a $150 steak on menu - yet they cant handle simple lunch orders. This does not inspire any confidence in their ability to deliver a higher-priced dinner. Not sure if the chef is that bad or whether it was a combination of the kitchen and server being overwhelmed. In any event, will not be returning. In my experience, down the road, the Lake House is a far better...