The Olive Bar

This is a cute little store in DT Campbell with a lot of great finds! The people working in the store were incredibly friendly and very knowledgeable about their products. I don’t know much about oils and pairings but this spot is a great way to go and sample pairs together to see what suits your tastes!

OH MY!!!
Walking into this store made me feel like I’m walking to a candy store! Olive. Oil. Balsamic. Dressings. Everywhere.
The bf and I sampled pretty much almost every olive oil and balsamic dressings here and we loved everything. My favorites that I’ve remembered were the Espresso Balsamic, Dark Chocolate Balsamic, Meyer Lemon Olive Oil, Strawberry Balsamic, Traditional 18 yr Balsamic to name a few. In the end I ended up purchasing two small bottles — Strawberry Balsamic and Traditional 18 yr Balsamic.
We’ve got the chance to chit-​chat with the owner (who’s name I have forgotten but I will be back anyways) and mentioned to me that their coconut oils on sale are actually from Santa Maria Laguna, Philippines. I was browsing their coconut oil section and did noticed that the brand was called Santa Maria. It didn’t occur to me that it was from the Philippines. It was awesome knowing that the motherland supplies The Olive Bar their BEST SELLING item in the store :)
Like I said, I will be back!

I love olive oil and balsamic vinegar more than anything with my bread so this was a great visit.
The customer service was very friendly and informative. I learned a lot about olive oil and even more about coconut oil. They let you sample everything and they had samples of brownies made with coconut oil. They also have a test jar for their coconut oil that has a cream texture. When we used it on our hands, it really did moisturizer our skin!
Overall, a great place to get oils and vinegar. It’s nice that they have a chart of their olive oils and balsamic vinegars. The coconut oil smells very good and was surprisingly effective. I bought some of the small bottles to try at home and I know I will definitely be back!

I have been to a couple of Olive bars from different places that I thoroughly enjoyed, but then I came here and it set really set the bar for me. It’s definitely one of the smaller olive bars I’ve come across, but the quality and the choice of pairing stood out to me. For example, I’m really used to strawberry being paired with basil or some kind of herb, but here they pair it with meyer lemon olive olive oil. It was very different, but surprisingly pleasant, so I can see why it’s one of their most popular pairings! They have a little pamphlet that has pairings they recommend such as:
–Basil olive oil + tangerine balsamic
–Blood orange oil + pomegranate or dark espresso balsamic
–Rosemary oil + cranberry pear
–Jalapeño oil + sweet peach
…etc, etc
Anyway let me start from the beginning. Every christmas, gift shopping for my dad is really difficult. Periodically he’ll eat plain EVOO with unflavored balsamic vinegars so I finally realized HELLOOO why not get him the amazing flavored ones! Unfortunately the only olive bars I knew of were too far from home and I really did not want to order it online, so I headed to Unilocal in hopes of finding something local. When I found this place, I was little skeptical because it did not look like their were too many selections. Upon arriving I was so confused how I ever missed this place when it’s right next to the candy store Rocket Fizz and Aquis. The employees here are great with assisting customers! Not many people know much about balsamic vinegars or olive oils (or the local honey and coconut oils they also have here) but they go through and answer all of your questions!
Didi assisted me with my purchase of the ready to grab and go gift set of 3 pairs of their most popular flavors: Tuscan Herb olive oil + Fig balsamic, Meyer Lemon OO + Strawberry Balsamic, and Blood Orange OO + Pomegranate balsamic. I was in and out quickly, but as soon as I walked out, I saw their samples outside the door and tried it. It was amazing! It was pear + elderberry and it had a really, really nice thick consistency. I walked back in and decided to sample a few more so Didi came over and started telling me all the ways to enjoy the different oils. The chocolate flavor for example she said can be used on things you wouldn’t normally think of like waffles, on strawberries (to taste like chocolate covered strawberries) and ice cream. The chocolate is paired with coconut and the combination sounded a little weird at first, but it tasted delicious and it’s definitely a really healthy alternative that I can’t wait to add to my diet. In addition to the oils and balsamics, they also have local honey for those of you with allergies around the area! The only downside to this place in my opinion was that you can’t get any flavored oil or balsamic to be in the small sample size (2 oz bottles), they only have certain ones in that size. In a way, I guess that’s still not even a downside because honestly, I would use this so much that I would probably need the bigger sized bottles anyway. All in all, I’m glad that I found this place and even happier it’s close to home!

