Review Olive Press Restaurant - Oakville

We went here on a date night after hearing good things about the restaurant. We weren't disappointed! The garlic bread to start was fantastic. The sausage and penne was exactly what I was looking for. And the sticky toffee pudding was an incredible way to finish the meal. I can't wait to go back here again!

Good food, good staff, good place. I like this restaurant very much! Kids menu is really worthy, if you have 2 kids under 5, like me, you can get just one kids meal to share between them.

Great food and drinks especially love the calamari and sangria! As it can get busy, I would highly recommend to make reservation ahead of time.

Nice family style restaurant. Great service, very good size portions, and food is decent but not stellar.

Casual Italian comfort food in a family friendly atmosphere. Prices are reasonable, the servings are generous and the food is delicious. The veal is on point, the salads are big enough to feed two and the warm olive appetizer had to come home with us because it was too big to finish. Their pizzas are incredible and might I dare say some of the best I have ever tried! Enjoy!!

The food presentation is nice and the Bruschetta tastes very good and is a nice portion. However, my friends and I ordered 3 main and we were a little disappointed. LASAGNA RUSTICA - way, way too much tomato sauce with barely any pasta inside and the pasta are undercooked Mushroom Ravioli- it was very bland and not alot of ravioli (not worth the money) SEAFOOD LINGUINE - It was very bland. The seafood was not seasoned enough which may have watered down the taste. The mussels were also very small. The red onions were more on the raw side - caramelized onions would’ve paired nicely. The Bruschetta appetizer is the only one that is good and what we feel was worth the money. Not a go-to restaurant when you crave for pasta.

Food was yumm!! We ordered the 4 cheese ravioli, and shrimp linguine, along with the cheese garlic bread. Everything was very fresh and delicious! Dessert options were limited, we had the lava cake it was not bad.

Such a great experience at the Olive Press! The food was excellent and the service was even better!

Was there yesterday for the first time. I had a pizza and a caesar salad, hubby had a pasta dish and he got garlic bread also. The only thing I would complain about is the salad had very little dressing on it. But the food was very good. The server was nice but she waited until we were almost done our meal to come back to see if we wanted our drinks refilled. I will definitely go back.

Had my first experience at this establishment last night. The service was great, the gentleman that waited on us was very pleasant. He was very patient and good with my three young grandchildren. The place was fairly busy and yet it was not that long of a wait for our food to be served. Everything was hot, and delicious. I will be dining there again and highly recommend this restaurant.

Finally tried this place.. food was great (pizza, pasta and veggies), kid friendly and best of all -the service was amazing!

Amazing food. Have driven by fifty million times but have never went in... Until today. My lemon veal dish was amazing... My wife just LOVED her lobster ravioli dish and hopes it's a permanent fixture on the menu. Prices we fair, portions were plentiful and we had a great time. Plan to see us much more often!

Great place! Good was delicious and waitress checking up on us. Win be back again for sure. Loved the bellini, chicken pesto papperdelle & lobster ravioli

The food was OK to good, the service was good. However i asked for meat sauce instead of marinara, the charged extra for it. But they should be embarrassed to call it meat sauce. If you are going to charge extra than make sure people can tell its actually meat sauce, we had to ask the server it was or not. Also remember if you are going to serve cool/cold noodles you should make sure you cover them with sauce to keep them warm.

The service was excellent and very friendly. My Girlfriend loved the seafood pasta but the lasagna was drowning in tomato sauce so nothing to brag about. All in all I would recommend The Olive Press for night out but don’t expect true Italian cuisine.

The service was OK, food was really good, portions were large and pricing was very reasonable. We will definitely return. A shared appetizer and dessert , a couple of drinks and all-in we were less than $100 for a great meal..

We ate here for the first time tonight - seafood pasta and the grilled lamb chops - delicious can’t say enough about how good our food was. Will definitely eat here again next time we are in the area!

First time at this restaurant and had a great experience. Food was great and service spot on. We were a party of 8 people and everyone had the same feeling. The only downside was the parking. We had to wait 20 minutes for a spot to open up. Otherwise I would have given 5 stars.

It was our first time at The Olive Press and we will be back. I like the variety on the menu, so lots of options based on what you are feeling like eating. Service was great! I had lasagna which was very good. My kids each had pizza and they found it had a little too much sauce for them..... They would order it again, just ask for less sauce. Hubby had chicken Parm which he enjoyed.

Great food, reasonably priced, large portions. The server was great, I forgot his name but he said he was a Jewish boy from Montreal �.

