Fig & Olive

Fig & Olive

The French Riviera

Written & Photographed by Haley Moss

             Fig & Olive opened in December of 2013 in Newport Beach, California. It is located in the well-known shopping center of Fashion Island. The restaurant totals at 12,000 square feet and can seat up to 330 guests at one time. They have offered different themed rooms to give individuals a choice of their dining experience. The rooms offered are The Lounge/Bar, The Orchard, The Garden, and The White Room. The Restaurant was inspired by the French Riviera and displays an open concept to bring in the lovely Orange County weather. Most of their inspiration comes from the coastal regions of France, Italy and Spain. For this reason they don’t use any cream or butter and keep their cuisine as light as the space by using only Olive Oils. This restaurant offers a wide variety of options for dining, you can have a very sophisticated evening or come out on a Friday or Saturday and spend the night with a live DJ listening to French Riviera Electronic music while receiving bottle service in the lounge.

Upon entering the restaurant you are greeted with tall ceilings with wooden beams jutting across the ceiling and limestone floors throughout the bar and lounge area. The barstools are made of rich red leather the sit up against the white marble bar counter tops. To display their liquor they have created suspended shelves made of iron and glass.

 

Moving to the next room we enter The Garden/Patio; which has continued with the limestone flooring. There are a variety of different materials used for the tables and chairs. Larger tables are made up of the white marble with a wood laminate trim. The smaller tables are made up of the light wooden laminate and the lounge tables are made up of engineered hardwood. For the structure of the patio they have continued with large wooden beams running both vertically and horizontally throughout the space.

 The next dining room is The Orchard which transitions into a darker wood flooring. The main focus of this room is the two faux Olive Trees they have placed in the center of the room. They have used bench seating for the majority and then used the red leather chairs to complement those in the bar area. The ceiling is again beamed with large wooden beams and the walls have a stucco finish. The suspended lighting fixtures give the effect of woven baskets.

 We then move into the white room, which of course is all white. The flooring is limestone but set in a diamond pattern through the room. The walls are stucco and painted white with three large skylights to bring in as much natural light as possible. The booths are upholstered in white and the chairs are upholstered in white leather with a dark wooden accent. This is the only dining room that uses white linens to offer a more sophisticated dining experience. They kept the lighting fixtures in this room very light and went with glass suspended lights enclosed with iron and then mostly recessed lighting. Both the Orchard room and White Room are lined with rosemary bushes with perimeter lighting to really transport the guests into the   French Riviera and give them more senses to go off of.

 

The restaurant is decorated perfectly to make you feel like you have been transported to the French Riviera, from the materials chosen down to the accessories. The restaurant displays Olive Oils all throughout on under lit shelves and even show the Olive Oil basins which shown what they are produced in. They also have inset displays on the wall that shows what herbs and spices are used throughout their cuisine. The even have a bookshelf lining an entire hallway with books filled with information about the French Riviera decorated with pottery and lighting. The doorways are very large and the one between the orchard and white room feature an archway.

 Overall their material selection was on point. There are a few critiques that I have. The white marble used on the tables does stain very easily. Marble is a very porous material and needs a lot of maintenance to keep it looking top notch. Since this is a place where wine is being drank they tables are left with rings of wine. The flooring throughout the bar and lounge also is a hard place to keep clean. With a very active nightlight on the weekends there are a lot of spills, that happen which leaves a sticky dirty floor that needs regular cleaning. Along with that the rosemary lining the room adds a beautiful touch but is not cost effective since it needs to be replaced about every two weeks.