Olives

Simple, tasty greek food with a pleasant view. Efficient but not specifically friendly service. Waay better than the waterfront pizza shop next door.

Yum! One of the best lamb gyros my hubby and I have ever had. I feel like most places have very thin slices of meat in their gyros but we like it when the meat is thicker, which is exactly what the lamb was like at Olives. I also really enjoyed their hot sauce. Tasted similar to buffalo sauce but not. Whatever it was, it was delicious on top of the wrap. He also gave me a generous extra helping of yogurt on the side for me to dip my wrap in. I’ve found that most places are stingy with their yogurt, but not here! Lots of yummy yogurt sauce for dipping makes for a happy Jen.
My hubby got a meal with fries and their fries were also very yummy. Just the right amount of crispiness. I’m sure the ketchup was just regular ketchup, but for some reason it tastes sweeter than normal, so I really liked their ketchup as well. Haha.
Only minus 1 stars because the place wasn’t the cleanest. The tablecloth looked like it hadn’t been washed in a while as it had some stains on it, and there was something black and floaty in my water so I didn’t really drink it. My husband got a soda with his meal and he also found a huge black thing wedged between two ice cubes. Luckily, he was able to fish his out.
I would come back but probably to go. My husband said he also saw a sign that to go wraps and salads were only $ 5 — which is cheaper than the $ 6.25 or so when you order in. So that will be a win win for me!

Comfort Food, Good Wine !!
We were lucky to find Olives restaurant in Foster City on our way home from SFO. It was late, and we were exhausted after a long trip and grueling flight.
The atmosphere was exactly what we needed. It was warm and comforting. We ordered a bottle of French wine. I had the meatballs, my husband had the sampler plate. The food was wonderful !!! We have been regulars there ever since.

Worst service I’ve ever had in my life. The woman in charge made me feel like I was inconveniencing her when I came in at lunch today. The rice tasted like someone had cooked it with soapy water. Had to ask for a menu, where to sit, for a drink. I’ve had better service at the DMV than this stink hole.

Great place, it has a water front sitting and good food. I had the lunch special, come with a free drink and salad.
It’s very calming place.

I decided I wanted something a little different for lunch but hopefully on the healthier side. I came across a review mentioning their $ 5 take out menu (Tax included!). I usually judge a place by it’s gyro, but for another $ 5, why not try their chicken salad?
The lamb in the wrap was seasoned well, but it seemed like they heated the entire wrap with the lettuce and all. The lettuce became withered but for 5 bucks, I can let it slide. The chicken salad was pretty small in size, but it came with a small side of hummus and a few pieces of pita. All in all, the wrap was a great deal but I’d have to pass on the salad in my future visits.

Unfortunately, I did not have a very good experience here – food was average at best and service was terrible.
I was meeting a friend for lunch and since we live on opposite sides of the bay, we decided to meet in Foster City. We chose Olives because Greek sounded good to us, and the Unilocal reviews were comparable to other restaurants in the area.
I should have been more concerned when there were only two other people eating there at noon on a Saturday, but we could eat outside and it was a pleasant day with a nice view of a lagoon. My friend was 20 minutes late, but the owner?/host never came out to offer me water or to take a drink order. Again, I contemplated leaving and should have gone with my instincts. After my friend arrived, we waited about 5 minutes before we were asked if we wanted something to drink. By this time we were the only two in the place.
I ordered a Falafel salad, and my friend ordered a Greek salad. When the salads arrived, our plates were placed in front of us, and our silver and napkins «plopped» in the middle of the table. After about 40 minutes, we were finally asked if we would like our tea refilled. My salad reminded me of something I would pick up in a prepackaged container at Trader Joe’s. My friend said her salad was alright.
We were not asked if we would like a dessert ever but were finally asked if we would like our check. Granted, this place isn’t expensive but I think they could treat their customers better and pay a little more attention to the food.

I decided to check this place out with some coworkers a few weeks ago. Overall the place has a nice environment for lunch, the waterfront is awesome and their lunch special is prime.
I got the gyro, which was awesome especially with a side of fries and their tzazicki (?) sauce. Good size portion. The salads looked a little weird and were quickly thrown together so id advise against that. I give three starts because the «homemade» lemonade tasted like yellow gatorade. No ice either, was kind of thrown off by it.
Overall by the price and ambiance, the place is good for a casual lunch with friends or coworkers.

Microwaved food… Beware.
I order the lamb salad (to go) once a week. I love it. I don’t love the fact that they never give me silverware. If we eat at the park we are screwed and have to use our hands to eat the salad.
As I sat waiting for my order I noticed a gentleman heating up a bowl of soup in the microwave. Wow! It would take the same amount of time to heat it on the stove. If they are cutting corners using a microwave it makes me wonder if the reviews about canned food is true???

We got a nice seat outside under their makeshift canopy. (It was kind of interesting to see how one of the legs was connected via two large nails.)
The lunch special is priced really well and I got the salad and lemonade to go with it. I wouldn’t say that it’s freshly squeezed lemonade though… The salad was mediocre. The lamb gyro was really salty and was just slathered with lots of tzatziki.

The good:
— Tables right on the water
— Unbeatable prices for the view ($ 9.99 for dinner!)
The bad:
— The «Greek salad» was not good: sad wilted lettuce and no cucumbers!
— Lamb Gyro — the lamb meat was too salty. It was very difficult to eat even with the pita and everything else.
I really want to like this place, but the food just isn’t worth it.

