Red Olive

Better than Jackson Heights!
For those of you familiar with NYC and its ethnic restaurant scene — Jackson Heights is a nexus of Asian and Latin American cultures. Red Olive — would be an outstanding eatery in a sea of serious competitors.
We tried Red Olive last week for lunch. Frankly, we had been reluctant to go — Sparky Town was dear to us and replacing it seemed odd. But thanks to a well placed story in the local «paper» we did and are very happy we did.
That day we sampled lunch from the Middle Eastern section of the menu. The falafel were perfect — and the garlic thaini — wonderful. We also had lamb kabab and beef kafta. We had lunch around 3:00 and that ended up being our last meal that day. It was plenty and the tastes lingered.
As we left — we picked up take out menus — knowing one day, we would order in. Tonight was that night.
This time we sampled from the «South Asian» side of the menu. We ordered the Lamb Biryani, the Chicken Manchuria and the Chana Masala. They were all tasty — spicy and as good as it gets. The standout however was the Chicken Manchuria — the combo of spices was very hard for us to identify. This dish beat anything we had in Nepali, Tibetan or Indian restaurants in JH. We have not been to those countries but we intend to bring our south asian friends to see what they think. The lamb biryani was great. I have been schooled by my Bengali students that most Amercian indian restaurant use the wrong style rice for their Biryani — short grain sticky rice. This rice was luxuriously long grained — each grain was separate and coated with a wonderful spicy coating — the lamb was tenderful and flavorful. The Chana Masala was great and wonderfully spiced and aromatic.
The delivery process was good. On Friday night at peak dinner time — 8 pm — it took 45 min for our food to arrive. It was hot and well packed. (We couldn’t resist ordering the falafel, which did not travel well, they may be best enjoyed at a table in the restaurant).
So bottom line — get off the Hill and go over to Hawley-​Green neighborhood for some wonderful food.

Ordered delivery — was about 20m for two shawarma wraps, which is great time… food was cold, but what can you expect? Overall, very tasty — and not too expensive, either. All in all, very satisfied. Thanks!

We had this delivered at work for lunch and it was the best ever! It is why I looked it up so I can go with family, Food all delicious, fresh, creamy, generous and authentic. I loved the falafel and sauces. Thanks for a special lunch!

Came here with a group of 10. Was very accommodating. Menu is vast– has Mediterranean and an Indian side.
The food was delicious. Each plate comes with the dish described and either rice or naan.
Humus was delicious. Meats were great. Falafel was crisp and tasty. Love their garlic and spicy sauces they give you. I had enough for left overs and it tasted even better the next day. I cannot wait to go back again!!!
Only downside is parking– need to park on the street.

Their chicken biryani is the among the best I had in states.

Delicious food, great waitress, nice chefs, comfy ambiance. This place is a gem. Loved everything we ate — and we ate dishes from both the Middle Eastern and the Indian sides of the menus. Everything was fresh and homemade and unique. Not too expensive, but not inexpensive either. You do get large generous portions. We had a lamb Middle Eastern dish that was outstanding. Several of the chicken dishes from the Indian menu were also great and cooked absolutely perfectly. Some of the dishes were quite spicy, but not all. It was like eating at a great find in NYC. If you are adventuresome or well traveled, this is a place to go.

Best lamb biryani In Syracuse! Don’t hesitate to try it. However the real disappointment was the mango «milkshake». It was truly awful. Avoid at all costs ! The drink separated into different layers in half hour and looked like a chemistry lab experiment for sedimentation.

Every time I’ve eaten Red Olive has been through Grubhub, and they’ve always been timely and served hot food. That said, the food could be better. The falafel is really dry and tasteless and so is the rice. The hummus is great and they definitely give you a lot of it.

It’s kefteh kabob is so similar to Persian dish (kabab koobideh) and having that with hot Non is a good choice.
Dinner place is clean and quiet.
This was my first time there and I will definitely come back again to try other foods.

Thanks for my delicious lunch. Finally someplace that understands gyro doesn’t go on a hamburger or sub bun. Very tender and nicely seasoned lamb with judicious tzaziki. I shall have this for lunch again.
But the hummus! I had heard it was good. Creamiest hummus I’ve ever had. REALLY good.

I ordered delivery from Red Olive last night and was extremely disappointed. I’ve ordered from them twice before and really enjoyed my food but this time was atrocious. My shawarma sandwich came on a (low quality, flimsy) TORTILLA instead of the pita I had requested. This was completely unlike the previous shawarma sandwiches I’d gotten from them which were on pita. Not only this, but there was barely any meat and it was mostly bland and tasteless. There were also regular dill pickles on it this time for some unexplained reason. It was basically a skinny, tasteless burrito or wrap. I don’t even think there was any sauce on it. Our order of hummus also came with the flimsy soft tortilla which was a joke. I’m afraid to order from Red Olive again because if this is what they have changed their food to, I am completely uninterested.

so affordable and healthy and tasty. Best place in Syracuse!

As you enter the restaurant you’ll see doner kabobs on your right, which was enough for me to go ahead and ask for a table. if you don’t want take out you’ll be seated on the other side.
the environment is very authentic and cozy. and the food is tasty and delicious.
Naan with tahini and hummus dip is awesome. I loved their naan. It is served just right from the oven. I got some naan and took home with myself.
make sure to order the lamb chop kabob as medium /​medium rare, cause well-​done was little dry but still tasty. the kafta kabob was very good and authentic. I didn’t like the rice thou, cause I prefer to have white rice with butter with my kabob but their rice wasn’t just plain rice and had some spices already added to it.
I can say they have the most authentic and best middle eastern food that you can get in central new york.

Pricey, delivery took a while. Food was superb! Biryani made great leftovers! Hummus was tasty.
This is definitely a place to order in with a group of friends and try a few dishes. The kebabs are really good.

