I was excited that Olea had opened at last and got to sample it Saturday. They do try hard to please. The young man who was our server asked if we had heard of tapas before. A fair question, but I had to giggle inwardly. That was the whole reason I was there. He said that the restaurant was hoping to make Olea the tapas capital of the U.S. if not the World...a tall order! Anyway, I think they are working through the serving and protocol procedures. At first the server forgot to bring the small serving plates when they brought out the focaccia and olives and then another waiter asked him, "they didn't want plates?" The server also described the manchego as a cheddar!? I've always felt it was closer to a parmesan so I had to wonder if he had heard of tapas before working there this morning. He then brought my sangria in a stemmed wine glass...with a straw So, I did my usual and ordered a bunch of plates. I brought my 18 year old son with me, who has either eaten my tapas at home or at restaurants. All the food was delicious. The presentation was not what I expected. Not necessarily below expectations, just different. I am used to the plates being prepared for sharing purposes, it seemed that the plates were prepared as individual dishes. For example, the asparagus was two spears, criss crossed, with two rolls of jamon serrano filled with goat cheese. I've had the asparagus dish of similar description at Hola (esparagus with serrano and cheese) but there are more spears and they are sprinkled with jamon bits and manchego. I noticed at the next table a family ordered tapas, but they ordered them as individuals and evidently expected them to be served as individual dishes, no sharing. Everything in the first round of tapas was served with a lot of lemon and parsley. I'm not sure why this stuck out but the lemon halves and thick slices seemed gargantuan next to the delicate slices of carpaccio and manchego. (We also ordered the before mentioned esparagus, calamari, and crab cakes) The second round included the mushrooms farci, trio of hummus/olives/eggplant spreads and sausages. These tended to be garnished with cherry tomato halves. The waiter had suggested the escargot, though I have enjoyed it before, I decided to forgo it this time. I have to be in the right mood for it! Kevin72, I'm glad you started this thread and that I found Egullet.