Olivia

Nice ambiance, great customer service, friendly staff. Parking lot was very full already at 11:30 on Sunday, but there is plenty of parking next door at CVS as well. The part of our experience that we didn’t love was unfortunately the food. We both felt like our entrees lacked seasoning and flavor despite the obvious effort put into presentation. I had the brisket omelet. I understand brisket is fatty by nature but most of the pieces had hard gristle and were lacking in flavor. The hollandaise sauce on my friend’s entrée was also surprisingly flavorless. For the price we both felt it was just OK. I think the lesson is that since brunch has become such an American past time, restaurants get overwhelmed. I’ll try again on a less crowded day or time.

SOS! This meal was one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a while. The egg alone on the Shit On a Shingle was beautifully prepared medium/​medium well just like I love. Most places blow it when it comes this. It isn’t a very easy request, but when executed properly it is the most delicious way to enjoy an egg. I can’t wait to return and have it all again. This was so delectable it’ll be hard to sway my instinct to always try something new.

This place has never left us disappointed from the service to food we love it all. We have had both dinner and brunch here multiple times and always leave happy as ever!

Delicious brunch place!!! Made reservations and got seated right away. Prompt and friendly server. They have a decent brunch menu with twists on old things. Entrees are decent sized. My husband and I shared and were both satisfied. Brunch drinks are semi pricey. We did the mimosa trio ($ 30) and it was good. Spilt between 4 people got about 5.5 glasses. Parking lot is insanely tiny, but that’s typical for places down off south Lamar. I would come back here in an instant!!!

Ok… had one of the most AMAZING brunches at Olivia during the holidays… I’m already planning my next visit.
We had a reservation so there was no wait, but I loved how as soon as I walked in I was greeted by three different employees. I took a seat at the bar to grab a Bloody Mary (bloody delicious) and wait for the rest of my party to arrive and got to take in the beautiful décor of that area.
As soon as everyone was there, our table was ready and we were seated in the middle of the dining area, inside. I guess I can understand why some people complain it’s «too loud»…it’s just the acoustics of the room, but I love places that have that type of feel because I’m freaking loud and at least then people around me aren’t giving me the evil eye just for talking.
Our waitress was amazing… she recommended some dishes for us to try and we ended up getting three different ones:
Olivia Benedict: LEGIT. too LEGIT. Seriously ya’ll just drop whatever you’re doing right now and get there. the meaty goodness mixed with the perfectly cooked biscuit and covered in hollandaise & yolk literally made me moan. You won’t be disappointed.
Shrimp & Grits: bbq shrimps that tasted fresh and were a proper size for this type of dish. The grits were so good… such a comfort food for sure.
South Austin Omelette: chorizo in an omelette is such a nice twist on this breakfast favorite. All of the flavors were spot on. They even grilled my friend’s toast for her!
We also got a side of the smoked gouda grits and bacon. DO BOTH. The grits here are unlike any I’ve ever had. These are like the full-​bodied grits of my dreams. Ugh. I want them NOW!
The bacon was perfectly cooked and super yummy with the grilled toast.
I do not recommend the deviled eggs because they had absolutely zero flavor. I’m from the south and we have perfect deviled eggs so I was really more amazed at how they managed to make them with no flavor than I was disappointed. They were just soft little pillows, the end. Don’t waste the bucks… get another side of bacon instead.
Service, décor, food, everything… everything was amazing. Can’t wait to go back!

I’d been wanting to check out Olivia for quite awhile before finally deciding to come on NYE. And I know NYE can be tough on restaurants but this was just disappointing. We waited 15 minutes past reservation time to be seated then another 10 minutes just to be greeted by our waitress. food was overall mediocre and not worth the $ 80/​person price tag. I will say when I express displeasure at a port wine pairing for dessert they did offer me a sparking rose as an alternative. I sent my crème brûlée back TWICE for being soupy and NOT a custard. After the second bad crème brûlée I gave up and they simply offered me an overly sweet cup of passion fruit sorbet. No thanks. Sadly disappointed by my experience and felt a bit ripped off at the cost.

