Olive This Olive That

Your store is simply deliciously fantastic, what a great gem of a find during my walk while visiting my aunt in Noe Valley. I just checked your website and thank you for the recipes with pictures. Can’t wait to go back and try other flavors.

I loved this place from the moment I walked in. The shop owner was unbelievably lovely to talk to, knew lots about the olive oils (all grown and pressed in California, then bottles right there when you order). All of the olive wood is brought in direct from Tunisia– old wood and not cut down to produce. I bought a beautiful bowl and spoon set and a bottle of their lightest olive oil, really nutty, mild, and peppery. I will be back for more!

Hands down the best place to get Olive Oil in the Bay Area!
I could spend hours in this place just tasting all of their different olive oils and vinegars and just chatting with the staff. The staff is super knowledgeable on olive oil and will make great suggestions on what to try. They even sell locally made pastas (they even have gluten-​free pasta as well!!!) and hold special evening events here once a month where you can try finished recipes made with their products.
As an added bonus, if you get on their mailing list, you will have the chance to participate in field trips to olive farms and the like. I just came back from an olive harvesting adventure in Calaveras County where I got to make my own olive oil and meet lots of new, fun people.
Super sweet and helpful staff + high-​quality, yummy products= THE winning combination.
I am a die-​hard customer for life :)

A Christmas book, «Extra Virginity», got me searching for California olive oil because it turns out that a lot/​most «extra virgin Italian» olive oils aren’t defect-​free as extra virgins are supposed to be and they often aren’t even from Italy. Apparently Califiornia has legal standards and a community of growers that are into oil, so buying Californian is a good thing to do.
The book warned against big brands and stores saying that consumers there were very price sensitive so the stores had no incentive to pay for the genuine stuff. The book pointed to a place in Berkley and mentioned some online stores, but I wanted a local store, if possible.
I went once to the Ferry Building and found a couple places there that had certificed organic California olive oil, and one of the shops let you taste its two (only 2!) different types of oil with bread. But, when I ran out of the oil I had bought, I wasn’t rushing to refill. What I had bought was apparently a year old (too old for olive oil) and really expensive. Besides, the super tourist feel of the Ferry Building just didn’t make me want to fight the gawking crowds for what really is a stable food.
Then, I stumbled accross Olive This, Olive That while looking for parking in Noe Valley. I found a spot in front of the store, and went in to see if the sign out front really pointed to a business that was dedicated to selling olive oil. As soon as I entered, I felt I had walked into a model for where you’re supposed to buy olive oil.
The place is relaxed, clean, and equipped with tiny tasting cups. «Extra Virginity» explained how I was supposed to taste oil — not with bread like at the Ferry Building — but in a tiny aip which you aerate in the back of your mouth. And, here was a store set up for its customers to do a proper tasting.
Moreover, Janell, the shopkeeper was friendly, low-​key, and spectacularly knowledgable. She explained the differences among the oils, offered tastings, refreshed my memory on how to taste the oil, and made spot-​on suggestions. I wound up leaving with two types of olive oil, a traditional aged balsamic vinegar, and a dark chocolate balsamic vinegar.
What great tastes the first three added to the vegatables and salad! The chocolate balasmic has been reserved for ripe strawberries, but I’m looking for other sweet food that can handle both vinegar and chocolate because that vinegar is both unique and conversation-​stoppingly wonderful.
I have been back several times since. Initially I stayed away from oils and vinegars blended with herbs, garlic, or other flavors. I figured I could do add-​ins myself. But, then I saw OTOT at a Golden Gate Business Association event where they had their tasting cups out. Janell let me taste the Person lime olive oil and then mixed it with a rasberry balsamic. Wow! I bought!
Since then I’ve added their ancho chili (non-​balsamic) vinegar to our shelves along with an green apple balsamic. That combination is an attention getter!
Okay, this is not a cooking show, so I won’t list all of the different flavors I’ve tried and used. But, the point is that OTOT is stocked with enough truly extra virgin, California olive oil and a selection of unusual-​but-​tasty vinegars that it is destination store. You can bring your out-​of-​town friends, taste the different olive oils and vinegars, and have them buy a quality memento of their visit. Or, just come yourself, stock up, and serve your family and friends some damn tasty, unique blends.
OTOT is my best find of the year.

Sweet baby Jesus I love these products. I purchased the basil infused olive oil and the pineapple vinaigrette during the Treasure island flea market! LOOOOVEEE! I hope to go to the store soon, and can’t wait to sample their other products.

