Shoulda Stuck With The Memories…

This one kinda hurts to write. We hear at Bumbs & Crumbs though take our jobs very seriously, and have an OBLIGATION to go out, eat, and then report back to our small army of loyal readers with our 100% honest, non sugar coated opinion of said meal and dining experience. It’s what we (don’t) get paid to do. Los Olivos is a place that for so many years was very near and dear to me and to my family. My love affair with Phoenix and the southwest began at a very young age. Throughout grade school and beyond, my family would take numerous trips out to New Mexico, Arizona, California & Colorado. Arizona clearly became our favorite spot though, spending most of our time in Tempe and Old Town Scottsdale. Both areas offer an extremely pedestrian friendly walking district, jam packed with shops, cafes, bars, art galleries, restaurants, boutiques and more. Los Olivos, smack-dab in the middle of Old Town Scottsdale, quickly became my family’s go to mexican restaurant whenever we were in town. On a side note, what the hell does smack-dab mean?  My family always loved good spicy mexican food, something there wasn’t MUCH of on long island back in the 80’s when i grew up. Many memories of my family trips out to arizona while growing up, even some memories of my freshman year at ASU back in 1996,  usually involve a damn good mexican meal at Los Olivos. I had nothing but good memories when i think back to all those meals. Well, either time has not been kind to the kitchen at Los Olivos, my culinary tastes have become more refined over the years, or my memories were just severely incorrect. Or maybe all of the above. Los Olivos is literally in our backyard, just a 5-10 minute walk from our front door, but it took me a while to finally decide to give it a shot again after all these years. Julie and i went, with some wonderful company in the form of Brian and Kari, and like the title of this post suggests maybe i should have just been content with the wonderful memories i have of my family meals at Los Oilvos and left it at that…

First thing the 4 of us noticed when we got in was how freakin hot the place was! It was the dead of winter and we were sweating, especially brian and i who can easily sweat through 3 or more shirts a day out here. we had to be asked to be reseated at a table in a cooler wing of the restaurant, which helped a little bit. i have a VERY hard time enjoying a meal if i’m hot, sweating and uncomfortable. My appetite goes out the window. The restaurant has some interesting character. Low ceilings, mexican folk art all over, various different rooms with different colors and themes. Id say its rather eclectic, bordering on eccentric even? The place looked rather dirty, sloppy, dated, and on the verge of falling apart in my opinion, inside and out. It’s like they stopped and and all upkeep of the restaurant since i was last there well over a decade ago. Los Olivos has been in that same location for decades, an institution if you will. I hope they don’t plan on just surviving off their reputation from decades ago, cause that ain’t gonna sustain them much longer if things stay as they are the night we went. The sloppiness carried over into the service which was slow and rather inefficient. Even the food seemed sloppy to me if that’s even possible. while the portions were definitely on the large side, everything was greasy, heavy and on the bland side as far as taste goes. Luckily there were margaritas there, which always helps take the edge off things and distract you from a subpar meal that you’re overpaying for. This is definitely a case of quantity over quality. The foods not that great, but there sure is a lot of it. Los Olivos bills itself as authentic sonoran style mexican food, yet to me it was one or two steps above the fine food at Taco Bell. All those good memories i had of Los Olivos, down the toilet. Upsetting.

Would i go back? Definitely not. The best thing about this meal was leaving. I think Los Olivos survives solely on tourists alone. Luckily for Los Olivos they are right in the middle of a heavy heavy tourist area, and there’s certainly no shortage of tourists out here. They come out here, probably get word of or read about this interesting, ‘authentic’ mexican food restaurant that’s been around and survived for decades. On paper it works, sounds great. All the tourists probably don’t know any better, they fall for it and they wind up wasting their money. If they think that’s best the mexican food we got to offer out here, they are sadly mistaken. It hurts Los Olivos doesn’t it….feel the wrath of Bumbs & Crumbs!!!

Pollo a la Queso Crema - a flour tortilla stuffed with chicken breast, deep fried and topped with seasoned creamed cheese and melted cheeses, served with beans & rice.

Mexican Pizza - Cheese crisp with green chili strips, shredded chicken, onions, spices, tomatoes & black olives.

Fish Tacos - three corn tortillas stuffed with sauteed white fish, served with cabbage, pico de gallo, beans and rice