On February 3rd, 2008, Dan and I went to The Black Olive for Baltimore Restaurant Week 2008.

Atmosphere: This cozy little restaurant is located on charming Bonds Street in Fells Point. The interior is lit with a soft light, and the setting is one of a refined yet warm and welcoming cottage.

Service: Although our reservation was for 7:45PM, it took them about 20 minutes to get us seated, and when I sat down, I noticed that there was a generous portion of breadcrumbs sprinkled on my seat from the previous patron. Once we were seated (and aside from the fact that they were not in the habit of making sure the chairs are properly cleaned), the service was flawless. The waiter was courteous and helpful without being obtrusive.

Food: For the appetizer, I got the a plate of four traditional Greek spreads: tarama, tzatziki, melitzanasalata and hummus, and Dan got a Grilled Octopus Salad (pounded, marinated, grilled octopus tossed with fresh red onions and capers). When I first saw the appetizers, I was a bit disappointed, as the food was presented poorly. The appetizers were served on small plates with barely any breathing room for the food, making the appetizers appear cramped and under-appreciated by the chef. Surely, if the appetizers were anything to be proud of, they would have been presented with more panache? As it was, the four spreads hugged each other on a small plate, separated by four meager cucumber slices. The octopus salad looked like it had been carelessly tossed onto the plate without any effort or thought put into how it would look. Consider my surprise when I sampled the spreads, and the flavors burst on my tongue. The spreads were a delightful combination of fresh ingredients and judiciously chosen spices mixed by a masterful hand. The real winner, though, was the octopus salad. It is so easy to over-grill octopus so that the taste of char overwhelms everything else and the octopus itself acquires a tough chewy texture. The octopus salad at The Black Olive, however, was perfection. The octopus was fresh, tender, and had just a hint of smokiness and was accompanied by a light sauce that served to enhance the flavor of the octopus. It was the best octopus salad I’ve had in the DC metro area at a Greek restaurant.

For entrees, I got a Kleftiko (traditional slow-cooked lamb dish marinated in lemon juice and garlic), and Dan got the Dorade Royale whole fish with the chef’s side of the day. My dish came in a beautiful paper wrapping with a side of couscous. I opened the paper to find delicious looking pieces of lamb. Despite the attractive presentation, the dish itself was not that special. The lamb was well-seasoned but a bit tough, and the couscous plain and unimaginative. While I was wallowing in disappointment, Dan was digging into his fabulous dish with gusto. The waiter filleted the Dorade Royale at the table and served it with a side of mashed potatoes (a mix of white potatoes and sweet potatoes). The fish fillet was then drizzled with a house sauce consisting of lemon juice, olive oil and some spices. The fish was a delight to the taste buds. I felt myself being transported to a Greek fisherman’s wharf, eating a freshly caught fish right on the beach - with no more culinary magic needed than a simple lemon juice and olive oil to bring out the natural flavors of the fish.
I noticed that the same side was offered for all the fish dishes, and was a bit underwhelmed by the lack of creativity - surely it would have been better to pair each fish with an accompaniment that would truly suit the flavor.

I got chocolate pudding for dessert, and Dan got vanilla ice cream. These were quite disappointing. Like the appetizers, the dessert was served on small plates without much consideration to presentation - a solitary scoop of vanilla ice cream and a forlorn block of chocolate goo. Sadly, ice cream is too often a copout desert offered on the limited menus some places offer for Restaurant Week - but surely, at the very least a more exciting flavor than vanilla is called for. If we go to this restaurant again on a non-Restaurant Week night, I would skip dessert.

Summary: The restaurant has very fresh, high-quality ingredients, and choosing dishes by reviewing which would benefit most from the quality of the ingredients is recommended. Fish and seafood items are the way to go here, and the octopus salad is especially recommended. This restaurant, however, is not somewhere we would go to again. At this price range, there are other restaurants that are more creative and satisfying.

Restaurant Information:

• Website: http://www.theblackolive.com/
• Address: 814 S Bond Street, Baltimore MD 21231
• Phone: 410.276.7141
• Price Range:
  • $10-$15 appetizers
  • $25-$40 entrees