Olives Mediterranean Grill

Since sultan kabob house closed we’ve been trying to find a good spot for Mediterranean food. Now we’ve found it. The falafels came out hot and crispy, the lamb kabobs were seasoned very well and the beef schwarma was excellent. They have a very good roast flavor on the baba ganooj and very flavorful hummus. The staff was friendly and prices were less than zetuini grill.

It has the best Mediterranean food I’ve ever had. Super great price for a super great dinner. The service was amazing too; overall an all out wonderful experience. Can’t wait to go back!

You get one chance to make a first impression and Olives failed miserably. I can’t comment on the food because it never came. After watching other people who came after us get their meals, we simply left and spent our money elsewhere. The wait staff was OK but there is no reason a sandwich can’t make it to my table. Not going back — there are too many places willing to do food service right to waste my time here.

Sorry to say it folks but the food just wasn’t good. The beef and chicken shawarma both were dry and tough. Not a fan. #anotheronebitesthedust!

Good! Good! Good!
It’s a prefect lunch spot for Mediterranean food! We were sat immediately, our server greeted us and continued to check on us throughout our dinning experience and was incredibly polite! Not to mention the food was delicious & so many choices!
Best tip about this place: the entrance is tucked around the building away from the main street, so parking can be a little tricky, but totally worth it!

So my co-​worker wanted to try Olive’s for lunch. It had been a long time since I’d tried them, so I agreed in hopes of finding massive improvement from my initial visit a few months back.
I can say that it was much better– the décor, server, menu and ambiance was improved, but the taste of the basic chicken kabob I got just wasn’t there. I’m used to explosions of flavor and unusual spices in Mediterranean restaurants and the food we got today was simply very bland. I guess the best way I can describe it would be to say that it’s Mediterranean-​ish, very watered down for southern American palates. The «house salad» was still simply iceberg lettuce on the plate with bland Italian dressing poured over it, the pita bread wasn’t even warm and the garlic sauce had very little garlic taste to it at all :-(None of which I would return for. There are far better Mediterranean choices in Charlotte.

We can not review the food because after almost one hour of waiting we managed to only get 4 waters, no appetizers and two «greek» salads. We received our silverware only after asking for it. We could understand the wait if it was busy but there were only 6 tables of people and 2 servers.
We had to leave as we had two kids (and adults) that were hungry and it did not appear as if we would be getting served anytime soon. Upon notifying our waitress we were leaving, we were charged $ 11.88 for two non Greek salads and left.
Unfortunately we do not plan on returning anytime in the near future.

Ok but has scope of imprpvement.
Kabobs needs to be a little more juicy
Shawarma was good but lacked a little wow factor
Baklawa was major dissapointment for me
Having said all that, hosts were warm people.
Guys, just add more character to your food and it will surely become a success

I got a plate of the Gyros Platter and it was an appropriate amount of food in my to-​go container. I’ve had more in other places and states but hey, i guess a girls got to watch her figure at some point. Plus, it wasn’t like it was just a grain of rice and a bit of meat-​it was definitely more than that.
The saffron rice that came with it was nice and fluffy as well as flavorful. I know what you’re thinking, can someone really mess up rice. YES, i’ve had it undercooked and way over cooked before. This wasn’t the case here. It was cooked and mouse… just probably the size of two small scoops. The gyros that came with it was 4 very thing slices off the large meat post. The meat was also tastey and moist and comes with the cucumber taziki yogurt sauce but again, not much of it. Halfway through my two strips of meat i completely ran out of sauce and tried licking the insides for all i could get.
Overall, this place isn’t bad, i would just recommend not being so cheap with the food… oh and definitely getting the food ready a lot quicker. I called my order in and came 20 mins later and they still hadn’t had my order ready. I was the only person there!

So I’m by no means an expert of Mediterranean food but this place was pretty good. It was my first visit last night with my bf. The restaurant is nothing special on the inside, very simply decorated but clean.
Service: great! We had a gentleman at first but then a young lady took over and she was very attentive and came by often enough to check on our drinks and to see if we had everything we needed.
Food: My bf got the kabob plate which I can’t remember what it was called but it included a beef, chicken, and some sort of sausage skewer. The sausage I thought was the best followed by the beef and chkn. Bf liked them all and simply loved his food! I had the chicken shawarma sandwich and it was light and filling. And just to add to all the other reviews… the fries really are good! They are crispy and not greasy at all. Idk what they do but it’s working! We will be back for sure!

We waited an hour for food…
But this review is about the food right? The «hummus» or whatever variant of it that they give you to start with is not good. My shawarma was okay but I prefer «La Shish Kabob» if you haven’t been please go. Everything there is yummy. Overall the experience I had here would not make me want to come back.

