A trio of creme brulees at Olio Restaurant. Photos courtesy of Hannah Johnston.
I am a proud Mainer. I love the ocean; I love whoopie pies; I love pine trees; I love moose. But it’s time that I finally admit one thing from Maine that I do not like: lobster. At Olio, a sit-down restaurant right off the highway in Groton, I very much enjoyed my crab cakes. They were crispy and large (but not too large) and they had just the right meat-to-breadcrumb ratio. That being said, I did not enjoy the lobster cream sauce that was poured on top in a generous amount, though I had ordered it hoping I would. I even tried a piece of lobster from a companion’s meal, just to see if perhaps I had somehow developed a taste for non-sauce lobster, but I did not love it.
It was a night of multiple discoveries for me at Olio. My friends Summer Wrobel ’19, Rose Montera ’19, and I ordered lamb lollipops wrapped in bacon to start, which I’d never tried before. I’m not sure that I like lamb—it was a little too fatty for me—but Rose and Summer assured me that it was impeccably cooked. As I said before, I had crab cakes with scalloped potatoes and green beans in a creamy lobster sauce, and I was pleased to discover that I still really like crab, even though I hadn’t had it since I was a kid.
Summer was able to order seafood pasta with gluten-free penne, which makes Olio an ideal stop for people with a gluten allergy or intolerance. When I asked Summer about her meal a few days later, she said that “the gluten free pasta with mixed seafood was absolutely delicious! Most people overcook gluten-free pasta (leaving it kind of mushy), but their penne was more al-dente.” The pasta, like most of the dishes on Olio’s dinner menu, had multiple kinds of protein, including lobster, scallops, and shrimp; “[You’d never have] a boring bite!” added Summer. There were, in fact, so many elements to each dish on the menu that it took us quite a while to figure out what we wanted.
Rose opted for two starters instead of one entree—the mediterranean plate and the Burrata salad. When I checked in with her after she’d had some time to digest, literally and figuratively, she said she enjoyed the filling portions, nice presentation of dishes, and “tacky ambiance” of the restaurant.
After our delicious and lively meal, we ordered two desserts to share: strawberry shortcake and a trio of fruit-flavored creme brulees. Initially I wanted to order the sea salt caramel creme brulee, but the waitress, with a serious and warning tone of voice, told me it was “very, very sweet” and it really made me backpedal. Maybe she secretly works for a produce company and it’s her job to persuade people to eat only fruit-based desserts.
The strawberry shortcake came in a huge serving with soft, sugared, almost sauce-like strawberries, homemade whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream. The bread base was a biscuit, another New England culinary tradition that I’m not a fan of, but it was quite good; it being pretty difficult to mess up strawberry shortcake. The trio of creme brulees were definitely too fruity for me with a key lime, a mango, and a blueberry flavored dish. I’ve never been a big fan of key lime pie so it’s no surprise I wasn’t a big fan of key lime creme brulee. The creme in the brulee was also way too soupy, as opposed to the thick, custard-like consistency of most that I’ve had in the past.
Lamb lollipops wrapped in bacon.
Overall, Olio is not the best restaurant I’ve ever been to. I think there’s something to be said for simpler dishes and less overall richness, but it was still a very good meal. This is a great place to go when your parents visit (the average entree is $25) or for appetizers and drinks with friends. Even though I didn’t order one, there were several cocktails on the menu that sounded like they were worth trying. The service was great, our waitress was attentive and welcoming, and if we hadn’t taken so long to order we would have been in and out in a pretty short amount of time. So I’d recommend checking out the menu online beforehand. Also, as I’m sure most people would like to know, they do provide baskets of fresh bread and a parmesan/olive oil dip, which was tremendous. •
