Olive Tree – Halal Italian & Indian

Posted on Jan 24 in Dine In, Featured, Take Outby Akbar-BarPrint

UPDATE 6/16/10:

Well, looks like this place closed down and for good reason too. Last time I went, the food was totally the opposite of the review below. We asked for “desi-fied” entrees, and they came out normal without any added spices. The miscommunication was definitely a major annoyance as we told the waiter that the food we received wasn’t what we ordered and get this, all the guy could say was,”That’s how it’s supposed to be”. You have got to be kidding me! I came in during the grand opening and they were boasting about having Italian/Desi food and now they totally abandoned what made them so great from the get go (1 week)? Ridiculous. And to top it all off, they’re “amazing” Tiramisu was completely tarnished. It was basically a really thin sponge cake with over an inch of whipped cream on top. Funniest thing was, it looked NOTHING like the Tiramisu cake that is/was featured in this review. Seriously Olive Tree? They knew how bad they’re service was so they gave me a courtesy 15% discount. I appreciated the gesture, but it was too late. After that day, I wasn’t surprised that they closed down.
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Forget about olives growing in gardens. Real olives grow on trees, and “Olive Tree” will definitely make you a believer.  As one can tell by the title, Olive Tree is another “fusion style” restaurant. The curve ball here is that it’s the first Halal Indian/Italian fusion restaurant in New York City. Let me be the first to say: Italian and Indian food work incredibly well together, like peanut butter and jelly, toast and butter, Conan O’Brien and NBC (oh wait…).

First off, the decor is top notch. It’s modern and very comfy with dimly lit lights, wall paintings and some snazzy looking tables and chairs. There’s authentic Italian music that’s played and there’s just a very good vibe about the whole place.  It’s very welcoming. The staff was very courteous and friendly as they took our orders. We ordered Potato Croquettes for the appetizer, Grilled Italian Chorizo, Char Grilled Pepper Chicken, Carbonara and Chili Chicken Pastas. We ordered the food to have a little more spice to suit our taste buds, and we were not disappointed.

The croquettes are long pieces of mashed potatoes filled with cheese in the middle and are fried which was served with marinara sauce. It tasted exactly how I described it. It was a decent appetizer. Now onto the main course(s): the chorizo was very good. It was a fresh medium rare sausage with a spicy casing. Pepper chicken was skinless grilled chicken with mild spices, but what makes this dish pretty amazing is the gravy that came with it. Creamy, mildly spicy, and savory; you can dip anything into the gravy and there would be a party in your mouth. After experimenting dipping my napkin into the gravy I moved onto the carbonara and chili chicken pastas.

Now here’s where the fusion thing makes sense. The chefs in the back used their sweet, genius brains to find a way to make an authentic Italian pasta dish have a Desi kick to it without ruining the food. It really works and the pastas were devoured within minutes. This stuff is damn good. So good you’ll kick yourself for not coming up with the idea first. Who knew that alfredo sauce and garam masala were amazing together? It kicks more butt than Vegeta and Goku fused. Yeah, it’s that good.

Finally, onto desert. You won’t find gajar halwa stuffed cannolis here (thank god), but what they did have was Tiramisu. Normally, tiramisu is a layered spongecake drenched in alcohol, but since we were at a halal restaurant, the tiramisu we ordered was free of any intoxications. Excuse my Spanish, but I can say without a doubt in my mind that tiramisu is the stuff. It’s a definite must have at the Olive Tree. Sweet, soft, and a bit chocolaty. Such a dangerous but delicious combo.

The only bad thing I’m going to say about Olive Tree is that the prices were pretty expensive. But that’s to be expected when you’re dining in an elegant restaurant in the beautiful city of New York. Expect to pay around $15 per entree. With that said, I can’t recommend Olive Tree enough. It’s a Halal Italian/Indian fusion restaurant catered to Desis! What more could you want? GO GO GO.

Pictures

Recommendations

• Any Pasta dish and desi-fy it. (Make it spicy)
• Grilled Italian Chorizo. It’s an Italian take on a Spanish dish… but desi styled. How much more “fusion” can you get?
• Tiramisu

Rating

• Food: 5.0 – Everything we had was top notch and we came out more than satisfied.
• Value: 4.0 – Yeah it might be a little expensive, but you’re paying for the decor, the atmosphere, and the delicious food. It’s worth the money.
• Service: 4.5 – Very courteous and friendly. The staff seemed dedicated to the job.
• Lota-Pani: 4.5 – So clean you can eat off the toilet seat.
• Decor: 4.0 – It’s one of the better decorated places we have seen.

Overall

Halal Rating

• Fully Halal
• No Alcohol

Location

182 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Close

Contact

Phone: (212) 447-8706

Website: NA

2 Comments

• The Great White Smokie says:

  January 28, 2010 at 2:32 am

  Cant wait to hit this up!!! Oh Great Akbar-Bar, me you and Shan Masala will hit this up when I come for spring break
• Wajeeha says:

  April 3, 2010 at 12:03 am

  This place is CLOSED. I called them up and actually went in person today and it was shut down.

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