OMG. This is one of those rare places where I eat every single piece of food on the plate. We came here on a Saturday night for a bachelorette party before hitting up the bars/clubs on State Street.
After making a reservation, we were warned that this was a family establishment and the planners of our group assured them we would be well behaved (in fact, we ran into two other bachelorette parties dining there before hitting the town!).
Service: Upon arrival, we had to wait a few minutes for them to get our table ready. Throughout our dining experience, our waiter was attentive, ensuring we had everything we needed and that we were enjoying our food. Even upon our departure, the waiters throughout the restaurant thanked us for our patronage.
Wine: They had a very large wine list and even suggestions for which wines to pair with their various entrees! We had a wine guru (seriously, her job is all about wines) with us, so we let her choose a red and white for our table of 10. Unfortunately, her first choices for the both a red and white were unavailable! Her second choices were lovely anyways.
Food: Almost everyone ordered something different, but we all came to a common consensus -- everything was delicious! I ordered the Lemongrass Crusted Salmon with Thai Curry sauce. The salmon was cooked perfectly, the curry sauce was delicious, and the basmati rice did an excellent job of soaking up all those left over juices! I don't think you can go wrong with anything on the menu. Just from what I cam remember: some ladies got the steak, one got the Vegetable Napoleon, one got the salmon special, one got a pasta dish, and another got a spinach salad with bacon wrapped prawns! A "Like Water for Chocolate" dessert was ordered for our bride-to-be and was presented on a plate saying, "Happy Bachelorette Meghan!" It seemed to be a white chocolate mousse of sorts (?) coated in a hard dark chocolate shell, accented by a raspberry sauce. Tasty, and not overly sweet!
Venue: This is a lovely restaurant with two rooms. They seated us in a nice half booth area. We had to squeeze a bit, but we were comfy. The lighting is dim and romantic (Oo la la!). Definitely a great date night or special occasion restaurant! Also -- clean bathrooms!
Cost: Our bill was quite large for a table for 10, including wine and dessert. However, entree prices are reasonable considering this is an excellent white tablecloth restaurant with wonderful service and delicious food.
If I were ever in the area with an excuse to splurge on an amazing meal, I'd definitely come back!
Thanks again for making the night wonderful for our group and the lovely bride-to-be!
I love Opal. Brought my mum and sister here for dinner tonight, because I was so impressed the first time I went. Paul, our waiter, was very helpful, funny, and sweet. And you can't beat the price for the amazing food. I definitely recommend the lemongrass-crusted salmon and the grilled chicken scallopini (incredible). Lovely ambiance, great service, definitely my new favorite SB restaurant. I will be back!
Review Source:Opal is one of my favorite fine dining restaurants in town. Â We go here for almost every special occasion; I have came back 4 years in a row for my birthday each year with a few visits in between.
The menu is very diverse and they even offer a different daily menu. Â I usually try something new every time I go and I have never been let down. Â The menu is moderately priced, it is not cheap, but you get what you pay for, excellent quality.
On top of the great food the waiters are always friendly and on top of things.
Opal is great... One of the most consistant dining establishments in Santa Barbara! The steak is always perfect and branching out today into the stuffed goat cheese chicken breast was an excellent move. Â Richard has done a great job keeping a focused staff and Joey is an awesome server. Â Thanks for being a GO TO spot for over 10 years! Â Would live to see a locals only discount and more interesting wines by the glass.
Review Source:My boyfriend and I had dinner here with some friends while visiting the area. Since we weren't super hungry, we shared a pizza and I ordered the beet salad, which I think was one of the daily specials. The beet salad was tasty; it had roasted golden beets and a vinaigrette, but the pizza was disappointing. We ordered the tiger prawns with roasted red peppers, spinach, and grated pecorino and parmigiano reggiano cheeses. The sauce was supposed to be a pesto. The pizza was small for $14 bucks but I wouldn't have minded if it had been delicious. Unfortunately, it wasn't. There was no sauce I could discern and it was completely bland. The prawns were small and dry and coated with clumps of hardened cheese. The free bread was good but to be honest, it's rare for me to dislike bread. I will say that the restaurant appeared to have an extensive wine list but can't opine on the quality of the selections as I didn't try any. My boyfriend ordered a cocktail and said it was ok. I also thought it was ok but I'm not the best judge as I'm not big on cocktails. Â
Overall the experience was "eh" and since Santa Barbara seems to have so many other great choices, I wouldn't go back.
