| rev:text
| - This review is based on a casual dinner of a party of about 16 friends. That puts it in a different category than a quiet dinner for two, and also in a different category than a group event. When a large number of casual friends get together it puts an extra challenge on the restaurant, as people will be arriving and leaving at different times; people want separate checks; and there is no planned menu to work with. I'm taking all of that into account.
As would be expected, some people were already there and eating when the bulk of the group arrived at 6 PM. And also, predictably, a few people arrived after most people were already finished eating. The server handled the challenge without flinching. He did most of the work himself, with the assistance of a helper who appeared to be a trainee. As far as I know, no one's order got messed up and the food was on the table within a reasonable time after ordering. The only glitch I saw was that one guest was served her soup "uncomfortably" earlier than the rest of the meal was served to the other guests. The server could have timed that a little better. Impressively, the server handed out separate checks almost flawlessly to couples and singles without asking and making a big point of it. He seemed to have a second sense about whose check went to whom.
Overall the service was efficient and moderately friendly. Once again it's the old story of you get treated how you treat other people, and our group is pretty laid back and friendly. Los Olivos isn't bubbling over with effusive charm but it's not rude or unfriendly either.
The ambience is, um, dated. The room is well-worn, with broken window coverings, and an overall look that the management isn't putting much attention into maintaining the building. You know you have a problem when your guests notice such things.
The prices are on the high side for what is being served. On one hand that is to be expected, being in Scottsdale and being a haunt for the winter tourists. That fact was very evident on a mid-June hot summer Saturday night that a Mexican restaurant (in Scottsdale) was virtually deserted. The early dinner crowd cleared out about 7:30 and after that I did not see any more seatings, just a lot of empty tables.
And the #1 reason people dine out ... the food itself? Neither terrible nor wonderful, just very average. My selection was remarkably bland and uninteresting, although some of the other platters looked a bit better. Put Los Olivos down as an okay place to have dinner with some friends and have a couple of drinks, not as a place to go for a good Mexican meal.
What saved Los Olivos from a mediocre and average 3-stars is the way they handled what is probably the most challenging situation a restaurant can face ... a large casual gathering of friends. It's a challenge so many restaurants utterly fail at and this place did surprisingly well.
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