Critic's Review
Some things never change, and one thing that hasn't changed is the Ole Ole still has no sign on the front of their restaurant. It continues to look closed, which likely costs them a lot of business.
If you know it's here, you enter to the typical low-end Mexican restaurant, with no hostess at the station. Waiting and Waiting at 1:50, I grabbed a men while I waited. Maybe 5 tables in the whole place.
Finally a girl comes over and puts me into the lower bowl; not as nice as the booths in the upper sections. I decided not to complain and see what it was like in the old section of town.
I'd decided I was going to try the Mexican Omelet; I'd missed it on the menu last time as they have it on the back with the beverages. Of course no server came by for more than 5 minutes. Finally a dude came by and asked for my beverage order. Eggs with Rice and Beans; is that breakfast? They probably don't have drinkable coffee, so I went with iced tea. They have lemon here, unlike some south of the border concepts. The tea is freshly brewed. Still no chips when he brought out the tea; he promised I'd get them shortly.
Another 2 minutes and I had a setup. Not exactly La Bamba here.
The food came out 8 minutes later.
The load of seemingly raw green peppers was extremely troubling. Who would want to eat that? Is this an omelet or a greek salad?
Good Grief. The pablanos were roasted, but the green onions were practically raw. Why not cook or roast them also? I had to remove ALL of the green onion. This was not an edible omelet in its current form.
I also had no use for the tortilla, or the butter. Are you supposed to butter your breakfast tortilla?
There were some decent flavors in the omelet, it just wasn't constructed by anyone who knows anything about food. Some short order chef was given a list of ingredients without any instruction on how to make it properly. There was no need for green pepper in here.
I like refried beans for breakfast, but this was some of the blandest mexican rice ever. No taste whatsoever. Have they stolen Rocco's red rice recipe? This stuff was just as bad. Inedible.
An actual restaurant server would have 1) checked to see if everything was ok 2) offered a side dish or to take away the tortilla and pepper that I'd stacked on the table 3) offered me a refill on my drink. Not a word from him.
Well before I was done eating I asked for my check as I had to make a stop on the way home and I was short on time. He brought over the check right away, but never actually came back to get it (despite looking into the dining room several times). I had to ask a girl who was sweeping up to take it for me.
Conclusion
I had my doubts about their competence after my first visit, but today sealed the deal. This place is your typical Mexican restaurant with thoughtless, standard food and abysmal service. The omelet I got could have been a great breakfast if it was made with more care and if their rice didn't suck rocks.
No need to ever come here again. I've got it down.
Review 8/7/15
Felt like Mexican, and I've been everywhere else. I came here once before and though it was out of business. There were no cars and inexplicably, there is no sign on the front of the restaurant. There's an old looking sign in the rear, which happens to be on W Broward, but it's not the entrance to the restaurant.
That was 5 years ago. Today I went in the front door, and there's a big restaurant inside.
A lethargic girl glanced at me, and I assumed that I was supposed to follow her. She led me into the bar and tried to seat me at one of the little tables along the wall.
"Can I have a nice big booth please?". She rolled her eyes and let me up the stairs to a raised dining area. 2 of the 10 booths were occupied.
I sat for a few minutes and a dude dropped off some chips and salsa. I nibbled on some chips while waiting for a server. Finally she swung by and I ordered a beverage; she had no initial interest in taking my full order. A few more minutes and a runner brought out the iced tea.
A few more minutes and she came by and took my order. The salsa was chunky and tasted like smashed tomatoes with cilantro. Not terrible but not particularly good either.
I'd ordered off the lunch menu, because they didn't have anything that I wanted. The menu on their web site (and that we have) has a Mexican omelet on it that I was thinking of trying, but they don't have it on the menu anymore. So I went with the Chile Relleno, because that's just about the only thing I like other than steak these days from a Mexican restaurant.
The food came out in 5 minutes on a piping hot plate.
Pretty standard Mexican food. The only complaint is that the cheese wasn't melted inside the chili, it was probably too cold and when they flash cooked it they didn't leave in in long enough to melt the cheese. Otherwise it was a pretty standard offering at a pretty standard price ($12.95). One chile relleno should be a lunch item; this is $9.95 at Tipico cafe; they give you 2 for $14.95 as some places.
All in all a pleasant experience. My server dropped off the bill and it took her way too long to come back with my CC. She wasn't making any special trips.
As I left the girl at the hostess station didn't say a word. No "Thanks for Coming". Just Silence.
Conclusion
You'd never know there was a big Mexican restaurant from the outside of this place; it's pretty typical in terms of food and menu. Indifferent service, flash cooked plates of food and perhaps a bigger and nicer bar than most Mexican restaurants near Fort Lauderdale.