About Fat Olives

Originally a Fisherman’s Cottage dating back to the 17th Century

Friendly Food, Tasty People

Fat Olives was originally a Fisherman’s Cottage and dates back to the 17th Century when smugglers used the old passageways through the cellar.

Hospitality has always been our lives. It was always our dream to one day open our own restaurant – this dream became a reality when we found the perfect fisherman’s cottage in Emsworth.

Since opening in 2000 we have become part of the Emsworth community making many long-standing friends with customers and great local suppliers.

Fat Olives has featured in the main food guides including Michelin & Hardens since our very first year of opening. The restaurant has also been awarded locally with winner and runners up for best local business, best restaurant and best business charity award for our fund raising efforts. We have also featured in the Olive magazine, the last edition of Egon Ronay’s Top 200 Restaurants, the Sunday Times Incredible Edibles Top 200 Awards and Top 130 Cheap Eats.

Awards aside we strive purely for you to have a memorable time at Fat Olives and get to know Friendly Food, Tasty People – it’s what we are passionate about.

Opening Times

Wednesday to Saturday for Lunch and Dinner

LUNCH:

12 noon, last orders are at 1.45pm

DINNER:

6.30pm, last orders are at 8.45pm

Please note, the maximum number of guests per table is 6 people. We welcome children over the age of eight

Our location

Emsworth is situated just at the top of Chichester Harbour – renowned in the past as the main port in Chichester for fishing and ship-building. Fat Olives can be found just off Emsworth’s Town Centre and a stones throw from the harbour.

Contact Us

I write to express my very sincere thank to you both fir making our evening yesterday so special. The quality of the cooking and blend of tastes was a delight. Please extend my appreciation to your team who all contributed to a great event. The wine pairings worked very well and thank you for your choices which were much appreciated. The atmosphere created in your beautiful 'cottage' was convivial and happy. Just the sort of evening we aim for. Thank you for a superb experience.

Andrew Crawford

Never had a bad meal. The service, food and atmosphere are all superb. We love it! The service is unobtrusive but excellent. We will always pick ‘Fat Olives’ for a special occasion or even a casual meal with friend.

One of our favourite restaurants for over 20 years, interesting tasty food, excellent service, just a lovely place to go!

Robin & Gill

For the last ten years we have celebrated most of our family birthdays, weddings, births and just life in general at Fat Olives. The food is consistently sublime, created from the best ingredients with extraordinary imagination and creativity by Lawrence alongside excellent service managed by his wife Jules. Its more like going to dinner with friends than just going to a wonderful restaurant. Fat Olives really has become a part of our family story and we hope it carries on like this for years to come.

I was lucky many years ago to discover Fat Olives, I have been privileged to attended regularly ever since. During all my visits I have enjoyed superlative food and exemplary service delivered in a relaxed atmosphere with great humour and style. Thank you to all the team at Fat Olives for making these visits so memorable.

John

We have been visiting Fat Olives for 22 years. In all of this time, Lawrence has never failed to deliver innovative, seasonal menus and Julia’s attention to her guests is always welcoming, yet discreet. This delightful restaurant is perfect for any occasion and we cannot recommend it highly enough.

Fat Olives Restaurant: exceptionally good with its exquisite food, amazing wine list and perfect front of house hospitality that I want to keep it a closely guarded secret.

Fat Olives is one of the friendliest restaurants we know, it has a wonderful warm welcoming atmosphere and a seasonal, varied, quality and above all toothsome menu. Not to mention a delightful wine list. In the twenty years we have dined at Fat Olives it has always been brilliant, can’t say more!

Fat Olives advertises itself as “friendly food/tasty people” - a perfect description of our favourite restaurant. The relatively small menu means everything is fresh and beautifully presented. The welcome is always warm. Great for special occasions or (as in our case) regular visits.

Over all these years (since the opening day in 2000) we have never had anything less than a warm welcome and delicious meals (which incidentally look beautiful too). To serve such great food with such consistency over such a long period of time takes real dedication and care. We love our meals out at Fat Olives and even after 22 years still look forward to each one. We now count Lawrence and Julia as friends and have introduced many of our own friends and family to the pleasure of dinner at Fat Olives.

Named after the Spanish queen olives served with aperitifs, Fat Olives was opened by husband and wife Lawrence & Julia Murphy. They run a no nonsense, unpretentious establishment almost entirely by themselves. The cooking of Lawrence shines brightly over modest surroundings, created from a 17th – century fisherman’s cottage, while Julia runs the front of house with warm and calm confidence.

Egon Ronay Top 200

This sweet 17C fisherman’s cottage sits in a characterful coastal town, in a road leading down to the harbour. It’s run by a charming couple and has a rustic modern feel, courtesy of locally crafted tables and upholstered chairs. Classic British dishes have a modern edge and rely on small local suppliers.

Michelin Guide 2022

"A local gem!” – Lawrence & Julia Murphy have built a very loyal following since they opened their converted seventeenth-century fisherman’s cottage close to the quay in January 2000, providing top-quality locally sourced dishes and attentive service. It’s the sort of place people return to “for birthdays and anniversaries”, and for the “very good value lunch menu.

Hardens 2022
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