Walked in and we were seated immediately. I got the grilled chicken pita sandwich and I asked the server what all was in the sandwich and she told me lettuce and tomatoes. I asked if they will add onions to it. When I got the sandwich, it was good, also had a vinegar base sauce on it. Boyfriend got a side salad and the shawarma. Side salad actually made me giggle when it came out. It was all white lettuce that wasn’t fully cut up. It was not fresh at all. His shawarma was soft and tender. The rice was good and flavorful. Service was ok, there wasn’t a lot of people there but they did have a party table. Had to ask several times for our drinks to be refilled even though we purposely placed our drinks at the end of the table so our server can see. Not sure if we will come back. Food was ok, wasn’t great.

Alright everyone around here knows that Ayrsley is not the place to go for food… we all keep hoping for something stellar to pop up and it never does. Olives took forever to open and honestly their service takes just as long! Even if you are the only people in the entire restaurant it still can take 20 minutes plus to get your food. The staff was friendly but the restaurant itself looks rather run down. Almost like they didn’t redecorate or upgrade or even repaint from the previous tenants. I wasn’t really expecting anything good from this place but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve only gotten one thing here which is the chicken kabobs and they have been really good both times. The flavor is very much on point. I’ve tried the hummus and the rice that comes on the side which are both good but not brilliant. However considering the total lack of food options in here it fits in and is sort of a welcome addition.
I will say though, their pricing is rather high for what they are. No one is going to spend $ 15-​$ 20 at lunch time for this and I don’t foresee them lasting very long.

To start we order real hot tea orange pekoe. very nice waitress, you can watch them make your food for you, so… not fast but good. Real tzatziki, yummy!!! cucumber yogurt appetizer, oh my goodness! You must order that and the grape leaves, dip grape leaves in yogurt, enjoy and your welcome for the suggestion:) I ordered lamb Kabob very good comes with rice ok on its own but I mixed it all together (lamb, onions, hot sauce, peppers and put some cucumber yogurt on top) delicious !!!

Let’s get real folks: this isn’t the place to come to expect stellar service or to bring a hot date. It is the type of place where you will probably get some pretty good takeout, however.
I ordered a vegetable plate with hummus, a salad, spinach pie, and falafel and I was pleased with everything. All of the food was great. I will be back for some takeout, but I can’t see myself dining in.

Came to Olives for the first time hoping for some good Greek food but much like most of the other Unilocal reviewers, was horribly disappointed. After ordering a falafel with Mediterranean salad (with Italian dressing) as well as a vegetable plate, both orders came to the table wrong even with 3 of the young servers coming to the table. The bottom line is, the food is just ok but the service, time to receive food, and the attention to food detail leaves something to be desired.

A really solid 3.5 …but not quite 4 worthy. They have very quick and friendly service, the portions are a nice size, and the Falafel while far from the best I ever had, was pretty good. My favorite part was the pita itself, it tasted homemade. They were really heavy-​handed on the fry seasoning so that’s an area for improvement
Overall a good little stop for an informal/​quick lunch…

Food is amazing. Tasty, fresh & hot. Great flavors. They brought bread & yogurt for the table to start, & that’s a nice touch.
There’s no hostess stand, so you walk in & awkwardly stand like an idiot until you get noticed.
The waitresses took my glass when it was empty but didn’t offer a refill (all this before the check).
Pricing will hurt them. $ 12 & then they charged me $ 2 to sub out a side. With a $ 2 tip, nobody’s paying $ 16 for a wrap combo. That won’t last. They’d be better off with counter service & revamp the pricing. I hope this place lasts… the food is too good!

Had a work lunch meeting here on a Friday afternoon, and I’m so glad my colleague suggested it! I didn’t even know it existed.
As much as I love eating Mediterranean food, I have to admit that I’m awful with knowing what things are, and the menu doesn’t describe much. However, our waitress did her best to answer our questions and asked the other staff when she didn’t know.
We started with what I think was pita and yogurt cucumber dip (complimentary). I could’ve eaten a vat of the dip! The pita was much thinner than I’m used to, but good. Among the 3 of us for lunch we got lamb kabobs, hummus, grape leaves, and falafel. The only thing I didn’t care for was the falafel, which had a weird spice that tasted a little like black licorice. Everything else was to die for! My lamb kabobs were marinated in deliciousness, and the rice it came with was so light.
When we walked in, the waitress asked if we were getting food to go or eating in. Once we sat down, I realized there was a counter almost like at school where you get your tray and slide along before you pay, so it could work either way. Fantastic fast-​casual Mediterranean food!

OK. Second experience at this restaurant was a 180. Got a salad to go. Took less than 5 mins and the salad was huge and delicious, too.