olive & anchor

highly reccomended. great service, great food, fair prices - simple as that.

questionable unprofessional service. i went to olive and anchor with my father and sisters earlier this week. apon entering the restaurant we were greeted by a lovely hostess. she said we could sit anywhere we want- the owner also said we can sit in the larger dining space- which we did. we didn't care where we sat but since the owner was ushering us to the larger table we sat there instead. the waitress approaches the hostess who greeted us and says outloud and quite rudely "just to let you know this table is reserved for parties larger than 5." the waitress repeats this two times over and the hostess remains quiet. the waitress then proceeds to our table to hand out our menues and says to us "oh so just to let you know in the future this table is reserved for parties more then 5" ummm ok. i quickly told her that we were ushered over by the owner and the hostess has been lovely. she then replies "oh well there is a language barrier so i was just letting her know." the waitress is caucasian and the hostess is not. i was livid that the waitress thought it was appropriate to not only address the hostess infront of us but to make a comment that suggests that the hostess does not understand the language she is speaking. the owner also sat in the corner with his laptop and paper work and didn't speak up- i am also sure he heard his waitress as she was fairly loud. we recieved our food and the yam fries were burnt and the fries were cold. we all ordered the fish and chips- and the cod was decent. nonetheless, the whole experience was questionable and their is some unchecked hierarchy that gives the waitress authority to speak unprofessionally infront of customers.

always great!. we've been to olive quite a few times and it never disappoints. the food is consistently excellent. at the last visit i tried the bread pudding and, oh mama!, it was great!


-----22 dec, 2012-----

i've been 5 times in 3 months, each time bringing someone new with me. it's consistently excellent and they have 5 new fans!!


-----29 sep, 2012-----

wow!! so impressed!! the food is really superb and reasonably priced. the servers are perfectly attentive. my only dislike is the noise factor when the restaurant is full. will definitely be telling everyone about them and will go again... often!

cioppino was a miss. i was excited to try the cioppino and fish and chips here based on the reviews.
the tomato broth was not well seasoned (think campbells). i did not taste any white wine at all.
on top of that, the seafood was mostly frozen. like they opened a bag of seafood mix and threw it in
and cooked it to death . i think only the mussels were fresh. on the other hand, the fish and chips would have been quite decent if there had been more than just a handful of fries. i have never seen so little fries on a fish and chips platter! on the plus side, the service is super friendly and my caesar was pretty tasty. they also have a nice dining room and patio.

great addition to horseshoe bay!. the calamari was good, the fish and chips were ok but at $19 for two smallish pieces of halibut, under whelming. the pulled barbeque chicken sandwich served on a house made bun was worth the drive and the salad the burger came with was excellent and full of nice little treats. i'd order the full size version as my main next time. nice patio facing the park. service was friendly and welcoming.

follow up visit:
i've been back a few times and have ordered the house salad with sautéed prawns twice. very good.

dear olive & anchor: you suck. it's very disappointing that you cannot take the time to prevent cross-contamination of your food. the boathouse down the road can! and their food rocks. while you're at it, your bartender needs a lesson on how to make a shirley temple properly.

burgers are good!. sunday lunch for 2 while waiting for the ferry from horseshoe bay to departure bay. oyster burger, garlic prawns and seafood chowder.

lovely spot near the harbour; and nice ambience inside - filled with natural light a decor that suited the theme of the restaurant. service was good.

food: really good oyster burger, garlic prawns and seafood chowder were nice. burger bun was soft, the oysters were not too deeply fried, and a good mix of coleslaw and dressing inside.

tip: come early to check in for the ferry and then take your time, have a nice lunch rather than have to rush onboard the ferry and then have to wait on these massive queues for food inside the ferry.

a lovely spot. it's been awhile since i've been but i just remember that there seafood was fresh as heck and it's very pretty inside. our server was wonderful and i enjoy that it's away from the city.

the food was fresh and very tasty. my husband ordered the oyster burger and he loved it the buns are amazing so lite and fresh. would defiantly go again when back in horseshoe bay.

ebi mayo, $6: we started off with the ebi mayo, which was a shrimp and green bean tempura. after seeing this at another table, it looked kinda small and we were kinda doubtful that it was worth $6.

however, the tempura was fried really nicely and had a lovely crunch to it. it came with japanese mayo, which we both love a lot. if you haven’t tried japanese mayo before, i urge you to try it out!

went here for dinner with friends. restaurant has a great location, awesome beer list and food is good. family run, you can taste the love in the food. flavours are all there and the presentation is good we ordered the bibimap, tuna salad and the ebi mayo, all of which were great! for dessert, we tried the bread pudding which had an unbelievable flavour but was chewy. totally edible, texture was just off. would definitely recommend for anyone i'm horseshoe bay!

this restaurant was one of the places we wanted to go to when dine out started this year but we never had a chance to try it then. we were hyped and excited when we decided to go tonight after seeing all the good reviews here. the service was pretty good... nothing to complain about. our food came out all at once... which we didn't expect cause we thought our appetizers would come out first. so we didn't know what to eat first. we had the kfc chicken wings and mussels. both were pretty good but some of the mussels were undercooked cause the shell didn't open. my boyfriends oyster burger was not bad however my ling cod entree was pretty bland and dry. my friends fish tacos are apparently pretty tasty. we left work full stomaches.. but didn't feel like it lived up to the hype too much.

great location and a quick eat as compared to trolls. was a regular for the lunch options but have seen a slight decline in the food even since, not to mention slow service. my chowder and salad took a little over 15 minutes to arrive. i'm hoping its a one time thing, because the food is something i always look forward to here. the owners are very friendly and the ambiance is great (as are their lunch specials).

woo!!!!  finally have a chance to go olive & anchor at horseshoe bay!!!  date night dinner for my wonderful hubby's birthday celebration.  we made reservation in advance so we were seated pretty quick. . wow!  the restaurant was smoking busy and packed with people.  they serve traditional pub food and some dishes with the elements of fusion tastes.

unfortunate lack of care. my wife and i have been here many times and enjoy it, but one time it didn't measure up. my wife's oysters were all dry that even i could tell from across the table, my tofu burger was super bland, a side sauce for the crab cakes was exactly what i buy and having in my fridge and the waitress took part of my meal away, i agreed as i thought i was done, but really wasn't and it was gone. being this was a very bad experience, but normally one of our favourite places to go to, i emailed the manager to share about the experience, letting him know i otherwise love his restaurant and looked forward to returning. what answer did i get? none. zip. didn't even bother responding to a loyal customer who was full of praise. from where i come from, that is unheard of, but i guess they just don't care about their customers there as it's on the water and they have enough. kind of sad.