Review for week 28 - by Bill

Generally I felt The Black Olive did a solid job of picking safe and pleasant wines. Safe and pleasant isn't a bad thing when going out for a reasonably priced dinner with friends. In a more presumptuous restaurant I'd have considered the safe wine selections a bit of a disappointment, but here they simply match the friendly atmosphere and help follow through with the restaurants mission of providing a consistently enjoyable experience. The two meals and a bottle of wine deal for Tuesday nights is a nice bargain for $30, but note that you don't automatically get two entrees for that price - you receive a credit of $12 for each entree, and only a couple of them on the menu can be had for $12. Given the entree credits, the $19 wine essentially sets you back $6; which conveniently enough is the market price for these wines. This basically gives you an opportunity to have a nice dinner out and get one bottle of wine with your meal for the actual street price - which is far from common. If you choose, you can put your $19 wine credit towards a more expensive bottle, but in my opinion you're getting the best value by sticking to the cheaper wines on the menu... For instance, the Meeker Merlot will run you $85, which is a $55 markup over the street price. Your $19 credit doesn't put much of a dent in that and you're back to getting raped by restaurant wine prices no matter how you cut it. This level of mark-up is of course not specific to the Black Olive, but if you've been lured in by what is a nice wine & dinner deal, you're not doing yourself any favors by climbing the price ladder. Overall the group gives the Black Olive an "Eat and Buy" for fair prices, good service, above average food and a selection of enjoyable wines that won't break the bank. This marks our first but not last restaurant field trip, and although handling the audio in the restaurant was a bit awkward we had a fun time and hope you enjoyed sharing the experience with us!