Olive Cafe — Restaurant in Kansas City

I would like to debunk all the negative statements made by the phake guy. I have been going to the olive cafe for 10 years now and got to know the family that owns it. Awesome food and awesome people but let's get to the guys comments. First he says aljazeera is always on which is false. I personally like aljazeera and I sometimes make fun of the owner for not ordering it because he says it costs too much and not worth it. Secondly he claims the staff is extremely religious.....HAHA.....In Islam we have a prayer on Fridays between 1 and 2 pm.....During this hour it is highly FORBIDDEN to work or keep your business open......If they were deeply religious the restaurant would be obviously closed.....well guess what it's not! It stays open which is against extremely religious people's principles. Lastly....He claims the owner was discussing jihad with someome......Their are 2 reasons that cannot be true......first reason is that if he really was to discuss jihad (terrorism) he would either be secretive about it and make sure noone was around or he would speak Arabic. Now....If he did speak Arabic...obviously the American guy cannot understand anything except the word jihad when it is spoken.....well happens to be the owner has an uncle and a cousin named jihad and also at least 5 customers named jihad that are regular customers and friends. The guys accusations should not be taken lightly. From the way he sees things people would assume the owners of the olive cafe are holding meetings about terrorism when in reality the meetings are about whether or not to add spices to their falafel! His negative accusations and comments prove that Islamaphobia is real....When in reality the owners are good hard working people who are trying to support...

An indoor mediterranean market and small cafe.

The market has a wide variety of interesting items, like grape leaves, tahini, olive oils, cous cous, imported treats, and a wide variety of spices among other things. Plus a small fresh section with things like some really good looking baby eggplants.

They have a cafe style order counter and checkout for the store in one (probably means a bit of a wait). With a small to medium seating area on the other side.

We tried the sampler with hummus, baba ganoush, and dolmas. Plus the Fattoush salad and lentil soup.

The hummus was good, very smooth and some in my party said it was the best they had ever had. I would definitely say it ranks well, although slightly less flavorful than some, it was probably the highlight of the meal.

The baba ganoush was good, although it didn't have that signature smokey flavor from roasting, a little milder in flavor than some.

The dolmas were pretty good. Although not my favorites, they were interesting ... Rolled in sumack which gave a different subtle flavor. Slightly tart / sour / acidic but they didn't taste like lemon.

The Fattoush salad was good, with crisp Romain and lots of cucumber and tomato, plus kalamata olives with the pits. Served with cheese on top and tzatziki sauce.

The lentil soup was decent, if a bit on the bland side. Very lite salt, and it didn't seem to have the common saffron, cumin, lemon, cracked pepper flavors.

The service was very friendly and pretty helpful. They went out of their way a bit.

The atmosphere ... It is located in a pretty run down strip mall, but it's certainly functional. It also sounds like they are in the process of moving to a new location - which I haven't seen but is...

Olive Cafe is a hidden gem for a buffet lover, especially to those who love Mediterranean food items. Priced at a reasonable amount of around $11 per person before tax, this buffet only comes with a caveat of being lunch time buffet. The store includes a moderate collection of grocery items as well accompanied by a fresh meat section. Lamb and goat meat are sold fresh frequently while beef meet is also sold . Now coming back to the buffet menu, I would like to mention the items which I found most delicious. The gyros, kofta kebabs, lamb shanks are my personal favorites. Chicken shawarma, fried eggplant, pita breads are also pretty good. The one addition that can elevate this buffet is dessert. Not much dessert is available in the buffet. The sitting section is not very spacious. However, you can go there with a group and have your lunch comfortably. Overall, this place is definitely worth a visit for the...