The Olive — Restaurant in London

We have been visiting Olive for many years, as frequently as every fortnight at one stage (we have lived in the area for 11 years). The staff have always been great and food grilled to perfection.

In the last 2 year's we've been 3 times. Under the new management there have been several changes that I haven't particularly enjoyed, which has mainly been portion reduction. We always order the same which is the Olive special mix grill. We had noticed the last 4 visits the rice portion was shrinking. This particular visit I couldn't continue to say nothing as the rice had reduced by 2/3. There was a time when I used to leave with a doggy bag because the portions was too big. Then as the portions reduced I'd feel less and less full. I knew looking at this dish that I would leave hungry and made a comment to the waitress. The manager came over and told me that the portions are the same as they always have been and that my last complaint about there being less ribs was wrong too. In previous visits we had always been given 4 ribs in the special mix grill and on the day of the complaint we had been given 2 with 1 being smaller than a chicken wing. I felt it warranted being mentioned. We were given a free baklava dessert, we did not ask for anything extra when I gave feedback. Thank you manager for throwing the old complaint in my face, it completely ruined my evening. My husband explained that things change. I guess I have to accept that Olive has changed. They no longer offer complimentary bread and hummus, which for me is OK as I don't particularly like it. Meat portions have shrunk and now rice also.

It's funny hearing management deny the changes. Customers aren't stupid and nor do that like obnoxious service. I've only ever complained twice, since the new management...

I have been to this restaurant a few times before with a small group of my friends, I ordered Adana Beyti my Adana came but not as if it just came off the grill but it had been resting for a while and the only thing that was hot was the sauce the bread was so soggy it wasn't even grilled before putting it on to the plate, my friends where enjoying there food and at the end we asked for four English milky tea's, we ended up with four Turkish tea's in there traditional small Turkish cups didnt want to say anything, thinking he got the order wrong, will drink it anyway, then came along four small tiny milk jugs, we all looked at each other and said maybe they dont have cups and saucers, we asked for the bill, I was shocked to see the four small Turkish tea's were almost £8 & £4 under mic, I called the waiter over to understand what mic £4 was & even the waiter didn't know what it was so i asked her to ask the young man who served the tea, he came over to tell us it was for the milk, again I couldn't believe we were charged for the milk, I said I've never heard of paying extra for milk for an English tea, I asked for English tea and ended up with Turkish tea and milk, this is the first place I have been to that charged almost £12 for four small English tea's. The waiter came back with a knew receipt and removed away the milk (mic £4) still very disappointing, if I wasn't to check the bill we would have never known we got charged £4 for milk, we always leave a nice tip, this was the first time I said I wasn't leaving any tip, people please check your receipts and make sure what you have ordered is all on there and no extra, please question something you do not understand, almost £8 for four Turkish tea's is expensive but we...

Update: ordered takeaway recently and something has definitely changed. The salad had no red cabbage salad or red onion and was literally lettuce with tiny bits of cucumber and tomato. The rice was just plain boiled rice which was sticky and overcooked not Turkish rice. The muckver were like a deep fried mixed veg dumpling rather than courgette fritters which were not cooked in the middle. The meat was still good but the rest disappointing. I am so so upset as this has been my go to Turkish place for well over 10 years and where we always went for special occasions etc. I am hoping this was an off day but my friend who also ordered recently who knows the place said they had a similar experience recently.

I did order burgers from here to try as they were new to the menu which were nice but came with fries not the proper chips like they do in the restaurant.

We were always regulars here but due to personal circumstances have not been able to visit so wanted to support our favourite Turkish by ordering takeaways but will not continue to do so with this quality of food. Not sure if dining in is how it used to be but either way they should offer the same service whatever the situation.

Previous review: Great food. Never disappoints. Have been going here since it opened and have always had a...