Oliva

It is always so crowded in here with very loud music. Good for those date nights when your date isn’t much of a talker. Dim lighting, good for those date nights when your date ain’t so good-​lookin’. Long wait, even with a reservation, granted it was Friday night. Food comes out pretty slowly, can’t say that any of the dishes are amazingly spectacular.
Dishes I liked: mussels (good for bread dipping) and bacon wrapped dates.
Used a groupon, not sure if I would come back without a groupon. Waitress was super sweet. I would avoid weekends!

Has a cool intimate atmosphere. Went on a date here months ago and set the tone of the whole day. Although it not juts a date place to go. I’ve seen coworkers and friends head there as well for a calmer night out. It was calm and nice and you can go there casual, after work or dressy. Whatever floats your boat thy’re alright with it. I would just say head there mid afternoon during work ours its gets pretty crowed. They do have jazz performers and bands towards the evening so I defnitley stayed for that. Will try again for the calamari and wine.

YEAH !! good food, sangria mojitos, always good atmosphere off course are people with soul caliente nice place to be, small very casual could be for Birthday or just go for a good music, fun fun very LES which i love it !!!
Latin Musica and Jazz maybe sunday nice !!!

Not good. 2 out of 4 dishes we had, we sent back. Mussles, cold — gross. Calamari, super breaded and freezer burn taste — really gross. Garlic shrimp, fairly good — we had 2 orders of this… the sangria was bland. The service was terrible. And it was dirty. Our table had food crusted on the sides of it.
Never going back here.

I went to Oliva for a friend’s birthday. The place was pretty tight with seats filling up quickly. I am sure it was due to the fact that they solicit to Groupon users. That’s how we picked the restaurant. The deal was you get 4 tapas and a small pitcher of sangria for $ 29. The food was so so. Tapas as you know is very small portions of food, we ordered paella on top of it. The paella took a long while to be served and yet it still had uncooked rice. The sangria was basically watered-​down. We ordered additional cocktail drinks and drinks were also so so. I had better tapas and drinks elsewhere.
The staff was very courteous. However, when we were about to order more drinks after the dessert came, we were prompted that we could not. They advised us to go to the bar area, but there were no seats availlable. Hence, There were people waiting for our tables, since it is very compact restaurant. We decided to go elsewhere to drink.

Quaint little tapas place in Noho. They sure cram the tables in, it’s so tight you’re elbow to elbow with other patrons and have to yell across the table. It kinda felt like speed dating. They had a good band playing but kept walking around asking for tips, which was super annoying. Not to be cheap but I was there for the food!
The food, however, was incredible. The garlic shrimp were amazing and the paella marisco was some of the best paella I’ve ever had. My favorite was the bacon wrapped dates, but really it was all amazing. Our service was sooo slow since the place was packed, so definitely try it since the food is worth it, but go when it’s not so busy.

My boyfriend & I checked this place out because I had purchased a groupon deal for Oliva.
It was a small, dark cute restaurant and the tables are very close to each other with live music.
The food was GREAT. We had a couple of tapas, paella & sangria and everything was so good.
We LOVE LOVE LOVED!!! the bacon wrapped dates and the ham croquettes. They were absolutely delicious!
However, the sauteed mushrooms over polenta was a bit salty.
We also ordered the seafood paella. It was a little bland :(and felt a little soggy/​watery.
For dessert we ordered the vanilla bean flan. It was sooo rich and smooth. We also ordered the almond torte, which wasn’t so good and a bit dry.
It was such a great experience being that it was the first tapas restaurant I’ve been to, and we hope to return.

gross.

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE!
bought the groupon deal so gave it a shot.
restaurant was super busy (with other groupon buyers).
Luckily I called to make reservations.
oh — nooooo!
Called, made them… arrived 10 min early and still waited to be seated 30min after our reservation time…
One star is given cause it can’t be lower… but I guess it goes for the wine that come out of a bottle.
Ordered the tapas… nothing above an ‘okay’
ad the main we ordered Paella de Marisco.
disgusting…
the fish smelled real fishy… and no. It is NOT suppose to smell that way.
Came out of that place really feeling sorry for myself.
I DO NOT
recommend this place.

