Oliver’s Twist in Glassboro NJ is an awesome new “upscale cafeteria and eclectic food experience” restaurant concept where each day chef Staci Azzinaro creates two different sets of main entrees… two choices prepared traditionally and then two choices which are vegan.
Each day they also offer a consistent menu of amazing “Soul Twist” side dishes.
You could buy the side dishes individually but the more common pattern is to buy the entrée combo platter which includes your choice of entrée and three of her delicious sides.
Oliver’s Twist restaurant is right in the heart of Glassboro’s Delsea Dr. commercial district, in a freestanding building which sits in front of the ALDI and Goodwill shopping center. (You must enter the restaurant parking lot directly from Delsea Drive)
Inside, the space is an all-new buildout, offering an attractive and relaxing dining experience.
Not only is Staci’s food delicious, but her personality is as big and pleasant as her cooking!
She absolutely wants to make sure you are getting the best food and service possible and if you are dining in it’s likely she’ll check in on you to make sure everything is perfect!
Oliver’s Twist – A Twist on Cooking and Concepts
Oliver’s Twist opened in November in a free-standing building on Delsea Drive (Rt 47) located between TD Bank and the Mattress Warehouse properties (entrance directly on Delsea Rd)
The building is split left/right with Oliver’s twist on the left half, and an Allstate Insurance office on the right.
Inside, the Oliver’s Twist customer space is a single open room where Staci and her team have added beautiful and relaxing décor to create an awesome vibe to dine in.
All along the back wall is the ordering and serving area where all of the entrees and sides are on display behind glass serving stations.
The food is amazing and prepared fresh all day long. The ordering process is one where you approach the glass serving area and tell the staff which entrée and sides you would want with your combo meal.
A big “twist” for Oliver’s Twist is there are two distinct food serving areas… one for vegan one and one for non-vegan. Signage overhead clearly identifies the two order/serving areas.
Chef Staci says that separation continues into the kitchen area where equipment and preparation spaces are kept separate. She has two of everything in the kitchen and serving area!
As mentioned, she chooses 2 menu items each day for vegan and another 2 for the non vegan menu.
Many times it’s the same two items just prepared in the two distinct styles! Other days it seems she will vary the theme of the entries between the vegan and non-vegan.
The entrée menu is new every day, and a link off of their website lets you know about today’s menu choices.
Absolutely there is a “Soul Twist” to the menu choices, but I think Staci is looking to surprise people and will come up with a variety of unique, interesting, and delicious things to try every day.
It is an interesting concept for the restaurant business, and also very smart!
I think for customers it creates a sense of “oh she has short ribs today? Oh I better get over there and try them because they won’t be on the menu tomorrow!”
Plus the focused entrée menu allows Staci and the team to focus on making each day’s menu choices the absolute best they can be.
Or you can do what I did and just show up… knowing that you’re going to find something delicous that you’ll love!
For my lunchtime visit, my entrée was Sticky Chicken which lived up to its name of being very sticky, and also very delicious.
I haven’t really said much about the sides yet but they are as much the star of the show as the ever changing “lead actor” entrée items are!
I chose very traditional soul food sides with macaroni and cheese, smoked kale and collards, and candied sweet potatoes.
Even when eating inside the restaurant, food is served in packaged containers. With an entrée plus three sides really packed into the container… well it’s a lot of food and had a hefty weight to it!
Honestly everything really was delicious, and when I left, my entire plate was empty… and my stomach was full.
While I may switch up my side choices for my next visit just to try everything, I know I’ll be sticking with the Smoked Kale and Collards!
I seemed like everything had a secret extra ingredient that almost gives it an addictive quality where I just wanted to keep eating more and more of it!
Well I guess that secret ingredient is good cooking!
Staci says that while she rotates the entrée choices each day, the “Soul Twist” sides remain the same. She told me, “My customers would kill me if I changed the sides each day!”
And it seems I’m not the only one who has realized how delicious Oliver’s Twist is, because in my midweek lunch visit there were probably 30 people in the restaurant sitting down eating, ordering, or waiting for pickup.
And to be clear about the streamlined menu and ordering… while you can order sides individually, it seems most are ordering the full combo.
Staci does not differentiate between lunch or dinner platters so it’s the same menu, same price and portion size for lunch or dinner.
For my Sticky Chicken entrée and three sides I paid around $22.00.
Oliver’s Twist also offers a variety of desserts including pies cheesecakes and cakes.
During my visit I did not try dessert, but I see on the website they are offering sweet potato pie, butter pound cake, begin sweet potato pie, and four other cakes.
Oliver’s Twist also offers their own line of “Twisted Juices”.
And just as a further example of her changing menu I think the other entrée for the day when I visited was short ribs. Today’s non-vegan menu is offering a Turkey Wing or Honey Jerk Lamb Chops. In the vegan category it is Smothered Vegan Drumsticks or Vegan Bourbon Meatballs.
I really enjoyed my meal and the brief time I had to chat with Stacy (they were very busy at the time). I left completely full!
Oliver’s twist is open Wednesday through Saturday (close Sunday through Tuesday)
Wednesday to Friday the hours are 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM and on Saturday they opened from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
The Courier-Post also covered the restaurant, writing a press-release based summary as part of a “6 new restaurants” (subscription may be required)
Links and Location
Oliver’s Twist
710 Delsea Drive North
Glassboro, New Jersey 08028
Oliver’s Twist Instagram
Hotchefazzinaro Facebook
