Olive Tree Café

This place is awesome!
The food is great. We tried the several salads, all were fresh and flavorful. The Tagines are authentic and wonderful.
The staff and owner make this worth a trip‼

Went today for the first time and was amazed at how good the food was. I had the falafel sandwich with fries and my daughter had a chicken gyro with fries. Both excellent! We were so full that we didn’t get dessert but now wished we had ordered dessert to go. We will definitely be back!

We had to stop for a night on our way back home from visiting North Carolina and stayed at a place nearby and checked Unilocal to see what was nearby. This was the only 5 star restaurant and when I looked at the menu it had a various selection of different choices and the prices were very reasonable. It is located in a strip mall but don’t let the location deter you. This is a gem. The owner is so friendly and nice and the food is to die for. My husband had the moussaka and I had the lamb tagine with prunes and apricots and almonds. First you get the most delicious hot bread with olives.
I wish I had room for dessert but couldn’t fit another bite. However, the owner gave us some of the mint tea that was also wonderful. I know if we lived closer so we would eat here all the time. If you live in the area you must try it because if you do you’ll always come back for more.

Always on the hunt for good Middle Eastern food, we decided to visit Olive Tree Café after seeing the excellent reviews on Unilocal.You would tend to pass this place by since it is in a shopping center and looks kind of unassuming from the outside. The first thing that struck me upon entering was how clean the place is. You can tell right away that the owners care. Next you will notice how lovely it is decorated; warm rich colors, beautiful Moroccan lamps and Middle Eastern background music. The young lady who waited on us was friendly and very helpful. They bring you a light, crusty bread basket and some oil cured black olives while you look at the menu. We ordered the sampler of dips/​spreads, sampler of salads and the appetizer size of falafel. You pick three dips and three salads. Their plates and bowls are beautiful and add to the presentation of the food. The sample sizes are very generous, more than enough for two people to share. Everything we ordered was outstanding, fresh and pridefully prepared. The falafel is excellent. The prices are very reasonable. We will definitely be going back as well as introducing our friends to this place. If you like Middle Eastern food or want to explore it’s offerings, I highly recommend Olive Tree Café.

Very nice people. For a spice lover, food might be a little uneven but try different things. Lentil Soup and Olive Tampanade always great. Lots of choices.

This restaurant is by far my favorite spot in Newark, DE. My girlfriend and I meet here quite frequently to catch up on life and to let me tell you — we never leave disappointed. The staff is so nice and friendly, and one night we chatted with the owner — he was great too!
But let’s get to what everyone needs to know about — their food. It is some of the best Mediterranean food I’ve ever had. Okay, it’s the best, I said it. My absolute favorite is their falafel sandwich. It literally is so good it forced me to have a Unilocal review today. I enjoyed one this afternoon and I thought — people need to know about this! The pita bread is fluffy, fresh. The falafel is cooked to complete perfection — crispy on the outside, full of flavor on the inside. The tahini sauce coats it just enough, as to not overpower the sandwich. And there are pickles involved — which I think just go great with flavor of the falafel. Basically… you need this in your life. I normally order it with a greek salad, which is also delicious. Today I went with a side of rice, and the whole meal was perfection!

I was in town for my nieces graduation from the university of Delaware and we were in search of some food! We found The Olive Tree Café! So glad we did! Everything was AMAZING!
The owner is so friendly and came over to chat with us a bit. Overall a wonderful experience!
I highly recommend this Resaturant!

Great stop on the road from DC to NYC — just a bit off I95, healthy, delicious food and great service!

My wife and I recently traveled to Morocco with a friend who is Moroccan. We, by chance, found this small jewel while returning home from a meeting in Washington DC. It is just a few minutes of of I-​95 in Delaware. The food and Moroccan tea was excellent! We met Elias, husband and wife owners, and talked about our Moroccan experience. He was a delight to converse with. It was just like being in Morocco. Like Moroccans, he was very proud of his food and hospitality. The waitress, a student at U of Delaware, was sweet and proud of her preparation /​presentation of the Moroccan tea.
Enjoy their Friday special of couscous!

Wow!
Unassuming exterior in a strip mall.
Inside, warm rich colors and att’n to detail.
Their plates and bowls are beautiful and richly colored.
Ah, but what fills those bowls and plates. Beautifully presented, deftly spiced, and perfectly prepared food!
We started with a trio of appetizers: hummus, zaalouk (eggplant), and bakoula (Spinach and gr. Olives) for only $ 12. The bakoula in particular was an interesting mélange of eggplant, peppers and onions. Nothing puréed…beautiful and scrumptious.
I had the lunch special falafel sandwich, Molly had the spice rubbed salmon.
The falafel was delicately spiced and light. The pita it was served within was fresh and moist. The sandwich was served w a side salad of tomatoes, onion and green olives. The tomatoes tasted garden fresh despite it only being May!
The spiced salmon was seasoned perfectly so that the blend of savory spices balanced that of the salmon. A perfect marriage. The salmon arrived on a bed of sautéed green olives, cherry tomatoes and onions. Moist and delicious rice was part of this entrée.
Staff is pleasant and inviting… had a nice chat with owner Stephanie about her Moroccan husband’s peregrinations… Paris, UK, the Mediterranean coast. Clearly this informs his cuisine.
Bathrooms clean and bright w middle-​Eastern inspired tiles on the floor.
We were driving to Baltimore and making a wrong turn decided to stop for lunch. Seredipitois indeed!
Thanks Olive Tree!
Tom
PS: see some iP6 photos from today’s meal on Unilocal too!
PPS: stopped on our way home two days later … Actually planned our trip home to stop here! Food again amazing and we got to meet chef and co-​owner Elias!

