Critic's Review
It looks like this place disappeared in the middle of the night, once again. The sign is gone. They never really had an idea that had much chance of working.
Review 9/12/15
The "Black Olive" has been a mess since day 1. They originally opened (sort of) as OLA Greek Restaurant while the restaurant was still under construction. They only had a room open in the back. One day, the signs were all down and they were closed. Months later, they re-opened as Black Olive Estiatorio. I guess that name proved to be too complicated as they've dropped the Estiatorio. In April, they were put on the Alcohol No Sale list, apparently for writing bad checks. So I wasn't keen on trying the place when they re-opened.
But, I felt like some lunch on a Saturday, and everyone is serving brunch these days, and I didn't want to deal with a bunch of screaming kids getting drunk on Mimosas. They aren't open for lunch during the week, and I'm not coming here for dinner. So weekends are the only chance to come.
The place is technically part of the Best Western Motel; parking for the restaurant is in the rear, which is also for the Motel. The lot is always empty; I'm not sure why anyone would want to stay there. There were only 3 cars parked, so I knew it was pretty empty.
There were a couple people at the bar, with college football on the TV. If the Yankees game was on I might have sat there, but it's a pretty nothing looking room. I decided to sit in the dining room.
If you remember Maracas, you can see what they did here. They basically gutted it and painted it. It was funky; this is very conservative.
There's no hostess or server, really. I was served by the bartender who seemed to be the only employee in the place. I suspect someone else was in the kitchen. Water is included. I don't like the funny greek salt, because it looks more like an aspirin container than a salt shaker. It's gimmicky, but it doesn't belong in a restaurant.
The tea wasn't good. The water was ok; maybe they used tap water for the tea? Good thing I got the extra lemon.
I don't like their lunch menu; I was going to do chicken, but they didn't have anything good as an option. The big side here is Briam, which doesn't interest me. I almost ordered from the all-day menu, but the octopus was $16 and I didn't want to chance it. I ended up ordering the Spinach pie; Spanakopita on a real greek menu. They have a picture of a nice thick slice on their facebook page, so I thought I'd try it. They don't have lemon potatoes here, which is unusual. They describe their potatoes as just "oven browned". Maybe they're lemony, but it doesn't say they are.
They play greek music; real greek music with greek lyrics. Could have been worse. The food came out in 7 minutes.
Your typical Greek lunch platter. The salad looked good, this seemed ok for $10. Although the spanakopita wasn't anything like the 
The pie was also kind of bland; it had more spices than cheese. The salad was good, as was the rice. Of course I would have preferred lemon potatoes.
I asked for my check, and the server guy was slow to get it as another table had arrived and they were quite needy. It was a bit more than I expected; ugh, $3 for the lousy iced tea. Restaurants around here really have a knack for figuring out how to keep people from wanting to come back.
Conclusion
The big problem with this place is that it doesn't measure up to Greek Islands Taverna, which is right down Oakland Park Blvd. They claim to have live music on weekend, but the place is so sterile looking I can't imagine it. Their regular menu is pretty expensive when you consider that you don't get bread or hummus. The place just doesn't measure up in terms of value or experience.
Oh, and don't believe the photos they have. I doubt they're food from this restaurant.
Review of OLA Greek 5/24/14
I was making plans for a lunch date and when I asked her what she felt like eating, she said "Greek". So the opportunity to try OLA came to mind. I stopped by last week and the door was locked and there were boxes and debris inside, so I went somewhere else. Today, when we got to the door; same thing. Door locked; looking through the window the place clearly couldn't be open. I was pointing at the "We Are Open" sign, trying to convince her that they were supposed to be open, when she spotted a guy waving us in from inside.
As it turns out, only part of the restaurant is open. You have to go through the patio to get to the entrance.
This place is quite a project; it's sort of like giving the Partridge Family bus a makeover. The patio is a lot better than before; when the Lips guy owned the place it was like dining in Candyland. Inside it's a small room similar to your typical Greek Gyro shop.
Traditional Greek music is playing, and they have some nice decorations.
Although we couldn't figure out how the Dannon Yogurt display fit in. I couldn't convince my companion to try the Octopus, so we just went with a couple of platters. I ordered the Gemista (pronounced Yem-ista); a stuffed pepper and tomato, and she got the Moussaka. You get a choice of a side; I got the lemon potatoes and she got the cheese fries.
Pita bread, no hummus. The food came out in about 10 minutes.
The food looked very impressive. "I'm Jealous", she said, apparently thinking that my dish looked better than hers. So I suggested we share, which seemed to lift her spirit. The lemon potatoes were excellent, very lemony and served with some of the sauce for dipping. The salad was fine with standard ingredients; I thought the Gemista was just "OK"; they were stuffed with mostly rice and they didn't really pop. I'm not a Moussaka guy;I don't like Bachemel generally, and this version failed to convert me.
My companion liked the Moussaka and loved the cheese fries and the Lemon Potatoes. She confided that she's never been to the Outback, so I think the experience was more adventurous for her than for me.
The menu says that platters come with Tzatziki, but we didn't get any. No lunch menu; considering that you get a mini-loaf of bread and hummus at Greek Islands Taverna I'd have to say they have the better lunch deal.
The owner, Steve Minginas, has run two other restaurants recently; Yanni's Greek Restaurant in Arlington Heights, IL and Taverna Skara in Clearwater, FL. He seems like a good dude and he has some good ideas for the restaurant; at least he's a restaurant guy and not just some businessman trying to make money. He envisions a Greek Grill type of place; we haven't had a Greek Guy with a flaming grill since Greek Express at the beach was sold to the Armenian guy. I'm optimistic about what he'll have here when construction is finished in 6 months.
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