First night blues and growing pains at Olives. Very apparent why the restaurant has very few people and is never open. No ambiance - music was not working, could hear the rock music from Bellini's. Waiter was not trained, did not know the menu and was slow, did not clear plates at all. Had the Arancini appetizer they were tiny and under seasoned/undercooked, bread was fluffy, olives were smashed and not appetizing. The stuffed haddock with risotto was in flavorful, too much stuffing, the risotto was not risotto-gluey and hard at the same time not at all like smooth/silky flavorful risotto. Grilled asparagus was decent. 7-deadly Zinfandel was pink. My collègue encouraged me to come here for dinner. Probably will not come back-while I think they were trying, fell short. Don't see them making it especially at these prices. read more

Heartburn! I am writing at 2:40 AM. Dinner was served too late to sleep well. It arrived over an hour after the warm bread was served. The table beside us was served. At about 8:00, I left the table and checked other rooms--something I have never done before--and came back to tell my husband what I observed: the 125 person wedding party was served--it had gone quiet, people at the bar were served, a party of 20 near the bar were served. When the food arrived, chicken breast was still pink in the middle! I merely nibbled at what looked done. (My husband liked his meal well enough.) Now I am awakened to heartburn. DO NOT eat at Olive's when it has large groups! And beware of pink in your chicken. read more

The best food on the MAYVILLE end of CHAUTAUQUA Lake. The ambience is OK. It's at the end of the hotel lobby. The dining room is dark, but tastefully decorated. Service is always steady and adequate. Food is well prepared and tasty. Recommended even if you don't like Italian. The menu has something fir everyone. read more

Went to celebrate a special occasion at Olive's and also to participate in Chautauqua County Restaurant Week. The restaurant inside Chautauqua Suites is beautiful, clean, and fairly quiet depending on how many people are in there. We got Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, Vodka Shrimp Alfredo, and NY Strip Steak. Meals come with a salad, and the Italian dressing is awesome! It's locally made in Mayville, NY. read more

See all

3 family members went to Mother's Day buffet. Had nice seating, with names on reserved table, and a pleasant waitress. Good food included broccoli; chicken nuggets; cod; and squash! The negative issues included: prime rib was mostly undercooked and cold; chicken cordon bleu was very dry; old, burned Brussel sprouts were dumped on fresh new sprouts; no pie for dessert; sevmanager/supervisor did not come around to check on customer issues. One member of party got violently sick -overnight - after eating at this buffet. Also, invoice came with a 20% gratuity! NO CHOICE & we would have given no more than 10%!!! We would not recommend Olives for large group events. read more

Olives is the best unkept secret in Chautauqua dining and drinking. The food is always hot and tasty. The drinks are by far the best. I wonder why it's always so crowded...? Always delivers. Just a great run local business. read more

Went to dinner at Olives on Sat. August 26 for the first time. The restaurant was beautifully decorated, very relaxing. They brought out a cup of olives and artichoke hearts. The bread was warm and served with butter or a balsamic with seasoning dip. Yummy. I had the chicken marsella and my wife had pesto pasta with grilled shrimp. My dish was very tender. No knife necessary. The risotto was perfectly cooked. My wife had choice of pasta. She chose the angle hair. They cut it for you so it is easier to eat. There was a lot of pasta, a bit too much. She said the dish needed more sauce. The salads were fresh. Expected more olives on mine and sliced. We split a lava cake,YUMMY!!! Our server Amanda, was fantastic! She usually bartends but was pressed into action with others going back to school. She was very professional and easy to talk to. We will go back! read more

Olives has pretty good Italian food, fantastic service, and a decent ambiance. The restaurant used to be one of my favorite places to eat up here, but every since their move from downtown Mayville and into the conference center, neither the food nor the atmosphere seem to be the same. However, I do appreciate the fabulous staff, the olives starter, delicious bread & vinaigrette, and family style salads. Additionally, the Chianti Risotto Balls are a great choice of appetizer. Entrees (particularly pasta) tend to be rather large so I would suggest that unless one is really hungry, sharing is a good option. Most recently I enjoyed a meal at Olives with two people where we shared the four cheese ravioli and salmon, more than enough for the three of us. read more