This place is on the corner of E. Houston. Looks shady from the outside but it was very decorative on the inside. Spanish inspired paint, mirrors on the walls. I bought a groupon for $ 29 dollars for 4 tappas and a paella. We got the below:
Croquetas de jamon– ham croquets, delicious! Crunchy and hot and oozing cheese.
Choriza a la plancha– Choriza sliced and grilled, ehhh
Calamari bravas– Crunchy but a little fishy… sauce was yum
Bambas al ajillo– shrimp scampi-​ish
Paella de Marisco– had nice flavor… tons of mussels and shrimp… a little less water and it would have came out a little better, in my opinion.
White sangria was very fruity and delicious…
Overall, good experience and worth the groupon with the exception of: (drum roll please!) THE ROACH crawling on the table next to me. I was mortified but didnt want to stir any trouble for the other patrons. I dont know what that says about me, as a person but I was already half way into my tapas and couldnt stop to mention it. Maybe i could have went about it differently like telling the waiter or screaming at the top of my lungs but i didnt. Im from NY, home to many things, disgusting. I ignored it and swept my leg in paranoia every two seconds the rest of the meal.
Please note, my review is on the food. Also, the grade is still pending on the outside of the window. I dont know if I would go back…

This place is a testimonial to how popular the LES neighborhood has become. There’s no other explanation for its ongoing survival other than location. Key facts: Friday night, 7:30pm, the place has run out of Rioja, house wine, chorizo and a few other menu items. A Spanish place with no chorizo this early on Friday? How does that happen? LAME.
Service was polite but slow and unavailable without an effort. Thankfully I went with a Groupon (my first), so it helped dull the pain of the experience. The food was fine, not great, not bad. Definitely not as good as Sala or some of the other tapas places around the city.
If you must eat at Oliva (i.e. bought the Groupon, lost a bet, tired of eating at better tapas places, etc.) try the bacon wrapped dates.
Overall an amateurishly executed dining experience. I wouldn’t go back and I now understand why they’ve done multiple Groupons. I wonder if something better will open in that location once Oliva is gone.

Very mediocre restaurant… at best. Went here later on weekend night. Was told the wait was 10 minutes. ONE HOUR later, we were still waiting. The owner came out to chat with us, and he said «ill take care of you guys»
We finally sat down and ordered. At the end of the meal we asked the owner when he came over to us «Didn’t you have something special for us?» since he said he would take care of us– He stated, «I’m right here»
Just felt this was extremely tacky.
Food itself was not memorable at all. Nothing impressed me about this restaurant. So many amazing places in NYC, don’t waste a night out here.

There are a lot of rude/​cheapskates so I told out waitress «I have a groupon but I will tip you on the original bill.» Its to manage my own service!!!
This is a tapas restaurant and its actually really good! Gambus al Ajillo was amazing and I highly suggest you making this part of your meal. We went on a Wednesday to partake in the sangria (white was the best) specials. They have a Gambus Pollo thats not shown on the internet but that was good as well.
I’d go again.

Reservations here on a Friday night are completely useless! I had friends driving in from CT and NJ, and despite having a 9:30pm reservation, we weren’t seated till an hour later. The restaurant is small and cramped, so there was no area for us to wait either since the bar seats were all taken. The only response the host had to us was «there are others waiting longer than you». Uh, okay… then why do you even bother with taking reservations then if you can’t honor them?!
Worse yet, the host indicated that they’d do something for us since he realized we waited so long for our table. When we sat down and I mentioned this to the waitress, and asked if we could perhaps have margaritas on the house, she immediately said «no, we can’t do something special for everyone who has to wait for their table, since tonight many groups have had to…» GRRR!
So the dinner got off to a poor start. Menus took forever to come. They were out of tamarind margaritas for the night. The waitress recommended mango margaritas instead, which just tasted like juice/​nectar only. Even with a pitcher and a few drinks each, all of us only had a sugar high… and no buzz whatsover because the tequilla was little to none. Waste of $$ — probably pays to try the drink before ordering an entire pitcher.
Food wise, there were some reasonable dishes but nothing that set this restaurant apart from Alta, Las Ramblas or many of its counterparts in the city. Two of our dishes (potato and calamari brava) came with the exact same dipping sauce. If I had to recommend any dish, I’d go with the bacon wrapped dates and the filo dough covered portabella mushrooms.
We also ordered cheesecake for dessert… which was below average. The other dessert we got was some kind of apple tart and turned out to be pie filling over a tough crust which was hard to split with a fork.
I don’t think any of us will be going back anytime soon… there are plenty of other tapas joints with much better service in the city!

