Olivo — Restaurant in Guildford

Olivo Restaurant review

My husband, Patrick, writes:

On Friday 2nd December, we were invited to lunch at the Olivo restaurant in Guildford by kind friends who pre-booked a table for us. It turned out to be one of the best things Kerry and I have done in town for as long as we can remember.

The easily accessible venue has a warm, cosy, unsurprisingly strong Italian atmosphere and, whilst being quite busy during our visit, it was pleasantly quiet. The seating areas were spotless, the toilets appeared well serviced and the staff made us feel as welcome as we would if we had turned up to eat at our own family homes. I wasn’t exactly the best dressed customer on the day and yet I never once felt I was being judged.

All three courses, the wine and the coffee to follow, were keenly priced and nothing far short of superb. Further to this, our waitress was polite, friendly, attending to all of our needs without going over the top, rushing us to vacate the table or making us feel like we were a nuisance ..and you might be surprised how many do!

Would my wife and I consider dining there again one evening on our own? In a heart beat.

Patrick's lunch was neither pictured nor reviewed. However, as for my own meal, I have written up my comments below:

Vegan Starter I chose the Insalatona as my starter from the Set Lunch menu and I was not disappointed. There were multiple choices available including another vegan option, two vegetarian options, soup of the day and several meat choices.

The mix of colours in my starter was visually appealing. I decided to drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and some balsamic vinegar over the top to dress the dish. With cooked potatoes, vegetables and other ingredients, it meant I had a mix of soft, smooth and crunchy textures. I was impressed with the portion size considering it was a starter and I was very pleased when I realised they had used both whole green and black olives in the dish.

Seafood & Fish Main If you are unable to eat seafood or fish, they also have two vegan, one vegetarian and several other meat options to choose from.

My main was the Merluzzo Allo Zafferano and when it was served, I was also given a side dish on which to place my discarded mussel shells along with a sealed moist hand wipe.

The dish was well presented with the mussels laid around the edge and the crisp, crunchy bread on the opposite side laid on top of other components to make sure it didn't get soggy with sauce. There were a good number of large prawns and beneath them was a reasonable-sized piece of prime cod. The overall flavour was very balanced and, after eating, the remaining sauce was easily mopped up with my final piece of bread.

Dessert From a traditional Italian selection which included a fine cheese board, I chose Tiramisu and was delighted when I saw how much I was given. Such an indulgent treat made with brandy cream and coffee-soaked sponge finished off with a dusting of coco and two wafer fingers. Overall, it tasted so decadent and moreish. I will be honest as I had to take a small break before finishing it because I had already eaten so...

Where do I start.. PLEASE READwhat a shame to have a previously gorgeous Italian go down hill so badly. I wouldn’t advise anyone to go here anymore after convincing my friends Friday night to come for dinner because of how good it has been before. (They wasn’t sure about visiting going off latest reviews but I insisted it has been good when I have been) we had a party of 8 of us got tucked in a corner upstairs on a tiny table but this was nothing compared to what was to come. Firstly 4 of our party ( as the other 4 was still arriving) ordered a bottle of wine that took 20 minutes to come then our freinds arrived and ordered 4 beers that took another 20+ minutes . We actually all got our starters before they got a bottle of beer… 1 starter didn’t arrive and the calamari was cold where it had been obviously left sitting but they said they would have another arancini made up as it was missing and we accepted it as a mistake , we then had it come 10 minutes after the rest of us had finished eating only to find the arancini was completely frozen in the middle which I’ve never seen something so bad .. we complained to the waiter and then the owner lady with blonde hair came upstairs. Now going off the reviews I’ve read we are clearly not the first group to have problems with her awful rude attitude and failure to accept the food was frozen after we said plesse feel the middle with your finger. She argued our point for 10 minutes not letting us talk at times and continuing to say there was nothing wrong with the food although she wouldn’t touch it to see for herself. It was my mums 60th birthday and she actually started getting cross with the attitude of the owner who was so rude and in denial. She then began to calm down and accept and said she has been the owner for years and they have a new team working and finally half apologised, the lady’s partner then came up and just kept repeating “are you going to let me make u another one” so we did and waited 15 minutes for the dish to come out , about half hour after the rest of us had finished eating our starters , the plates of our starters remained on the table the whole time .. over 40 minutes of looking at dirty plates we actually had to get up and grab a waiter to ask to clear the table which is absolutely beyond me this wasn’t done, anyway mains then came out which was tasteless and full of salt , the lady came round asked how it was we all half nodded didn’t really say a lot as we didn’t want anymore drama from her , she rolled her eyes and said the head chef prepared this especially for all of you well I can tell you if that was there head chef cooking then blimey I can’t imagine how poor the others are. Awful night ruined my mums 60th birthday because of extremely rude owners and poor food which could not be accepted , would avoid at all cost especially with postiano up the road the consistently never disappoints, going off reading previous recent reviews it seems this place is on the slide which is a shame but with owners it’s what...

Dining at Oliveo was a bit like stepping into a parallel universe where Italian cuisine isn’t just food, but a love language.

The moment we walked in, it was all candlelight, clinking glasses, and the gentle hum of conversations that hinted at something delicious arriving soon. The staff? Warm, unpretentious, and genuinely welcoming — like you’d just popped round to Nonna’s for a midweek risotto and she’d roped in a Michelin-starred chef.

And then there was Bogdan.

If this meal was a film, Bogdan was the director, producer, and lead actor — with charm for days and timing sharper than a chef’s knife. He knew the menu like a poet knows his verses — but without the fluff. No upselling, no fuss — just honest, passionate recommendations that made us feel like he had personally tasted every dish that morning (and probably helped cook it too).

He managed that perfect balance of being there just when you needed him, while somehow vanishing like a ninja during private moments. His service was so smooth, so instinctive, that by the time dessert arrived we’d basically decided that if we ever open a restaurant, we’re stealing Bogdan.

Now, back to the food. The burrata arrived like a soft, creamy diplomat sent to restore world peace. One gentle slice and it practically collapsed into itself, surrendering to the olive oil drizzle like it had waited all week for this exact moment. The accompanying tomatoes? Not your supermarket fare. These had stories. Probably sunbathed in Sicily and flown in first-class.

Then came the pasta — hand-made, silky, perfectly al dente — the sort of thing that makes you question your life choices every time you boil supermarket spaghetti for 9-12 minutes. Mine was a truffle-infused tagliatelle so decadent it should’ve come with a warning and a glass of prosecco. Luckily, the prosecco was already on the table.

Dessert? Oh yes. The tiramisu didn’t just whisper sweet nothings, it sang them — with perfect layering and just enough coffee kick to make you feel poetic about mascarpone.

Prices? Let’s just say for what you get — a slice of Italian heaven, service from a man who belongs in a hospitality hall of fame, and possibly a mild addiction to their pistachio gelato — it’s more than fair. Oliveo doesn’t just feed you. It courts you. It romances your tastebuds and then leaves you walking home wondering if you’ve just had one of the best meals...