The Olive Tree

They’ve closed

I ordered the spinach-​pie appetizer for $ 6.25. I received three bite-​sized pieces of dough stuffed with spinach (I guess). My $ 10 entrée was the falafel platter — 6 small fried balls, tahini sauce, a small mound of irrelevant overcooked rice, and a few desultory green beans in a tasteless sauce. I paid over $ 16 for approximately 500 calories.
My dining companion reported that her salad was tasteless — maybe they forgot the dressing. Her entrée was the beef shish kebab for $ 14.50 — six small chunks of beef and her own small mound of overcooked rice. She said that the beef was tasty. Once again, not much food for the money.
The ambiance is OK, and the service is decent as long as a restaurant is nearly empty (only one waitress).
This place might survive if they position themselves more as a pub than a restaurant.

We visited The Olive Tree for New Year’s Eve dinner with our family. The staff did a wonderful job keeping up with the large crowd! Having only been open 10 weeks, they did an amazing job with their first holiday rush!
The owners were at our table a few times checking on us and making sure that our food and our experience was just right. We all enjoyed our meals. Most had the Mixed Grill and I had the hot sampler.
They also had live music… not sure who was playing, but he also gets a good review!

New Mediterranean restaurant on Main next to Smoking Joes. You walk in and it’s a large open space with mustard walls, tables through out and a large bar to the left. They are apparently open late night with a DJ and all, but we just came for dinner. Service was great and food was not bad. I’m just happy there’s a Mediterranean place in Sarasota. Good hummus is a must but theirs was not very good, salty; the baba ganoush was very good though. The chicken was very tender and obviously marinated well and long, served with delicious garlic paste. Starter salad had awesome vinaigrette. Entrees are a tad on the pricey side for venue and quality ($ 10 – 20) but I imagine their lease is not cheap, so I hope diners find it worthwhile and support the new business.