Olives Cafe — Restaurant in England

Perhaps we went on a bad day, because our experience was very different to everyone else's. We chose Olive's because it looked so appealing on the outside. It's really pretty! Went upstairs to enquire about a table for 4 and were told they could seat us as a 2 and a 2, which I said I was completely fine with. Then the guy said, "We'll put the tables together and seat you as a 4, if you could just wait outside?"(covid regs), so I said okay and went out. We were left to wait for what seemed like indefinitely, so I peeked through the window and they hadn't moved the tables. We seem to have been forgotten about, but just as we were about the leave, someone vacated a table outside. Great, we thought! We'd skipped breakfast and were hungry. The menu only offered sausage rolls and quiche, so we opted for cream teas, except my daughter who was desperate for something savoury. Then we were told they'd run out of sausage rolls (it was only 12:30pm). So daughter reluctantly picked chocolate cake, as she saw some kids eating it. They'd run out of that as well! :/ Scone was freshly made, but was flavourless and they were a little bit tight with the clotted cream as well. Tea was ok (good selection), but we left feeling underwhelmed and won't be returning. I don't think they care though as St.Ives is so busy, they will always have customers. It's all about location, isn't it..... Having read the response, I just have to say, that we are not unreasonable people and this was our genuine experience on the day. We were waiting an awfully long time. But like I said, we must've have just gone on a bad day as all other reviews...

A long, 4hr drive from home to St Ives found us arriving in fairly urgent need of a late lunch. As we walked from the nearby municipal cark park we spotted Olives Cafe and some very happy customers sat outside, clearly relishing their cream teas. We enquired about lunch and the charming owner gave us the options - soup of the day or pie of the day!! This is often a very good sign of home-cooked, fresh food and doing a few things really well. It was an easy decision; I had the pie and my wife had the soup! Both were excellent, very tasty and really enjoyable.

Atop the service counter we spotted the much talked about scones. They looked absolutely incredible and judging by the number of locals popping in to enquire about 'today's choices' they clearly have a reputation to behold. The owner told us that they bake 140 fresh each morning.

Olives was perfect for what we wanted. A light but very tasty lunch to set us up for the rest of the day. It's always lovely to support small businesses like these where quality and service come before...

This was such a great find! We were in St Ives for the day and wanted to grab a good cream tea at some point. After a quick Google, I was told that Olives is a definite! We found it nice and easily through Google Maps and signs and were not disappointed! We waited outside for 5-10 minutes but we’re checked on during that time more than once. Although small inside, it didn’t feel crammed and both workers were so kind, friendly and helpful which really made the experience. Food was fast, tasty and just what we wanted! There was a good balance of feeling like you wanted to be quick for anyone waiting, but not feeling rushed at all and the staff were so good at navigating this and turning tables round as quickly as they could. Honestly cannot recommend Olives highly enough; incredible food, an amazing little location and such genuine, kind and helpful staff! To say there were only 2 of them working, they had the whole thing down to a tee and you could hardly tell! Thank you so much for the best cream...