Twisted Olive — Restaurant in Bethlehem

My wife and I went on a Thursday night during Restaurant Week. We never ate there before and thought it was a good time to check it out, based on the reviews. We were disappointed.

We arrived for our 6:30 reservation and the hostess put us at the table closest to the front door and the bar, so we asked to be seated further into the restaurant. A few minutes later she came back and reseated us. We sat for 5-10 minutes with nothing but menus our table. Every server that past us ignored us. Finally, I asked a server walking by who was taking care of our table. She said she would check.

A few minutes later the same server came back and asked if we wanted anything to drink. She did not introduce herself as our server or tell us her name. We did not order any drinks and told her we were ready to order. Restaurant Week offers a 4-course meal for $35.00, and it is a limited menu. The appetizers came out quickly and were delicious: Butternut Squash Crostini and Conch Fritters. This was followed by Salads, which were also very good. My wife and I both ordered the Thai BBQ Salmon. It was the smallest piece of fish I have ever seen, and it could not have been more than 2 to 3 ounces. The sauce was delicious, but the fish was dry and overcooked. I asked my server why the fish was so small, and she replied they wanted to be sure we had room for dessert. Dessert was delicious. My wife ordered the Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, and I had the Roasted Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake Trifle. We were not asked if we wanted coffee with our dessert, and the 4 courses came out in about an hour. Not sure if the small portions and rushed meal were a function of Restaurant Week.

The dining room itself was nice. Seated behind me was a table of four men, and at one point one of them had a Facetime call with his wife, and I heard the entire conversation. Also, to my left was a family with a young baby who cried. It felt more like a Denny’s than fine dining.

There are many great restaurants in Bethlehem and there is no reason to...

Disappointed like a father at my last experience at this place.

We were seated at our table and waited 40 minutes before being brought glasses of water. I could have drove to Philly faster than receiving a glass of water... But no service after this.

Other table sat down after us, was serviced... Still waiting...

Finally a gentleman came over and took our order. Made a joke about poor communication and didn't really apologize for the wait. (This is ok until what followed)

Waited... and server came back. Said our drink order had been "lost in translation" ie "I forgot to put your drink order in" and told us he just put our drinks in. Its now an hour later.

Finally the drinks come out (hooray) except he proceeds to spill an entire glass of champagne on our one friend and all over her cell phone. No apology... wait it gets more fun

Food comes out stages, some apps, some entrees its kind of a mix and match. Waiting on two drinks still...

Finally the food and drinks come out. Foods is cold, go figure. No apology at this point we have gone through the five stages of grief so we are at peace with all of this.

Then... second round of drinks comes out and here we go again, spills a SECOND glass champagne on another member of our party.

Finally get the bill, made a remark to the server that we would appreciate it if he took the spilt drink off the tab. Bill comes out drink still on there.

All five of us in our party have previous food service experience, like a lot of it. Food service management experience, we were cool up to this point but now we need to speak to the manager.

Manager comes up(its the silent guy who gave us waters and left at the very beginning) and when we start explaining what has happened he cuts us off in mid sentence and starts arguing with us! Wow dinner and a show, this is great. Barely an apology for whats ensued and takes the spilled drinks off the tab.

So Ive ate here a lot over the years, can't say I'm gonna do that after...

We had reservations & still waited 20min passed our time. We had a party of 5 & all got served our food, but one person in our party. They brought the food out 2 meals at a time & never came back to serve our last guest in our party. We waited over 15 min & finally I got up to ask where the meal was. It was then brought out, which was a Ceasar salad w/ chicken about another 10 min later & waitress never said sorry, all that was said was they were waiting on the chicken. My husband also got chicken, so that made no sense. They then offered to take the Ceasars salad off the bill, but really?? Thats all your doing for us? I wasnt impressed at all! Making us wait 25 min late past our reservations & then we waited another 30-40 min after we ordered our food & then only got 4 plates brought out for a party of 5, so our last guest had to wait another 10 min. For the price you pay & the small portions of food you get for the price, it's definitely not worth the money. Between having reservations, which we waited 25 min after our reservation time, not having all of our food at once, I would not ever go back there. The service sucks, place is so small you feel like your table is on top of other tables, very poor ventilation, you wait long periods of time with reservations & then you wait just as long if not longer for your over expensive little portion of food to be served, that's if everyone in your party gets served at the same time. So beware of this over expensive restaraunt. There's alot better restaurants out there, that's worth the buck unlike this place. If you have any kind of breathing problem or allergies stay clear, very poorly ventilated & alot of smoke from being able to cook your own steak at your table. Be prepared to take the smells home with you, bc they get into your clothes....