Olive Grill is downtown’s new hole-in-the-wall restaurant. This lunchtime spot located on Taylor Street serves Mediterranean food such as pita sandwiches, soups, salads, platters and everyone’s favorite — gyros.
Family owned and operated by Abdi and Leslie Nasehi, Olive Grill gives off the friendly, quaint and authentic vibe like no other.
Nevertheless, the food is the real deal. The chef, Abdi Nasehi, moved to the U.S. to attend college — later, he asked his mother to send spices as he became interested in his Iranian cooking roots.
Leslie Nasehi, Abdi’s wife and co-owner of Olive Grill, said that many Mediterranean dishes “have similar threads to Persian or Iranian foods.”
For instance, “the Greeks call their little yogurt and cucumber sauce tzatziki — in Iranian cooking its called maast-o khiar,” Leslie said.
Because of this, Olive Grill’s menu is ethnically eclectic. They draw cuisine inspirations mostly from Iran but also Greek, Lebanese, Moroccan and other Mediterranean cultures.
The creation of Olive Grill was fate. Formerly living in Jacksonville, Florida, the Nasehis were visiting friends in Columbia when car troubles extended their stay. While exploring the area, they happened upon the space that is now the restaurant’s location.
Within just one year, Olive Grill has come a long way — they won an award known as the “Golden Spatula” for receiving a 100 percent on their health inspection.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Leslie said. And without a doubt, the restaurant is impeccably clean.
Good value for good food, Olive Grill makes a mean chicken pita. They also make a barbecue pita, which is a nice spin on a classic and pays homage to South Carolina cuisine; “tart and tangy,” Leslie said.
They have many Mediterranean cuisine staples worth mentioning and trying, including the lamb and lima bean platter and the falafel pita. Falafel, hummus and tzatziki are also familiar friends in their kitchen.
Olive Grill is not staying the same; Leslie said, “one thing about Abdi Nasehi’s cooking is that he’s very inventive, so the menu is always changing.”
In addition to being mostly vegetarian-friendly, everything is freshly made. The pitas are made to order, which is a comforting quality in the age of fast food. As they say in their motto, Olive Grill really is “where healthy meets tasty.”