I wouldn’t say Oliva is the best restaurant I’ve *ever* been to, or even in the top 10. (Be prepared to sit super close to your neighbors.) With that said, it boasts:
1. A fun atmosphere, albeit loud. Oliva is great for groups or a date with your S.O. — but I wouldn’t take a first date here. «I work in finance.» «OH WOW, WHEN DID YOU LEARN TO LINE DANCE?»
2. Interesting drinks. Yummy port. Ridiculous portions of red wine (seriously, our waitress filled the goblet up to the tippy top — what?!) But don’t get the Calpirinha — it’s usually one of my fave drinks but it was crazy tangy and almost bitter. Too many limes.
Aaaaaand 3. Nice waitstaff. There was an awkward moment when I asked for the dessert menu — she mumbled some stuff about the kitchen being backed up and umm err you know it’s already 11:15 and um are you suuure you want dessert? — but apologized later, which I appreciate. It was a busy Friday night and she was probably stressed out. Props!

Ahhh NOHO. Youthful. It makes sense for a place like Oliva to be in NOHO. Its not likely you’ll see some perv 50 year old dude having dinner with his 22 year old secretary like at Cipriani.
Oliva is a very mixed crowd. You’re more likely to find here a hairy armpit girl who uses hemp shampoo. Me personally? I like to be in the company of an older woman who I can have an intelligent conversation over a Glenlivet 25 on the west side of NYC. (hmm, I just described my wife on our date recently)
Speaking of the the ball and chain, she wouldn’t like this place. Its small, loud and the food is too funky.
How about Shrimp in Garlic sauce with the heads on them? Eyeballs lookin at you, please don’t eat me!
I also ordered the grilled calamari, that was just mushy and yucko.
Best first date place? Who the heck casts these votes, a bunch of hipster slackers?
The service is awful, the place is small and crowded and who is dancing here? There is no room to walk much less dance.
Sangria? it tasted ok, they have about 10 pitchers ready to pour at a moments notice.
I’m gonna take a mulligan on this place. Thanks but no thanks.

