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This is a fabulous experience we brought our party of 8 and because of the warmth and setting of the restaurant we had the most enjoyable experience. Not to forget to mention the food with was an experience with each course, a truly adventurous sensation. Our waitress Alexandria kept us on track and saw to our every need. She. The mac ‘n cheese came out I thought I wax in heaven. This is more than a restaurant it is an experience. I will be back!!
What an awesome surprise Olive Branch was for our group! 4 of us, one in a wheelchair, were treated to fabulous food and caring service. The crepes were perfect and the creative flavors such a surprise!
We were asked if our tapas could come out in any order, and it was a great relaxing way to share food and enjoy the experience.
On a cold day, they even had hot chocolate with whipped cream!
I was surprised to read any negative comments about this place since our group dines often in West Chester and found OB to be welcoming, delicious and uniquely wonderful! We’ll be back for dinner soon~that menu looked awesome!
I must give a shout-out to Olive Branch for a great night out with my boyfriend a few months ago. The two of us set out for a quick and quaint dinner in town. It was the night of a parade, of which we weren’t aware was happening, and everywhere was jam packed. We weren’t sure where to turn, but then stumbled upon Olive Branch and was quickly treated to a great night. The service was fast and food was delicious (hello flank steak!). We were unprepared for a BYOB restaurant, and the staff graciously offered us glasses of red wine. We can’t wait to come back. Thanks for making downtown dining enjoyable!
My girlfriend and I had lunch at Olive Branch this afternoon. We found the place at Restaurant.com and after looking at their website, I was very excited by the menu and the pictures. It looked like a nice relaxing place to enjoy a slow-paced lunch on a summer afternoon. We were not disappointed, it was everything we expected and MORE!!! The food was fabulous and our waiter, Chris, was FANTASTIC. Chilled our wine, brought extra ice, and gave us his recommendations when asked. He was the most pleasant server and we really enjoyed chatting with him. We spent almost 2 hours catching up and eating a fantastic meal – little bit of this, and a little bit of that – we shared everything. Lobster mac was great, crepes were delicious, portabello mushroom…sooo good. Can’t wait to go back, taking hubby for his birthday!! Reasonably priced, and BYOB makes it that much better.
We tried this restaurant Friday night and we were very disappointed. The tables were place haphazardly so that I was constantly buffeted by patrons going to the restroom or wait staff. We waited 25 minutes just for water and menus and were told they ran out of glasses. Little hint: Have at least double the amount of glasses as chairs in your restaurant. Most of the dishes were cold and one of my friends had to remind the waitress that she never received her dish. When it came out the pasta was completely undercooked. We were there for 2.5 hours and left starving. A restaurant can always have an off night but at those prices i am not willing to try again. Oh and BTW I replaced both the paper towels and toilet tissue in the bathroom. I should have gotten an employee discount
Arguably the best food in west chester! Great environment, super nice wait staff. A very nice cozy, family environment- unlike a lot of the larger restaurant/bar combinations in town. The lobster mac and cheese was delicious, so were the crabmeat stuffed shrimp! My wife and I will definitely be back when we’re in town.
Working here in the borough, finding a place to get lunch is not a tough task. What is tough is finding fresh, well-made, and interesting food in a welcoming environment. Olive Branch (to which I was just introduced a couple of months ago) succeeds on all counts. Their lunch buffet has been stellar and their willingness to accommodate, e.g., food allergies of certain unnamed diners, can’t be matched. I can’t comment on dinner but every experience I’ve had with OB, its food, its owner and its waitstaff has been fantastic. All of my tough dining companions have concurred–each time I take a newbie, they love it. Bang on, OB!
Hi Everybody… Jason from the West Chester Dish team here.
There were recently a number of lengthy negative reviews about the Olive Branch restaurant, as well as some very long replies from the management. While we’re very reluctant to delete submitted content on West Chester Dish, in this case we’ve decided to disable (hide) some of the replies from both sides of the discussion.
We feel that it best serves you guys to allow only one extensive review covering each experience. There’s no reason to pile-on a restaurant once a point has been made, and it does a disservice to other reviewers to make it look like a single night’s experience caries greater weight than others. Let’s leave room for a variety of voices and opinions.
We really wanted to discuss this with the parties involved before taking action, however when we attempted to contact several of the reviewers at the email addressed provided, the emails bounced back to us.
I’m happy to discuss this further, so if you have any questions or comments about our decision, feel free to contact me at “jasont@thetowndish.com”.
John and Marie are the best. They have catered our private party for years, and are the most reliable people. Further, the food is always interesting and plentiful. Marie has gone out of her way to create fantastic buffet
displays that are appealing and colorful. The staff that serves at our annual event is always pleasant—and hard working.
My friend planned a party with Olive Branch last fall and had a very similar experience described by Kara below. They were promised everything and then had many problems with the owners as the date came near. The big exception was that the party did come together in the end and the food was good and plentiful. Do get EVERYTHING in writing and don’t pay more than 50% in advance… that is the only way to GET everything you agreed to pay for.
