L'Opera

Great place for business or pleasure...

by williamwick24 at Citysearch

I have been there a couple times with clients and it was a very good place to conduct business because the servers are professional and not intrusive. Also, I took my wife there over the weekend and it was very romantic. This restaurant is becomming a habit.

• Pros: Excellant food, great service and delightful martinis.
• Cons: Parking can be difficult at night...

new fantastic menu, same charming ambiance

by del3990 at Citysearch

Last time I dined at L'opera was a few months ago and I thought it was superb. I came back just last week for a quick lunch and I found new, interesting items on the Summer Menu that I didn't expect.

Lower prices, more varieties for Steak lovers (like the Bistecca al Gorgonzola, yummy and tasty) & three different Veal Scaloppine for the joy of palate.

I even found special pre-set menus (Recession lunch & dinner) to cheer us up in this bad financial period..I'm always positively surprised when a high end restaurant like L'Opera bothers to make sure customers will find pleasure every time with its creative cuisine and even offers discounts (like the half off valet at lunch).

I'll come back for my new favorite soup (the ceci with rock shrimp) and the exceptional desserts.

Thanks L'opera.

• Pros: always tempted by meat entrees & desserts
• Cons: don't have any

Bad experience with L'Opera at Long Beach

by volro at Citysearch

This is my first review. I was compelled to write my own review because, by relying of other people glowing reviews I got myself into an expensive flop, instead of the special dinner I was planning for.

1. OPERA : The name of the restaurant and description on the website implies that you should prepare yourself (at least on Sat night) to an dining with opera singer. In relaity the premis is a joke. The only occasional oper singing you will hear is a short performance to each individual table at the time of your arrival. I really didn't like it .. as I think it cheapens the opera, makes a guest to be unconfortabel and it is very occasional and becomes non existent once new guests stop arriving.

2. FOOD

Inspite of glowing reviews, it was a disappointment. My dish was stergent. Overcooked and had slight fishy taste (first sign of less than fresh ingredient. ) In my opinion, overcooking fish is the worst crime shef can commit against the dish. However, side dish, wild rice with grapes was delicious.

My wife didn't get so lucky, her veal dish was totally tasteless veal no salt no marinate, just creamy souce that couldn't quite fix the problem. Her vegetable sides were either overcooked or undercooked.

The dish was practically untouched. It seems like nobody bothered to find out why .. to bad

Ambiance and Decor

Ambiance and decor was very good.

Service

Very Good

It is very unlikely I will be back

• Pros: Ambiance, Decor ,Service
• Cons:  Food no good, Opera .. don't bother .. maybe Micellis

Good Food, Bad Server

by Angelica678 at Citysearch

My boyfriend and I went here to celebrate our anniversary. We loved the decor inside the restaurant and the opera singer. However, our waiter was terrible! He did not seem like he had a real interest in us and he tried to charge us for a bottle of water we never ordered. The wine list is great. For our appetizer, we had the calamari, which I would not recommend because it tasted very under-seasoned and it had "bait" in it basically as a filler instead of using more calamari. We had a salad with strawberries in it with roasted almonds which was great! For dinner, we choose the pasta selection where you choose three different types of pastas. All three we had were absolutely amazing! When it came down to it, we enjoyed the food, but our server ruined our experience. We noticed several people around us unhappy with their servers and time they waited for their food as well. I would still try it ONLY if I were in the area for the pasta and ambiance alone.

• Pros: Great pasta and ambiance in restaurant
• Cons: service.. waiter was terrible and food took forever to come out

Awful except the waiter

by lakingsfan at Citysearch

This was one of our favorites in the area. Fantastic setup and food was great too. Please note, it WAS great. We tried the place again since we were never disappointed before but now, from the reservationist to busboy to the manager to food to..........just awful. Our poor waiter was frantic.

What happened? We clearly made a reservation but they didn't have our name written anywhere when we arrived. But it didn't matter because the place ws half empty on weekend night! And then, busboy kept clearing our table. I mean, really clearing our table as if we were done and left already - we were still waiting for our main course and he took away our silverware and everything! Food was well below average also. What happened? All I know is, we are NOT going back.

• Pros: Ambience and valet parking
• Cons: everything else