If You Are at a Mall in Michigan, You Have to Eat at Olga's

Olga's has become a staple of any mall trip I ever take. It's very hard for me to go into a mall without at least getting a bowl of soup! The funny thing is that when I was younger I refused to eat there just because it was different, but now that I've "matured" it has become one of my favorite places.

What makes Olga's so great, besides the food, is the consistency. I always know what to get there and every Olga's in every mall has the same great quality every time!

What is it?
Olga's is a small restaurant that specializes in wrapped sandwiches. These are sandwiches of many flavors wrapped up in a very yummy pita bread. They have hot, cold, meat, meat-free. The restaurant is generally made up of a lot of booths around the ends with tables in the middle. I only go there with two types of people - me and my husband, or me and my female family members/friends. It works well for me and my husband because we both love the soup. Many males do frequent Olga's, however over all it gives off a girl vibe, in my opinion. Yes I see guys in there all the time but for some reason I view this as a place to get together with your girlfriends and chit chat.

Where is it?
Sorry to disappoint you all but right now it is only located in Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois....with most of the locations being in Michigan. Every Olga's I know of is either in a mall or a strip mall or something similar. This makes it an ideal place to eat while you shop! Now you see why I think of it as a girl place?

For those of you who live in Michigan, here are the locations/malls I have eaten in: Allen Park, Fairlane Town Center, The Heights Shopping Center, Laurel Park Place, Twelve Oaks, Southland Center, Westland Center. For more locations visit the website: http://www.olgaskitchen.com/locations.htm

What's the food like?
Very very good! Ok, you want more than that? While their main courses are the wrapped sandwiches, my favorite choices are actually not on the sandwich menu. Instead, my favorite thing in the entire place is the Olga Snackers which come as a side order OR with your soup. These are pita bread wedges cut, baked and seasoned - served with a cheese spread. My only problem here is that they don't always give you enough cheese, and if you ask for more they charge you for it! I have also ordered the basket of Snackers which was way more than I would ever need, yet still not enough cheese!

Usually I get the Soup and Salad with a bowl of the wonderful Cream of Broccoli and a Olga salad. The soup doesn't have any cheese and is different than any Cream of Broccoli soup I've had anywhere else. Yummy! That combo comes with snackers or pita bread and is filling enough for me that I don't need to order anything else, and sometimes I can't even finish that.

If you are looking for a sandwich, here are some flavors. Since I don't eat meat, the only meat-free option I like is the Tuna olga, which can be served Hot or Cold and is so filling I can only eat 1/2 at a time! I swear they put a whole can of tune on there. The other Olga's are not stuffed as much, just so you know. I've had the veggie only olga, but I need more than just veggies. Other flavors include: Fajita, Turkey, 4 Veggie only Olgas, Salmon, Roast Beef, Burger, etc etc. Basically anything you can picture as a sandwich can be wrapped in pita bread and be made into an olga. You can also create your own by taking one of the olgas and adding from a whole list of ingredients. My meat-eater family and friends have tried various flavors and I've never heard any complaints about any of them.

You'll probably be too stuffed for dessert, but if you are there early in the day you have to get a Muffin to go! They are made fresh daily and sometimes seem a little gross, or out of stock, by the end of the day. Muffin flavors are different every day and are displayed in a window so you can see them without asking about them.

Olga's is overall a very healthy restaurant. Although it is possible to eat too many calories or order the wrong foods, most of the items are not to bad nutritional-wise. In addition, you can replace any pita bread with a healthier version, or make any olga healthier by changing the sauces or toppings. Just like any restaurant, they have their un-healthy options, however they make it easy to choose healthy options if you so choose.

Is it expensive?
It is mildly expensive but at least you always leave stuffed. The prices seem to increase every-so-often making Soup and Salad around 7.15 per person. The olgas range from 5-7$. So plan on spending a good 20$ per couple, especially if you get drinks and muffins. And you might as well spend the extra 10 cents to get a chocolate mint on the way out!

How's the service?
In restaurant it ranges from really good to kind of slow. There were times where we had really bad service and had asked our waitress for a sauce dip 4 times and never got it. This could be frustrating. There's been other times where we have waited 30 minutes for our soup and salad - and it comes out lukewarm (yuck). However most of the time I get fast service since soup and Olga's do not take long to make. In general I have had acceptable service, you just have to watch out for lazy servers.

When you get it to go it is usually good. They are probably happy they don't have to wait on you. You can call ahead or go there and order. It usually only takes 15 minutes for them to bring it out to you, which makes me wonder why sometimes it takes so long to get your food at the restaurant.

Any complaints?
I wish they were be open later, but instead they all seem to follow mall hours and close by 9. This means no late night soup for me. I try to use this as a lunch time or early dinner restaurant instead.

Conclusion
Olga's kitchen may not be nationwide...yet, but maybe if you are in Michigan you can check it out! The service isn't always the greatest, but since I'm usually there wasting a few hours I can deal. I also like to call in an order as I leave work and pick it up on the way home! It really is addicting and if it wasn't so expensive I'd eat it every day. The number one thing I can say about Olga's is that I have eaten there hundreds of times, yet I still can't get enough of their yummy soup! Enjoy!