Olive’s Fresh Excelsior

Had a so so experience the first time we tried this place but we decided to give them another chance. Unfortunately they didn’t do anything to change our opinion on round two.
We were there at 530 on a Thursday night and the restaurant was only half full, yet the service was very slow and inattentive. When we ordered the waitress told us it would be 15 – 20 minutes for the 2 pizzas, but 45 min later we still didn’t have food. Twice they brought other orders to our table — there were only 2 other tables sitting in the section we were in, so they were 2 for 2 in getting it wrong.
When we asked our waitress what was taking so long she acted like we had the problem. She came back and informed us it had only been 39 minutes since she put the order in, which by our watch means she held our order for 10 min before placing it, but it still didn’t explain the difference from the 15 – 20 that she originally presented.
As we were leaving we heard another family having the same conversation about the long wait for food and they were going to miss their movie.
The total bill for 2 pizzas and non alcoholic drinks for our family of 5 was $ 75, which is on the very high end for gourmet pizza.
The pizza was good, but I can get just as good at other local favorites with better service and more reasonable pricing.
Not going back for a 3^rd try.

Outstanding. The pizza is so good. Service and the restaurant is top notch. Great environment some tvs. Craft beer and wine only. Plan to wait usually very crowded. Must stop in excelsior.

The Thai Pizza of the month was unbelievably good. Service was great also. Lots of seating and a perfect place for a quick lunch.

Had lunch here on a Sunday afternoon when it was pretty quiet. The Farmers Market pizza and House Salad were fantastic and fresh. Will definitely be back.

Excellent food, good beer and wine selections, right price, nice atmosphere, enthusiastic but slow service for a Sunday afternoon.

I have been to Olive’s Fresh twice now and I am already drooling over the next time that I get to go back.
Let’s start with the location, guys, if you are looking for a place to take your girl on a date or take her on your first date together, this is the place to do it. Excelsior is an amazing little town that blends small town charm with big city eating. Bonus, if you are hitting it off after your meal you can go for a walk by the lake or just check out some of the shops.
I digress, ahh Olive’s Fresh, both times that I have been here the customer service has been excellent, I didn’t go for longer than about 5 seconds each visit to be greeted by someone with a smile, even if it was just to let us know that someone would be with us shortly. Each time we were seated within just a few minutes, could have been luck, could have been timing, it is what it is. The server was polite and attentive on both nights (I may have gotten the same one but my memory often plays tricks) she was more than happy to give us a run down and some suggestions and made sure we were taken care of.
Beer and wine selections here are good, I wouldn’t expect to fully appease the afficianados on either end but they do have selections to match many different tastes which is all you can really ask for when the food is the star.
Speaking of the food, let’s go over that, excuse me while I grab a napkin to wipe the drool off my chin, I suddenly started salivating like a toothing infant. Of the times I was there I have tried the Caprese, the Margherita, and the Fongo. The Caprese is by far my favorite so far, the way the sweet balsamic glaze compliments the salty pancetta is a true work of art, if you are on the fence on what to get, get this! Let’s start with the crust, I hear the term «cracker thin» being tossed around often, but what good is thin crust if it doesn’t have the crunch of a cracker? This is where the crust here shines, every bite had a disctinct snap to it followed by a crunch in every bite, even the middle slices. The sauce is exactly how a suace should be on a pizza of this style, minimal to non-​existant, I don’t even recall if there was a sauce to be honest, at least in the traditional sense. The cheese is very fresh and flavorful, especially on the Margerita, they used fresh discs of mozzarella which absorbed the flavors of the fresh basil and mixed together with them to create something truly blissful, don’t be put off by the simplicity of this pizza, there is a reason that it is so popular! Unlike many pizza places, the meats do take a back seat to the other flavors that are put on these delicious pies, this is not to say that they aren’t there and aren’t delicious, but they actually serve as a compliment to the pie as opposed to dominating the flavor, like any ingredient in any good meal should.
All in all I am very impressed with Olive’s Fresh and have added it to my «I know a place» list, I will be back and am looking forward to it.

I’m already dreaming about the next time I’ll be able to grab a pizza from Olive’s.
Per a recommendation, I ordered Olive’s while hanging out on the patio of Excelsior brewing (just a few steps away). Olive’s doesn’t deliver, but they make an exception if you’re at the brewery, and will happily walk your order over.
I had the margarita pizza and it was delish. For me, it was the tomatoes that completely made the meal. You could tell that everything was very fresh (I guess that’s why ‘fresh,’ is in the name, huh)!
I would definitely get Olive’s independently, but if you’re at the brewery and looking for options of food to bring in, I can’t recommend this pizza enough!

Wow! Great friendly service. I love when the staff love the food and who they work for. Keep up the great work! Cozy place but not tight.

Great, fresh take on pizza in a fun atmosphere by the lake. We’ll be back.

Wow is this tasty! There is a WIDE variety of amazing toppings and flavors and the price is extremely reasonable for what you get. The salad is enormous and fresh and we haven’t tried a pizza we haven’t loved. My favorite is their take on a Hawaiian pizza or the Farmer’s Market pizza. The best, is that you can order more than one variety on one pizza, which is perfect for a couple or family with opposite preferences. The only reason I’m giving 4 instead of 5 stars is because the take-​out experience isn’t quite as amazing as the dine-​in. The pizzas never seem to taste quite as good (but are still excellent!) and the wait time is usually at least an hour.

Really unique flavors of pizza, each one serves 2 – 3 people. Great idea to get half and half. I love the atmosphere of Olives, great place to sit down and talk while enjoying a glass of wine.