This place serves the best food in town by far! Its nice to eat food that is actually home made and didn’t come from the frozen sysco truck. The owners here are very accommodating and go out of their way to make you feel at home. If you’re looking for a relaxing evening and a place to enjoy a nice bottle of your own wine this is the best place around. I’ve read some of the other comments on here and my conclusion is that those people must be delusional, or just bitter in general.
Great food, fair price, love the OB!
Oh, and their lunch buffet is absolutely ridiculous.
This was one of the worst dining experiences i’ve ever had. After much thought and planning, we decided to celebrate our friends 24th birthday at this restaurant. We talked to the owner, who is a personal friend of some of ours, and she promised that we could reserve the entire restaurant for $35 per person, with unlimited tapas. There was about 30 of us.
Walking inside, there was an entire full restaurant, and not of my friends. We were confined to a small corner and three tables, barely any room to breathe let alone be comfortable. There was the first red flag, we were flat out lied to.
Then, they informed us that as people were leaving, we could have more tables. Another lie, because they proceeded to sit other guests who arrived at the restaurant.
Further, there were about 15 people at two of the tables and about 6 at the third, we were givin a ridiculous small portioned tapa for each table, 15 people splitting a small bowl of lobster mac and cheese???? That worked out to be about a bite per person. Then we asked for more, hence what we were paying for – “unlimited tapas” and we were given attitude. They even told us no more caesar salad because they ran out of romaine lettuce. I guess three small bowls of caesar salad was all that was allowed for 30+ people.
There wasn’t even enough glasses for everyone. Maybe they should have kept their promise and given us the whole restaurant, which was what we were paying this obscene price for.
Further, the owner said “don’t worry, we will make you a cake”. Thinking it was just simply a nice gesture since she knew the birthday girl, she ended up charging us 50$ FOR A CAKE. I’m sorry, but she completely left that part out. We would have made our own. No one even ate the cake. And again, we were barely even fed.
We were overcharged at the end, and one girl decided to speak up about it, and the owner threw her money back at her and said “i don’t want your money.” What kind of management is that? You flat out lie, don’t accomodate for a party that would have brought you a decent amount of revenue, would have tipped your waitresses a lot better… Obviously i’m going to complain. think twice before you go to this establishment. And also, NEVER THROW A PARTY THERE
Since there is no other way to contact you, I will reply here to your posts. Sorry for your unhappy dining experience. Your facts do however seem unstable. One of you says you paid $35, the other says $40 and the last says $50 or so? What is that? You were one of many guests and you were justed invited to the evening. If it’s not at your expectations you should just let it be at that not to offend the others in your party or the person that planned it. Here are the facts that you may not be aware of: Only one representative from your party ever spoke to the owner about the arrangments prior. She did all the speaking and arrangements. Together they reached an agreement for the party which was arranged within days of the event. From there, whatever discussion was done or promises made between the guests took place and however it was conveyed seems to have been misleading. We are sorry it was not a place for your particular group, however we work very hard to provide an authentic and quaint place to go in town. Tapas, small plates, are not for everyone. Please understand all the details before you continue to uninformally speak. To pay 35.00 per person for 10 different tapas for each table, bring cases of beer, wine, alcohol,etc..and continue partying until midnight. Also, to believe that an extra five dollars for the service is abundant and unheard of, why would you not tip a server? Don’t know anywhere you could go in this town or any where for such an evening. A homemade sheet cake is easly 50.00 just at Giant. Wish I could express to you what knowlege, age, and life experience will do for all of you. Learn to treat everyone in your path, good or bad, with respect. Even if things or situations aren’t for you, your life will go on and you will do better to learn to let some things just go. Best of luck in your future dining experiences. FYI We recently visited a tapas restaurant in Philly, just 10 of us, half the portions and sizes than here, service unattentive, and brought my own cake from a bakery in Philly, (10″ round for $35.00) And that bill was $725.00, The only thing I felt good about when I left there was MYSELF. Never said a word to them, wrote a word, however I will not return. It’s a very busy well known restaurant so perhaps it’s my opinion, best to keep to myslef. Welcome to the adult world. With aplogies THE OB
I would never go to the Olive Branch based on the response from the restaurant on Feb 3rd. It seems like they are difficult to deal with and the situation could of been handled better. Why not just offer a free dinner and avoid all of the negative press?
We may give this a another try, but it won't be for a while. Service overall was very spotty, dishes came out in bizarre order, long waits between service. Now for food: olive branch salad was a very odd concoction – you can sort of see where they were going with it, but after throwing in way too many ingredients it just got away – way too many flavors going on at once, no balance or focus in the dish. Not to mention half-rotten pieces of spring mix I had in the salad. Roasted fig crostini was OK, though bread was over-toasted so it was too dry and really crumbled into many pieces with every bite. Flavor was good though, but prosciutto and blue cheese together made it too salty overall. The $15 fruit and cheese plate was pathetic – half a dozen of grapes, half of a bruised peach, few slices of apple, few cubes of cantaloupe – that was paired with a few cubes of pepper jack (really?!?) and some crumbled hard cheese. There was no explanation of what the cheeses were (and they really weren't special enough to warrant explanation). Lobster mac and cheese was all right, but I've definitely had better – it was on the oily side, lobster a little overdone and rubbery. The only highlight of the whole meal was the shrimp risotto – it was really delicious and made wish I ordered 2 of these and skipped the rest of the dishes I tried.