Excellent olive oil, pasta, balsamic vinegar, and customer service… great location… it’s the only oil I use.

Fairly large, diverse selection of olive oils. I’d say 50% California and 50% international.

As others have mentioned, this little shop is very welcoming. You can try as many of the olive oils and vinegars as you want; there are little plastic cups easily accessible so that you can help yourself in case the shop keeper is otherwise engaged.
You receive a discount if you bring your cleaned bottle back for refilling. It’s either $ 1 or $ 2 off, and you may need to explicitly ask for it if Janelle is not working. Also, if you sign up for their email newsletter, they’ll let you know in advance about special events and tastings.

Found this olive oil heaven while wandering around Noe Valley. We wandered in, and Janelle (one of the owners) immediately greeted us with a big smile. She helped us taste 5 – 10 different olive oils, explaining how to taste them (for the lighter ones, you’re supposed to warm them a bit to release the aroma) and generally just being awesome to some olive oil newbies.
The infused balsamic oils here were amazing. Some of my favorites were the lavender and apricot. She will also mix them for you, and I ended up buying one of the blood orange and strawberry mixes (excited to put it on some pancakes, or ricotta mixed with vanilla and honey). The lemongrass and mint mixed one was also phenomenal.
For the EVOO, I bought the chipotle (nice smokey flavor) and green chili extra virgin olive oils. The green chili one has a GREAT kick to it.
They also sell a big variety of pasta (a lot of gluten free pasta! – mostly quinoa and corn based), salts, and some other small things (e.g. olive oil based body lotion, tasting plates).
It’s a shame this place isn’t on 24^th; even though it’s only a few storefronts down from the middle of 24^th, we almost missed it walking by. But based on the deliciousness and Janelle being awesome to us, I will absolutely be back next time I’m in the area and recommend everyone checks it out.

Absolutely LOVE this store, there is a great variety of products and drop in every 3 – 4 weeks to stock up on more. I’m in LOVE with the 12-​year old balsamic, just give me a straw and the blood orange infused olive oil, so tasty! Also I would suggest disregarding the review by «Michael K», he clearly missed the WHOLE point And yes, not everyone can score pricey real estate on 24-​Th street, so even more reason to tell your friends about this little gem!

Absolutely superb olive oil. I’m really fussy, and I have bought (and continue to buy and try) olive oils from all over the world — but for me Olive This Olive That’s olive oil is my number one.
I make my own mayonnaise, lovingly beating it with a whisk slowly and methodically until it becomes yellow gold. Their olive oil makes it sing.
I don’t understand the rant of that Michael person. He seems angry and like someone who finds fault everywhere. If you look at my reviews you’ll see I’m a love it or hate it kind of girl, but when I don’t like something it’s for very precise reasons.
Anyway, this is a very wonderful shop with great olive oil. The owners are as delightful as what they create. For me it’s a destination and I don’t even like Noe Valley!

Fresh.

My good friend who lives just around the corner from this shop, were walking the streets and stumbled into this shop. My friend being a virgin at Olive Oil test tasting had a blast. He purchased the 2 for $ 30 deal. I think if you really want to get serious with the sampling, you should bring in your own loaf of bread to see how it tastes. The owner can’t afford to feed people bread and pay his rent.
Their basalmics are so good! I really want to get some more for myself. I have to wait for my boyfriend to go with me. Or else it is like cheating when I pick out the food. Haha.
We went on a Saturday and there was a lady selling amazing flan in front of their store for $ 3 each. What a great day. I had flan and olive oil.

Went to Olive This Olive That because they had a sign outside when I was in Noe Valley for their Harvest Festival Sat 10÷27÷12 & they have FREE Tastings! They’ve been open for 4 months.
I tried a sample of brownies made from Olive Oil. In any recipe that calls for 1 Cup Butter use ¾ Cup Olive Oil instead!
Tried out many of the Extra Virgin Olive Oils — just drink a tiny bit of it. Bottles 1 for $ 17; 2 for $ 30
Balsamic Vinegars — they have white balsamic vinegars — that’s cool. Try the Dark Chocolate — wow! So many other flavors I tried & liked. Bottles 1 for $ 17; 2 for $ 30
Pastas — made in Denver CO I think the worker told me, many different ones, I should have bought a bag, but didn’t. $ 8/​bag.
Sea salts: mild 5oz, Robust 5oz for $ 10. I didn’t try any.
Worth a visit.
Hrs: M-​F 11 – 7; Sat 10 – 7; Sun 11 – 5