This is a really nicely decorated place and it is really fu to try all the kinds of olive oil and vinegars. The overcast day during Oktoberfest really enanced the mood. The passion fruit infused oil was great with the balsamic vinegar. This combination would be great as a bread dipper, perhaps with toasted Russian rye. The savory flavors were good as well. They would be great for cooking and salads. You could even use some of them for baking. A bit pricey, but great for doing something great for yourself or getting as a gift. Staff is very friendly and knowledgeable.

Love this place so many flavors too much to decide.:)
the Chocolate balsamic is the best with strawberries!

Writing this review really makes me sad because I have been coming here for years and I just love this place and the wonderful items that they offer. I am a huge fan of the olive oils and balsamic vinegars so I thought I would try the coconut oil.
After taking it home and trying it, I did not care for the coconut oil so I went to return it. Rather than asking for my money back I wanted to get something else so that they would not lose the sale and have to refund me.
The 2 women working there were very shocked that I didn’t like the coconut oil and repeatedly said «No one else has ever complained about this coconut oil.» One of the women opened it, tasted it and said «There is nothing wrong with this– it is fine.» She then said «So you want your money back or what?» and walked away and let the other woman deal with me.
After the exchange was made, the second woman dealing with me said «Well I don’t know what else to tell you-​» and that was it.
As much as I think this place has amazing products, I can’t support a business that has employees that treat their customers this way. 5 stars all the way on the products you offer. 1 star for your customer service– and just like that you lose a customer.

Impossible to resist the smells, textures and flavors of all the different oils from across the globe. Being a Spaniard who grew up with bread literally oiled in olive oil and have olives like American kids have M&Ms…i have to brag a bit about being a connoisseur of this slippery business. Very glad to find this store boutique style in Campbell, I felt so welcomed by Ed, the owner, and was very generous with the olive tasting, the chatting and the non pressure sales, at all. I didn’t buy this time because I am fully stocked from Greek to Israeli to Moroccan to Spanish olive oils, but for sure this is now bookmarked and loved learning about a bunch of other varieties and mixes. I spent at least an hour tasting and meeting other customers. No wonder is called the olive bar! Just missing playing some cards or domino and Sunday afternoon done!

Cute little boutique. Loved this place. Stopped in with family after eating lunch downtown. The owner was there and was super friendly guy. Chatted with him for a while about his coconut oil. Ended up buying their largest jar which should last for months. My family tasted their vinegars and ended up buying some pretty cool flavored ones… like espresso coffee! Def a cool little spot to check out.

1^st time here, the service was great and they have a good selection of oils and vinegars. One thing I would like to see more off is a fusion of olive olives.

Love this lil shop, got my frequent buyers card, get a free bottle soon, the oils are the best in SV area, and the balsamic cant be matched.
We have all our friends asking for them as gifts.
And the staff, awesome and helpful.

Found this place by accident: could not locate my car and found this place.
What a place: well lit and stocked with various kinds of boutique olive oil.
I did try a few of them, like the butter olive oil; the attendant said scientists have found the molecule that gives butter its unique butter flavor and have added it to this olive oil, sure enough, it tastes like butter.
I asked for French olive oil or Spanish olive oil, both I enjoyed in their respective countries. Both, the Olive Bar did not have. Ok, I would be a fan of this place, if they stocked what I want. Such as it is, 3 stars.
Décor: nicely laid out goods, some boutique pretty hand soaps and lotions.
They did have some virgin, unheated coconut oil; that can take higher heat than olive oil. I used a bit to fry my scrambled eggs and it tasted fine.
Customer service: fine
Parking: like San Francisco.

