The Olives Branch

Great Lebanese Fine Dining — a large menu — I had my first Baklava Ice Cream — Awesome!

I really enjoyed the meal I had at the olives branch. I had a beef kebab and the spicy sausage. I was impressed by how fresh everything was. If you are someone who is used to eating at many Persian restaurants the food is much lighter. At night the restaurant offers hookah’s and the atmosphere changes. The food is a bit pricey yet you get what you pay for.

The Olives Branch is a family owned Lebanese restaurant that had exceeded all my expectations. Their food is comparable if not more delicious than Lebanese home made food. The outside lounge which the staff calls the Moroccan room is a great spot to smoke hookah during or after dining. I loved being there the minute I walked in because of the welcoming feeling that the staff and the manger Omar made me experience. I have been there few times since my first visit and the consistency of the food and hookah is phenomenal. I recommend going to The olives branch for the ambiance, the great food and the hookah. I also recommend it because the service did not disappointed on my many visits so far, and with a manager like Omar and a server like Tony, I am sure the service will stay excellent.
On a side note, I will always remember The olives branch as the place where I met my current fiancée and future wife for the first time.

The food here is outstanding and healthy. Very nice friendly people. Looking forward to our next visit!

Excellent food, excellent service, excellent atmosphere!
Stumbled across this place last night driving through the area and it’s such a gem!
Our server, Tony, was so amiable and had excellent recommendations for drinks and food alike. He told us to try the Chicken Shawarma and the Chicken Tawook Kebab, with the Fattoush and Tabbouleh as our starters, and we ordered the Spicy Potatoes for our appetizer.
The food was outstanding! The Shawarma was the best I’ve had, and the Tawook was flavorful and so juicy! The Fattoush and Tabbouleh were fresh and perfectly marinated, and the Spicy Potatoes were to die for! Not too spicy, but super flavorful and with a great kick! We’ll definitely be back!
I have a broken wrist on my dominant hand, so when I ordered the Kebab, they went ahead and took it off the skewer for me before bringing it out so I didn’t have to do it myself and struggle!
Omar, possibly the owner but definitely a manager, came over to chit chat and inquire how our meal was.
Everyone was so kind and so happy on top of being exceptionally knowledgeable, I was blown away! I’ll be bringing my family very soon, and soon I’ll have to enjoy the deliciousness along with some of their hookah with my friends!

Amazing food! I tried their cheese fatayer for the first time and it is my favorite! The ambiance is really nice too, they have a separate patio for hookah. The service is pretty good too. Also they had great vegetarian options which is always a plus. Overall, I really enjoyed this place. It’s a little far from where I live but I’d definitely come back!

Loved this place from the moment I walked it. Has a nice friendly feel to it. Has a dining area and a separate outside hookah patio. Menu is full of delicious food and very reasonable prices.
Our dinner was fantastic. Got the jumbo shrimp and rice. Absolutely amazing.
The owner was great. Walked us through the menu and was very honest. Had a great conversation with him and you can tell he really loves his place and takes great pride in proving the best service and most delicious food.
We will be coming back for our date nights!!!

Jerry, in charge when I stopped by (early). Extremely courteous as I tried Lebanese beer per his direction, then viewed and ordered food I would not otherwise have committed too! Will post the meal later. Thumbs up for great service, and beer!

There is not too much special about this place and I am surprised with these glamorous reviews I read here, which was the reason we made a trip.
The floor in the restaurant as well as some walls should be painted or fixed as this doesn’t create a nice feeling from a get go. The special salad that came with entrée had no taste whatsoever and the tomatoes have not been a good quality as my wife couldn’t even eat them. The special dressing was not there to. Reset any taste and I had to ask and add salt, pepper and olive oil.
The chicken kufta had a very weird taste, and we had kufta or kofta dishes many times. Lamb kebab did taste fine and so did the hummus and babaganoosh.
Belly dancing in a pretty empty restaurant at 8:30 was honestly a pretty pathetic experience.
I have eaten in the middle eastern restaurants extensively and this certainly is NOT the example of the best…

My husband and I tried this restaurant for lunch today. We are vegetarian and it had a lot of great options for us. We ordered several appetizers and a vegetarian combo plate. It was all delicious. The service was outstanding. The restaurant is cozy and very clean. We were thrilled to find a new place that we both enjoyed so much. We’re looking forward to going back for some date nights in the future.

Terrific location, great staff and amazing food. I can’t think of a place that takes more pride in what they are serving.
Great vegetarian options, too.
100% recommended!

Before I share my experience, I have to (and would like to) thank Omar for opening a place that is inviting and just all around refreshing.
If you were looking for good food, you could go anywhere and you will find just that. But if you are looking for great food, the ambiance and an extremely hardworking family making sure that your experience is fantastic — come here.
From the moment we were seated to the last bite of that baklava ice-​cream, it felt like someone invited you to their home to have dinner with them. The food was absolutely delicious, well prepared and there was no lag once the food was ready to be brought to the table. The lamb chops were perfectly cooked, the falafel was a ball of goodness and the chicken shawarma was so well marinated.
I couldn’t be happier and more satisfied. In a way it was a treat for me to see my mom and dad enjoy every bite of the food we ordered. A very happy Mother’s Day indeed.
To Omar and family, Tony and the rest of the crew, keep up the amazing work you do.

