Olivella — Restaurant in Ojai

We’ve been loyal guests of the Inn for years and have even hosted multiple events here. This year, we chose to celebrate my husband’s birthday at Olivella, making a reservation months in advance. When we arrived—dressed up, excited, and with our peaceful 6-month-old baby asleep in his stroller—we were shocked to be turned away because of our child. The manager claimed our baby would “ruin the ambiance,” which felt incredibly dismissive and discriminatory.

Even more upsetting, other staff later told us this was a blanket policy meant to prevent disruptions from misbehaving children—but that exceptions are often made. Ours was clearly a situation where an exception made sense. Instead, the manager was cold, unaccommodating, and entirely inflexible.

To make matters worse, we were told the grandparents should wait with the baby at the bar while we dined alone. That’s not just unhelpful—it’s insulting.

It’s deeply disappointing that a resort branding itself as family-friendly would treat loyal guests this way. This experience was upsetting, embarrassing, and a stark contrast to the warm hospitality we’ve come to expect. We’ll be seriously rethinking future visits and event plans at...

My boyfriend and I have traveled around the world eating at Michelin restaurants and Olivella has topped them all. Every course was absolutely delicious and the portion sizes were generous given how many courses were provided. We tried not to fill up on bread but the salted Vermont butter and local bread was DELICIOUS. The salad was heavy on vinaigrette which I appreciated and was a perfect pairing with the bread. We both had the rigatoni which was the only dish we would describe as "flat" but the wine pairing was perfect for the dish. The chicken was some of the best chicken I've ever had. It was crispy on the outside and extremely moist. By the end I could barely eat the dessert but the Fig and Honey olive oil cake was light and perfectly sweet.

The service was top notch and even the busser was able to answer all of our questions about the food. Our server was fun and on top of it and modified my drink to perfection.

If I didn't live 1.5 hours away I would be here every weekend. Compliments to the chef and team for the wonderful...

The ambiance and service are a 5. The food is very average . Nothing special in my opinion and so over priced. Salad was underdressed and very average. Risotto was good but no better then any other restaurant I’ve been to. Branzino was a bit strange. Flavour combinations, I’m just not sure they worked . Olive oil cake was dry and I just didn’t enjoy the dessert. You are paying for the ambiance and service so if that is ok with you then i would dine here. I’ve have many meals that were far better. I honestly think wrt reviews for restaurants in general many people have high expectations going in and then drink before their meals, get slightly buzzed and think the food is fabulous. And then write a review. Maybe I’m too picky. But I really didn’t think the food was very good. It’s fine. There were some things we did enjoy so I will say it was a hit and miss experience wrt food. At the price point, the entire meal should be impeccable. That’s my...