Olivella

A soul-​less bland, overpriced, half-​hearted attempt at Italian food. Only solace is the service is great and the views are beautiful.
The food is unimaginative, generic and unhealthy for the most part, not great quality/​insanely with very little emphasis at all on the incredible locally grown organic produce, meat, fish. A place like this should have an incredible dining destination that is has a sort of farm to fork focused restaurant, not a poor attempt a fine dining Italian with no character.
I would assume they would want each visitor to never leave for food, but they don’t make it easy to stay.
Its baffling that a resort as incredible as Ojai Valley Inn would have such a lousy, restaurant (the Oak is equally as generic and unimpressive, just slightly cheaper). I’ve had better Italian food at much less expensive LA or NYC Italian places.
Looking forward to the beautiful resort getting a great restaurant in there soon

I’m tempted to give 1 star. But the setting is lovely and the service is top notch. If only I hadn’t eaten, I could give a higher rating.
Let’s get to the important part… The food. «Icky» is the word that comes to mind first. The fact that the resort is so extraordinary is what made the food seem so extraordinarily BAD in comparison. I ate at other restaurants at the resort with no complaints. A couple of the breakfasts at the resort would probably make my top 10 list of all time.
Now back to Olivella…
I started with the broccolini soufflé. I should have picked up on the concerned expression on the waitresses face when I ordered it, but I missed the cue. She was pushing some other appetizer that night… And rightly so. It was mushy and weird and didn’t pair well with the overly sweet carrot mess underneath it. There was something about it that made me think it must taste like something a mother bird might regurgitate for her baby bird.
Next came a pasta dish. «Special family recipe» for the sauce, per the waitress. It was ok. Nothing special.
My fish was the only good item that night. But distracting me from the fish were the items (assumed to be in the vegetable family) that accompanied it. They were almost emulsified and reminiscent of the mama bird mentioned earlier.
You’d think I’d have the good sense to stop at this point, but alas… We had committed to the 4 course dinner. The desserts were not memorable and were below average for that type of establishment.
Overall, not worth the money.

This is Ojai Vally inn’s new main restaurant. The food is great and service is excellent. There are exceptional views off the back patio as well. The prawns were the best appetizer. The pasta is all hand made and pretty good. The main courses are all good. My favorite was the John Dory.

Not worth the money. Plain and simple. Burrata was fine, interesting to look at with a purple potato chip jutting out of it, but taste-​wise no different than burrata I’ve had at wonderful, less pricey Italian places in NYC.
Gnocchi was the best dish.
This place wants to be Babbo in the west village and it just isn’t.

Basic menu, dessert disappointing selection and flavor of the food was average at best. The manager could not recommend a wine compatible to an Italian wine I was accustom and he never came to check our table. Overall disappointed with this dinning experience.

Not a bad dining experience at all. Service is on top of their game, veggies and steak were pretty good and dessert was delicious. Steak was a bit overcooked but still good, bean and veggie soup needed salt and some sort of an acidic kick and iced tea was from the same hotel wide vendor, which was delicious. Menu is limited to barely 4 items per category, so be prepared to pick Eenie, meanie, minie or moe.

Exquisite italian cuisine, great wine and the extraordinary beauty of surrounding nature make this restaurant the crown jewel of Ojai! Well educated management and serving personnel do not hesitate to walk the extra mile in order to make sure your experience at Olivella is one of s kind and memorable. The most relaxing and enjoyable moments await in the outdoor patio, where relaxing music blends in perfectly with the sounds of nature, aromatic drinks and authentic flavors. I’d recommend to start with a beef carpaccio, seared scallops, then go with gnocchi as your main dish. Wild mushrooms are also a must! And of course, the decadent chocolate mousse for desert! Enjoy…

Great food. Excellent Service. Came here with my beautiful wife and had the best time. 5 star views. 5 star food. 5 star service. Our server Chelsey was very friendly. The manager was also very caring. Of course it is a little pricy but worth it. Thanks.

Disappointing replacement for the stunning Maravilla. Dull menu, bland décor, overwhelming music, and the first course didn’t arrive for over 30 minutes. Horrible. The romance, mystique, and extraordinary food and service are all gone. Astonishing.