Oliva Bar & Restaurant Review

Food: Spanish and Italian Tapas, Mediterranean.

Wine: Almost non-existent (2 wines). Not licensed (at the time of visit).
Service: Average.
Ambiance: Classic but relaxed.
In a Nutshell: Very limited Food Menu and only 2 choices of wine (both non South African). No card payment facilities. Nothing dazzling about it, except for the Wednesday Soprano Shows. Too little choice and too much trouble for a dinner out in my opinion, so I didn't even stay to try it.

City: Johannesburg, South Africa
Address: 178 Oxford Road (Cnr Corlett Dr). Illovo, Sandton.
Tel: 011 025 5225

As you may already know my husband and I are avid food enthusiasts, so when we see a new restaurant opening we seek the opportunity to give it a taste. We live nearby Oliva Bar & Restaurant on Oxford Rd, so when we saw it open we were eager to go and try it. So, one good day came when we took a break to go out for a nice meal and hastily made our way to Oliva, who was to say though that we were in for a disappointment. As we were coming in we were told there were no card payment facilities (strictly cash), eager to give the restaurant a chance, we tried to make a plan and my husband went to draw money. I sat down to look at the menu only to find an extremely limited food selection out of which 3 dishes were cold meats and some of the others were pickles. Trying to keep our spirits up and convincing ourselves that they must have put the best of their repertoire up on the menu, we decided to continue on. We then asked for the Wine List and were told by an insecure waitress that they only had one red and one white, as they had no license yet. I trust the readers may excuse my criticism, but this was it for me, I mean, I'm sorry but you don't call your place "Bar & Restaurant" and then open without a license, it's a completely deceiving sign hanging above the entrance! 

When I go to a restaurant I want to be dazzled by the food and wine options, but found nothing dazzling there! Apparently they do have a nice and surprising performance on Wednesdays, but the place didn't cut it for me. With all such de-motivation, we just walked out of the place feeling disappointed and headed once again for our neighborhood favorite! To be fair, we didn't even get to try the food and see whether it was worth the trouble, but I honestly didn't feel like letting trouble be part of our Friday dinner out was worthwhile in the first place. If you do try it, please let me know how it went!

Love, iSa