Came here with the LivingSocial deal,$ 25 to get $ 50. Unfortunately I must say that the tapas did not live up the hype to its peers: Alta, Tia Pol, Las Ramblas… among others, in the city Some of the classic dishes were not done to 100%, and some of the menu was just weird.
I’d tried coming here around 9 the week before sans a ressie and was told it was an hour plus wait. So, this past Friday I made sure to make a ressie. Made it for me and bf at 8pm. I realize eating early on at this spot (I guess because as said, it is more like a bar) is totally fine because at 8 it was empty. I saw mostly groups, and less dates. You can have a date here but it is loud, as mentioned even without entertainment. There was no band playing for us (but really I can’t even imagine how there is one– because the place is cramped.
At first the host was going to seat us by the door but because of the windy/​cold draft, I requested to move inward. Service in addition, I must say was exceptional. It actually trumped the food (a first usually for me) Our water glasses were always filled– to the second. Our bread was replenished, to the last slice. It was so freshly baked, with a hot, toasted crunch. Our dishes came out fast.
We ordered:
1. Mushroom fritters– not an item I normally see on a tapas menu (but they had the ham ones) but traditional or not, this was so delicious. It was kind of like a cheesy, mushroom-​esque mozzarella stick but the cheese was perfectly melted, with flavorful batter. They were crisp, warm and gooey. The mushroom flavor was strong– just how I like it.
2. Shrimp in Garlic Sauce– nice sauteed shrimp, with really yummy garlic & olive oil sauce. Seems so simple but the olive oil they used was really flavorful. The shrimps themselves were nicely cooked and not hard (a sign of unfresh shellfish). These were buttery soft– even the tails! Save the oil and sop it up with the bread. (Thanks to this I ate like 3 loaves of bread solo…)
3. Tortilla Espanola– Classic. This was just ok. It wasn’t as crisp, and more on the soggy side. Oliva’s tortilla also has an overwhelming amount of onions in this so for those of you (like me) would rather have the onions to flavor and not taste– you won’t be a huge fan. Also, where was the aiolio and picante? Tasted/​looked more like sour cream to me. And the picante? I’d know that flavor anywhere– it was none other than Srarcha sauce. I was dissappointed by this, and more dissappointed by the aioli. Had nothing on the aioli at the other joints I mentioned above (esp Tia Pol. ah love you)
3. Patatas Bravas– Some deal with the lackluster aioli. Same sour cream/​Sracha deal here. The other issue is that I didn’t find these with the necessary spicy kick– there was no paprika as noted. And there weren’t fried to perfection– rather they were a little soggy around the edges and not piping hot. A let down because I guess I hadn’t imagined deep frying to be a rocket science.
4. We went for the Pinxtos– a Spanish bruschetta. The waitress told us to go for for two since one was too hard to share. We wanted the Pulpo. It was not good and totally shareable for two (a large piece of toast) so I guess our waitress wanted to up-​sell. She did recommend the endive– which ironically was the smallest pinxto there is. It was miniscule! Came on some kind of leave but admittedly the ingridients were good– I like walnuts and gorgonzola but there is nothing special going on here. It was better than the Pulpo because the octopus (which I love!) again was not executed well. The octopus was rubbery, not that lovely grilled taste I usually get from grilled octo.
5. Manchengo cheese– I know you can get it anywhere but I just love this traditional dish and have no idea what other kind of Spanish cheeses were good. This Manchengo was really nice– with the bread and a slice of chorizo (to that, later) — it was hard as designed and you could really taste the sweet, creamy Sheeps’ Milk flavor. This was worth it for $ 5 (about the store price, albeit small– but I would like to think it was artisanal.
6. Chorizo a la Plancha– This was plentiful, so that was good. It’s a soggier, kielbasa type of sauage– not circiular and burnt, how I prefer. Sauteed with Olive Oil (a recurring theme), Good. I have no complaints really except that this has been better elsewhere– and more innovative. It should be made with sherry sauce; as I feel olive oil is just too easy.
Plus all the bread, this made for a filling meal. We skipped the desserts from being too full and didn’t want any Sangria for fear of it being watered down. In the end, since this is my cusine favorita, I can’t speak much for Oliva. I guess I would love to try all tapas places but note that I wouldn’t come here without the groupon.

I went to NYC back in May 2010 and prior to my trip I’ve been following Groupon and Living Social deals for NYC. I happened to see a Groupon deal for Oliva’s ($ 25 for $ 50 worth of food). How can you pass up a deal like this?
Great tapas and awesome experience. I tried the grilled steak, paella velenciana, filo wrapped portabello mushrooms, empanadas, asparagus wrapped in jamon serano, and of course flan for dessert!
Reservations are recommended and can be easily made online.
Note: My only complaint would be that the only credit card accepted was American Express.

Went last night on a Monday night, but you would think it’s a Friday! The band is amazing, though a bit loud (my only complaint), the tapas very good especially the bacon wrapped dates.
Desserts are delicious and the passionfruit caipirinha. a bit sour but I love sweet and sour so was right for me!

Spanish food, really good tapas and dishes! Rowdy on weekends and awesome environment with live band. And has bar
This place definitely reminds me of NY festivities on a Thursday night. Crowded, live music, small space, drinks and snacks. Service was excellent, or more than excellent… they were superb! Owner and waitress was extremely nice with all the loud music going on and hectic surrounding.
Food was so delicious. We ordered all out with the GroupOn certificate and ordered 5 – 6 items, all really good and satisfying. Hot joint to go to for some fun and food with friends and night out.