Dear Marie, Jon, and Alexandra et al,
Thank you does not seem enough of an accolade for the wonderful efforts put forth
to make a very special day happen for all of us. Our guests could not contain their
amazement at the "personal' touch afforded throughout the evening. There was something for everyone's gustatory tastebuds, and to say the food was absolutely delicious would be an understatement. Everyone kept remarking, "I want to come back here again". Personally,
I could not help but keep a smile on my face all night.
A most gracious appreciation to all of you. May you continue to have a rewarding and successful business. Looking forward to dining with you again.
Sincerely,
Sally McGee
Really over priced for mediocre food. They mess up EVERY time I order from them. The $5 fruit and yogurt parfait came in a dixie cup and there were clumps in the yogurt.
i wish there was a dislike button.
Zoey, not sure if you've seen this yet, but there are now thumbs-up and thumbs-down buttons by each comment.
Val,thats a shame. You should always give a place a second try…especially one that is now opening their second one…must be doing something right. They are making improvements daily and i know no one likes to wait but if you were waiting and hungry, think you be happy when it all came at once. There is no order in tapas style dinning- its smaller portions to share. that the fun of it. I eat her one to two times a month and never leave hungry or unsatisfied. to all of you the read reviews do not like this one sway you. give it a shot! and val i wouldnt throw in the towel so quickly…
IS ZOEY MARIE'S DAUGHTER?
Jeff this has made my day, actually has made all the work over the past 10 years here in west chester worth while. You are the greatest. So thrilled to hear from you. Those Sunrise days were the roughest and the best of times. I will hold it all so dear to me, we were a great team and we all learned so much. Please stay in touch, let me know were you are and how you are. We have another new location now also, it on 202 (old Antonio's) in Dilworthtown. I believe dreams and hard work does eventually pay off. See you I hope real soon
Marie it's great to see you got your own gig going, it's been years since iv'e seen you. You very much deserve the sucess and the respect that you have been recieving.I have just moved back to west chester recently,and i read this article.Now i know you never left the area.It's great that you have your children involved in the restaurant.You are very talented devoted chef, as i know personally.I worked for you ten years ago.Can't wait to come down to the restaurant. yours, Jeffery Bleecher
I must say that our experience with Marie and Jon at the Olive Branch was fabulous! When your there they make you feel like family and can't do enough for you. Our food was brought to us in a timely fashion and not only was it delicious but a beautiful presentation. We will go there again and again and hope everyone will also! We've also booked a private party there and they are doing everything possible to make this celebration fantastic!
Went to the Olive Branch the other night for dinner with a couple of friends and left disappointed. The reviews on this site seem all together very positive but from my experience, I wonder if I was even in the same restaurant. I’ve been to plenty of Spanish tapas restaurants and other places who serve small/shared plates at a reasonable pace so you’re never without something to nibble on. But none who seemed to be disorganized and painfully slow as the Olive Branch. Our food took forever to arrive, and when it did, the waiters brought multiple plates of the same dish to our table, and seemed confused as to which table orders what. Between the sudden flurries of food, whenever I looked around everyone else in the restaurant also seemed to be waiting and bored. I even overheard the waiter tell one poor fellow that he forgot to put his order in! The food is fine, but isn’t worth waiting 20 to 30 minutes per plate for. I have to agree with Val’s review below, the Olive Branch has potential but needs to find its groove and stick to it.
This place is my "Cheers". It's my go-to place when I don't feel like making breakfast or lunch, and I recommend to friends. They are BYOB, they have a great virgin drink menu where alcohol can be added.Props go out to Jon and Marie for being one of the few establishments to remain open during the Blizzards of 2010. A lot of snow days were spent here!For breakfast, they have great sandwiches and coffee. For lunch, try the Cobb Salad or the roast turkey sandwich – they do not disappoint.For Tapas dinner, the specials are wonderful. Don't forget dessert. Marie makes a warm Chocolate chip cookie sundae in a cast iron skillet – promise you won't leave a crumb!We had a girls' get together with about 20 girls here one night, and everything was on point. The service, the food, the timing, you name it. We all had a wonderful experience.Great atmosphere for friends and dates! Always great music playing, and window displays are always fitting to the season. You'll feel right at home at OB
Went Saturday night and the service was great and we ate everything on our plate, the fish was cooked to perfection, both the salmon and stuffed flounder were out of this world.
I would NOT recommend eating here. My husband and I went last night and everything was off…we ordered tapas style and waited a half hour for our first course, then everything seemed to come at once! And in the improper order…lamb before crabcakes, etc. The seasonings were off on just about everything. The lamb came to us raw and we sent it back only to have it replaced with an overcooked version. The lobster mac and cheese (which our waitress highly recommended) was so goopy it was nearly inedible. I think they should stick to learning how to make a few things well, and forego the tapas idea. But I won't be going back to find out how they make out….