Olive Mediterranean Grill

BAKLAVA!! I had this delivered through Uber Eats. I ordered the Grape Leaves, Chicken Shawarma Wrap, and Baklava. The Grape Leaves tasted as you would expect. The Chicken Shawarma Wrap had more filler than anything. It was like eating a lettuce onion wrap. In the couple complete bites there were, it was tasty. I would eat it again if there was more meat. The baklava was very ideal as it was flaky, sweet, soft and very flavorful. Overall, I would go back just to get baklava.

We stopped here for dinner on a long, long, long drive north to the Detroit area. I really wanted to get a small taste of local flavor instead of just eating fast food, and Olive was more or less on our way, so we hopped off the interstate to grab a bite.Now, from some of the pictures of the outside on Yelp, it looks like this is a standalone business with a private parking lot. That might have been the case at one time, but either the business moved or it has a second location that's freestanding and the pics are in the wrong spot, as that's not the case now. This Olive is very much in the downtown-ish area, carved into the ground floor of a much larger building.As such, parking may be a bit more challenging since there doesn't appear to be a private lot. That said, we had no trouble finding a spot on the street within a block or two. Parking was paid for with the Passport app, and it was reasonable. Of course, it might be harder during nicer weather -- not a lot of people out on a rainy evening!We walked in to find the restaurant fairly spacious but almost deserted -- only two other people waiting for to-go orders. Kind of odd for a Friday night, but again...weather. The decorations are kind of sparse but the place, including the bathroom, was clean.We ordered our meal at the counter and sat down to wait. Husband got a gyro and fries, and I got the Shish tawook platter, which came with grilled chicken, a salad, rice, and pita. We also got an order of the Greek potatoes to try out as an appetizer. Service was a little gruff at checkout but gave us a genuine, kind-hearted thank you as we left, so I guess they just had to warm up to us, lol. The potatoes came out first and were my favorite part of the meal! They were clearly cooked fresh. I'm honestly not sure what's Greek about them as they kinda reminded me of hash browns (the cubed, hash kind) with a little squeeze of lemon and maybe some herbs on top...but if it ain't broke, don't fix it! They were piping hot and very crispy. Husband and I enjoyed our meals, too. His gyro was very large and almost over-stuffed with gyro meat. The fries were medium-cut but tasted like McDonald's fries somehow...not complaining. My Shish tawook was very juicy and flavorful. I've had better rice and pita but these were both quite serviceable and I enjoyed a fairly healthy-feeling meal.Honestly, my true rating is maybe more in-line with a 3.5...but I don't have any super severe criticisms and we had a quite pleasant time overall, so I'll just round up to a 4.Seems like they do a lot of carryout / delivery business. I'd recommend this spot for a decently healthy, very fresh Mediterranean bite if you're in the area.

I love the idea of this place but the execution isn't quite up to par. We came on our lunch break and the service was very slow. I didn't care for the flavor of the chicken gyro but there are some really good looking menu items so I'll give it another chance. The atmosphere is nothing special and the tables were kinda sticky which is a turn off. They just need some fine tuning.

Delivery Order Review Only:I had always heard good things about this place so I finally ordered some things to try. I am quite disappointed as I close up the container and toss it into the fridge to go bad. I ordered from DoorDash, which is partly where I went wrong I guess. There is very little description for the menu items so I was unaware of some things which lead to huge disappointment. I ordered the Vegetarian Mix Platter, pita, side of Shish Tawook, and always extra tzatziki. The Baba ganouj was overly smoky for my taste but not bad when I added tzatziki. The hummus was oddly tart and tasted different than any other hummus I've ever had at Mediterranean restaurants. I did not care for it. The pita was fine, nothing special. Salad greens were fresh. The grape leaves were the best thing in the entire order, and probably the best I've ever had (I don't order them often though). Some things that the DoorDash menu did not note: I was unaware that the salad dressing was spicy, and I have a condition that does not allow for much spice so I was unable to eat the salad after I ruined it with the dressing. I should have tasted it first, so that's my bad! I also ordered a side of Shish Tawook and expected a small portion, but not as small as what I received. There was no portion size on the menu. But what I got was one slice of chicken that was about the size of a McDonald's chicken nugget (for $2!) - huge waste of money there. I was also unaware that the platter came with pita because it was not in the description, so I wasted more money adding that on. Overall the flavor was not there. I have no idea how authentic it is, so my opinion is not a well educated one. Lol. I'm just saying, I didn't care for most of my meal and felt a bit ripped off so I won't be ordering there again.

See earlier review as this is an update. The HEAT has been fixed! I'm not truly sure if it was fixed or turned on, but it's welcomed! Food continues to be fresh and excellent. Thanks for making a commitment to downtown Dayton!

Olive Mediterranean Grill is a Mediterranean restaurant in downtown Dayton. I usually go there for dinner and takeout. It has a very quiet vibe - definitely not busy, but I am guessing they have a lot of lunch customers. I got the schwarma platter. This came with very large portions at $13. Basically it was two meals.Rice: fragrant with hint of spices (cloves), long grain, perfectly steamed texture and not soggySchwarma chicken: the grill flavor tastes really great. It is not dry at all and has a lot of spices and salt. This was very satisfyingSide salad: very fresh leaves, kalamata olive, though vinegar dressing is very sharp. Crispy falafel which was good. Normal otherwise. Comes with tzitzaki sauce and pita if you like that. Pita could have been softer but still good.I definitely would come back when I am in the mood for mediterranean.

I love mediterranean food but this has to be the most overrated placed ive seen.Staff was very nice no issues there. Parking certainly is but thats not really there fault. Cost was great.Look at the photo of the gyro, honestly its the worst ive ever had. It had zero flavor, very bland, and the pita was very poor. It fell apart almost immediately. Price and the sweet tea which was great is the reason why its a 2.

No flavor. We spent 70$ for flavorless food. I have no idea what's going on. The gyro meat tastes boiled. The fries have too much salt the pita is stale. The hummus is like water. Who is giving this place 5 stars?! Who?! You guy's have no taste buds! This is awful this is hell. This is foolishness

Great down town restaurant. Lots of table seating. An area for to go order patrons to sit away from diners. Fairly good lighting. It looked very clean and has the light smell of grape leaves. Service was fast and helpful. Appears family run. I got food to-go today. I was testing their Baba ganouj, hummus and stuffed grape leaves. The Baba Ganouj was better than what I had recently in upstate NY. Great bite of smoke flavor and soft creamy dip. Grape leaves were the best. I've only ever had canned and these appear freshly rolled. And the Hummus was fresh and was not salty as others are and packaged brands taste bland in comparison. Well done!

Horrible food service, not clean at allvery bad customer service. Uncooked cold rice, that woman can't run this place like the man did. My fries were undercooked, the gyro was not seasoned at all, the bread was burnt and the worst the older lady with a hunched back dropped the chicken on the ground picked it back up, and put it in the wrap never coming back. The food came cold and tasted disgusting0 stars for this placeBtw I saw rats here and there eww never coming back again