I wanted to update my review but either it's been filtered or cut. But the VALUE at this sentimental favorite and SB standby demanded a new review. As my friend Michelle Q says, Opal remains one of the "top 5 favorites in SB" for many longtime residents. In fact, I brought an LA friend (2 yrs in LA, lifetime in Boston or neighboring suburbs) and she was so impressed, she talks about it to this day and said if she moved here, she could come whenever she wanted.
But I haven't eaten dinner at Opal in a couple years. I've been in for lunch twice for the chipotle cream pasta with chicken and a post-Granada bowl of soup and wine in the past year. Â That dish at 14.95, like all the signature dishes whose prices have remained at 2008-09 levels when I started eating here regularly, is a deal and a half.
The pasta is perfect and you have enough for lunch the next day. It's a splurge meal for me as this is not a low-fat dish with all that yummy cream but once in a while I let myself have a big bowl of carbs covered in cream. (Lobster mac and cheese at Blush--hold the pancetta please--is another of my carb and cheese splurge meals in town.) Â
The tiger shrimp pesto pizza for 14.95 is great to split with a salad or soup for each person and you really can get out of here reasonably. The wines by the glass are always good and if you're watching the bill, you can just bring your own and pay the 15 or 20 corkage. That's still cheaper than having a glass of wine each (the lower end options) and certainly cheaper than having two glasses of wine even at 9 or 10 rather than 12 or 13.
The warm seafood salad is popular for good reason: it's a lot of seafood for the money and makes for a light, healthy summer meal over the ample, fresh spinach.
My friend had the duck with whiskey/blackberry compote (or maybe coulis) with lots of fresh steamed broccoli and said it was excellent. I have had it twice.
The mojitos are terrific and I had one last night. For the first time in years, I had the Thai salmon with julienned vegetables over basmati spiced rice and it was exquisite. 22.95 for a great fish entree in SB at DINNER?
The sweet (honey?) multigrain bread with fluffy sweet butter is among the best in town and I always ask them to hold the white rosemary bread which is not nearly as good.
I love Opal and after not eating out for 7 years during my illness (ME not eat out?), this was my first regular restaurant with my then best friend.
Turnover is low both for managers and servers and Christina is still there all these years later.
In all my years eating at Opal, the only not good meal was a special encrusted halibut. Too much crust, not enough flavor. Not a good dish but it was a special and I haven't seen it again, so maybe others gave the friendly great people negative feedback. It was 28 too so that was a bummer.
Also if you're a fan of Christmas (whether gentile or a Christmas Tree Jew like me), you MUST stop by once at least in December. Opal's Christmas decorations are among the best in town. Honorable mention to the Christmas decorations at Jane, which has improved a lot. It's far busier and trendier than Opal now (the crowd is younger at Jane and I walk by quite a bit and see it packed almost every time) and I think it's much better than it was. (I had a few quite mediocre meals at Jane early on but then two very good ones and the menu is innovative.)
