Olijfboom Greek Canteen — Restaurant in Groningen

I was really looking forward to going to dinner here as i really really enjoy greek food but was quite dissapointed by our experience.

Service We went here with a group of 9 people for a birthday and had made reservations at 1700. Most people arrived between 1700 and 1730 and in the mean time the rest of us were having a drink. By the time we had ordered (around 6 ish) we had had 2 drinks. These were also the last drinks we saw during the entire night (we stayed till 20:00). So in our 3 hour stay at the restaurant we got 2 drinks in the first hour and were not helped anymore after. It felt like they had forgotten our main course, which actually arrived at 19:30. 2 hours after we ordered.

Besides the fact that we had to wait extremely long for our food, there was no communication from staff. We had to ask them a few times where food was and they didnt know. The food also wasnt delivered at the same time. 2 of us had finished their mains, 10 minutes after that, 5 more got their food and the last 2 people got their food 10 minutes after that. It was really badly organised.

Food The food was actually a bit disappointing. The spanakopita had a bit of a strange shape and the crust wasnt crunchy and flaky but actually a bit soft and soggy as if it was microwaved. The main was so tiny and soggy that it was really disappointing. The plate didnt look clean either (see picture). I went home after and made food for myself. On the bright side, its not that expensive so it doesnt feel as bad that the food wasnt that great.

Atmosphere. If you have sensory sensitivities this is not a great place to go too. Even though the music isnt that loud, the restaurant is busy, not just with people eating in, but also with thuisbezorgd couriers running up and down to pick up food...

Update 2024:reslly tasty pitas. Very friendly customer service. The food arrived to the table right on time. Really impressed

TLDR: Amazing and original Greek food. The wiaitng time was a bit high

5 stars because of the overall quality.

I was really A M A Z E D by the food. They do have original Greek food that tastes like back home. The mezedes were really tasty as well as the pitas. The customer service was also really good.

The only thing that was disappointing was the waiting time for some dishes (2 hrs) and one dish (soutzoukakia). the people in the kitchen were really hardworking but we had to wait for almost 2hrs for some main dishes. I believe that is because of the heavy workload of cooking for the sitting customers as well as thuisbezorgd. And the person who ate the soutzoukakia dish was pretty sure that the dish was microwaved.

Overall, I have to congratulate the owners and employees of the place for keeping such high standards especially...

The food is good I personally loved the spanakopita! The portions are okey if you compare it to Greece. The staff are nice :). However, recently I had an unpleasant experience, there was a lot of staff around but nobody came up to us to help us so we sat at an empty table, after some time a girl came and asked if we had reserved and as we hadn't we were asked to leave because that table was reserved and they were full. Which is understandable however it would be nice if it was indicated on the table or we were helped when walking in, nor were we offered a suitable solution, it was a bit disappointing, thus I would suggest to reserve to avoid any...