Business Profile {BY MARY JANE KINKADE}
Black Olive Restaurant & Pizzeria
What began with a small order of French toast on a September morning in 2010 has grown into a booming business that puts its customers first and will do almost anything to please them. In fact, when its fourth anniversary rolled around, the Black Olive Restaurant decided to celebrate with a gift to its customers in the form of special discounts for an entire month.
Open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, the Black Olive Restaurant is located at 782 South Brewster Road in Vineland. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, the Black Olive offers Italian, American, Greek and Mediterranean cuisine and is well known around town for its great food, atmosphere and service.
“We want our customers to know that we value their patronage greatly,” said Hayrullah Yagmurkaya, who owns the Black Olive “We are here to provide good food, as well as the best possible service to our customers. They are part of our family.”
“I come here quite often,” said Marge Mariotti, who recently enjoyed lunch at the Black Olive. “The salads are delicious and so are the soups, plus everyone is nice in here.”
Judging by the jam-packed dining room, it seems that Mariotti wasn’t the restaurant’s only repeat customer. Visits to Yelp and Facebook confirmed our suspicion. Out of 88 reviews on its Facebook page, the average rating was 4.5 out of 5 stars. Here’s a sampling of some of the comments found in both places:
“We’ve been here dozens of times now and never had anything but very good food and friendly service. I recommend you give it a try.” “Love the place, very good food. Everyone is so nice. Will be back for sure!!” “Great sandwiches…great prices…great service” Just had a party there and the food and service were terrific! “Awesome! LOVE the burgers and y’all make the best Stromboli I’ve ever had.”
Speaking of the Stromboli, have you seen the Black Olive’s menu lately? It was recently updated and features pages and pages of options with many delicious looking photos. From eggs and bacon, to gourmet sandwiches and salads, to pizza and seafood dishes, you’re only challenge will be what to order first. A children’s menu is also available. Patrons can dine in, takeout, make reservations and BYOB. Some of its signature dishes include the Black Olive Panini and the Black Olive Salad.
“Customers also really like our tomato sauce, or gravy as most of them call it,” said Hayrullah. “We also sell a lot of seafood dishes like broiled or fried flounder, shrimp and crab cakes.”
The restaurant’s dining room has also seen recent updates. Patrons will find new booths designed to provide a bit more privacy than before.
While Hayrullah is no stranger to the restaurant business, the Black Olive is the first one he can call is own.
“Owning our own restaurant was a dream for us,” says Hayrullah. “When we found the Brewster Road location available, we knew it would be the perfect place to make our dream come true. We are so proud of what our families and team have accomplished. We didn’t expect to come this far in such a short time. We love knowing that we make people happy after a good meal and make a difference in their normal routines.”
As for what’s next? The owners say they have some new things in the works, but prefer to keep us in suspense for now. No doubt, we’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Black Olive Restaurant, 782 S Brewster Rd A1, Vineland, NJ 08361, 856-457-7624. Open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Serving up great food, service, and atmosphere.
*Article Reprinted with permission from The Grapevine Newspaper.