Décor– good.
Food– good. I would give ⁴⁄₅ stars.
Service– Poor– Most of the items given first and had to wait ten mins for the naan.
The waiter — didn’t have a clue about the food being served– Attire was in appropriate as well.

My husband and I tried out red olive for the second time since their opening earlier this year. This time we ordered a beef shawarma sandwich, a ful medames appetizer and an order each of chana masala and bhindi masala.
A review based on flavor would be five stars. Each dish tasted great and was spiced well, about medium heat. Just the right amount of a house curry blend and chile powder. I shouldn’t say it aloud but on taste it might rival my mother in laws cooking (she’s a Tanzanian native raised in an Indian household).
However, the curry dishes and the ful came swimming in oil, the same as the first time we tried the restaurant at its opening. If it weren’t for the heavy use of oil, I would not hesitate to bring my in laws here whenever they’re visiting — we need more halal options in this town!

Delicious food, unusual (in a good way) combinations on the menu, friendly but incompetent service.
I stopped by today for the first time for lunch. I was greeted and seated promptly, and my drink and food orders were taken promptly. I ordered the Falafel Plate, which, according to the menu, includes «our famous falafel, served with rice and vegetables» for $ 8.95. The waitress brought a complementary snack appetizer of fried bread and a wonderful dipping sauce while I was waiting for my food.
When my food arrived, it consisted of a small plate with eight falafel’s and some lettuce and onions in the center of the plate. I told the waitress that I thought the falafel plate included vegetables and rice. She started to say no, then quickly stopped herself and said she would check. She returned a minute later to say that yes, I should have received rice and it was on it’s way. A man brought over a fairly large plate of rice a moment later and apologized. The falafel’s and the rice (with saffron) were both delicious (some of the best of either I’ve ever had). I don’t know if the lettuce and onions were considered the vegetables, and neither the waitress nor the man who brought the rice seemed to know if I’d gotten what I ordered.
When the bill arrived, I was charged $ 5.95. The menu also includes a falafel sandwich (on a pita or a bun, with no sides), for $ 4.50, and you can order a side of rice for $ 2.99, but there was no falafel dish on the menu for $ 5.95, so it was unclear to me what I was being charged for (it wasn’t the falafel plate or the falafel sandwich or the sandwich with a side of rice or…). The waitress offered no explanation. I paid the bill as presented, since I decided that what I’d eaten was somewhere between the sandwich and the plate, and included a 15% tip since the waitress had been friendly and earnest, but had made several mistakes with my order and bill.
The flavorful food is worth the four stars I gave, but the overall experience is diminished by wait staff who do not appear to know the menu and therefore confuse your order.

Things to try: braised lamb shank, tender falling-​off-​the-​bone in a tomato-​based spiced stew (similar to Morrocan flavor) served with basmati rice, mango shake (mango, yogurt, vanilla, cardamom in a tall glass). Service was faster this time, they are getting into their groove :) I do recommend taking a look at the menu online beforehand so you know what you’re ordering when you get there, to help speed things up (as with any other restaurant). Looking forward to trying some of the SE Asian fare later.

I saw this new place on Unilocal and was super excited to try it as i love shawarmas!!! So i headed down Burnet Ave to check it out I last night. I ordered the beef shawarma combo which came with pita bread, rice, hummas and salad. The beef was pretty dry and lightly spiced. I also ordered baklava and a mango shake. To my surprise it was given to me in 2 cheap paper coffee cups which made it not only hard to carry (as they too had no cup holder) but it was melting by the second because the cup was not syrofoam. The meal was sadly just blah. The yellow rice had no flavor, the salad had no dressing and looked old and night fresh and the beef was so dry and bland.
Optimistic, I decided to give Red Olive another shot since the shawarna i’m used to enjoying come from Morocco and NYC and with chicken. Eager to love this cute new eartery i returned the following day and ordered the chicken shawarna sandwich, falafel, hummas and another mango shake. This too was disappointing as the chicken was as dry as the sahara, it had pickeled veggies in them (either that or they were just old and sour). The tahini sauce was so soupy i thought it was water. My mango shake came in 3 small paper coffee cups this time making it so hard to carry! The cook did carry it to my car but trying to get it inside my home was a nightmare. The falafel was ok nothing to rave about and hummas was nice and creamy.
Overall, nice staff (those that will acknowledge you because some stare like you’re not a customer), cute place and not so good food. I think this place has the makings to be a hit but needs better cooks and fine tuning. Don’t overcook the meats, invest in quality tahini sauce if it’s not house made and please… if you’re going to offer shakes to go invest in the appropriate size and material (styrofoam) cups!!! Take a look at the skewers and see how the chicken and beef are pre cut and left there to just dry out. I ordered my food via phone so i didn’t see it but now i know why it was so dry.

I was staying in an Airbnb house in the picturesque Victorian Hawley-​Green district for the weekend while visiting the in-​laws nearby, and walked over to Red Olive alone for lunch on a Saturday. Nicely-​furnished, very welcoming staff.
I ordered the chicken shawarma. I got served the beef shawarma in error, which was quickly and apologetically corrected. While I waited I was served a basket of fresh pita bread and a small salad; though it was uninspiring, it had some chickpeas thrown in for a bit of Middle Eastern flair. Would love to see them upgrade the salad that comes with main dishes to fattoush.
The chicken shawarma was a great, nicely-​spiced preparation that tasted delectable. Two large pieces were accompanied by a healthy portion of long-​grained rice that was perfectly cooked. Two sauces were provided for the chicken; tahini, and a red chili, oil-​based sauce that generated serious heat.
Excellent food, attentive service, for only about $ 10 before tip, this was a great lunchtime oasis in this quiet Syracuse neighborhood.