The olives appetizer and calamari was delicious as was the tetrazzini! Everything came out hot and wasn't sitting in a window waiting to be transferred. The portions are are also very good. I have been before and will be back. Thank you to Craig and Steve for the great welcome and service!

Great food - I haven't had a better salad anywhere else that even compares to their chicken chop salad! Filling and loaded with fresh flavorful ingredients! All the staff are friendly, however we always ask to sit in Mitch's section. He looks after us so well and always knows what we want and brings it over even before we order! Been going there for years and will continue!

It was my first time there and it was a fantastic experience. Good was awesome service was great and the price was very reasonable. I would definitely recommend it, and we will definitely be going back again

Telephone was answered quickly, however my question about the delivery area was not answered and I was placed on hold. Website fails to disclude that restaurant does not actually deliver to Oakville proper. I wasted 15 minutes putting together an order for our Easter Sunday dinner and then got stuck on hold for 5 minutes before learning this. Considering that Oakville proper is the second most exclusive neighbourhood in Canada it seems insane to exclude us but there you go. Not sure we would want to chance the food given the non-existent business acumen behind the venture in any case as such poor decision making is likely systemic, bringing into question the quality of the entire operation.

This is my favourite restaurant in the burbs. The food is always fresh and piping hot. If there was ever a server not up to regular snuff, we just let the manager know and he'd get us someone new. Try the pesto pappardelle. Get this: medium wings, you wouldn't expect an Italian joint to have great wings, but they're amazing!!!

Chain restaurant, average food at best. One small step up from East Side Marios.<br/><br/><br/>-----22 Apr, 2015-----<br/><br/>I visited the Olive Press on a Monday night at 7 PM. After waiting a few minutes by the door, we were greeted by the manager who then took us to our seat. The restaurant was maybe one third full. He offered us a table at the back of the restaurant which was quite small and up against the wall. We asked him if we could sit in the booth instead. He told us NO. When I questioned why he said that it was reserved for larger dining parties. I looked around the restaurant and said, but it's not that busy. He again looked directly at me, and said no. I was beginning to become annoyed at his rudeness and then I asked if we could have a different table as the restaurant was not busy and we didn't like this particular one. He then brought us to the front of the restaurant and put us in an equally bad table, when there was a second smaller both available. I asked if we could have the booth instead. Again, he said no because that table needed to be cleaned. My husband and I said that we would be happy to wait for someone to clean it. He then walked away with no comment or answer to us left standing in the middle of the restaurant until another server came up to us and asked us if there was something they could help us with. <br/>A server did come over and start cleaning the booth for us to sit in, however by this time my husband and I were pretty fed up with the managers rudeness and his lack of customer service skills. We had earlier explained to the manager that we had actually driven a half an hour specifically to come to this restaurant, as we were craving Italian- this didn't make a difference to him and it certainly didn't change his snotty rude attitude. Needless to say, I will never go back to this restaurant, the food is mediocre at best, but the prices are somewhat reasonable if you're in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs. <br/>Someone needs to tell the manager that if I want mediocre food and poor service, I'll simply stay at home.

I have been going since it opened. Good prices, food is good and so is the service. Their bruschetta is delicious.

Good Italian Community Eatery. I have been going here since it opened (can't count how many times), great food, atmosphere, and good service - even with large parties.<br/><br/>Food: GREAT ingredients; Usually food is seasoned properly and the flavours are usually balanced perfectly, a couple of times they used more garlic than normal which I don't mind personally, but if you don't like that just tell them to go easy on it. Presentation is nice but simple.Portion sizes are ample.<br/><br/>Wine: Amazing wine selection. They have a great Italian Chianti, and the Masi Soave goes well with their seafood dishes.<br/><br/>Price: Good pricing roughly $12.95 - $23.95 for an entrée depending what you get.<br/><br/>Service: Usually prompt and the staff is typically friendly. I only had one poor server in the years I have been going, but I haven't seen that server again so I chalk that up to a one-off because it's not my regular experience.<br/><br/>Atmosphere: Modern/rustic home Italian type decor, nice feel, great community spot always packed and buzzing. Smart-Casual dress is typical but I have gone there in yoga pants for lunch and wasn't out of place.<br/><br/>Take-out: Good but I prefer eating there. If you take-out call in advance it takes about 15-20 minutes for the food to be ready - but if you walk-in you can sit at the bar and have a drink while you wait.<br/><br/>I have eaten almost everything on the menu this place is a favourite of ours. Dishes that stand out in my mind when I think of this place are the mussels in the white sauce, tomato bruschetta no cheese, the calamari, the seafood chopped salad, the lamb entrée, the spaghetti prima vera, the shrimp linguine, the honeymoon pasta, and the Mediterranean pizza.<br/><br/>I would more than recommend this place ... if you are in the area you have to try it!!!

