The Little Oliva — Restaurant in Redondo Beach

Usually I'm on here giving 5 stars for places like this, but whatever happened today I'm really hoping is a huge exception. Maybe I can come back to have a better experience. I brought 6 easy going guests, not particularly demanding (except for wanting to split the check)... But if we needed to ask for anything like extra napkins or water it was not going to happen. There was no staff in sight except ONE guy.

For a busy Sunday there were NO bussers, no host, no wait staff except just one guy, who was obviously overloaded. He had to handle all the roles. He was bartending, bussing tables, taking orders, serving food, everything, and not in much of a hurry either. When we asked what was going on he muttered something about somebody missing. The whole time I was there I marveled at how there was no expense spared on the restaurant's decorations. I had to wonder, does this place treat its employees horribly, and somebody just quit and left them hanging? I don't know, but it was quite apparent they had no backup.

Needless to say we had long waits for any step, to get the menus in the first place, to order, etc. When the food came out (55 min after we arrived) it seemed hurried. Everybody who ordered Eggs Benedict got hard eggs- not a huge problem, just obviously not a lot of attention available. Other dishes had various issues. If we wanted to make any requests there was nobody to talk to anyway, so we were relieved that the waiter finally came back with our checks and we were able to leave. Although, he wasn't going to pay attention to us unless we stood up as if we were leaving before we paid. We tipped extra because we felt bad.

A table next to us sat unbussed for the entire hour and 50 minutes we were there. (picture attached)

Before we left, another guest loudly started protesting the lack of service (she hadn't even gotten her menu yet), and she took our advice to leave, but not before walking around and discovering there was a manager sitting in the office the whole time! He was on the phone, looking majorly stressed out. The obvious point was that throughout all of this he was not backing up his employee at all. He could have filled in for the guy just 5 or 10 minutes and everything would be so much better. The loud patron recited how she's worked in service industries a lot and what the manager was doing was not acceptable behavior at all.

I don't know whatever problems they were happening today, it could be a serious issue that's not their fault. Although, I got the feeling it was self inflicted. For a restaurant that goes to such lengths to decorate but has no staff, and gives no apology, it seems like a company problem.

We never asked for apology, but that was not going to happen even if we did want it- I could tell by how quickly I was brushed off by the manager once we discovered him sitting in the back. He wasn't going to talk to me at all.

I won't be able to convince any of the folks who came with me today to come back but I'll try again...

I am giving it one star only for bearable quality of food. We gave this place 4 tries. During the first two attempts it was just a long wait time - over 60 minutes to get the food from the time we arrived. The other time we waited about 30 minutes for the desert, and then we were told they were out of a sponge cake.

Last two times were completely terrible. Imagine this - you place your order for pickup with Uber Eats at 8.15 am (the place was open and accepting orders). The app notified it was ready at 8.45. We arrived at 9.15 aaaaand the guy was very surprised I came! The didn't even start cooking it. The asked for 10 minutes, but even after 20 minutes wait it wasn't ready, so we dropped that order.

Last time we came, the company finally hired another waiter who took our order wrongly and after 50 minutes wait brought only part of it, so my husband sat hungry for another 15 minutes. I give up. That's a bad place to have Sunday brunch or dinner...

Our first visit and I really like the feeling as we walked in. Either indoor or outdoor patio seating, both seemed comfortable and elegant.

We sat outside and ordered a Branzino fish and a Pastrami sandwich, both were excellent.

The service was prompt and friendly. Restrooms were clean.

It was an enjoyable dinning experience and we would definitely come back again.

Parking: we did street parking, the machine was a bit wonky, changed us for 4 hours even though we were pretty certain we set for an hour. There is also underground parking lot, not sure if...