It’s a cute store, and they have a clear identity. Definitely come here to buy olive oils and/​or «balsamic-​style» vinegars. A lot of the flavors (and potential flavor combinations) are really creative and unique. It is a fun store to visit.
While their product is good stuff, here comes my thoughts about the store itself. Don’t take my comments as a negative (I really do like the store), these are just my observations and maybe some suggestions for improvement.
It comes off as an «I have a vision» store where the owner seems like they had an idea in mind, and were intent on making it happen. But it’s not clear to me whether it was the best business decision.
Look, it’s a store that basically just sells olive oil and vinegar, and dried pasta. In Noe Valley, the home of sky high rents. It’s not even on 24^th. If they didn’t have a sign on 24^th, no one would know it was there.
Then it dawned on me, why have a store front? They could sell at farmers markets, maybe open a stand at the Ferry Building (if they haven’t already). If their product is truly superior, I would think they could sell at Whole Foods? Why pass the overhead on to your customers? So, the reason is, presumably, have a store front so customers can take their time and taste the product. Makes sense, right?
Well, I wasn’t quite sold. First of all, their product is not cheap (again they have Noe Valley rent to pay). It doesn’t make me want to buy lots and lots of stuff to bring home. The tasting process is completely inundating. They have a huge number of varieties to wade through, with not enough structure in how they are arranged. I don’t want to literally taste everything in the room to make a decision, but with options like coconut balsamic, I don’t think I could ever buy a product in their store without tasting it. So I probably would have to taste everything to figure out what I really want.
So, when I went in, the tasting process involved taking little slurps of olive oil out of plastic cups. This is NOT how I would ever enjoy olive oil at home, and I hope other customers would agree. At the least I would need bread, and most of the time I put a little salt in the oil to bring out the flavor. The oil quickly coats your tongue and mouth and you can’t taste anything anymore. You need palate cleansers to move from one variety to the next.
Then there are the flavored versus unflavored products. To me, putting flavored product next to unflavored product tells me the unflavored product is probably higher quality. Because, why would you add flavoring to a product with naturally great flavor? You wouldn’t. The flavored stuff comes off as very whimsical, although it is very tasty.
Finally, the freshness was probably the biggest unknown about the product. I was told not only was all the product extremely fresh, and that the olive oil I had at home was very likely rancid. Proud to say, I checked to make sure my olive oil at home was perfectly fine, thank you. Well, at the date of my visit to the store, the product did not have a date for pressing, nor a date for bottling, etc. This is something that I would come to expect of a San Francisco olive oil shop.
All of these things are completely fixable, and I think the owner is committed to making the experience as pleasant as possible for the customers. I hope they do well but I have my doubts about their current model.

What a wonderful food find. .. right in the heart of Noe Valley.
Not only got a nice education on both the world of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and specialty pasta, but had a delicious time mixing and matching different flavors. Thank you to Jonah who was our helpful and gracious host for the morning.
Very excited to now have this wonderful shop for holiday shopping. So many fun ideas for food baskets this year.
Congratulations to the owners of this wonderful little store. We will definitely be back with our hungry friends.

Very friendly people who are clearly happy to assist you. it’s just the right size shop with olive oils on one side and balsamic vinegar on the other, with plenty of tasting cups. Also in the middle they have flavor infused pasta. I purchased the porcini mushroom linguine and it was amazing.

What an awesome store!
I came here after it opened 3 weeks ago and simply love this place. It’s a hidden gem here in Noe Valley and I’m not aware of any store like it.
If anyone wants Olive Oil or Balsamic Vinegar, this is the place to go.
Absolutely 5 Stars

Just stopped by this store to check it out, and I’m glad I did! Super cute store with a ton of varieties of olive oil and balsamic vinegar — you mix and match and taste! The blood orange evoo + chocolate balsamic is insanely delicious. The blood orange evoo + blueberry balsamic was another great match. They’ve also got some hand-​made pasta from Colorado too.
Cute place, will be back to buy these as presents for sure.

Great selection of domestic and imported olive oil, with wide range of flavor profiles from buttery to grassy. Nice to have a neighborhood option to obtain high quality olive oil. They also have a shockingly large variety of flavored balsamic vinegars, which is not my thing but have to say it was really fun tasting a few of the more adventurous ones (lavender, dark chocolate) and pairing them with the olive oils. They also have tons of dried pastas. Owner Janelle was well informed and super helpful.
Reserving one star because they didn’t let you fill your own bottle/​buy in bulk to reduce use of unnecessary packaging, but that’s a minor point. We’ll definitely be going back.