A busy neighborhood brunch joint- Oliver’s Bistro (Brunch, South Beach)

The other weekend (very overdue on posts) a friend and I went to Oliver’s Bistro on West Ave in South Beach for brunch. We had been wanting to do brunch for awhile and had been trying to find some great brunch places to go to. My friend lives in South Beach and she had heard good reviews about Oliver’s. There are only a few places I’d consider living in South Beach and West Ave is one of them (along with Sunset Harbor). There are a lot of restaurants and shops with a lot of character and nice walkability. Plus it’s closeness to Alton (and distance from Washington/Collins) makes it a more local, laidback neighborhood.

Oliver’s from the outside looks like one of those places with character. It has a lot of of outdoor seating along the street under umbrellas. When we got their on Sunday it was also very busy- an obvious sign of a great restaurant. We started off with drinks- Bloody Mary’s and sangria. I thought the sangria was a little too heavy on the wine and light on the fruit for my liking, but the brunch food itself did not disappoint.

I am usually a boring omelet kind of guy, but decided to mix things up by going for a favorite I don’t get as much- the classic corned beef hash. The corned beef hash was crispy and filling and reminded me of the texture of latkes from Hanukkah. It came with a choice of eggs on top. I got scrambled and it had the fluffy and buttery taste of classic diner eggs. My friend got one of the specials- a flatbread with salmon and brie. She thought it was incredible and definitely gave it a big thumbs up!

The breakfast menu is pretty extensive and we saw a lot of different dishes going by that all looked really good. A lot of restaurants that have a menu with a lot of stuff on it can’t always do everything well. Oliver’s seemed to buck that trend from what we had and all the stuff we saw passing by (plus the large crowds). Afterwards we walked around the West Ave neighborhood a bit. There’s quite a few places nearby that I want to try now, but Oliver’s is a place I’ll return to for brunch. Whether you’re local or visiting Oliver’s Bistro is a delicious breakfast restaurant with a lot of options to try.