12/03/2023
Our review of: The Olive Mediterranean Bar & Grill (please be sure to like our page)
188-190 Harrogate Road, LS7 4NZ (tel: 0113 269 1007).
This was our first visit to this gem of a restaurant in Chapel Allerton.
The feel as you walk in is modern, clean and friendly and we got a warm welcome while being seated quickly on what was a busy mid week evening. There was of course the obligatory Bouzouki music playing in the background - just in case we weren’t absolutely clear this was a Greek restaurant.
The Mystery Diner is always pleased to see an out of centre restaurant busy midweek - it usually bodes well.
Drink were varied and well priced - cocktails at under £7 was good to see and let’s face it - we weren’t coming here for fine wines.
The Olive has a number of special offers running - we opted for the Olive Offer - a slightly restricted menu taken from the full A la carte offering (but still plenty of choice) for a very reasonable £16.95 for two courses.
I started with the falafel - served with humus, it was superb just the right amount of crunch on the outside, soft and delicious on the inside. My friend started with the Char-grilled Halloumi, it must have been good as they had disappeared before I could make any detailed notes.
For mains, we both went for Sea bass (there were limited meat options on the specials menu and nothing that we fancied) - but as a Sea Bass fan this wasn’t a big issue.
It was simply served with a slice of lemon and a bit of a bonus- some sautéed potatoes. A generous serving, I’m not sure we needed the vegetables we ordered - but we managed.
After mains - we did rather feel forgotten about as we waited a while to be asked if we fancied anything from the (pretty decent) desert menu, in the event we passed - clearly we’d overdone it with vegetables- which while very virtuous meant we just couldn’t squeeze anything else in … we’ll just have to come back again.
Overall, we liked the Olive and forgiving the brief period they seemed to forget about us (if I’m kind I could say, they were giving us a breather) the service was slick, friendly and not over the top. Intimate rather than intimidating, friendly rather than overly fancy. A good mid-week date night, or meet up with friends.
Mystery Diner Star Rating
Star rating out of 5
Food 4⭐️
Service 3.5⭐️
Atmosphere 4⭐️
Value 5⭐️
Overall 4⭐️