Normally I steer clear of health trends and stick to the basic fundamentals. However I’ve recently gotten into coconut oil pulling. Look it up, it’s good for oral hygiene.
The Olive Bar sells virgin coconut oil. I didn’t even know it was a thing, but yep, it is! Cold pressed and raw, this stuff comes in a Crisco like texture. Though not terribly appealing there are benefits to this format, including the fact that a non-​heat method helps retain monoglycerides.
A small jar costs $ 10 and will last at least a month! A spoonful swished in your mouth for 20 minutes supposedly does a body good! We shall see…
Oh yeah, there’s all kinda of olive oils available for sale here as well. There’s an entire wall of the shop dedicated to the various flavors available for sampling.
Super cute shop, high quality products and friendly service. A Campbell gem!

Great selection of olive oil and other sauces. I’m a fan of the espresso vinegarate. I add that to my meat marinades.

Im a bit of an olive oil geek and ive tried so many types ive started to lose count. Always looking to discover the next great tasting flavor profile I had to check it out. Seeing a Sicilian and Greek variety amongst the wall i honed n on those two. sicilian was smooth and buttery but too tame for my taste. Now the Greek selections had both Cali and Greece Koroneki choices. Went for the latter as it has a bit more complexity and a decent bite in the palate. Got to talking to the two women working and it was just great experience all around. Looking forward to the next round of oil after i burn through this one

I love olive oil tasting shops! This one had very friendly service, but I did not enjoy the shopping experience as much. They do not have as large a selection as some shops I have been to where they also have tastings of sea salt, sugars, etc. The thing that bothered me most was they did not have any bread to accompany your tasting, so you must sip it from the cup. I typically do this anyways, but it is nice to have bread as an option. Prices are high, but standard for this type of establishment. In particular, I purchased the black truffle oil, which is one of the most expensive oils, & the price was lower here than I had seen before.
Make sure you ask for a punch card if you shop here often! Buy 12 oils & get one free.

This place is a little spendy but great spicy olive oils.

If you love olive oil, olive oil products, and vinegar, then you should check this place out! This mom & pop store imports olive oil from all over the world. There are many different and exotic flavors available here such as Persian lime and Meyer lemon. You can taste the oils and vinegars if you like. They also sell virgin coconut oil, olive oil based soaps and lip balms, olives, spreads, and a few other things. I love the lip balm that I got for $ 2.99.
I’ve had a problem with very dry lips since it got cold and nothing really worked for me aside from this lip balm. It has lots of different oils in it from olive oil to Shea butter and coconut oil. Now my lips are nice and smooth-​:) The people at this store are nice and knowledgeable about the products. The oils are a little on the pricey side since a bottle starts out at $ 15 or 16.99 I think, but it’s worth it. The Persian lime oil is tasty! This would be a nice gift to give to someone who enjoys cooking and good food or for yourself of course!

If you want one of those olive oil /​vinegar glass cruets where the vinegar part is shaped like grapes (and who doesn’t?)… well you’re in luck here, as there is quite the selection. Also a number of different flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars (the fig and the other one with ginger were pretty good). Coconut oils too.

Stopped in here yesterday with a friend, and ended up tasting several oils and vinegars.
I was intrigued by the pairings, (listed on a wall, that I never would have noticed if the owner hadn’t pointed it out.)
I ended up buying strawberry balsamic vinegar, and lemon olive oil.
I tried it on spinach last night, and it was pretty good.
I absolutely LOVE the strawberry balsamic! So much flavor, for so few calories! I’m racking my brain to come up with more ways to use it.
Maybe chicken or pork next week???
The woman working there, who is one of the owners was lovely as always, and very patient with us, (we were there for quite a bit… We were kind of indecisive since there were so many good pairings.)
This is a great little jewel in our downtown. A perfect example of fantastic small business owners, selling a quality product sourced locally as well.
I was very happy to hear they use olives from a few hours away, and the bottles are packaged in Oakland.