After reading the mostly negative reviews I was skeptical about trying this place out but I had to see for myself. The service was excellent. Our waiter was extremely knowledgable and very kind and polite as well as the food was awesome. For the price point I would recommend this place 100%. The cheese cake is incredible as well if your going for desert.

We went for our anniversary and felt it was so bad we should write about it.<br/>We didn't like the food and the service was really bad. There was hardly anyone there but the staff preferred ti chat at the bar than serve us. The tomato sauce was like burnt tomato paste. Terrible.

Never again, been three times. Got the order wrong twice. Food and drinks took forever to come the last time and staff was RUDE. No thanks.

On the decline. I used to love this joint, but over the last few years the quality has gone down tremendously. However, pizzas plus the pastas are still pretty legit. Service is always good but the quality of the food has declined.<br/><br/>The atmoshhere, setup and location are great. I hope the food quality goes back up. I'd still reocmmend it for anyone who wants italian food. Try the sausage penne or the meatball sandwich

The server was nice.... First, this review may be biased as I don't really like going out for Italian. Why? Well, because after watching my fair share of "Kitchen Nightmares", lots of menu items are probably nuked from frozen. Plus, I also find it overpriced for what you get - in comparison to going to an Asian restaurant.<br/><br/>Anyway, after seeing the rating on here, I was a bit apprehensive about going to Olive Press, but someone suggested this place for a group dinner, so I really had no input.<br/><br/>Bellini ($6.50) - Tasted like a fuzzy peach...with no alcohol. Would be better if they turned down the syrup and turned up the alcohol, just a bit.<br/><br/>I had a nibble of the Calamari app and it was pretty much tasteless. Again, just had a piece and there was no seasoning on the batter. <br/><br/>Stromboli ($16) - Size of a football. I ate a little bit less than 1/2 of it, doggy-bagged the rest. Tasted fine, but the next day, I realised just how salty it was. It did seem freshly made, but again, waaay too salty. Also it came with a side of tomato sauce...with meat. Would've preferred just a fresh marinara, no meat, since the stromboli already had chock full of ham, spicy sausage.<br/><br/>Other not-so-good points: PARKING. Not enough spots in small lot. People made their own parking and I had to end up parking on Dundas which is a bit unsafe with the cars that whizz by at high rates of speed! NO RESERVATIONS TAKEN. The person in my party who was organising was told that we could get in without any problems for 7:30pm as it was "later". However, we waited for approx. 1 hour before we were seated!<br/><br/>Must be noted is that the waitress was very accommodating and nice. She offered wine samples to help us figure out what glass we were going to order, brought another basket of fresh bread (yum!) upon request, replaced some undercooked shrimp that was in the seafood pasta, and a glass that had a huge crack in it. I think she really made the difference between me just dismissing this place as a East Side Mario's knock-off.

Been many times. They do their seafood pastas right but i dont count on them to do justice to the rest.

Casual? Yes. Italian Comfort? No.. Upon my suggestion, based purely on location and where my colleagues live, I suggested 6 of us meet at The Olive Press for supper. Needless to say, I was embarrassed that this was my suggestion. As a brief run down, everything apparently is cooked in an oven, a pizza oven to be precise. The bruschetta was served on knock off Calabreze bread, and only toasted on one side, so it became soggy. Unless they fix it, don't order it. The Calamari Fritti was very salty and the dips were prepackaged Sysco type condiments. The sausage and peppers were a mixed review, as the sausage was delicious, as were the peppers and onions, however the marinara sauce was thick, salty and chunky, kind of an Italian salsa, not Marinara. Of the six mains, I ordered a pizza, which was initially burnt, and I had to wait about 10 minutes to receive a new one. It was good. Not the best, not the worst. One colleague ordered Chicken Parm, the chicken looked okay, but the spaghetti was white with a big globby ladle of the "marinara" on top. Italians mix the sauce with the pasta, they don't just put it on top. Another colleague ordered the Tetrazini. If he ate a tenth of it, I would be surprised. A third colleague ordered the Veal Limone, with a penne and rose sauce. The penne came in a boat. Italians never serve food in a boat. Another ordered the lamb, to which no one asked about color, it came well done. The last ordered salmon, no good comments from her, no bad. During the meal, I was mocked by my colleagues about choosing this place. How embarrassing was that? I should have looked at UrbanSpoon. With the 66% rating, I should have known. My understanding is two business students, who are not Italian came up with this concept in business school in hopes of franchising the restaurant. The only franchise I can possibly compare it to, would be East Side Mario's. If that is what you love for Italian food, this is your place!