A local person advised this restaurant. We suggest you find a better place elsewhere. My wife had "veal" smothered in "balsamic" mushrooms. I had a Caesar salad which was okay. The onion tart was really sauted onions in a puffed pastry and not good. The bruschetta was a joke. The strangest bread, not toast, with a drizzle of oil and minced tomatoes. The tiramisu was okay as were the espressos. The best part was the friendly service. read more

We brought a party of 8 out to dinner the Friday evening before Christmas. Getting ahold of them to make a reservation was easy. We arrived on time and were promptly seated. Our waitress was attentive and polite the entire time. From getting drinks to explaining dishes she did a great job. Everyone loved their dishes. The Prime Rib was outstanding. Definitely worth checking out and I hear they just revamped their menu so I'm sure we will be back soon. read more

The table was really fun us when we arrived. Service was excellent and the waitress pay in great detail to our needs. The food arrived I ordered the lasagna that had a mix of veal and beef in it had too much ricotta cheese for my liking but it was good tasting. It is a medium-priced restaurant our dishes were around the 20 to $25 range. However I would strongly recommend this restaurant to other visitors. read more

Will not be back. This used to be a great place to enjoy, relax, and have a good meal. I don't know what happened in the past several months but the staff is rude, the meals are about $20 each which isn't bad, but for what you get? Way over priced. The shrimp pasta we got tasted like frozen shrimp from the store and the portion size was so small. You don't even get decent bread with your meals (used to get bread before dinner with olive oil and seasons, my favorite part!) and if you want a salad? Yeah, now you have to pay more. Olive's has definitely gone downhill.. Seems as though they're cutting corners and it's not working out. My advice? Find a better place to spend your money and enjoy a good meal. read more

Delmonico steak was fabulous--great flavor, cooked perfectly. Lovely salad with homemade dressing. Comfortable and inviting ambience! Service was highly attentive and no waiting time. read more

Last night our wonderful friends treated us to an awesome dinner at Olives for our 40th anniversary ! Our waiter ( I think Neil) was superior, friendly and attentive. Totally surprised us with a delicious chocolate bomb plate of goodies when he found out it was a celebration! The prime rib was excellent and the chicken marsala was one of the best I've had in years. The zucchini/eggplant dish was good too but maybe could be labeled on "the spicy hot" side. They have many good choices (not all italian) and it was hard to decide. The only slightly negative thing I could say was my risotto was only luke warm at best but the flavor was delicious so no big deal to me. Overall- very pretty place, warm, cozy and home like and we will be back for certain ! read more

Our experience started with us waiting in line for ten minutes to check in for our reservation. When we got to the front of the line there had been a mistake in scheduling so the ONLY HOSTESS ON SHIFT ON VALENTINES DAY ON A FRIDAY told us we were a few minutes early and made us wait even longer. Finally we were seated and given the Valentines Weekend Menu which had no options without seafood--and I'm allergic. After settling on the surf and turf, we were brought bread and the appetizer which we ordered which, the food was good, I'll give them that. The waiter then came out and told us that he forgot to take our salad order and that the kitchen lost our ticket and made us reorder. We asked for bread, didn't get it, and had to ask again. We finally got it around 15 minutes later. When our salad came, my plate wasn't clean but I knew asking for a new one would take too long so I decides to suck it up and use it. After a long wait where we didn't have any water and couldn't get anyone to fill it because the waitstaff was short handed and whoever was not serving was training this poor kid who was here apparently for his first shift. Meanwhile, still waiting for our food, a couple who sat down and didn't see a waiter for 30 minutes got up and left. NO ONE EVEN NOTICED. Finally, our food came, but the waiter had taken my boyfriend's fork and he didn't come back for so long that we started sharing. We were forced to order a dessert and wait longer, because it's built into the price of the meal. Now, waiting for our check, another table has been unwaited on and decided to leave as well. We have been here for two hours now and don't even have a check yet, we are thirsty because no one refills our drinks, and we are never coming back. And our waiter continues to try to bring us the wrong thing because they apparently have no system or organization. Other peoples' salads, bread; everything but our check. Never once did he apologize for everything that's been going wrong, to us or to the two other agitated tables he's (supposed to be) waiting on. Oh and they have no music, wifi or 3G/4G/LTE reception for the wait. Happy Valentines Day to us. The bill came to $85. The entire time we kept comparing this experience to when we ate at the Royal Court Dining Room at Peek N Peak, which was wonderful. Go there instead of wasting your time and money at Olive's. read more