The lamb gyro wrap it’s 5 bucks including tax when you get it to go. What? Yes? Definitely.
Very tasty and maybe 30 percent shorter than the same thing at Hummus in downtown San Mateo, but way better value. I think I just found my go-​to gyro spot in town.
Although according to my wife, the falafel is pretty good but not particularly special.
Be sure to ask when you get in for to-​go deals. They can be pretty deep discounts.

This place is a little gem. Its right on the water and would be perfect for enjoying some food and wine soaking up the sun on a nice day. Anywho my boyfriend and I went there for dinner last night and we were the only people there I was so suprised. We sat inside in front on the window with a pretty view. We ordered dolmas and the lamb pita, soooo delish! The food came out quickly and tasted fresh. Totally hit the spot and the man thay waited on us whom I assume was the owner took great care of us. We can’t wait to go back with friends!
Wish I had seen the $ 5 takeout deal prior, what a deal!

If you love being belittled and embarrassed to the core, this is the best place for you!
I mean every 99 letters of this review!

I’ve been looking for a good place to grab a decent gyro for a while now. Other places have them but they’re always small and not always 100% on-​point, and at upwards of $ 8+ a pop I have to REALLY be craving one to justify buying one or two.
Decided to give this place a try last week and was very pleasantly surprised! I ordered 2 for pickup and the second I picked up the package I realized that was entirely too much food even for my fat ass to eat in one sitting; it was huge! They had plenty of lamb, the veggies were nice and fresh (though a few more tomatoes would’ve been nice), and the definitely did NOT skimp on the Tzatziki like some other people I know! Oh, and only $ 10 flat! Can’t beat that! I’ll definitely be coming back… maybe today! :-P

I honestly, really don’t care for Olives.
They’re just not as good as many of the other Mediterranean places I’ve been to and they weren’t well-​priced. So bad quality to price ratio. Portions were not bad.
Everything that I felt they could’ve missed on, they did. The yogurt dip’s viscosity was much too thick, the flavor was overbearing and not particularly light, crisp and the refreshing that I’m used to.
The gyro was just ok at best, the pita tasted a little funky with it and the rice was probably the best part of my meal. Not really something you want to be bragging about.
It wasn’t disgusting but it definitely wasn’t delicious. I felt rather sore that I paid for such mediocre food. At the very least, the glasses of wine are reasonably priced. I“m normally a huge fan of Mediterranean food but I felt like this wasn’t appetizing really… Even the falafel lacked flavor and the oomph normally in this kind of food.
I really truly don’t hate Olives but I really couldn’t give them a higher rating.

A friend and I came for lunch and got the lunch special.
Falafel wrap, homemade lemonade, and baklava for $ 8.95. The lemonade tasted as if it has aspartame or another artificial sweetener in it. I couldn’t pinpoint the flavor, but that’s not what my homemade lemonade would taste like.
Service was slow and our waitress was a bit forgetful. There was a point where my friend got up to get her own ketchup bottle once the table next to us left.
You can move the tables outside, that’s cool. There is a great view when there’s great weather.
I’ll probably give this place another chance.

I have never dined in here, but I just LOVE their take-​out menu. The prices are excellent, and the people who work here are little rays of sunshine.
I originally came for Subway but decided on a lamb gyro. I probably won’t be able to eat Subway as long as Olives is here. That lamb gyro is so damn good for $ 5. I brought one for my bf. Now he’s hooked too and came home with three for just the two of us one day! You can’t beat this gyro full of substance. They are very generous with the lamb and wrap it up in a soft pita with onion, tomato and lettuce with Tzatziki sauce. DELISH!
For World Series night, we decided to stay in and order a dinner special of the Lamb Shank for both of us which came with Greek salad, rice, two dolmas, yogurt sauce and a dessert for a whopping $ 43! The shank was cooked perfectly with the meat falling off the bone surrounded by sauteed peppers and onions. The rice soaked that up nicely. I saved my Greek yogurt honey and walnut dessert for the next day. YUM!
This is officially my favorite place to get a gyro. –tasty and ony $ 5!

I think the food is actually good. I am not sure about all other reviews complaining about the food here.
The location is excellent.
The problem is the service and the ambience inside. Why would you tape over prices in the menu? OK, I understand recycling, but not in this way.
We ordered a combination starter with hummus, falafel, dolmas, salads and whatever else was on that plate. Everything was great and we enjoyed it. The place also serves wine, so a glass of white complimented the dish really well.
For my main course I ordered a salad and my husband had a giro plate. I think that we really over-​ordered… just too much food, and we could have been fine with just a main dish to share. Gyro could have been better, but… everything else was great.
I am open to coming back again.

It’s very difficult to find good-​quality Mediterranean food here in the Bay Area slash Peninsula. Consider me pleasantly shocked to discover Olive’s, right on the water! We ate dinner outside, facing the water, listening to the radio.
Greek salad includes toppings of chickpeas, kidney beans, green beans, olives, feta cheese. Olives and feta appetizer is plentiful and comes with a basket of pita bread.
One fish dinner entrée (came with Greek salad, saffron rice, pita bread), a lamb gyro, avgolemono soup, an Arnold Palmer, hot linden tea, and the olive appetizer set us back only $ 42, not including the tip. Color me happy (AKA olive green — see what I did there?)!
Probably, you’ll have to ask for water, salad dressing, napkins, but this no-​frills experience is a good one, and well worth the visit.