Opal: The Kitchen Made Its Case. The Service Lost the Jury

We arrived at Opal at 6:40, five minutes early for our reservation. The hard wooden chairs made an immediate impression, and unfortunately we had plenty of time to consider them.

Our drinks were fairly standard, although nonalcoholic beer was available. My unsweet tea tasted stale. After taking the drink order, our server left us waiting about fifteen minutes before telling us the specials or offering to take a food order. Bread service for three was one piece of bread presented on a plate scattered with crumbs and draped in messy black napkins. It looked less like bread service than evidence someone had already finished it.

Then we waited for appetizers. The beef crudo took about twenty minutes after we placed our order, and the charcuterie board followed roughly five minutes later. By itself, a twenty-minute wait for an appetizer might not have defined the evening. Coming after the delay in ordering, with no attention from our server in between, it felt like the beginning of a pattern.

The crudo was good and came in a generous portion. The beef was cut appropriately, and the lemon aioli was solid. It needed more capers for a sharper bite and much more toast than the two small slices on an expansive plate.

We had ordered all sixteen charcuterie and cheese selections, and the meats and cheeses were of excellent quality. It was an abundant board, although once again there was too little bread to go with it.

There were also walnuts among the board’s accompaniments. I have a walnut allergy, which was listed on our reservation. No one asked about allergies at the table, and the menu description gave no indication that the board would contain nuts of any kind. I spotted the walnuts before eating from the board. I told our server because I wanted her to check the rest of my order. She argued with me and ultimately responded, “Well, if it’s that serious, you should have told me.”

Motion to Disqualify, Your Honor. I rarely ask for a manager and have never requested a different server before, but I did both. The manager apologized profusely and took over our table herself. She was lovely and did her best to save our experience. By then, however, our server’s inattention and defensive response had put me off what should have been a lovely family dinner. I was no longer enjoying dinner. I was waiting to see what else would go wrong.

Our mains arrived at 8:05, 85 minutes after we were seated, and my tea finally received its first refill with them. My filet, ordered medium, was well under that temperature to the point where I would not eat it. I did not want to start another round of waiting, so I traded with my son-in-law, Desmond. He said the steak had a good sear and decent flavor, and he enjoyed the creamy potatoes and green beans that went with it.

I got the better end of the trade. His tilefish had a gorgeous sear all over and was moist and flaky inside. The fish was impeccably fresh and properly seasoned. The lemon-tarragon beurre blanc was well-balanced and delicious. However, the Carolina Gold rice pilau with corn was even better. I shared with my son-in-law but only because he had been so gracious about the necessary trade. Otherwise, I would have eaten the whole plate myself and been extremely happy.

Noel’s pork chop was a little more done than she preferred, but it was still tasty enough that she ate the whole thing. She really liked the apple-citrus pan sauce on top. She said the cavatelli was good, but the Brussels sprouts were excellent to the point where she did not share them even with her husband.

The restaurant was busy but never packed for most of our meal. By about 8:20 it was essentially empty. The manager offered a complimentary dessert, which we did not want, and nothing was removed from the bill.

The kitchen did some genuinely good work. The tilefish and pilau were terrific, the charcuterie was high quality, and several sides were excellent. But dinner is more than the food that eventually reaches the table. From the long wait to order, through the delayed appetizers and mains, to the immature and inappropriate response when I raised a serious allergy concern, the evening was frustrating. The manager was gracious and did her best to recover it. Our original server had already made that a very difficult assignment.

This restaurant group is well respected and I can usually count on them to deliver both quality food and service. At over $100.00 per person for dinner with few drinks and no dessert, service should be far, far better. The kitchen made its case. The service earned a finding of contempt.