Olives and Plates Wits Club and Conference — Restaurant in Gauteng

Olives & Plates 140 on West sure is an elegant gem in the heart of Sandton, but is it a foodie gem?

Olives & Plates & Elegance You walk into this small little patisserie slash bar looking restaurant with romantic lighting, comfortable seating diamond status feeling fixtures. They have done an excellent job at making you feel at home, but also make you feel as they if you will be treated like royalty, unfortunately that was only a feeling.

Food & Drinks Pleasantly surprised by the delicious Long Island Ice Tea that they don’t even have on their menu. It’s strange how bars and restaurants struggle to mix this cocktail, lucky for us, Olives & Plates does a bang-up job.

We started off the evening with Meze Platter, and let us tell you, this is an ice-breaker, a crowd pleaser, an all-out must order.

Marinated artichokes, grilled halloumi, olives, hummus, tzatziki, guacamole salsa, all served with warm toasted pita and crisp breadsticks, as well as a crisp bread frisbee.

Mains is where things started going downhill a bit. We immediately went for the Linguine Prawn Pasta, one of our top pasta choices. They described it as zesty lemon, garlic, tomato & a touch of cream prawn linguine ‘must have’. Well, this is their most expensive dish and it wasn’t a huge portion.

At first we thought that it won’t be enough, but clearly, we misjudged this dish. This bowl of pasta was FLAMING. Nowhere did they indicate that they added chilli, and this doesn’t bother us too much as we do love spicy food, but this was so spicy that we couldn’t finish it, just a few bites made our lips burn. We told the waiter, he apologised and said he will tell the chef.

With that out of the way, we could dig into their Butternut & Sage Conchiglione.

Rich and very heavy with flat flavours. Sure, the butter and sage paired well, but it is an entire dish of just tasting creamy butternut and sage mixed with gorgonzola over and over. No relief whatsoever.

We were ready for good food, so we decided on an all-time winner, the Grilled Marinated Calamari.

Alas, no winner today. The best thing about this dish was actually the side salad and tasty dressing. The calamari was rubbery and bland, the only thing that helped was the lemon wedge with extra salt and black pepper.

We were about to give up, then arrived the Salmon Nicoise Salad…

This was what we’ve been waiting for all evening. This was perfection, with salmon cooked just right, a fantastic poached egg to dress and a big enough portion to satisfy anyone. If you ever make your way to Olives & Plates, do order this dish, you will not regret it.

We ended the evening with a baked cheesecake, something you can catch us with any day.

Not a bad cheesecake, but really nothing special either. Their desserts are freshly baked daily cakes, straight from the oven. Something that could be the best ending to an evening, but again, it fell a bit flat.

Service From asking to move tables to ordering an off-menu drink, our waiter needed to ask the manager for almost all our requests. Maybe the manager should be waiting on the tables then.

Verdict Although the evening started out great with the drink and meze platter, it went down hard with the mains. That and the subpar service leaves us with a feeling of regret, especially seeing as this wasn’t a cheap evening. The only saving grace was the fantastic mood that Olives & Plates set as you walk in.

TTT’s rating out of 5: Food – 2 | Service – 2 | Atmosphere – 5 | Value – 3

Olives & Plates gets a ‘Good on Ye’ from Two...

The significance of the inaugural meal of the day was thoroughly appreciated at the Wits Club. The consummation of an egg and bacon ciabatta sandwich was notably palatable. The ambiance of the venue bore a resemblance to that of Stellenbosch University, evoking a bucolic life. This was further accentuated by the club’s Cape Dutch architectural style, the presence of a non-functional fountain, expansive umbrellas, and an obstructive Jojo tank along the pathway. Upon reflection, the milieu (ie the physical and social setting) might be more accurately likened to the landed gentry of Franschhoek and their agricultural and literary pursuits. This is a quintessential gathering place for members of the global bourgeoisie. It offers a conducive environment for engaging in critical discourse on topics such as decolonization, the implications of the fourth industrial revolution, or the phenomena of AI hallucinations, all under the solace of shaded arboreal canopies.

However, it remains ambiguous whether the ambiance truly encapsulated the essence of Johannesburg or Higher Education. It is noteworthy that the pricing of the Club's menu seemed to align with those found within the cape winelands, with expenditures nearing R100 for a toasted sandwich. This might be attributed to the external management of the university club by a restaurant chain. Despite these observations, there author has a prevailing inclination to revisit this establishment, particularly with his book club. It is anticipated that such future engagements will facilitate the erudite exchange of intellectual insights, thereby enriching our collective understanding and perspective for the good of society.

—————————————————————-A average attempt at a review using “academic language”. With the helpful assistance from Chat GPT. Summary (in lay person’s language). Country atmosphere, city prices. Good place to hang out if you have an expense account. If you haven’t realized. I’m also taking the mickey about higher education and their assetization by the...

Did not really know what to expect, after an on-the-spur of the moment booking at Olives & Plates restaurant, on the Wits Club premises in Braamfontein. I was pleasantly surprised to see a herb garden of sorts along the pathway to reception. Warm welcome from amiable Joseph. Taking in our surroundings was a surreal experience, and one would not believe that one was on a university campus, let alone in the middle of Johannesburg. We were surrounded by freshly whitewashed Dutch style architecture that one could easily mistake for a charming wine farm setting. We were thrilled to be sitting among some huge trees and beautiful plants and sculptures of birds among them, with a water fountain rendering background music. There were huge koi lazing in the pool below. The tranquil atmosphere was amazing. Around us, we saw food plates or rather edible works of art being delivered to patrons. And when our meal arrived, we were in awe of the creatively plated dishes. The plating of the dishes was artistic creations not witnessed in even exclusive restaurants. We ordered the beef fillet, which came with chips and the most scrumptious onion rings, stacked in an artistic pyramid of sorts. We also ordered the Parmesan Panko crusted chicken fillet of two chicken breasts coated in permesan and Panko crumbs, topped with fine herbs. This was served with a dainty salad arrangement and cream cheese. The charring of the crumbs was done to perfection. The in-house thick and creamy salad dressing was wow! And then there was the cake menu, dozens of them, all beautifully displayed in the foyer in front of the bar. How can one resist? And our selection tasted as good as it looked. The plated helpings are generous, and they do pack a climate- friendly takeaway bag. Great service from Joseph and team. There appear to be various conference / events rooms on the premises. The bathrooms were also very tastefully decorated for a relatively longstanding establishment. Shall definitely allow ourselves to be spoiled at Olives &...