For good Italian go to Ritorno. It's all about the sauce and these cooks don't know how to make a good one. Sad but true. Get a proper chef to set this straight before its too late. I see that the lineups are gone from their early days of being the only Italian restaurant in the area.

Don't bother. The food is not prepared on sight....which means if you have allergies, or simply don't like something it can not be eliminated. I just wanted a penne arrabiata and they could not prepare this. I ended up ordering lasagna and the dish had more sauce and no substance....

Horrible service and food. I went there very recently and the place was empty so you would think there would be better service and the food would come out at a reasonable time...you would be wrong.<br/><br/>We had to hunt down our waiter to ask for bread and water. The food standard was LOWER than East Side Mario's, I'll admit the Carbonara was pretty good but don't order anything else on the menu. Then finally when the meal was over the two little girls at our table was patiently waiting for their ice cream which we kept asking for. <br/><br/>They have signs saying satisfaction guaranteed and even lists the owners phone numbers and emails (Steven and Constantine). I e-mailed Steven and never heard back. I'm guessing the e-mails are as phony as their "Italian" food.

Excellent Food, Service and Atmosphere. Took a few guests there from Montreal and everyone was very impressed. The food was excellent, the service was great and the atmosphere is really nice. Looks and feels like a nice franchise like Jack Astor's, Boston Pizza, East Side Mario's etc and that's not a bad thing

Never dissapointed. I've been to this restaurant twice and I've never been disappointed. I guess a lot of the complaints have to deal with the service but I never experienced anything negative as I've only really been on Sunday afternoons. <br/><br/>I've had the pizza here and the spaghetti meatballs. Well, the pizza was extremely authentic and amazing and the spaghetti meatballs is by far the best I've ever had.<br/><br/>Good food, great price, great decor. i recommend it.

Lack luster pizza for the money. Not vegetarian friendly

I love this resteraunt!! The staff is very nice. I really like the brusetta..... The tamato one.

Great lasagna.

Sometimes not worth the wait.. We went to Olive Press when it first opened, and it was great! It was delicious and very friendly staff. <br/><br/>Now since it has gotten so popular, the wait is too long sometimes, and there's never room at the bar to sit and wait... so there's the cold concrete bench to sit on at least. <br/>But when we do finally get a table, it's a real hit or miss. We find on weekdays, the food is wonderful. Favourful, clean presentation and great service. <br/>On weekends, it seems like they care more about $$ than about customer satisfaction. The food sometimes is way overcooked, or undercooked. Sometimes it's over seasoned, other times it's bland. Plus because it's so busy, it seems to take forever to get even drink orders! I once had the Primavera dish, and the pasta wasn't even cooked properly. It was all mushy, and way too salty. <br/><br/>My parents love Italian food, so whenever they visit, we like to take them there... but they've been disappointed so many times that they ask not to go there anymore. <br/>I think they just need to allow reservations on weekends and hire more qualified chefs for the weekends.

Too Much Dough: describing their pizza and prices. Sorry, but I've really got to put this one down - the pizza is awful: dry, doughy, and very commercial tasting. A total blah experience. Their pastas are a gooey mess, and overflowing with way, way too much grease and pasta. Anything with 'cream sauce' on the menu is just scary. Certainly, less would be better. One thing I'll say is OK are their meatballs. <br/><br/>It ain't cheap, yet the place is always packed. My guess is because it's the nicest looking family restaurant/bar for miles around, and this is the moneyed suburbs, so they're shooting fish in a barrel. Someone please open up close-by and give them some competition.

Great takeout. Very delicious. Hope to eat in one day. Dedicated take out parking and entrance.

The pizza is far from traditional Italian. The whole box of pasta is used then drown in over oily sauces then mixed with under and overcooked veggies. Even chicken tenders were grossly overcooked. The food is sub par The facility and service is good

Overall, we liked the restaurant. The staff was friendly and the atmosphere was very casual. We will definitely come back again.

Though our experience started off on a low note, the service we received picked up and was fantastic after we were finally acknowledged. The food had some strong high notes (the bruschetta and the pizza), some low notes (the chocolate cake and the vegetab