Olive & Rye in Leeds

This was the best experience of my life!! Me and my friends went here for our A-Level Results celebration and can I just say it was just fantastic!! But what really made my day was the fantastic service from Rob and Brad especially - such gems you have working for your field! If it’s possible to give them a raise, please do; they deserve the absolute WORLD and more. Rob’s attentiveness and quick service and Brad’s charisma and kindness made for a fun filled brunch! xx Please make sure you go here!!!!! x

I recently chose Olive & Rye for a special birthday breakfast, drawn by the great reviews and popularity this place has. Unfortunately, my experience was far from what I expected. Upon arrival, we were seated promptly and had our drink and food orders taken right away. However, what followed was a disappointing and frustrating wait. It took over 20 minutes just to receive two simple coffees, and during that entire time, no food arrived. We waited for nearly 50 minutes in total with no sign of our order. Finally, we decided to cut our losses, pay for the coffees, and leave. What made the situation worse was the complete lack of concern from our waitress. She brought us the bill quickly but didn’t offer an apology or any acknowledgment of the inconvenience we faced. It was clear that she was unbothered by the situation. This experience was particularly disappointing because it was supposed to be a special treat for my birthday, and I rarely go out. I had high hopes for the place but was left feeling let down. I hope management takes this feedback seriously, as this is not the kind of experience one expects from a popular establishment.

I went with friends to Olive and Rye today as I was in town for the parade. While I was waiting for the bathroom I could hear the staff in the kitchen making homophobic comments, laughing and joking about the pride parade happening today. I found it extremely upsetting and felt very uncomfortable especially on a day of celebration . Not somewhere I will be spending my money in future.

My daughter ordered avocado on toast. Didn’t say on the menu that it has onion- absolutely peppered with red onion that overpowered the avocado completely! Tasted it myself and felt I was eating a dip! Good for Doritos but not for toast.

1st visit for brunch with my daughter, really busy but the helpful young manager kindly offered to reserve a table for us within a half hour. I had the mushroom halloumi benedict and my daughter the hash brown benedict both were absolutely delicious. The staff were friendly and really professional. Will definitely be back soon.

Lovely cafe and good atmosphere and coffee. We wished we had ordered brunch or breakfast though as for £13.50 the hot smoked salmon salads were small and not very filling, more like a side salad than a main course. Will try something else next time.

Visited here for brunch with friends, and whilst the food was beautiful, the service left a lot to be desired. We had booked a table, however this wasn’t ready, no menus were given for us to browse whilst waiting (other people who hadn’t booked received these), and it was almost like everything was an inconvenience for the staff. The staff who took our order had a complete attitude problem and it was like he didn’t want to be there. Whilst I would recommend visiting for the food, I certainly wouldn’t expect much by service in the future.

Absolutely lovely place to eat and incredibly friendly staff. Their menu was very diverse and had a lovely range of beverages. I came with my friend and my 9month old, the staff were incredibly accommodating and helped us move onto a more suitable seating area for the little one to enjoy. The food was fantastic in flavour and was super healthy too! I highly recommend this place, it was the first time I’d visited and certainly won’t be the last. What a lovely visit! Thank you x

Delicious but expensive. A busy place , nice to sit out and watch the world go by that is if you’re not heckled by members of the public passing by . Would return but only as a treat.

This is my go to place, the food is amazing, I have a gluten intolerance which every time I have been has always been well catered for and plenty of options. The staff are always friendly and do an amazing job!!

We went for lunch during a shopping trip in Leeds and were pleased we’d booked ahead as the queue was out the door! Our waiter was friendly and promptly took our order. Both our meals were lovely and came with great coffee. Will definitely visit again the next time we’re in Leeds.