I feel like 3 stars may be a little generous.... We were seated after 9 for an 8:30pm reservation -- not the restaurant's fault, I suppose, and they made up for it with a delicious prawn appetizer on the house. I was struck by how LOUD it was! Ordered a butter lettuce/blue cheese salad, duck confit egg roll and two entrees. Salad was a little on the small side but fine, and egg roll was good but unremarkable and served with a salad that was a bit over-dressed. Entrees were a pork shank dish and a chicken-pasta dish. Dinner came just after 10 pm - we were *starving.* They were out of pork shank so served loin instead (and notified us beforehand). The pork was well cooked and served with barbecue sauce, fresh veggies, and a cheesy potato croquette. All together this was a good dish, but not outstanding. The pasta dish was... just odd. It was pasta with chicken and chipotle cream sauce, but the flavor of chipotle was absent and it tasted sweet sweet SWEET... in fact, a lot like the BBQ sauce on the pork dish. Sent it back -- the staff were SO kind about it and offered to make something else instead, etc. but at that point it was so late that I sort of gave up. Another odd note - large, LOUD bachelorette party seated next to us - brought their own penis straws and hats - just tacky and crude and sort of wrecked the atmosphere. I really, really wanted to love this place and although the staff were absolutely outstanding, our overall experience was not so great.
Review Source:This is a nice place located on the nicer end of State St. The clientele is definitely older. The service is attentive. The food is just average. They were nice enough to substitute sea bass for salmon in ne of the nightly specials. The steak was cooked well. They decorated a plate and wrote happy birthday in chocolate. All nice touched but nothing to return for.
Review Source:I went here for my first official date with the lady-friend and the experience was fantastic. As soon as we walked through the door, we were cheerily greeted, but we didn't have a reservation.
In a heartbeat, he told us not to worry and checked the reservations list for any cancellations. We were seated almost immediately and brought us fresh bread and butter to our table.
I ordered the salmon and my girlfriend had their duck, both of which were EXCEPTIONAL. Absolutely delicious. The service was attentive and quick, and the vibe of the restaurant was very welcoming and light-hearted. Needless to say, we shall be back for more, Opal. Excellent.
Came here exclusively for their creme brulee. IM a huge fan of the dessert, so when I saw they had a vanilla bean creme brulee, I didnt care, but I had to taste it. So we arrived at the restaurant about 10pm on a Sunday night and ordered the dessert. I was average size. I spooned my first piece and to my surprise the custard was brown. I tasted it and to me, it sort of tasted like chocolate mousse. Im not a chocolate fan so the creme brulee was just okay. My husband liked it. Would I order it again? Probably not. If you are a chocolate custard fan, then this is your creme brulee.
Review Source:My fiance (now Wife after this weekend) booked a reservation here for 15 people, for the occasion of our Lunch Reception after our wonderful courthouse ceremony performed by Sarah of Montecito Weddings. They were courteous to give us the back/private room to house our guests. What's even more awesome of them? We had 4 wedding/reception crashers on "business" and with our permission allowed them to join our group of 15 in the backroom to make the reception merrier!
Kudos, Opal Restaurant for such amazon hospitality! The food was great! There was plenty to pick from and tasty lunch specials. I had a chance to try their baked bread and butter, their crab cakes and I had myself a prime rib french dip sandwich. Oh so juice and fatty! YUM! I didn't need to dine fancy, I'm a simple man.. and the sandwich did me justice, haha!
Being our wedding day, they gave us (bride and groom only) a complimentary bottle of champagne, and were able to cut/plate a cake that we brought in. You guys are ROCK STARS!
We were in town driving up and down PCH and wanted to check in and see Santa Barbara. Â Based on Yelp Reviews we chose Opal and were taken by its charm. Â
I had the sauteed chicken on penne pasta with chipotle cream. Â The pasta was done perfectly and the sauce was delicious. Â
My boyfriend had the honey glazed roasted duck with chambord blackberry compote. Â
They didn't have any room for us as we were walk ins on memorial day weekend but we had a pretty pleasant experience eating at the bar. Â If we are ever in Santa Barbara again we will be sure to visit Opal again!
I'm honestly really disappointed with my experience at Opal. After reading all these great reviews I thought this would be the perfect place to spend my anniversary dinner with my husband, as we were staying the night in Santa Barbara.
