Olivo on Blue

Went for lunch today for a colleague’s farewell. We shared a garlic bread between the four of us. I had the pene with prawns which was very nice. I had to ask for parmesan cheese (i felt i should have been offered). The only disappointing part was when we went to pay for the bill, they automatically put a $ 15 tip into the amount! Quite rude. We asked them to remove the tip and we just paid the bill, no tip.

Have been there 3 times over past 2 days and certainly won’t be returning. Service ranges from don’t care to non existent. Food very slow to arrive and no explanation even though we explained at ordering a few of our party had to leave quickly. Waited an hour for all food to arrive. Coffee nice flavour though.

I’ve only had an early morning coffee here, and then at a bit of a rush. Fully expect a detailed review of this classic looking restaurant in the extremely near future, because this place turns me on in so many ways.
Ella Fitzgerald crooned at me softly as I walked in, and the classic, stately chic of modern elegance is so understated in this joint that it just screams at you in the most wonderful way.
Great place, great vibe, can’t wait to try more of it.
And the coffee? top marks!

Really the first three reviews give a good idea of this place. It has a really nice location for alfresco dining, the inside is a little dark for my taste, and the coffee is of good quality and can be nice and strong.
Well with all of this considered I think I should let people know of my dining experiences over lunch with work. We’ve ate here twice, and both times it was pretty good, but nothing to make me want to run here and eat if my company wasn’t footing the bill. I will tell you the story when 4 of us decided to order and eat family style.
The seafood risotto is good, but then again I’ve never really had a bad seafood risotto anywhere. I mean its buttery, cheesey, and seafood. It is pretty hard to screw up. So while it was good, it is not a drop everything and come here for their risotto kind of place.
We also got a seafood soup. This was really good. It is tomato based soup that is loaded with seafood and served with freshly made croutons.
We also got a steak. It was nothing to write home about so I will end it here.
Then there was a salad. Fresh and crunchy, but nothing special.
Now dessert. The tiramasu was rich and creamy. It was full of mascarpone goodness. You get fat just looking at it. And it is so worth it. Get this and a nice strong latte and you’ll realize the merrits of this place. My only qualm is that it is not as good as the tiramasu at 4^th Village in Mosman.

I’m going to update this review, now that Unilocal has me as a regular here. In my first review I originally listed this venue as a 4/​5, and as far as the coffee goes I still think it is a reasonable bet for the area… however my first food experience here was not as good, so I’m going to drop the overall rating to 3/​5, held up by the coffee alone.
Coffee: Double macchiato
Bean: Tobys Estate
Crema: Nice and thick 7.5÷10
Overall Taste: Good taste, 7.5÷10
Served in: Small glass (+1)
Preparation: Well made, milk was well frothed and well poured, ideally I would use slightly less milk.
Consistency (between visits): Good
As for the food… well, not impressed. I just went for the banana bread, which tasted very mass produced. It was waaaaaay too sweet, but the worst part is that it was also a little stale… I suspect an old loaf, of which this was one of the last pieces. Whilst not a big thing, the insult added to the injury is the 1980’s style of packaged condiment that came with it. I honestly don’t remember the last time I saw packaged peanut butter, vegemite, marmalade, butter, etc served outside a drive-​in hotel. For the prices that are being charged I would hope for some fresh butter in a dish.
The other meals at the table were similarly uninspiring… to be fair and open there did appear to be one or two reasonable breakfast dishes on the way out, but I would guess it is very hit and miss.
Anyway, as for the other points, ambience with the streetscape is nice, service is reasonably friendly if understandably slow when they are busy. No wifi, which is a bit of a bummer, but hardly unique to this café in Sydney.
I’d go back… but only for the coffee.

Olivo sits in a row of three or four cafes on Blues Point Road. On a previous visit to this strip, we were told that all of the cafes were equally as good and ended up at one of Olivo’s neighbours. So, the next time I was in the area, I decided to try to café we’d left behind, Olivo. It looked nice, with a pretty shaded terrace, did Toby’s Estate coffee and we had been assured that it would be good.
The coffee was good. Their piccolo glasses were larger than your regular piccolo (probably borderline glasses), but the strength of the coffee wasn’t compromised and this just meant that there was more of this delicious coffee to enjoy.
Inside the café was dark and cool (as in temperature) and all together quite nice, with lots of long tables perfect for big groups. However, aside from the coffee and the location (whilst the beautiful view is tucked down the end of Blues Point Rd, this strip still has a peaceful and pretty locale) Olivo didn’t have much to offer. My friend, who is on an Eggs Benedict Bonanza, sampling each café’s benny, was sadly disappointed with Olivo’s effort. Whilst the presentation was good (ham shaved from the bone), the poached eggs were hard — a disappointing turn to any breakfast. My Bircher Museli was too gluggy for my likening, resembling rather a cool, sludgy porridge. The flavour wasn’t too bad, although I could only eat half a bowl of it before I got sick of it — too much sludge, not enough of anything else (e.g. cream, yoghurt, fruit).
Olivo is a nice spot for a coffee and perhaps a better spot for lunch than breakfast. I’d give it another go, but not for breakfast — head up to the Greek place instead a couple of shops up.

So my first intention was to find somewhere to have lunch in North Sydney, and instead my feet found their way down the picturesque Blues Point, and into Olivo. While the tables outside looked very popular the last time I walked by, today’s grey, wet and sombre mood has drawn everyone inside to the homely, leather couches and peaceful tables inside.
As per (my) usual, when caught at an impasse on what to have for lunch, I resorted to ordering the burger. While it certainly can be a disappointment at some venues, especially those that charge $ 15+ for a burger, I was hoping my luck would hold out.
When it arrived, I looked down and… the burger looked quite small. A massive stack of chips filled the plate, so I guess it wasn’t all bad. Taking my first bite of a chip of was… really fresh and crisp. Not covered in a tonne of salt. Really really nice. Picking up the burger it fit comfortably in my hand. Maybe it wasn’t so small after all. My first bite and… bamm! So juicy. Ao flavourful. Juice streamed down to the plate like a brown gravy. Wow. This little burger packs a punch. I didn’t even miss the egg and beetroot that I love to see in a good burger. This was a seriously good burger.
The waitress then comes up and asks of I want a coffee. Apparently there is a lunch special here including coffee with the lunch order. Like I was going to say no. :-)
So the mac arrives and it looks fantastic. The first sip of the coffee fills my mouth with a bitter hit, a little more than I would expect from Toby’s
Estate coffee, but like they knew that would happen, they provided a delicious little biscuit that cleansed the bitterness away.
Big thumbs up for this place. All of the plates I have seen leave the kitchen look delicious. This certainly was a good choice for lunch.
Café Summary
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Passion for Coffee — ⁸⁄₁₀
Coffee beans — Toby’s Estate
Crema (1=burnt, 10=velvet) — ⁸⁄₁₀
Special coffees avail? — N/​A
Special Features
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Toilets