Olives and Plates Hyde Park — Restaurant in Gauteng

Not everyone has the opportunity to spend Mother’s Day with their mother and Olive and Plates Hyde Park is a perfect example of a business in South Africa that has an ethos of intolerance towards certain people. They are business operating in manner that suites their prerogative with no sense of client centricity.

I experienced 2 severe challenges today, the first being that this busienss is whole-fully tone deaf and disappointedly favours a particular skin colour. Don’t be surprised when this skin colour is seated before you as I experienced today and pay close attention to how you will be treated differently. In my case it was direct however majority of the time it’s indirect and subtle, something this resturant will make you feel as their leader accepts this behaviour since their brand warm is not meant to be directed towards you, it’s meant for others in particular. If I did not voice my disappointment, the 'inconvience caused" would have gone unnoticed.

Despite this initial encounter, I was seated and proceed to dine alone as one would when waiting for their significant other to join them later during the day after their respective appointments. Whilst dining alone on this auspicious day I am simultaneously working on my laptop and conducting my business, drinking an espresso, eating breakfast, I won't raise the issue I expereinced here but I ended up ordering a bottle of wine as my partner was about to join me.

I had not finished a single glass when I was approached by a lady / owner, I won’t disclose her demographic, and was immediately told “are you expecting anyone else as we have a long line of people waiting to be seated, can I move you to the bar, it is mothers day and I’m trying to run a business”. Not a Hi, Hello, Excuse me, How are you, she immediately expressed her sentiment / dissatisfaction of me and where I was seated caused a inconvenience to her, going as far to say verbatim “this is a resturant and not a working area” as she walked away to attend to other patrons.

The feeling of being unwelcome reached its tipping point and immediately began to pack up my belongings. This is where it gets interesting like a wolf caught in sheep’s clothing she immediately rushes over stating that I won’t have to pay my bill, despite me asking for it 3 times, she packs up the remaining wine for me to take, despite me requesting that I’m not interested in taking anything with me. She even has the audacity to even place her hands on my arm / shoulder and correct my jacket for me when I was getting up to leave. Assault in any other circumstance if it was a male touching a female.

She even went as far to say she would have placed me in her back office to work if she had space, seriously how cruel is that? Why would I come out on Mother’s Day to sit in a back office to work. This lady blatantly let her guard down, showing her true self and tried her best to apply corrective action to damage control i.e smoothing things over by walking me out, not getting me to pay my bill and even trying to get to know me. Enough is honestly enough.

Olive & Plates Hyde Park, you are part of the problem. We deserve to be treated better as we’ve earned a seat at the...

When you want to have your cake and eat it too. How do you choose?

We wanted something for dessert so I quickly phoned Olives & Plates to see what they had in stock that day. The lady on the other side of the line said "We have everything". Boy oh boy, she wasn't kidding. When we got there, the cake table was so stacked there was hardly any space. They were so fully booked, but luckily we didn't wait long for a table.

We ordered our coffees and made our decision on what cakes to have.

I mean our choices were: Banana and Caramel Cake Baklava Lemon Chiffon Cake Almond croissants Honey cake Coconut Cake Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Chocolate Cake Milo Cheesecake Baklava Cheesecake Flourless Lemon Poppy seed Cake Caramel Toffee Apple Cake Pecan Pie Lemon Meringue Baked Apple Tart ..... and the list went on.

The service was a bit slow, as we received our Coffees (Cappuccino with cream and a Greek Coffee) and then still waited a while before our cakes arrived.

I was extremely happy with my choice (Caramel Toffie Apple) AND I asked for the portion with nuts on it too 😁. So glad the "caramel" was not just a sauce stuck on the side of my plate, as I've had that happen on 2 previous occasions at different establishments when ordering cakes with caramel. My sister enjoyed her Baklava cheesecake, too.

I need to go back and try the food, as the meals behind the glass looked very tempting.

I've only eaten at the Sandton branch a few times but that was Pre Covid days, when we were still working down the road in walking distance, and a few times from their small cafe at Donald Gordon Hospital.

If you have a sweet tooth.... do yourself a favour and go indulge...

On Saturday evening, we went for dinner. We made a reservation, as recommended by the restaurant's website. When we arrived, the attendants seated us shortly after confirming our reservation. The restaurant was really busy, so we were glad we booked a table beforehand. I've been to a few olives and plates around Johannesburg, and this is by far the most beautiful. The restaurant offers a nice décor with fresh flowers on each table.

Our main course was prawn linguine, as recommended by our waiter. Our order arrived around 15 minutes after we placed it. The pasta was was coated in a creamy lemon, garlic, and tomato sauce. The flavors worked well together, and nothing overshadowed the other, as is common with seafood pasta. The prawns were delicate and delicious. We were thoroughly satisfied with the portion and entire dish.

For dessert, we went to the cake display, which had an extensive assortment of delicious delicacies. The matron patiently led us through the many desserts that piqued our interest and offered suggestions based on our preferences. I eventually decided on the salted caramel cheesecake. The cheesecake filling was quite delicious and rich. The base of the cheesecake did contain peanuts, which I personally did not think worked well with the salted caramel, but it is just a minor criticism on my part. I also had a milk tart latte with my dessert. It certainly warms your heart in the winter.

Overall, we had a great time here and plan to return to try more of...