| rev:text
| - Oliver's is a new addition to Roosevelt Row and has burst onto the scene quite impressively. Prominently located right on Roosevelt on the bottom floor of the Roosevelt Point apartments on 3rd Street, Oliver's has the advantage of being very visible at the heart of Downtown Phoenix's trendiest neighborhood. Can only imagine the crowds this place will get on First Fridays when the sidewalks are packed with humanity. While coffee is Oliver's calling card, I wanted to check out the food (not being a coffee drinker and all). I scoped out Oliver's menu online and figured I'd give them a whirl just after work on a Friday afternoon.
First thing I noticed stepping inside was how spacious the restaurant was. It doesn't look like it from the street, but there's a fairly large amount of seating here. I'd guess seating for about 40-50 inside with room for another 10 on their patio along 3rd Street. The menu is prominently displayed behind the counter where you order and they bring it out. For this go around, I ordered the Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese sandwich. To boot I got a glass of their house made strawberry lemonade and a house made snickerdoodle. Total cost including tax came to about $15. They brought the snickerdoodle and lemonade out right away while I waited for my sandwich.
This is where Oliver's gets docked a star for me. One of the cooks apologetically came out and said they had a massive lunch rush and barely had enough ingredients to make me half of my sandwich. Really? You're open late, but you run out of sandwich fixings halfway through the day? Yikes. To her credit, she apologized profusely and offered to serve either an entirely new item or half the sandwich I wanted plus half of anything else on the menu. So I went with half the sandwich I ordered and half of their Chipotle Grilled Cheese. About five minutes later, my two half grilled cheese sandwiches came with greens and they also threw in some of their vanilla almond protein bites for free. I appreciate that they at least tried to make it right, but in the future, the Oliver's staff might want to do a better job of stocking up on ingredients so as to be able to serve the masses what they want all the way to closing.
Now then, let's talk about the food. The strawberry lemonade was excellent. Crisp, refreshing, and apparently organic. Nice. The greens were lightly drenched with a champagne vinaigrette and the snickerdoodle was surprisingly soft and light (not the crumbly sugar bomb you'd get at Paradise Bakery). The protein bites, well, they tasted like cookie dough with vanilla and nuts. Not bad, just unexpected. As for the sandwiches? The spinach artichoke grilled cheese was excellent. Spinach, artichoke, cream cheese, chicken, and colby jack cheese on toasted bread. Fresh ingredients, great bread, super tasty. The chipotle grilled cheese includes gouda, arugula, and what I think was pecorino on a cheddar chipotle toasted bread. Pretty tasty as well, though I was still partial to the spinach artichoke one.
So to recap, docking one star for not having enough inventory for the full sandwich I wanted, but there's still enough positives about Oliver's that I can recommend it. The prices are reasonable, the ingredients are sourced locally (they show off their suppliers right up front), and many of their menu items are organic, vegetarian, or even vegan. The location is great and an ideal gathering spot for local artists and downtown college students alike. And per my experience, the staff was friendly and accommodating. Nice addition to the neighborhood, provided their kitchen is fully stocked going forward.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)