I really hate to give this place 3 stars because I really wanted to love it, but maybe I’ll give it another shot in the future. First off, the parking lot is pretty small. I got lucky and a group was leaving as I turned into the lot. Some of my friends had to park across the street in another lot. I made reservations prior on OpenTable and the day of our arrival, our table wasn’t ready and we were stuck there waiting because there was still a group finishing up and chatting at the table that was reserved for us. After waiting a while they offered to set us up a table outside instead and we obliged because at that point we were really hungry. I have to give them credit, they did set up the table fast. It was brunch so I ordered the macdaddy which is pork belly and eggs on English muffins but my pork belly was dry and very chewy. My friends really liked their eggs florentine, so although I didn’t have a good experience, they at least liked their meals.

Stubbed across this place by accident on a Sunday for Sunday Brunch. This place is located on South Lamar, not too far from my house so it seemed like a nice spot to try.
The décor and ambience was absolutely amazing! I loved all the windows and how tap the ceilings were. Our waitress is very quick to take our order and the food came out surprisingly fast!
I ordered the Gouda grits after seeing grrr reviews for them, they were very flavorful and quite filling. For only $ 7 i felt it was a very large portion. Also, I got one single pancake only $ 4! They had a root beer syrup which was delicious! The buttermilk pancake was very moist and had a nice flavor to it. Some pancakes are dry but this was was perfect.
We ordered a bottle of champagne for only $ 30 and three of us each had 3 so it was cheaper than the $ 6 each. The bottle came with three different juices, fresh oj, a mango and some sort of pomegranate which was my favorite!
Parking was great and service was quick! I will certainly be back for another brunch in the near future.

Brunch at Olivia is always nice. Love the hens and the veggie garden out back. Parking can be a bit crazy — you guys need to make the gradient into the dirt lot more gradual!
As far as the food goes, it’s solid, and we greatly appreciate the farm to table movement. :)

Amazing brunch! I had the Quiche, my friend had the Salmon Lox– both were absolutely to die for. Complete with mimosa’s with a trio of fresh squeezed juices. The service was 5-​star and super friendly. Loved, loved, loved this place.
Tip– their bacon & french fries are both the perfect about of crispy :)

Classy unpretentious brunch (and those other non-​brunch meals)
I really liked Olivia — I went here for brunch with a big visiting friend group and everyone really enjoyed it. It’s the type of place where it’s nice for a friend date, grandma date, stranger date, etc. We had a group that started with 5 – 6 people and more humans and animals ended up joining, and the staff was super duper accommodating and nice about our lack of organization.
The food was awesome, benedicts, burgers, all-​geek-​out amazing. Also an AWESOME place for a boozy brunch. They do bottles, cocktails, etc. Love the citrus cooler.

Reviewing their brunch menu. Sadly, there wasn’t anything memorable for me to want to come back. We ordered 4 entrees, and everything was just ok. I will try dinner next time since my friend said it was better.
Note that the portions are HUGE and I mean that! One entrée is good for two people, but you don’t want to be eating the same thing as your date so you’d have to order separate entrees anyways. Entrees range from $ 10-​$ 20, comparable to the portions.
Macdaddy — two pork belly sliders, egg patty inside English muffins, side of very salty fries — not sure what they sprinkled on the fries besides the salt, there were specks of green salt. The pork belly didn’t have any flavors or seasoning, the sandwich was bland/​dry. Very disappointed because I love pork belly.
Fried chicken — 4 pieces, my friend said it was warm (not hot) when she got it. I took at bite of the chicken and it’s plain old fried chicken. Another miss!
Willie Nelson — chicken fried steak with a side salad. This was finally a decent bite, the gravy was made the dish.
Pancakes — 3 of them with butter and sliced apples. These were the largest pancakes ever! They were the size of the dinner plate it was on. We shared this and I liked it, although one side was burnt. My friend didn’t like it because they weren’t fluffy enough. I can’t remember if they were buttermilk pancakes.
The place is nice and modern on the inside. There is an outdoor patio. The entrance was strange, look for it in the back by the patio. Parking lot is not too bad.

If you ever come her here for a group brunch, make sure you have some close friends around you. Everything looks so good that you’re going to ask to try each of their dishes. I only wish I had that opportunity. Everyone’s dish looked amazing. The verdict was a solid thumbs up all the way. All 13 of us enjoyed our food.
I’ve heard great things about this place in the past. I’ve been rather reluctant to go mainly because most semi-​pricey restaurants around the area offer you super small portions for a hefty price… not some much the case here. The portions are a perfect size unless you’re a buffet munching maniac.
Next time I go for brunch I’m totally going to be a fatty and order the veggie quiche (which looked amazing) and the Shrimp and Grits.
P. S. To my Unilocal friends, I have no intention in sharing with you… all mine!

