Olives Mediterranean Market And Grill

Stopped here on our road trip back to LA. Ordered the chicken shawarma plate which came with bread, rice, a little salad and tub of garlic and cucumber yogurt. The food was absolutely delicious. The flavors were authentic. The portion of chicken was ample. I really enjoyed the meal. The staff were so friendly. Easy parking outside. A few tables available. Loved it!

I love the labneh with zatar! The labneh is very thick and creamy. The toasty zatar on top goes with the tartness so well. It beats Oren's any day. Service is very friendly and kind. Turkish coffee is amazingly fragrant but super strong. If you are used to needing cream in your coffee, you might need a bottle of cream. Just pour the coffee directly in the cream bottle.

Despite Gilroy being the garlic capital of California, there are surprisingly not that many garlic themed or garlic focused restaurants featuring the town's tourist crop...so we went to Olives because they were an eatery that showed up on Yelp when you look up "garlic" for Gilroy! It's a restaurant and mini market with Mediterranean goods there too (snacks, baking and cooking ingredients, etc.). We got the: 1) Beef Kebab Plate: -This comes with 3 huge beef kebabs on top of yellow rice. We also got pita bread and a side of hummus and baba ganoush. -The beef was slightly dry, but that was balanced by the sauces, same with the rice. -The garlic was in the garlic sauce they have here (lol) and we had tahini sauce as well. 2) Fries: -This was due to my weak appetite at the time, but it's just regular fries to be honest. Went great with the garlic sauce. Not bad!

Disclaimer: I've stopped in to buy baklava from time to time but today is the first day i've come in to order "to-go." Place is small, as is the menu... but the smell that comes from the kitchen is delectable! Service is decent but could use some work. When I entered, no other customer was around, *not a good sign* but I placed my order and waited by looking at the shop offerings of spices and sweets. Within five minutes of me placing my order, a party of 3 dine-in customers came in and placed their order. I didn't think anything of it.... Until after almost 20 minutes, when I saw they were being served first and catered to. Mind you, the kitchen area can be seen from the front... they made all the meals for the dine in customers first THEN started on my to-go order. Not cool. After that fiasco, I took my meal home to enjoy and although I was satisfied with the portions and quality of the food... I was sincerely disappointed in the taste. There was no flavor! No zest! No oomph or yum. Just... bland. I absolutely love mediterranean cuisine and as such, I have eaten from many other restaurants with the same type of offerings and have never been left with no desire to finish my meal. I just decided to give this place a shot as it was more local to me. Such a bummer.In all, I probably won't be stopping in here for anything except sumac seasoning and homemade baklava...

I ordered the falafel plate with half salad and half rice and a side of baba ghanoush and another side of hummus. I also tried three different types of sauces: the garlic sauce , tzatziki sauce and tahini. My favorite was the garlic sauceand the Tzatziki. Overall the food was delicious. The falafel were freshly fried, crunchy on the outside and soft and moist inside. The baklava was fresh, soft and scrumptious. I tried a regular one, however, I also saw that they had chocolate baklava. The restaurant is located inside of a small specialty Middle Eastern grocery. They had a good selection of canned food as well as a few frozen items. Take a look at my photos to see the selection. There was plenty of parking and conveniently located close to the 101 freeway.

Had a snack attack mid day and already ate all the nuts we brought from home. Stumbled about this place. The other choices were Carbs (pho place) and sugar (Jamba). So, we decided to go midway. A little bit of Carbs and more protein with minimum sugar. We split their Falafel Wraps. We had no expectation. But, the wrap blew our palate. The Falafels were crispy and moist inside. Very well seasoned and flavorful. We had bad falafel that's literally crispy to the core. The sauce was not to sour. The tomatoes, red onions and cucumbers were there to elevate the wraps. Excellent!

Yes!! Why haven't I tried this place yet?! I got it to go since I know I wouldn't be able to eat it all while I was there. I got a gyro plate.I had to remind myself to slow down. It is that good. The hummus is amazing. Literally can eat it by the spoonful. The eggplant side (baba ganoush) was recommended by the women at the counter. YES! It was amazing! I got the garlic sauce and tzatziki. These were free, but pretty tiny. The rice and gyro were not the star of the meal. This is very rare. I am a fan and can not wait to come back.

We found this place randomly while shopping. We placed our order and service took 10 minutes to give us the food. The kebab was not greasy and it was tasty and it was not. So you get hundred percent taste.The small pieces of red wear soft the lady gave me next to the Taziki. She gave me garlic sauce to try and it was little bit strong and I loved it.The rice was good. The eggplant was good. The hummus was above average. The salad was fresh. The place is more like a shopping store and the deli at the same time. Easy to park outside. The ladies were very friendly and funny and very socializing with customers. I definitely come back to try falafel in the future .

Holy Moly! This place was good! Very generous portions! Food was so so so delicious and service was wonderful!

First time there and not particularly impressed. the cashier /order taker didn't explain their menu just pointed to the wall so the Falafel wrap was an old flour tortilla with little flavor. Had I known I would have ordered something else to try. I'll make the drive to San Jose next time I want Falafels. Because the few tables inside the place are so close together we (2) had to squeeze chairs from a table just to sit, a little reconfiguration could avoid disturbing other diners.