The Olive Tree — Restaurant in England

Ate here last night for the first, and last, time. Arrived at 20.20 for a booking for 4 at 20.30. Told the manager who I was and what time my table was booked for. I was all but ignored and, along with my party, was left to stand in front of the bar on the only empty piece of floor in the restaurant dodging waiters dashing around like headless chickens with drinks, meals and empty plates/glasses. After 20 minutes I was eventually acknowledged by the manager and asked if I would like to order some drinks. My daughter and her fiancé ordered a bottle of white wine which the manager opened and then promptly poured into a wine glass which had come directly out of the glass washer. Not only was the glass dripping wet it was extremely warm. A fact he acknowledged by saying oops! My daughter and I ordered a spicy minced beef pizza, which was supposed to include mushrooms, roast peppers and mozzarella. When the pizzas arrived the topping was, what I can only describe as end piece strips of roast beef, no roast peppers, no mushrooms and very little mozzarella. We pointed this out to the waiter. After he had consulted with another waiter we were told "there is no spicy minced beef left, so this is what we've given you, "The beef is spicy" The beef wasn't spicy in the least. I again pointed out to him that there were no mushrooms or roast peppers. His reply was "I can see a piece of mushroom" No mention of any roast peppers!! We were offered any pasta dish we wanted, obviously pizzas were no longer an option! We politely declined the offer. At no time throughout this fiasco did the manager make any approach to apologise or offer any explanation for the extremely poor service. They did initially reduce the bill by 10%. After a further discussion with the manager at the end of the meal the bill was reduced again by removing our drinks from the total. This was an acceptable conclusion, but my daughter and I would have much rather had a main course of our choice and not some concoction given to us. Needless to say I will not be eating...

We visited this restaurant recently after really looking forward to a nice meal out — a rare treat for us — but unfortunately, it ended up being a very disappointing experience.

When our mains arrived, I noticed mould in the Parmesan after just a few bites. It was visibly growing and completely off-putting. I sent my meal back immediately, and my partner ended up throwing his away as well since it had the same Parmesan. It was incredibly disheartening, especially after looking forward to it all week.

What made the situation worse was that no one offered an apology or a refund at the time — we had to ask for one ourselves. We still paid for our drinks, (soggy) olives, and one main, but it didn’t feel right to be charged for a meal that clearly should never have left the kitchen.

The overall hygiene of the venue also left a lot to be desired. The toilets were not well maintained, and there were flies in the restaurant and even dead spiders in the bathroom — not what you expect in a professional, clean environment.

I followed up with an email after our visit, hoping the restaurant would address the issue privately and show some accountability, but I haven’t received a reply, hence the review on here now. That lack of response was really disappointing and suggests a worrying attitude toward customer care.

I don’t normally leave negative reviews, but in this case, I felt it needed to be shared. I hope the management takes this seriously and makes improvements — both to hygiene standards and how they handle situations when...

On arrival in York, we instantly looked for somewhere to book for the evening. On entering the restaurant no-one came out to see us, I found someone by shouting through the staff door, he said he'd be with us. We waited another 10 minutes & still he didn't come out? Meanwhile another two couples came to book but they said we're not waiting! We then gave up & left.

There was a tray of used coffee cups on the bar, on a tray with cash? Obviously there was noone to take payment either?

Later on in the evening (not knowing where we were going to eat, we passed the olive tree once again, this time two gentlemen were in the bar area, I booked our table for 7:30, reserved a nice table in the corner & left.

Arrived at 7:25 and our table had people seated and their meal was just arriving.... Said nothing because 'what would be the point'?

The food was lovely, hubby had sirloin and I enjoyed the creamy risotto.

The staff were really friendly, although the lady owner could be found propping up the bar in real deep thought (probably thinking when will I have time to prepare for Xmas, just like the rest of us ladies) hahahaha

All in all okay, but if the front door is open, someone...