Olivia’s a glorious place to have brunch. I’ve been twice thus far. The restaurant is decorated simply, but with a slightly upscale feel to it. The whole corner of the building is made of mostly glass, so you can get a nice street view of the cars going down Lamar.
The first brunch I came for was on New Years Day and the place was super packed. We had luckily made reservations. I ordered the lobster benedict, which was good, but probably not the best I’d ever had. They used a lot of lobster. (Is there any such thing as too much lobster?). There was probably more lobster than there was egg and bread. This was good and bad because I love lobster, but I wanted a good balance to the dish as well.
Next brunch was on a regular old Sunday. Again, the place was pretty crowded, but not as crowded as New Years Day. Glad we made reservations this time too. During this next go around, I ordered a biscuit and gravy. The biscuits and gravy generally comes with two, but you can ask for just one, which was plenty. The dish was really flavorful and there was a sausage taste to the gravy. I also ordered the deviled eggs. They were good, but didn’t knock my socks off. We also ordered a cinnamon roll for the table. (By «for the table» I mean for Boyfriend and I). The syrup they used on the roll tasted like bourbon a little and it was topped with candied pecans. Kind of different. It was good, but not as good as others I’ve had.

Such a cute little brunch spot! Excellent service, and located in close vicinity to some other great Austin restaurant spots as well. Austin leads in its brunch culture, and this place is one to try if you want to immerse yourself in it.
Spinach omelet: not too salty, which was perfect for a first meal. The spinach was well seasoned, and fruit as a substitute was the perfect refresher to the meal. But of course, you still need a Bellini to pair with the meal.
Make a reservation if you are planning to come here– it is quite popular!

I met up with some friends here for Sunday brunch for a 12:30pm reservation, but we didn’t get in until a bit later since the parking lot was pretty at full capacity (ahem looking at you double parkers). People started parking in the grassy area in the back, so I guess that’s an option.
I’m new to Austin, so I’m not sure how Olivia ranks in pricing with other brunch places, but it was a bit pricier than I’m accustomed to. A mimosa trio (3 juices + a bottle of brut) was $ 30 and most of the menu items were $ 12 – 19. I ordered Eggs Florentine ($ 17) and loved it. Something about the buttermilk biscuit was so satisfying. The bf got the Shrimp & Grits ($ 17) and wasn’t as impressed, so maybe Olivia isn’t the place for top notch shrimp & grits.
The interior is very classy with a lot of natural light, so you’re definitely getting great ambience with the price tag of your meal.
Service here is great. They even split the check between 2 couples and 1 person, so props. They couldn’t split the mimosa trio, however, which was understandable I guess.
I can’t come back often on a student budget, but Olivia will be on my list of treat-​yo-​self brunch spots.

I work almost every weekend (because sick kids don’t take the weekends off) and that means that I obsess over what I can’t have… brunch. Brunch is my favorite meal. It’s the magical meal where one has the power to mix it up and have pancakes and a steak or roast chicken with grits. There’s no rules, just some of my favorite foods served with mimosas. Any weekend day I have off, you best believe mama’s getting her brunch on somewhere! This fine, sunny Saturday, I tried out Olivia and that bitch doesn’t play! It was exceptional!
One of my bestest buddies and I settled into our charming little booth and ordered up a couple of mimosas. The waiter gave us a listing of juices to have with it and blood orange was an option. Um… yes, please! I love blood orange! Looking at the menu, it was so difficult trying to narrow down our choices. Everything sounded fantastic. We decided to get a brisket bacon burger and frites for her and the soft shelled crab Benedict for me. We also ordered a half order of French toast and a side of smoked Gouda grits with the intention of sharing all of it. When the food came, we realized we were going to be eating at Olivia for lunch, too. The portions are gigantic! The half order of French toast was four generous slices!
Let me tell you, everything was amazing and I could wax rhapsodic about each detail of each item, but instead, I’ll focus on one particular dish. The dish I would want as part of my last meal on earth. The dish that I nearly fought my sweet friend over. The grits! They were the best grits of my life. Coarse ground white grits in an ultra creamy, cheesy consistency with a drizzle of olive oil. They were perfection. They were finished off at the sacrifice of all the other delicious entrees.
I rarely like to repeat restaurants because there are so many on my radar to try, but I’m off on June 28^th and if you need me, I’ll be at Olivia!

