Olive Cafe, LLC — Restaurant in Portland

Who would thought that downtown Portland Maine would have such phenomenal Lebanese food. But here it is!

I fancy myself as a bit off a Mediterranean / Lebanese cook and foodie from the Seattle/ Northwest area so I know good Lebanese food. Unfortunately the local Lebanese restaurants (Aladdin's Palace & Omar Al' Kuran) all closed down sadly, due to covid so I was ecstatic to find one here while visiting Portland Maine.

Came in on a mid-October, Wednesday evening. Wasn't too busy got seated right away. The waiter was very eager to serve but a bit anxious and talked extremely fast. Made us feel rushed to place an order and we almost left for that reason. He needs to take the intensity down a notch or two. Glad we stayed though. The smell on the dining area was divine. To start, ordered the pita chips with hummus. Just fabulous! Some of the best hummus I've ever had with exception of my own of course. All the flavors came through from the lemon, garlic and cumin. Very well-balanced and smooth. Went well with the truly authentic pita chips which had their own spices. For the main entrees we ordered the kofta plate (spiced ground beef) w/rice and the fattoush salad. The kofta also came with a vinaigrette salad which was a nice accent to the very powerful and flavorful kofta. Had a nice smooth velvety tahini sauce spread all over it which really balanced it out with all the salt, pepper and allspice flavors. Rice was a bit mushy and overcooked. I would preferred just plain rice with some cinnamon and a slice of lemon to squeeze on top of it. GF had the fattoush salad. Excellent mix of greens and flavors although she says it was too salty and I had to agree with her after trying it. But we both have to agree that was some of the best hummus we've ever had and if we were to do it all over again we'd probably just order the hummus with pita bread and I would just have the kofta with my own side of hummus. Because she went to town on it!

So in the end it was an excellent dining experience and I would recommend it to anybody who's in downtown Portland to at least come by and try this excellent authentic Lebanese restaurant.

Note to Owner: Of course you can totally ignore this, take it for what it is but I really think this advice could help as I've made many a Lebanese dish with some of the best chefs. In my opinion there are some things that you could do to bring in more customers. One, cut back on the salt on the fattoush salad. Really overwhelmed what could have been an incredible salad. Two, offer a slice of lemon with your plates. The lemon helps cut some of the spices and heaviness of the meal. Three, just serve plain, fluffy white rice with a sprinkle of cinnamon and some white onion. Trust me, your customers will love it! Offer some other typical Mediterranean sides like cabbage rolls or rolled stuff grape leaves (dolmades). And finally, offer a combo plate so your customers can try a variety of your different meat dishes. Trust me you'll make a lot of...

I’d like to premise this review by stating that Olive Cafe WAS one of my family’s favorite restaurants. We ordered carryout and tried to support them during the pandemic. However, after tonight, I’d leave zero stars if I could. We have dined at Olive Cafe often and have only had minor issues, which were promptly resolved. It’s been quite some time since we visited Olive Cafe (we chose to not dine out during Covid), but felt like venturing back out tonight. We began our trek to Portland and called Olive Cafe to see if there was a wait for a table. We were told no. I asked if we could place our names on the list and was told no, it is first come first served. Not even ten minutes after my call, my husband dropped off myself, our daughter, and our son to grab a table while he searched for a parking spot. When we walked in, the host told us that it would be an hour-plus wait. I explained that I literally JUST called and was told there was no wait. He said “well, I got a request for a large party, what do you expect I do?” Here’s the thing though, the large party WASN’T EVEN THERE! The table was sitting empty. Apparently this establishment picks and chooses when it takes names. There was another couple who walked in behind me and my kids - they apparently called, too, and walked all the way down from their hotel, only to be turned away. As we all walked away from Olive Cafe, we all collectively agreed it would be our last visit. We will take our dollars elsewhere. The lack of customer service and poor management spoke volumes. Commercial Street and its surrounding areas are full of phenomenal food and restaurants with exemplary customer service - save yourself the hassle and...

Is this place even a business anymore? It certainly doesn't appear that way. Constantly closed, erratic hours, constantly close some more, not acceppting orders for takeout, no longer accepting reservations, as of today they have not been available on the local takeout apps for seemingly two weeks.

Sadly they are like many other local eateries in Portland, only a little worse. It wasn't long ago many of these places were begging and pleading for your business, poor-mouthing to local media about the state of business during the pandemic, soliciting extra payment and donations via takeout apps to help them during the hard times. I thought it was odd then, knowing they all did phenomenal business during the pandemic. Like many other local eateries, Olive Cafe seems to have become so accustomed to the glut of business that there is no longer a respect for the customer. they are so rarely available but I wonder why they even continue to pretend they're a regular operating restaurant. They just aren't. Who needs to keep regular hours or provide takeout service when there are hordes of mindless tourists who bumble in from one day to the other keeping them with a steady flow of cash? From what I recall, the food was still good the last time I tried it. But nowhere near so good or fresh to justify the bother and irritation you suffer when attempting to do business with them. clearly the owners have just given up. Because of that, I encourage others to give up on this business as well. It just...