I had made reservations (actually spoke to them twice, once to book and a second to confirm the reservation) Also let them know it was our anniversary so they said if we choose to order a dessert they would decorate the plate differently which was nice.
We showed up a few minutes early, gave them our name, they asked if it would be under a different name, told them no and thankfully I remembered the name of the guy I spoke with -but they definitely didn't have our reservation. They recovered quickly and sat as very fast.
Service- Well this is hard, because in the beginning it was great, our server was very attentive with our drink order and food/app order. But once she took our order for these 3 things good luck finding her again! We finished our cocktails and appetizer salad (which a different person delivered both to us), we sat for a while drink-less, wanting to order a bottle of wine. We finally ordered one through another passing server since ours was MIA. A different server delivered both our bottle of wine, as well as a our entree order.
Food- Both my husband and I ordered Filet his was the Cajan (Medium) and mine was the Herb crusted (well done). My steak came out rare, his was perfect- my husband and I were going to trade because we didn't want to bother tracking our server down, but it was even to rare for him. We couldn't find our girl so we went to the hostess stand and had to ask the gentlemen there if he could get it cooked longer. Once my steak had been gone for about 5 mins lone behold or server appeared to ask how everything was, having no clue mine was sent back. Once we both ate our steaks they were really good.
We ordered two desserts because we couldn't decide what to get, but since our reservation was misplaced sure enough they forgot it was our anniversary so our dessert didn't have anything special written on it, which wasn't that big of a deal... just the topper to the evening.
It's hard for me to only leave 2 stars, but that's honestly due to the service. I would give the food 4 stars though.. Maybe sitting in the bar is a better way to go if you want to try this place. I honestly wouldn't return though.
Good food, fun atmosphere, great bar selection-a wide selection of different whiskeys, rums, vodkas, and tequilas. We tried the prosciutto pizza, which was tasty, the risotto, which was pretty good-just kinda fancy rice-and the duck-while I'm not a fan of duck, my friend said it was excellent. For dessert we tried the jack daniels creme brûlée-but it was average-I'd recommend trying something else on the dessert menu.
Review Source:It's not said as not only a restaurant, also bar!!! Full bar facility and also their selection of wine and beers are too good.
Anyway their food is high quality, but inexpensive. I think compared to price it must be improved. I went there for tasting of wine!!! Really very top notch service and hope to stay here soon with me.....
Incredibly disappointed! After hearing about how good Opal was I was shocked at how poor the service quality and cleanliness of the restaurant was. After sitting down to our table I noticed that my appetizer plate was DIRTY, caked with dried food from the last use. I asked the waitress for another plate. Luckily this was clean. To add insult to injury, they replaced the second plate with yet again another DIRTY with again with another caked on mess.
To make matters even worse, I had order a shrimp pasta dish and when the waitress delivered my meal it was the chicken pasta dish. Simple mistake and it wouldn't have been a big deal if the waitress did not proceed to tell me " That is not what the order says. You ordered the chicken pasta.".....Ugh....SERIOUSLY. A simple replacement of the dish would have cleared the problem up right away but I was taken aback by her boldness to suggest that I messed up the order...
Needless to say I will never be going back to Opal and as a Santa Barbara resident, I will never recommend this place again to any friends, family, or out of town guests. I am embarrassed that I even suggested Opal for my friend's rehearsal dinner.
Make the SMART choice and visit Bouchon, Jane, Carlito's, or Petros, all which are within a one block radius of Opal.
This is absolutely our favorite restaurant. We only get to eat here when we're passing through Santa Barbara, but we stop here everytime. The service is great and the food is high quality, but inexpensive.
We love the Chipotle cream and the tiger prawn pesto pasta or pizza. We stopped for our honeymoon and they brought out a tiramisu to die for.
Every time we visit Santa Barbara, we stop at Opal and it has yet to disappoint. Â Opal is located on State Street, a little way from the Main Drag. Â My Dad always orders the lemon grass crusted salmon filet with a thai curry sauce (comes with julienne vegetables and a carmelized apple and orange zest basmati rice). Â I usually opt for the herb grilled filet mignon (with whipped truffle butter yukon potatoes, broccoli, green beans, and a port wine-marsala and wild mushroom cream sauce). Â I would recommend either dish!