I went to this place almost a month ago. I go mad for falafel’s, so I try every Mediterranean place in the town for a good falafel and I am not easy to please. When I first came here, they offered amazing hospitality. I have not been treated so well before in any of the restaurants. The person waiting on me explained about each food they had on the menu, I saw a lot of passion and interest they had on running the place.
Now for the food, the falafel was fresh, not the regular frozen ones they serve elsewhere. I also tried one of the soups (forgot the name but it had some lentils in it) and by far one of the best soups I ever tasted. Finally I also tried their almond milk before leaving and I was not disappointed. If anyone looking for authentic middle eastern food, you are at the right place.
I would definitely go again.

Excellent food, great service! The owner is lovely and the staff was wonderful. I had the lentil soup and the falafel platter which were both delicious!

Absolute favorite Mediterranean food spot in all of Delaware. Delicious food, great service, love the ground lamb, great hummus, the falafels!!! yes!!! The service is awesome. The manager comes around to make sure everyone is happy. The Moroccan mint tea !! get the big pot! Turkish bread and cured olives… no matter what I try on the menu it is simply delicious. And yes they have Wifi: D I love the atmosphere and traditional music.

This was a very nice find. Located in a strip mall — but once inside, that feeling falls away. Very good food and wait staff. The Gyro, Shawarma, French fries, hummus with warm bread and mint tea were delicious. Now that I’ve had the basics — I’m definitely willing to try some of the more interesting options.

Went here on date night with the wife after reading the reviews on Unilocal.This truly a hidden gem! All of the food served was delicious, meticulously prepared and of high quality. Service was outstanding. The owner, (Iliad — very friendly and courteous), chatted with us and checked to be sure that we were taken care of. Can’t wait to go back to explore more of the menu.

Another awesome restaurant. Authentic taste of Middle East cuisine. Try their salads as well, they are amazing !!!

I enjoyed this restaurant overall, but there were a few misfires during my meal that kept it from being perfect.
First, the positives. The tangine was the star of the show! For those not familiar with the dish, these are dishes that are stewed in traditional Moroccan clay pots. We ordered the lamb with prunes and apricots. The meat was super tender — on the bone but flaking off with a fork. The fruit was sweet but not overpowering. Served with the rice, it was a delightful meal.
The dips are also fantastic — We ordered the hummus, the zaalouk (eggplant), and the bakoula (spinach and olives). Each are flavorful. The last two are more warm dips that are stewed and wonderful on bread. If you have to pick one, I would recommend the hummus.
As for the chicken shawarma — it was just okay. It’s not bad, but it wasn’t as flavorful as I normally expect from this dish. A bit bland. I’ve had better at other places albeit outside the region. Can’t recommend it.
Now for the bad… I feel like the service is still teething. Our dips took longer than expected to come out… I suspect that maybe our waitress forgot about it, or the kitchen got slammed. However, the biggest problem was that the shawarma came out cold. My suspicion is that the timing was off: tangine is a time consuming dish, so I think the kitchen started the two at the same time, and the shawarma just sat and got cold. To be fair, the waitress was apologetic and had it quickly reheated, but it did sour the evening. For the same reason, I suspect the fries were probably epic, but because they sat, they were lukewarm and mediocre.
Overall, it was good, and I’ll be back for the tangine, but hopefully, as the kitchen and floor staff gel, the service will be better next time around.

It’s as excellent as the reviews indicate. Hands down the best food I’ve had since moving to Delaware. I had the lamb chops they were cooked perfectly and paired nicely with the rice. The mint tea was excellent as well. And the baklava was absolutely heavenly. I can’t wait to go back and try something else. The food was exceedingly fresh and the service was amazing.

My daughter and I stumbled into this place randomly, and SOOO glad we did. Absolutely AMAZING! Every bite delicious. Great service, great décor. Highly recommend!!!

Delicious food!!! Service is awesome — owner came out personally to each table to ask how everything was :) Food is made from scratch and fresh so be prepared to wait a little bit, but it’s worth it! The moroccan mint tea pot is a must — beautifully presented and the perfect compliment to the food!
We got the mediterranean dip sampler — I especially liked the zaalouk (roasted eggplant). We also had the moussaka, which was good, but I wouldn’t order again since I’m not a huge fan of lamb/​cheese together.
The crepes are phenomenal! Get them with nutella. Order them well in advance since they take time to be made from scratch and are so so so yummy!!! Light, thin but fluffy — perfect!

Ambience was pleasant, service was excellent and food was delicious.
Lot of options in food. My wife being a vegeterian, was delighted to see so many options for her. I had lamb chops and i can say that those were the best cooked one’s .
Having olives in some part the food is their trade mark and i had no complaints with that because they blended them into food really well.