the black olive

great fish and atmosphere. went on a friday night. not overly busy. started with some white wine, delicious hummus and fresh bread - sogoodwe ate 2 baskets. the bronzini was delicious and the crab cakes were meaty without a lot of filler. side of sweet mashed potatoes were really good. great for seafood lovers, not sogoodfor picky, non adventurous eaters.goodservice.

this is one outstanding crab cake! our initial reaction to the crab cake was that it was just like eating crabs. the meat was super sweet, asgoodmaryland blue crab will be. the binder ratio keeps the moisture intact without being too saucy. absolutely no dried out parts in here.

so my family and i hoped to celebrate my 50th birthday and chose the black o=
live for a place to end our lovely day. i made a reservation a week in advan=
ce for the upcoming friday, august 3rd at 830 pm. an hour before our reserva=
tion someone from the restaurant gave us a call to inform us that we were go=
ing to experience restaurant week which i accepted with an expectation that e=
ven though the menu was limited and the portions were smaller, we could stil=
l enjoy thegoodservice and the quality food. when we arrived precisely at 8=
30, the hostess informed us that the table was not ready and it would take a=
bout 15 minutes. we sat at the bar and waited agood10 minutes for someone t=
o actually acknowledge us. the first several wines of our choice were not av=
ailable so we settled with the bartender's choice. the hostess didn't even a=
cknowledge us for over 30 minutes which we spent watching other people being=
seated happily. we were ready to leave the restaurant when she said that th=
e table was ready. when i made a comment that it took a long time, she said:=
'what do you want, we apologized.' i asked to speak with the manager and ha=
d to wait another 15 minutes. he apologized and asked us to stay. we were se=
ated in the back room between two super loud parties and had to wait agood4=
5 minutes to be served what looked like last night's left overs- chewy lamb w=
ith a tiny amount if some kind of warmed up cuscus.
i am afraid to anticipate what comes next...
happy birthday to me.
will never return!

black olive inn opened, caroline street.. had a coffee and muffin at the new black olive inn and cafe this morning, on caroline street south of lancaster. looks like it'll be quite the place this spring. light breaky,goodcoffee & solid lunch options. also has a bit of a market with specialty items for sale. hopefully they'll get some signage so people can find it more easily. i'd recommend.

dogoodby dining out. thursday, september 18 - will graciously donate 20% of their sales on september 18 to moveable feast, baltimore area’s sole provider of meals for people living with hiv/aids and breast cancer.