Last time we were there, my mom left her sunglasses behind and after calling the restaurant, they found them and mailed them to us in San Diego...now that's some great service! Â Thank you Opal! Â
Only downside I can think of is that they have a $20 corkage fee, so it's better to order directly from their wine list than bring your own, and during prime times/weekends, I would recommend making a reservation.
+1 - Above and beyond service
+1 - Perfectly cooked (medium) filet mignon
+1 - Save room for dessert
+1 - Fresh ingredients
+1 - Love fresh bread and butter served prior to dinner
I was really excited to eat here because of the reviews and the great looking menu. Â My fiancee and I got there early to have a drink at the bar and we saw some good looking stuffed olives so we each ordered a dirty martini for $11. When we asked for extra olives, the bartender told us they were 50c each. Â WOW... that pissed us off. Â If the martini is $11 and the menu prices are at a certain level, how dare you charge by the olive for extra garnish. Â I don't blame the bartender, poor guy has to tell customers there's a charge for an olive... but man... that's not cool. Â I told the host we were going to cancel our reservation and I explained why and he went on about how the olives are hand stuffed, blah blah blah, but in the end, I just explained that it rubbed us the wrong way. Â Sorry. Â The martinis were good and so were the 50c olives but the vibe was bad.
Review Source:Opal can do no wrong in my eyes!!! I remember the beautiful sunny lunch time that I stumbled upon it while shopping on State years ago, ahhh :) I have been a loyal visitor ever since and always will be!
I haven't tasted one thing here that I didn't think was phenomenal, but my highlights are:
-The table bread! One is perfectly sweet and the other is perfectly herb-y, I have begged them many times for their in-house recipe with no luck of scoring it :P
-Pulled pork sandwich. Lovely sauce and bun...and you can't beat the fat avocado slices thrown in the mix. So big you have to eat it with a knife and fork!
-FILET. MINON. PIZZA.
-All of their pasta dishes! It is my belief that they make the pasta in-house? The basil linguini with tiger prawns is to DIEEE for! And the risotto is great too!
I've also had their pricier steak and seafood dishes, but honestly, you do not need to spend a lot to have a great meal here. I've come here on lunch dates, romantic dinner dates, ladies' nights, casual catch-ups...the ambiance is perfect for every occasion and literally everyone I've brought here has loved it. I may just be smitten, but that doesn't bother me one bit :)
Opals is one of the BEST restaurants in Town. Their Cobb Salad Tops any Cobb salad that I had ever tried. A wonderful place for a business lunch. Or romantic dinner. Also, they have a great space available for larger dinner partys and events. Its even a great place to just grab a drink before your evening plans downtown. The bar is spacious, and the bartender Sarah makes incredible mixed drinks .
The owners Richard and Tina are incredible as well. If you are a regular they go the extra mile and always stop for a word.
Try Opals!
I went last night and had a great time! Food was good, server was nice and informative (shout out to Ocean!), and I really liked the atmosphere.
I'd say the food was priced how I expected but the wine list didn't have many comparable choices. Like, if I remember correctly there was only 1 bottle of syrah + shiraz in the $30-range. I understand that restaurants make more (if not all) money off their alcohol but it was still surprising and a little annoying.
The only not so great parts was that it was loud and the walking areas were narrow. People had to step to the side to let other people pass. BUT I think the walking areas were narrow partly to allow for more space between the tables. I did not have to worry about asking my friend to scoot in so I could get out or worry about bumping into the people behind me at the other table. So, I guess if that's the trade-off I'm alright with stepping to the side to let a server pass by me.
