The Fat Olive
6/F, Silver Court Complex
228 Xizang Nan Lu
????228?6?
Shanghai, China
PRICE: ????
RATING:

We randomly stumbled upon The Fat Olive for brunch one afternoon.. which was a surprise as I’d always thought it was more of a Happy Hour/dinner type place. The luxe interior and quiet atmosphere made it a fantastic place to lay Hunter down whilst we had our meal. Unfortunately, we found that the food was rather average, as was the service.

Rich purples and smooth creams at The Fat Olive

The Fried potatoes with baked feta, 2 fried eggs, slow roasted tomatoes looked terribly exciting on the menu.. but what we thought would be hash brown or fried potatoes turned out to be plain ‘ol FRIES. Which would have been fine if they were home-made and fluffy, but these looked like frozen fries and were very dry, over-cooked and tasteless. The 2 sunny side up eggs were done perfectly, but it frankly made for a very bland meal when all you’ve got is fried eggs and fries. The slow roasted tomatoes looked like half a mushy tomato and was nothing to speak of. Disappointing.

Fried potatoes with baked feta, 2 fried eggs, slow roasted tomatoes

The Housemade ricotta cheese pancakes with greek yogurt and gleko fared much better, though was rather small for the price. The pancakes were tasty, though could have been thicker and fluffier. We enjoyed the poached fruit and dollop of thick, luscious Greek yogurt. I would have preferred it with honey or pure maple syrup, but that’s just a matter of personal taste 🙂

Housemade ricotta cheese pancakes with greek yogurt and gleko

Whilst I opted for the Latte (nice, but such a *tiny* cup for the price it shocked me), Chris decided on the Mary Martini which was basically a Bloody Mary done martini-style. Unfortunately, it was way way way way too spicy!! Chris couldn’t stomach it and when I sipped it, neither could I. We asked the manager if there was anything he could do, and he was quite un-smiling and aloof and said “You can’t change the drink”. I know we DID order it, but if a customer truly cannot stomach your drink, changing it for them makes for excellent customer service and good word of mouth, no? However, the bartender did ‘lighten’ the drink a little so it was a little less spicy when it came back… but still undrinkable, so our money went down the drain. As we were leaving, it was obvious the full drink was still there, yet the manager said nothing and still billed us for it.

Latte and Mary Martini

Overall, the service was tolerable and polite, but I wouldn’t consider them friendly or warm. I would rate our food average – I didn’t find the quality of the ingredients fine or special in any way, but it was edible. For the price though, there are MANY other places out there with stellar customer service and fantastic food, so I don’t think we will be back.

They did have lovely couches though!