Opah Grille--Gladstone

[Rosie]

Has anyone been to Opah Grille in Gladstone? We heard such wonderful things about this restaurant and finally got there tonight. We were disappointed. The place is lovely with sunshine yellow walls and a deep blue ceiling. The bar has blue glass bricks and a beautiful mural of fish.

Garlic bread was brought to the table with sweet butter when we were seated. Salad comes with dinner. Lowell ordered the chopped salad and I had a spinach salad with bacon. When Lowell tasted his salad he said to me "this tastes funny. It seems to have an iodine taste." I smelled his salad and it smelled like chlorine or bleach to me. Also, the spinach salad was bland with what tasted to me of an oil only dressing. The menu listed the dressing on the spinach salad as being a smoked tomato vinaigrette. We called the waiter over and he took the salads back without a problem. The manager came over and told us that what we tasted/smelled on the chopped salad was a lemon/pepper dressing. The waiter came over and told us that they put the wrong dressing on the salad. Two new salads were brought to us and the chopped salad still tasted/smelled as if it had been washed in a chlorine solution. We sent it back. The spinach salad was a little better but full of oil. Lowell ate it. I couldn't. For entrees Lowell had a panko crusted scrod which was ok but overcooked. We have had better. I had a salmon special that was listed on the menu as being spicy with cilantro ginger sauce and Vietnamese noodles. I did ask that the chef use cilantro sparingly but the sauce was bland and certainly not spicy. The fish was good but not cooked medium rare as I requested. Also, the Vietnamese noodles tasted and looked like egg noodles to me. I was told they were rice noodles.  For dessert we had a key lime pie that we were told was made in-house. It seemed to have too much cornstarch. Lowell's coffee was fine. When we received the bill we were told that dessert and coffee were on the house. Did we hit this restaurant on an off night?

[FoodSnob]

Rosie,

I too went to Opah Grille and was disappointed.  I had dinner there with a friend last Wednesday and was expecting to be thrilled with the food, but I wasn't.  We shared a Tuna Sashimi appetizer that consisted of several slices of so-so raw tuna and slices of spring roll.  We then both had the Ceasar Salad which was swimming in dressing and had too much cheese for my friend's taste.  I had Grilled Tuna, which was probably the best of all our dishes.  However, the salsa with black beans that it was served with and that our server had highly recommended had hardly a black bean and not much taste of anything else. My friend ordered the Laquered Sea Bass.  All I can say is that it is a good thing that we had planned on splitting both main courses because neither of us ate the Sea Bass.  It just didn't taste right.  I don't think the fish was bad, but it may have been under-cooked.

I didn't complain to anyone as I really wasn't very hungry, but I doubt that I will go back.   I might have given them a second chance, but after reading about your experience I think they are having too many off nights.

BTW - I really enjoy this forum, but have been hestitant to add my two cents to everyone else's.

[Rosie]

Food Snob--Welcome to the board and thanks for your comments. Don't hesitate to give us your 2 cents. Everyone is welcome here.

Where else do you like to dine?

[Tom D]

Rosie,  what a bummer.  Sounds like your dinner was average at best.  Our's was also a shot weekend as I caught the flu around Thursday and didn't start to feel better until yesterday.  No dining out this past weekend

Tom

[Helena Robinson]

Has anyone been to Opah Grille in Gladstone? We heard such wonderful things about this restaurant and finally got there tonight. We were disappointed.

...Did we hit this restaurant on an off night?

Hmm...  Now we see two posts expressing disappointment with Opah Grille.

We like to think Rosie and Lowell may have gone on an "off" night, but if someone else expresses similar concerns, one has to wonder.

Two things come to mind:

1.  Although we haven't had any problems with the fish - and Ken once had lamb there, which he said was good - the real problem Ken's had with this place has been the salads.  While I usually order (and enjoy) the one with the blue cheese, Ken hates blue cheese, and the only choice he has left (from among meager choices) is to ask for something plain.  In return he's gotten what amounts to a wedge of iceberg lettuce with dressing that does nothing for it.

2.  Unless I'm mixing up names, the chef seems to have been moving around these days.  Opah is related to Main Streets in Madison, and the group has recently opened another restaurant in Morris Plains (alas, the name has escaped me).  Perhaps someone is being spread too thinly?

[Rosie]

The restaurant in Morris Plains is City Streets Cafe.

[BeaChambers]

Gee, John and I have lunched at Opah,  3 times now. Each time, we thought it was great. The fish was never overcooked. Neither of us ordered salad so I can't comment on that. We both ordered grilled fish, one time, the opah fish (uninteresting), another time, the tuna which was excellent. Win some, lose some?

Bea