Oliver's Blaine — Restaurant in Blaine

We arrived at Oliver's about 5:45 on a Sunday evening in late January. My first impression upon entering was that the music was too loud, and unrecognizable because the bass was way too high. It was distractingly loud. The atmosphere is decidedly "warehouse/industrial" which I think is odd, since the menu is chef-designed and pricing is not shy. Food-wise, it's much more fine-dining-expereince, but the ambiance is not warm, not inviting, and does nothing to make you want to linger. (I still can't figure out why we need a bloody television turned to a sports channel in every single restaurant. What ever happened to dinner and conversation?) Seating in the booths is on hard wood slatted chairs which are not very comfortable.

In any case, my wife and I were seated quickly in a booth. There are three seating areas; the bar, a center section of tall, 8-person tables which made no sense to me, and a variety of booths against the outside wall. Those were all full, while the bar was about half full and the taller center tables were completely empty. I have no idea what the idea is behind those center tables. The only way you'd want to sit at one is if you're with a large group, but it's not a big place at all, so those tables represent probably 50% of seating capacity.

The menu was limited and somewhat on the pricier side, but I'm pretty sure that the place is chef-owned, so you eat here because of quality food, not low prices.

Our waitress brought waters and then 10-15 minutes later took our order. I asked her if they could turn down the music, or at least dial back the low-frequency part of the sound system. She asked me what I'd like to hear instead and I said, "just make it quieter if you can, please." She said she'd have the bartender put on something different...which is not what I asked for but at some point you just gotta roll with it.

My wife ordered the Wagyu beef sandwich (about $18) with creamed greens, (you get one side item with your entree) and I had the 1/2 Cornish Game Hen, with Thumbelina carrots. My entree was $19.99 and I was honestly shocked that the Game Hen portion could be as small as it was. See the photo; my plate was about 9" across so this was about 3" of meat, including the bones! Embarrassing, really. Maybe six bites. Maybe. I've never seen an entree that small in my life. (Our server said later that they have appetizers larger than that!) The presentation was decent and it was garnished nicely, but I was not "wowed" by any stretch. The carrots were quite good however. My wife's creamed greens side dish was nicely portioned, served hot; and we agree they were very good.

My wife's sandwich was very tasty as well; the Wagyu beef was pretty tender, very flavorful, and it was served on a ciabatta roll with grilled onions and light cheese layer. Since she didn't finish it, I had half of her sandwich, and neither of us went home hungry. We also each ordered a glass of red wine. In both cases, if we assume a red wine pour should come to the widest part of the glass or slightly above it, both glasses were well short of that mark. I estimate we each got about 3.5 oz of wine while there should have been 5 oz. or so in each glass.

Overall? Very mixed bag. I realize that I'm calling out a good number of disappointments in this review, and I may sound like I'm nit-picking. What I'm trying to do is cover all aspects of the dining experience. The chef/owner also owns about a half dozen other restaurants in the area. They should have their game down pat by now. If you don't mind loud music, a cold, industrial feel and good but fairly expensive food, then you may have a good time here. I'll go back at least one more time in the near future and see if things...

If I could leave no stars I would. I thought Bricks was bad but this place takes the cake. We ordered mussels and the octopus and a couple drinks, and the mediocre drinks were the highlight of the night. Our server let our mussels sit on the expo line for close to 20 minutes then had the audacity to tell us she wanted to get them to us while they were hit while we waited for the octopus. We wish she hadn't. The mussels were barely warm, and I have never been served seafood that smelled so fishy and off. After attempting to eat them but not desiring diarrhea from bad seafood, we pushed them aside. Our octopus showed up which was also slightly more than warm and was mealy and course. Luckily the manager helped us and removed them both from our bill and offered to send a gift card for our experience, but our server should be fired for being horrendous. The food was atrocious. I was looking so forward to Blaine having a food option that wasn't another burger or sandwhich, but if they either can't source good ingredients or can't execute them, they are better off not serving them. Do not order anything from this place other than a burger or pizza. They should send their cooks downtown to eat their planned dishes from others that know how to make them then try and replicate...

Kind of a mixed dining experience for us. I would recommend reservations. We called to see if they had open tables and they said they did. We ended up at one of the weird long center tables because we didn't have reservations. Don't really understand why they put a big shelf down the center of these tables. My son and I sat on one side and couldn't barely see my husband on the other side. It made for an awkward dining experience.

The place smells great when you walk in and had a modern vibe to it. The menu is pretty limited. I got the mean green pizza which was soggy and bland. My son got a burger which was also very bland. My husband got the steak sandwich which had a lot of flavor and was very good. So food really varied on quality depending on what you got. Prices were steep for the quality of food. This is definitely more of a wine/bar type of place. The drink list and wine list were bigger than the food menu. It's not a great family place.

Service was okay. The staff was cheerful and friendly but slow to take our order and slow to bring the check. In the end it was okay but I doubt we'll be back. With options like Tavern Grill, Misano and El Zocalo nearby we'd much rather eat at once of...