I got the honey-glazed duck. Not as sweet as I expected but still yummy. Friends got  salmon (loved it! a good-sized piece too), chicken stuffed with mushroom (didn't get to try, friend mentioned could have had more mushroom), and shrimp linguini (noodles were good but was unexpectedly soupy).
I went here for lunch with a friend and had a very pleasant experience. Â Most of the seating is inside where there's a darker ambiance with decor that reminds you a bit of the 1920's, nothing overboard, but a nice throw-back classy feel. Â On a bright and sunny day though, it would have been nice to have some of that light come into the restaurant. Â
The waitress helped narrow down the choices from their large selection of items and we ended up getting the hot seafood salad (shrimp, mussels, scallops pan seared in simple olive oil and some spices laid upon a bed of greens) and the tri-tip wrap. Â Granted it was two girls and we mostly talked throughout lunch and munched on bread as well, but between us two we only finished the salad and had a bite each of the wrap. Â The food was tasty and flavorful - their seafood was fresh - and their portion sizes were decent. Â We each took half the wrap home and it was a delicious snack for my husband! Â
It was a tasty lunch with a good environment for chit-chatting at a reasonable price. Â I'd come back here for lunch again.
Opal is yet another cute restaurant on the foodie-friendly State St. in Downtown Santa Barbara.
We made reservations a day ahead at 5:45, since every other time slot between then and 8:30 was full. Early but, hey, it wasn't too bad of an option.
To be brief, the four of us decided to split the phyllo wrapped tiger prawns appetizer and each of us respectively ordered the paella, the flat iron steak, the bacon wrapped chicken and the duck confit pizza (which I ordered).
Service was speedy. We got the prawns very soon and the main courses arrived soon after we finished off the appetizer which was quite tasty.
However, this was where I was let down.
Sure, the pizza was good after a couple of bites. And sure, the duck confit was good -- moist and savory. However, whoever prepared my pizza PILED on that bleu cheese and my goodness I was just eating to feel full by the end of that meal. If there was not so much cheese, this might have been a more pleasant pizza. But there was. And that made me a bit sad.
Perhaps I ordered the wrong thing. The person who ordered the paella at our table was very satisfied and so were the others. Sigh. I would stick with Jane if you're looking to go eat some place in Downtown Santa Barbara.
This is the first time I've ever ate out in Downtown Santa Barbara and it was fantastic. I called Saturday around noon to make a reservation. The person who answered the phone was very friendly and nice. We had an early dinner at 6:00 and we were promptly sat at a small quiet table. The restaurant is a dimly lit place with cute Christmas lights (I think they were just there for the holidays perhaps?).
When we arrived, the restaurant was quite empty. But by the time we left, all the tables were sat. Anyways, I had myself a Flirtini (vodka, pineapple juice, peach schnaps, and champagne) which was $10. It was okay.. not as good as I thought it would be. It was a bit sweet for me. My boyfriend had a bottled beer. They have a HUGE wine selection too by the way.They served us bread, which by the way, the wheat bread was soooo good that we asked for seconds. The server was very friendly and gave us more.
For appetizer, we had the Black Peppered Ahi Tuna dish with wasabi dressing ($12). It came out so quickly, literally less than 5 min. And It was quite tasty. It had pickled vegetables and was served with something like wonton chips. The Ahi Tuna was fresh and seared very well.
For dinner, I had the Mushroom stuffed Chicken Breast with Herb Risotto ($16). It was so GOOD. The orange sauce it came with was just delicious and the risotto was so creamy. My boyfriend had the Lemon Crusted Salmon ($23) and he absolutely loved it. I also had a bite and it was very good. The sauce was a coconut curry sauce and the salmon was cooked very nicely. We ate every last bite of our appetizer and meal (something that never quite happens especially when we had drinks too).
The server was nice and friendly and polite. Our bill came out to be $75 and we had such a quick dinner. We were in and out of there in an hour (probably because we were one of the first guests there for dinner). But it was actually really nice because we were able to walk off our food coma up and down State St and do some shopping!
I would definitely come here again.!
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