This was one of the best meals I’ve had.
We did the 6 course tasting menu and there was literally nothing I didn’t enjoy. Standouts were the oyster, then scallop with the pear purée (that purée was heaven), the onion jam part of the chicken pâté (it was so good I could eat it every day), the shark filet with potato/​carrot slices (haven’t ever eaten a chunk of shark, it was tender and amazing) the beet salad (I love beets and they were perfectly sweet and tender), olive oil cake with orange sauce (moist and delicious cake, the sesame seeds were a nice accompaniment and that orange sauce just elevated it) and the chocolate pudding with almond meringue and blackberry whipped cream (yes, I ordered an extra dessert. The chocolate pudding was rich and delicious. When you had each portion on a bite it was perfect).
Drink wise, we ordered the blackberry mule which was pretty spot on delicious (muddled blackberries and basil with vodka). I also had the olivia punch which was pretty strong.
The service was great! Our server was attentive and super sweet. The interior was nice and extremely laid back. I couldn’t believe how empty the restaurant was! The meal from start to finish was absolutely amazing.

A brunch on the patio with a Blood Orange mimosa and the Olivia Benedict (poached-​egg perfection, Hollandaise Heaven) is a most perfect brunch. Fill the table with their incredible Half French Toast (for $ 7… and it’s massive) for your little one, the Shrimp & Gritz for a dear friend and an a la carte order of biscuits, gravy and over easy eggs, and now you’re having the best meal of the day.
The clean, smart and cheerful interior make you want a modern and minimalistic home to dine in every day. And the quaint and homey patio make you feel like you’re in a back yard garden.
My only regret is that I waited until I’d actually moved AWAY from Austin to fall in love with Olivia.

Food (⁴⁄₅)
Our party came in for a late Sunday brunch. I had ordered the Willie Nelson, which is a chicken fried steak served with two sunny side up eggs on top of mashed potatoes and gravy. My boyfriend ordered the 2 eggs served any style. The Willie Nelson chicken fried steak was fried and breaded well, and the eggs were as good as you can make sunny side up eggs. However, the gravy was too salty for my taste and overpowered any taste the mashed potatoes could have had.
My boyfriend, however, seemed to have ordered a great bang-​for-​your-​buck dish. The «2 eggs any style» was generous in accompanying sides: several strips of bacon (or sausage if you prefer) and a good amount of french fries. The ketchup is made in-​house, but my boyfriend and the rest of the party commented on how it tasted more like tomato than ketchup.
As a dessert, our table ordered a ½ order of the french toast. For $ 7, the dish was reasonably priced given the portion size. There were about 4 – 5 large pieces of french toast served with cinnamon syrup, maple syrup, and whipped cream. I was extremely full by this point of the meal so the rest of my party had the french toast and couldn’t stop raving about it. (Note to self: Order the french toast next time!).
Service (⁴⁄₅)
Our party of four was 15 minutes late to our 1:30PM reservation, but the hostess was very nice about it. She still seated one member of our party while the rest of us were still driving over or trying to find a parking spot. Pro tip: Parking during brunch is tough given the limited parking in the private lot; the Olivia staff suggested to park at CVS if necessary. During the meal, our waitress was extremely attentive. Glasses were always filled, and she always made sure we were happy with our meal.
Atmosphere (⁵⁄₅)
Very cute place for a date or small group. The whole place is filled with natural light from the large windows in the restaurant. There is both inside and patio seating, which is perfect for warmer weather. Seating is available as booths and tables. If you have to wait, there is a little enclosure filled with chickens to help you pass some time, especially if you’re visiting with children.
Bottom Line
Although I was not overly enthusiastic about my own order, my boyfriend’s dish tasted great and the shared french toast dessert looked delicious, so I figured I must have ordered the least delicious entrée out of everyone, so I won’t give this place 3-​stars for my own choice in food. If I happen to make a trip back to Austin, I’ll be sure to try out the other items on the brunch menu.