Had an amazing dinner experience tonight. Finally had a date night with no kids decided to try The Olives Branch we were not disappointed. Our waiter Kevin was fantastic he makes an amazing «Long Island Iced Tea» and his service was 5 star!!! Felt like we made a new friend with Kevin tonight. The entire staff was extremely attentive all stopping by our table to check on us and engage us in personal conversation.
The food by far exceeded our expectations. Each and every dish we ordered was amazing. I especially loved the fried cauliflower. Definitely coming back and bringing the kids next time for the belly dancer. Great date night or family restaurant.

Food was absolutely delicious and I wanted to eat everything. Baba gannoush was perfect. Our server, Kevin, was EXCELLENT. Very attentive, personable, friendly, and super knowledgable about all of the dishes and drinks. Would definitely recommend and say a big «thank you!» to Kevin.
One bummer was the Unilocal free check-​in was one glass of wine per TABLE, not per entrée. I didn’t read the fine print on that.

This place was super cute and the hookah area outside was so nice!!! We had drinks, apps and hookah the server was awesome! I wish I would have got his name cause he was so attentive and great!
I gave it 4 stars because at the end of the night they were closing and we needed to use the restroom and I asked where it was and one of the guys was kind of rude and said outside. So rude!!! After having such a great time there then 1 employee has to ruin the experience but whatever. It was my first time there and probably last. So took a star off for having an idiot employee I wish I would have took down his name.

Came here for the first time on a Sunday night, so much fun! Got a cool seat on the patio, great ambiance. Entrees were amazing and hookah was great! Tony was a great server! I will be returning

Ok, first time at the restaurant, wifey and I got here early for dinner at 5:30pm…love it, we had the restaurant to ourselves and their undivided attention — AWESOME! The service was great, and the food DELICIOUS! Here is a tip that we learned by checking in with Unilocal,we got a free glass of wine, yay! Although we live 30 miles away from the restaurant, we will return, the food is well worth it but, the most important reason to return to the restaurant is because my wifey enjoyed the food and was very happy… happy wife — happy life!

This place seems to be frequented by a core group of people, who seemed to know the owner/​manager and received all the service and attention. The place was clearly understaffed when the same person was hostess + bartender + server + running the dishes. The food was quite mediocre in taste and we only got through halfway on both our dishes. I had the vegetarian platter with lentil soup but didn’t enjoy the oily falafels or the average hummus.

I am not a Mediterranean food expert, whatsoever. Yet, after eating a full 3-​course meal here, I found myself wanting to learn everything about Mediterranean dishes. Let me start off by saying that every bite of Mediterranean food explodes with flavor. The variety of Mediterranean food there is is incredible. Did difference in flavor of each Mediterranean dish is amazing: no two things taste alike.
I went for a Christmas work party. My boss ordered a full 3 course meal. We were brought homemade hummus topped with shawarma, warm and fresh Pita bread, a type of tart yet soft yogurt, stuffed grape leaves, baba ghanouj, labneh khaleejieh, falafel, moussaka, kibbie, spicy potato, and fattoush salad for starters. My favorite was their stuffed grape potatoes, which were perfectly firm on the outside and soft on the inside. There was lots of great garlic flavor in all the plates. The spicy potato was delicious; it was not too spicy.
For our entrees, we were brought several Sultans Platter — huge plates of charbroiled filet mignon kabob skewer, chicken Tawook kabob skewer & Beef Kafta kabob skewer, served with a side of hummus, a grilled tomato over a bed of imported basmati rice. This was by far absolutely out of this world. The meats were generously marinated, colorfully flavorful, and skillfully cooked to perfection.
The service was exceptional. Waters were always filled. Dirty and finished plates were punctually removed. We also had several hookahs ordered. The hookah quality and flavors offered were excellent. In sum, I highly recommend!

Although it’s been a few months since my single lunchtime visit to The Olives Branch, I had to write this review to remind myself why I won’t be coming back on my next visit to SJC, regardless of the glowing Unilocal average rating. (A rare letdown in an otherwise stellar review system.)
Living in a neighborhood that’s seen better economic times, I have come to the realization that I have one distinct advantage over the well-​heeled patrons of this paradisiacal climate: I have been spoiled rotten when it comes to authentic foods, prepared by recent immigrants, who don’t seem to think it’s a bother to feed me, and are happy to offer it at a reasonable price (yay for the ghettos of Westminster and Huntington Beach!). If anything about that sentence makes you think I’m talking about The Olives Branch, you really need to hobnob north of San Juan Cap once in a while.
Food: not bad. Portions could be a little weightier. My (admittedly flawed) Authentic-​O-​Meter tells me that this is somewhat Americanized, but of good quality.
Price/​value: meh.
Ambiance: we sat outside in the glorious Spring sunshine. It was nice.
Service: terrible. Huge wait times for service and food arrival. A lot of that «other people seated after us who were nonetheless served long before we were» — mentioned in other reviews — going on.
To be completely fair, we weren’t there during the time when the jiggly dancers would have been available, and we didn’t drink anything more potent than iced tea. Perhaps this might have 180’d my perspective on this restaurant, but without alcohol and other entertainment, The Olives Branch didn’t hold up for me in the stark light of day.