El Olivo Restaurante

After our first 3 meals in Costa Adeje in “Italian” restaurants, we wanted to try somewhere more local so went to El Olivo . Very friendly staff and felt a nice atmosphere straight away as it shares a little square with another (Italian!) restaurant. I really like paella and although it’s not my wife’s favourite, she will usually agree to share one at some stage during our holiday, but , she didn’t have to as they had a selection of paellas priced for one . Fantastico ! So I ordered a mixed paella and she ordered pork fillet and mushroom sauce. When they brought the paella to our table I had to confirm with the waiter that it was only for one and he smiled as he served it onto my plate and said “ you’re in a Spanish restaurant now “ !! It was absolutely delicious and much as I tried, I couldn’t manage to finish it so definitely recommend if you have a hearty appetite. Wife said her pork was lovely and tender too although she too couldn’t eat it all as it was also such a generous portion. We will certainly be revisiting El Olivo for dinner again soon , a very memorable meal .

The food is amazing. We have ordered Andalisian gaspacho and octopus Galician style for the starter, for the main stone bass fillet Bilbao style, Panadera baked potatoes and pepper sauce and for the dessert cheesecake. Everything was so delicious, that we went there the next day and ordered bread with tomato and garlic, chopitos and rabbit dish, for the dessert bombon caffe and Catalan cream, again- everything delicious. The staff takes care of you from the very beginning, we didn’t have to ask for additional plate, they just knew we will share the dishes, the sense of humour on point, you feel like spending time with people you know. I would advise to make a reservation, both days the restaurant was nearly full, on the second day we made a reservation via whats app, very convinient. Thank you El Olivo :)

On my own, I asked if they could do a single piella, no problem. Rabbit and chicken. Absolutely wonderful. The house wine is very nice. Was half expecting to be charged twice for the piella as there was so much but no. 38 euros plus a tip. 3 big glasses of wine 🥳

Our food order at El Olivia was pretty simple: grilled vegetables, manchego cheese, Canarian potatoes, a kids mini-pizza (which was anything but mini) and tomatoes on bread. It's often said that the hallmark of a good restaurant is how well they do the simply stuff. On that score, El Olivio was fantastic.

I would have given them a clean 5-stars but for two things: the waiter who served us lacked warmth (not that he was rude) and the kids pizza was mildly undercooked (one could smell the uncooked dough in some bites). Otherwise a very good place. The table sauces (one avocado based, the other, pepper based) were absolutely brilliant and we licked them clean.

We visited El Olivo, but the experience was a bit of a mixed bag.

​While the service was good and the staff worked hard to manage the crowd, the food didn't quite live up to the hype. The soup was tasty, but the paella was disappointing - honestly, we’ve had better homemade rice dishes. The kids' chicken was also quite dry. Considering the long wait, it felt a bit overpriced.

​That being said, we might be a bit spoiled by the high standards of mainland Mediterranean and Greek cuisine. To get a fair and accurate understanding of this place, we should probably visit it once or twice more before making a final judgment.

​For now, it’s a solid 3/5 for the food, but a higher mark for the service.