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A peek inside The Olives

The Olives Mediterranean restaurant in Stafford Street opened on Saturday night

Stone’s newest restaurant, The Olives, finally opened its doors on Saturday 23rd October after a delay of a couple of weeks.

Owner Affy Moini (you may remember him from La Dolce Vita a few years back) and his team welcomed the first customers to their Mediterranean restaurant in Stafford Street. And A Little Bit of Stone was allowed in to take some pictures before they arrived – many thanks to Affy for this.

The restaurant has a clean, modern feel, with warm orange and beech colours and good use of plants. It certainly felt very inviting.

So this is what it looks like. But what about the food? If you’ve visited, let us know what you think by posting a comment below. Call the restaurant to book your table on 01785 813334.

Tagged with: restaurants The Olives

http://www.timhickman.co.uk Tim Hickman

Certainly looks good- keen to know what it’s like food-wise too! Shame you didn’t get some free grub during the photo sesh!
http://philipoakley.org Philip Oakley

Hope the food is as good as the photos (great shots).

Guest

There is now a sign outside saying The Olives will open on Tuesday 26th October, so it has shut again and will now re open tomorrow. Very strange

http://jamie7victor.wordpress.com Jamie

Oh no! Thanks ever so much for letting us know

Pingback: The Olives’ opening delayed « A Little Bit of Stone
http://n/a Miss G Woodcock

Do not visit this place! Poor food, poor communication between the staff and poor seating. We did complain about the food to one of the girls only to hear the following reply from her ‘Well I hope your service tonight was better than your food?!!’ Talk about distancing yourself from the kitchen staff! Left very dissapointed, wondering if anyone else has any feedback after their visit?? (Our visit was on the Saturday after it had opened)
Stone resident

There a plenty of good places to eat in Stone, and this isn’t one of them. Poor food, poor service, high prices and chairs that damage clothing.
The only positive is that I didn’t have far to travel.
Don’t go here!
http://www.alittlebitofstone.com jamie7victor

Has anyone had a positive experience at The Olives? Just early teething problems?
Mrs G Hume

Honestly shocking to read the comments above, i have to agree on the early teething problems. A large group of us went on a birthday occasion, absolutely fantastic food, with such a large selection to choose from. Also the staff were running with such good communication, and such pleasant people. Strangely enough there was such a mix between ages working, id say from 15yrs – 40yrs?! very comforting to know. We had a booking last weekend, all but 1 or 2 tables were covered whilst we were in the restaurant. All tables looked pleased, and when it came to leaving most tables were just sitting, drink and chatting after there meals! Fab atmosphere. Recommended to eat here!!
http://theolives madi

i will say that the olives resturant is very clean and tidy enviroment and very freindly when you walk in you just get one of those nice feelings they take your coat and hang it up safely for you you get seated in the waiting area with some menus and your drinks and then when your ready to go to your table it is ready for you with some very nice dips and bread the staff are very kind and always checking that everything is ok and the food was beautiful i will defenetly go back and take the family as i thought it was a very nice cozy place to eat .
http://www.worksmarternotharder.org.uk Jon

My wife and I turned up at 7pm last night looking for a table for 2, we hadn’t made a reservation.

We were met at the top of the stairs by the matradee who seated us in the waiting area, took our coats and provided us with menus which we read after ordering our drinks. After a few minutes of reading the excellent menu we were asked if we were ready to be seated at our table. We were instructed to leave our drinks and they would bring them over to us once seated which they duly did! The table was a great size for 2 people and had olives, humus, tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber dip), bread sticks and sliced home made bread.

The menu is a good range of Mediterranean food made up of 25 starters and 35 main courses.

My wife had the grilled scallops with a lemon thyme dressing on a bed of wilted spinach.
I had the meatballs in tomato sauce with pita bread.
For reference the scallops were the most expensive starter on the menu at £7.50 where as my meatballs came in at a reasonable £5.99

The waiting staff were quick to take our empty plates and offer us another round of drinks.

For our main course my wife went for the sea bass fillet with baby vegetables whilst I had the mixed lamb and chicken kebab with rice. Both main courses came with a side of seasonal vegetables, in our case it was baby carrots, red cabbage and boiled potatoes.
Again for reference the sea bass was £17.50 and the kebab £15.50 which we both considered reasonable for the quantity and quality of the food produced.

Again another quick turnaround of empty plates and drinks and we were read the deserts. My wife, who usually doesn’t eat deserts, went for the home made strawberry cheesecake whilst I went for a mouth watering hot chocolate fudge cake with home made ice cream!

We both polished our deserts off and were full to the brim! We asked for the bill as we finished our drinks. The bill came with a couple of little tiny cakes which made a nice change from mint imperials or chocolates!

The owner then came over to ask our opinion of the meal and whether we’d had a nice evening. They explained that they had been open 6 weeks and that the matradee was his daughter and his mother was the person in the kitchen cooking the excellent food!

My wife is a fully qualified chef so when the owner asked for feedback she provided some constructive feedback on the food and experience which he seemed to listen to and take on board. The owner was very nice and approachable and offered us a complimentary drink before we left.

The Good :
Excellent Food!
Service
Table layout, you certainly didn’t feel squashed in

The Bad:
Could have been warmer, especially in the toilets. I think they’ll get the hang of this over time.
Better presentation of the deserts using home made whipped cream as opposed to aerosol.
A few bones in the sea bass fillet

All in all we had a great night and the bad points above were actually very minor.
For the 2 of us and drinks the total bill was £80, this is a nice restaurant and I think the prices reflect the higher end that they are aiming for and it’s a place we will certainly go to again.

Finally for the frugally minded there was a 2 and 3 course early bird set menu for £9.99 and £12.99 per person which is available from 5pm – 7pm every night of the week! This has a choice of 5 starters and 6 mains. (If you think my memory on this is very good then I must confess that with the bill they give you a paper menu to take home!)
Gill Devgon

A large group of us went on a hen party occasion, absolutely fantastic food, with such a large selection to choose from. Also the staff are such pleasant people. The resturant is very fresh looking, modern, with a clean and tidy enviroment and very freindly when you walk in you just get one of those nice feelings. Love the lady spanish dancer pictures on the walls. The owner came over to wish us a good night and also came after our main courses to ask our opinion of the meal and if we were having a nice evening.

For my main course I had fillet steak with a red wine & mushroom sauce, and came with a side of seasonal vegetables. Normally dish is a sirloin steak but I paid extra for fillet. The steak was cooked to perfection ! Everyone else on the table had Salmon & Pasta dishes or kebabs and no one had any complaints. For dessert I had italian tirmasu which had extra chocolate chips added so was really yummy! Some of the others had ice cream.

When we left they offered us a complimentary bottle of wine before we left. All in all we had a great night and any negative points were very minor. Also I’ve read above that someone else had olives, humus, tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber dip), bread sticks and sliced home made bread on the table when they arrived, but I don’t think they do it any more because I couldn’t see anyone else with any.

Fab atmosphere. Can defo recommend!
Diane

Myself and a group of friends went to the Psychic night where there was a set menu for £25.00 each and we all had a sitting with a local psychic or medium. The Staff were very nice,The food was lovely, the psychic’s were very good, in my opinion, and it certainly gave us lots to talk about round the table during and after our meal.
We would deffinately go again… in all it was a lovely experience!!