Nothing seems quite more welcoming than walking into a warmly lit atmosphere, greeted by floor to ceiling arrangement of assorted bottles of olive oil and imported olives from various parts of the Mediterranean. This was the exact way I entered Fig and Olives, Meatpacking District. As I was waiting for David, I couldn't help but to be astonished by the dimly lit and beautifully designed decor of the restaurant. The arrangement of wine bottles by the bar, situated at the center of the restaurant, mimicked the welcoming olive oil bottles, with abundant bottles of wine seemingly overflowing as a backdrop of the bartender. It is definitely your effortlessly chic kind of an ambiance, carefully denoting the ambiance of the surrounding location and boutiques.
Only if the food was as fabulous as the ambiance.
What was fabulous, however, was their creative efforts in incorporating the different olive oils into each dish. You're served immediately upon seating a basket of bread with three different types of olive oil for dipping. It was fun and intriguing, definitely set off our dining experience just as I had wanted. We ordered mushroom soup, paired with parmesan crostini, a dish of mixed olives, and fig & olive salad for appetizer. The mushroom soup was absolutely to die for: almost a grated texture-filled tasting of mushrooms topped with white truffle oil, complemented by the parmesan crostini which was topped with mushrooms. It was a perfect taste of a mushroom soup and I fell absolutely in love. The fig & olive salad was great with the combinations of goat cheese, gorgonzola, and parmesan cheese with obviously figs and olives on top of mixed greens. A different kind of oil was used for the salad, again playing on their creative usage of the oil.
See, it was the main dish that was disappointing, and it can be because of the dish I chose. I ordered trio del mar, a tasting dish of scallop, salmon, and branzino. It was the couscous that set it off on the wrong foot because I was surprised by the unexpected sweetness of the couscous and the salmon. It was almost a teriyaki tasting sauce of some sort, which could've been good, had I been prepared for it. With the smooth and a directional course my palate was taking from the appetizer, I was expecting something salty; not sweet. It just went downhill from here on and left me bittersweet (no pun intended). David, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed his grilled lamb skewers. Though not a huge fan of lamb, the quality of the meat was excellent, I must say. I can't comment much on the taste given the above circumstances.
I concluded that Fig & Olive would be an excellent lunch bistro and one would leave absolutely ecstatic with their dining experience. See, I also think it's the decor that created more room for disappointment because you'd think the food would always be up to par with the ambience a place brings but that is unfortunately and hardly the case. Maybe that's why hole-in-the-wall places are just so good because you really have zero expectations and nothing seems promising that when they bring about a dish a bit greater than mediocre, it is deemed even greater because it's unexpected. Food for thought! (Again, no pun intended. I'm on a roll today!)
*i took the pics this time again!