Olive’s has a wonderful atmosphere and very attentive staff. During the dinner service you will most likely have to wait a little bit before being seated. The pizzas are HUGE and made with very fresh ingredients which is why they are on the more expensive side. The Farmers market pizza is bursting with so many fresh, delicious flavor a that you do not miss the red sauce. If your unsure of which pizza to get, you can order a pizza half and half to try two different pizzas. We also got a salad, and it was semi disastrous. The mixed greens were a little bit rotten, there was next to no salad dressing, and the topping of the salad were nonexistent. If you go to Olive’s go there for the pizza!

Fantastic atmosphere and service for sit-​in, or available for take-​out. It’s got a small-​town feel to it, you will probably see folks you know. The pizza is delicious, and has just enough choices where it won’t get boring anytime soon.

Great addition to Excelsior. Super fresh pizza with great flavor combos. It’s quick, it’s tasty and it’s pizza, what more do you want?!

Amazing, friendly service from everyone who worked here. Large pours of wine & fabulous food. Do it !

I really love this pizza! I have had 3 different varieties and they are all really great.(Cecilia, cocoa beach and The olives house). The pizza has a thin crispy crust with original creative toppings, and real cheese. No greasy pizza served here. Really delicious pizza– honestly I’m not even a pizza person :) oh and cool hip décor too.

It was with great anticipation that we tried Olive’s pizza in Excelsior it is with great disappointment that I am writing this review. This restaurant is on Water street in Excelsior, most restaurants on this street are cleverly appointed and have good spirits and trendy décor. That is not the case with Olive’s the metal appliqué behind the bar is curious and does not match the other wall tiles and seems disconnected to the other generic utilitarian appointments in this restaurant.
Onto the pizza if you could call it that, I would call it flatbread and that’s what it was with a generous serving of cornmeal that overpowered any taste of the crust, overly sweet sauce, and truly mediocre cheeses. This was not pizza it was a room service caliber amalgamation of cheese on bread. This mediocre flatbread did not come at a discount it was over $ 20. The poor food was not redeemed by excellent service, the servers seemed disconnected with the fare, not understanding which pizzas had red sauce, which had white sauce and which pizza had no sauce. We asked the size of the pizza and we were told 16″ x 16″ and we received a flatbread that was Square and was 12″ x 12″ served on an unappetizing school cafeteria tray. I would recommend buying several pizzas at Costco and suffer through that meal rather than spending the money and enduring this unpalatable flatbread at Olive’s

Friendly and very attentive service.
Food came out promptly. It’s a very clean and new place.
Salad was HUGE, plenty of greens for two to share. (Plus they comp’d us a salad when the wrong one came out, that’s good service)
Pizza was tasty, with plenty of fresh mozz & parm, (but for the price, I’d expect a lot)
Nothing wrong with the food and nothing was burnt or otherwise objectionable. The pizza didn’t fit my tastes though.
The sauce on the Margherita was way too sweet and creamy (added sugar like chef borardee), and there was a lot of huge pieces of Parmesan (again, quite tasty, just not what I look for in my margherita).
My guess is they’re targeting kids and families more so with the sweet sauce.(which I get since there aren’t really any family-​focused places in downtown Excelsior).
I would go here again, though I’d likely get a salad with chicken on it (not pizza)
I should note, I wouldn’t go here on any schnazzy romantic date, (the walls being bare, the floor obviously linoleum, and the aforementioned kid style too-​sweet sauce)

Olive’s is still relatively new so it has some kinks to work out but there are some things I really like about the place and others not so much. Lets get into it.
First, They are a first come first serve type of place but when you get your name on the list they will text your phone so if the bar is full you can do the wine tasting next door or head over to the brewery for a beer before popping back over. Love being not required to stand around to wait for a table allows me to divide my time up around Excelsior.
They have a good craft beer list for not being one of those 100 beers on tap kind of places. I think they might just run a hose over from excelsior brewing because the beer is always really fresh tasting.
Now for my downsides, unless you want a small salad there are no apps on the menu. This eliminates the place from being another great happy hour spot on water street. They are also open 430pm-​9pm Wed-​Sun so narrow window to try the place out.
The pizza itself is that thin cracker like crust which I am not a fan of. I feel other restaurants call these types of pizzas flatbreads. If you like cracker crust pizza this is one of the best executed pizzas of that type. I can see the market of the west suburban moms having their skinny pizza and sipping a nice wine being the niche of this place. I am a beer, deep dish kinda of guy so it isn’t my cup of tea. The toppings had great flavor but felt like I was having melted cheese, sauce and toppings on a fresh Carrs cracker. Also I felt the value for the price of the pizza wasn’t met. We had the Cecilia and at $ 23 felt that it was priced high for what we got.
Service was great with the owners stopping by and checking on us several times. The wait staff was equally as friendly and did a great job. It was fun sitting up next to the oven and watching the cooks make pizzas.
Its a great place for my wife to take her friends to but I wouldn’t take my guy friends there.

Went not knowing it was opening night and we were treated to a variety of pizza slices to try as well as our own pizza. The crust is amazing and crispy. The toppings are plentiful. You can only get one size which is definately sharing size (gluten free individual pizzas are available). Even the gourmet topping pizzas can be 50 – 50 with two amazing kinds. You need to check out the menu! Staff is great, bar is great – only downside might be the noise when we went back on a weekend, although once they complete the décor with artwork that will likely help. Leave time to stop at the wine store next door!