We decided to try this restaurant for breakfast for my birthday and were very glad we did. We hadn’t booked so sat outside in the arcade but there were blankets . We both ordered the full breakfast which was delicious. The crisp belly pork and the homemade beans were the best but it was all cooked beautifully. The coffees were good too! Highly recommend

this brunch/lunch spot never disappoints - the churrizo plates exquisite - there is always a good atmosphere and friendly service. size means you may to queue even with a booking but the friendly staff make this fine

Pleasant experience, the food was amazing and large in portion size. The coffee was also really nice. The venue is only small and we were lucky enough to get a table. The staff however, were friendly and attentive. Would recommend and will be back again soon!

I have been here many times before and it had been lovely however, this time I had booked a table and wasn't able to order food for 30 minutes after being sat down due to busy kitchen, which is understandable. Service was poor and glasses were dirty. I even saw a waiter picking at food before serving it to a customer behind me!! Food eventually came out and was disappointing. Such a shame as it used to be my favourite place to take family and friends. Don’t think i’ll be going back any time soon.

The food is fine but not exceptional. I know it’s hard in hospitality at the moment but if I’m paying £11 for a sandwich, I expect something decent and I expect the place to be warm. It was neither.

Came early (09:30) on a Thursday for breakfast to celebrate a birthday before shopping. Plenty of seats/tables inside and out. The two members of staff were inside faffing over some drinks. We were abruptly told to come inside out of the door when we were enquiring about a table. After being told yes there was a table inside we were then rudely asked to wait outside as they were busy and it was too crowded to stand next to the counter, despite being the only customers stood up in that area. When we asked if that was really necessary as it was not crowded we were curtly told ‘yes’ Pretentious and rude. Had a lovely breakfast elsewhere. Avoid. Read the reviews - not the first time this behaviour has been displayed.

Excellent standard of food. Couldn’t fault anything at all. All cooked fresh and to order. We had a full English breakfast and a rubuern Benedict. Top class service all round

Brunch in this little cafe. Nice atmosphere and glad we booked as quite busy. I had the lemon French toast and it was delicious, if a little too sweet and sickly for brunch but I still enjoyed it. Nice coffee and service

I've been wanting to try Olive & Rye for ages but it's always so busy and I can see why! Our order arrived quickly despite being a busy afternoon and the portion sizes were huge - exactly what our empty stomachs needed. The French toast was phenomenal with a perfect balance of lemon, raspberry and biscoff. We also ordered a slice of espresso cake (unpictured because we devoured it as soon as it arrived) and it was genuinely the best coffee cake we've ever tasted, pure heaven. Highly recommended and can't wait to visit again.

Superb as always . Call ahead and book to avoid disappointment. The full English with belly pork and beans is amazing ! I tend to choose something off the specials and it never disappoints. Customers are lovely too … if you ask what someone has had they’ll give you a recommendation! Staff are great . I need to try some of the cakes next time and visit Olive and Thai!

This was our 3rd visit, but we won’t be rushing back. My daughter had the hash brown Benedict, which she enjoyed. I had the special, crab Benedict, the first thing I noticed when it eventually arrived was a very strong fish smell, secondly the colour, soggy pink & grey and was supposed to be white crab meat. Tried a couple of mouthfuls, but that was enough, scraped off the crab and then ate what was left, which was unfortunately soggy bread spinach & egg! There was a long wait for the food, and we had also ordered banoffee French toast to follow, which did take a long time to appear, much to the dismay of the staff who wanted our table, but when that came it was very nice. Unfortunately we were sat right by the door, so we were witness to a stream of ‘have you booked? No, sorry no tables for 2 hours, this happened countless times, or people coming in to take a seat at empty tables or not understanding why they were being turned away from a cafe with empty tables! Poor system that needs reviewing or at least make it more obvious with clear signage outside, or it may just be a bit of sport constantly turning people away!

I came here with my partner after reading some positive reviews. We waited outside and the party of three in front were seated. We noticed staff looking at us and whispering. Someone finally came over to us and said ‘you okay?’ I asked for a table for two and was told there was a 2 hour wait. There were three tables free outside and was still told no. When we walked away the people behind were seated straight away. One of servers caught my eye and laughed. Vile behaviour! Before writing this review it would seem this isn’t the first time they’ve done this. This is not a nice and welcoming place and there is no kindness.