Red Olives Review
Address: Shop 3, Varsha building, JP Road, Seven Bungalows, Versova, Andheri West, Mumbai
Telephone: 022 30151813
Cuisines: Cafe, Italian, Continental, Fast Food
Overall Rating: 4/5
REVIEW:
It’s been a while since I moved out from Powai, the food however keeps bringing me back to it. This time it was Red Olives to do the honors. My last visit to Red Olives was over 3 years back, which was a pleasant memory. Things haven’t changed a lot since then. The ambiance has a cosy vibe to it. The patrons aren’t loud, making it a perfect place for a nice family outing or your good old executive buffet. If my memory serves well, this is perhaps one of the multi-cuisine restaurants around the area, which serve justice to each of the cuisines they offer.
Amidst the crazy Mumbai rains and the crazier traffic we reached just in time for the scrumptious lunch buffet.
As it goes with buffets, we started off with the Chicken Hot And Sour Soup. A light soup with finely chopped veggies and striped chicken. After settling ourselves, we were all set brace the food coma.
Starters: The buffet offers 3 veg and non-veg starters. The starters are served directly on the table, which is noteworthy.
Paneer Shanghai: The best vegetarian dish was served upfront. The flavorful rich marinated soft paneer cooked with a mix of chinese sauces, left us all wanting for more. Highly recommended!
Veg Kurkure Seekh: The good ‘ol no frills Seekh Kabab. Staying true to its name, the kebab was crispy. No disappointments whatsoever.
Veg Cutlet: Given the plethora of veg-starters, this dish could do away with an upgrade.
Murgh Kastoori Kebab: Perfect weather for some lip-samacking kebabs. Tender chicken cubes, well marinated with different spices with an excellent flavor. Definitely recommended.
Fish Fingers: Fish fingers, more often than not, are screwed up by many restaurants. Thanfully, today was not that day. Deep fried just right, one could hardly miss it along with the tartar sauce.
Lapchi Kai: Spicy boneless chicken. Dish of the day!
Main Course: Being the season of the elephant God, the restaurant opted for a main-course skewed towards vegetarians.
There were a variety of salad options, korean salad being the highlight of them. Sev-papdi was also presented along side the salads. It seemed like a misfit right from the start. The papdi had gone soft to our disappointment. However, after pointing it out, we were offered a fresh alternative.
Grilled Chicken In Rosemary Sauce: The chicken was slightly tough, perhaps as a result of over-cooking. The rosemary sauce was quite good. It however felt the match of the primary ingredients wasn’t made in heaven after all. Can probably skip it.
Pasta Rose: The penne pasta was strictly OK. The sauce had almost dried up, making the dish lose its texture altogether.
Baked Corn Spinach: Huge fan of the dish, however, this one missed the bullseye. The dish fell short on its creamy quotient, perhaps addition of cheese and baking it to perfection would have done the job!
Paneer Khushnuma: The best main-course dish for the day. Soft cubes of paneer in a flavorful gravy. The dish definitely made me “khush”.
Masala Rice: Standard variant. Also various pickles were available to pair it with it.
Bread Basket: The usual bread basket variety consisting of Nan, Kulcha, Roti. Pairs up nicely with the main course.
Desserts: The dessert department was average. Standard assortment of pastries, a few variants of mini-cupcakes. They also had the season special of Modaks.
Mocktails: The buffet usually has 3 options to choose from. The options are rotated each day. I opted for the Banana Berry Crush. Highly recommended if you are a fan of the berries!
Overall we had a pretty good experience. The starters and the mocktails were amazing. The main-course and the dessert section could be built up a notch.