text: I've eaten at a lot of fine dining establishments during my time living in Vegas, and Olives is by far the worst, and one of only two restaurants that I refuse to go back to (the other being Prime, located just up the mall from Olives).  \n\nWhere to begin? First, our party of three arrived for our 8:00pm reservation a few minutes early, and had to wait until about 8:30pm before we were seated -- strike 1.  We ventured to the bar to wait, where I decied I'd try one of their speciality cocktails they were offering for the night - except not, because they were out -- strike 2.  When we were finally seated, we were crammed into a crowded, loud, dark corner where we could barely move -- strike 3. \n\nTo expand, the atmosphere and ambiance of Olives is awful.  They have crammed way too many tables into their already cramped dining room, for no other reason than because they can, I would suppose.  The wait staff is constantly bumping into the backs of chairs and are forced to reach in front of you to accomplish even the simplest tasks.  A side effect of the crowded dining room is the noise.  Even at a small table, you can forget about conversation unless you feel like losing your voice from shouting by the end of your meal (I'm exaggerating, but this place is WAY too loud for a high-end restaurant).  The lighting is ineffective, and the tables are so dark that you can barely see what you're eating - this is not necessarily a bad thing, because the food was so overly complex, that it failed on just about every level.  Yet another restaurent that fails because of what I like to call 'Top Chef Syndrome' - leave the campy molecular gastronomy, overly complex sauces, and useless garnishes to the few professionals that do it well, and get back to the basics of just cooking your food well.\n\nEverything (with the exception of the osso buco, which was the only highlight of the meal) was just not up to par with a restaurant of this reputation and price.  Our meal for three was close to $600 - apparently we gambled, and lost, on this one.  I wouldn't go back here even if someone else was paying.