Opa! Gyros & Kabob — Restaurant in Duluth

Wow! I've eaten a lot of incredible Greek food from NYC to LA and have never been so blown away! At 57, I've never felt compelled to write a food review until now (as far as I can recall!)

I just finished lunch at Opa! on Peachtree Industrial Blvd. in Duluth, GA and I'm now experiencing a bit of a food coma brought on from my inability to stop eating long enough to pack a take home box.

I had the Lamb Gyro Plate for $11.49 that I could have stretched into 2 meals with the generous portions they serve.

To start, they brought out a beautiful lunch sized Greek salad topped with feta and lined with tomatoes, cucumbers, pitted olives (thank you!), green peppers, onions?, yellow porcini peppers?, and sprinkled with homemade authentic Greek dressing.

Now, I love Greek dressing so they brought me more. It's the type of dressing with lots of balsamic vinegar fumes so you can actually cough if you inhale it. I guess that's why they only sprinkle it on. Not me, I drowned it and tossed it so the dressing was dripping off my fork! And yes, I was coughing on those pungent fumes... loved it!

Along with the salad came the fluffiest, tastiest, most amazingest pita bread I've ever had!!! You may ask, "dude gets excited over pita bread?" YES! And they didn't skimp on the pita. I think there were 8 nice sized wedges that I used to soak up the dressing with. (Waste not, want not! As Mom would say.)

Half way thru my salad, out came my gyro plate with tons of bite size strips of lamb carvings. Some had the blackened crispy edges and tips that added to the texture and taste like you wouldn't believe. The lamb had incredible flavor, was moist and tender and was by far the best gyro meat I've ever salivated over! Seriously, until that moment I thought gyro meat was all the same... ground up byproducts of various unknown origins, sliced off a verticle spit. I was wrong.

Along side the meat was this Greek rice topped with roasted vegetables- tomatoes, onions, zucchini, mushrooms, green peppers, and Lord knows what else. I would have been impressed and satisfied if that was all I had for lunch! Call me crazy but I looove roasted tomatoes, especially on rice. This rice was special too. It was thin and firm, not mushy and had a wonderful aroma. They also grated something light yellow over the top of the rice, saffron maybe? Who knows, I'm not a foodie, but it was awesome!

No, I didn't forget, I was saving my big praise for the end. So what could they possibly serve with this meal that tops everything I've drowled over so far? It's something you can't spell unless you're Greek or have a great spell check app. It's the Tszacki (sp?) sauce!!! (I'm not Greek and my app is't helping me.) Their homemade recipe was fabulous! It complimented the lamb flavor without hiding it, and was great for dipping the pita bread. The flavor was the perfect accent to the meal. You could say that it's Opa!'s monumental achievement as far as Greek condiments are concerned!

I will be going back soon and often to Opa! to check out their other dishes like the Spanicopita (sp?) Damn my spell...

This feels very much like a family-owned restaurant. Parents are probably cooking and the adult "kids" are probably the ones serving. Doesn't matter ~ the food is wonderful, and the service is outstandingly friendly. We ordered....

APPETIZERS Dolmatos (stuff grape leaves) -- These came already covered in a sweet pomegranate sauce. I would have preferred something more tart (like vinaigrette), but they were still tasty.

Tzatziki and Pita -- The tzatkiki was fresh and light. Big punch of dill in the mouth which we loved.

Avgolemono soup -- My favorite chicken soup ever! Lots of lemon and dill flavor with rice and small chunks of chicken.

Greek salad -- A better take on an old favorite. Came with pita, and the dressing wasn't too bitter (which is always my biggest complaint with dressing on Greek salads). They actually use pitted Agrosparta olives which is a must-have in great Greek salads.

ENTREE Shish Kabob platter with a saffron long-grain rice and veggies -- I requested the beef cooked medium rare, and WOW...it was delicious. In fact, I can't remember when I've had such a tender cut of meat. It cut easily with their table knife, and it was very juicy. They used a long-grain basmati rice sprinkle slightly with what appeared to be saffron. The flavor of the white basmati came out on its own even without the dash of saffron.

Eggplant sandwich -- My "almost vegetarian" daughter described the flavor as being "pretty good". My wife and I found it odd that it had lettuce on it. I guess I was expecting something more "Italian" and saucy. Not so. On a high note, my daughter said it was nice to try something different. She liked it.

Veggie wrap -- My wife, the actual vegetarian, really enjoyed her meal. Vegetarians usual end up eating the same regional foods over and over again, and it can get boring. She described her wrap as "really good". The seasonings seemed to wake her mouth up, and she ate every bit of it in one sitting (which is rare).

DESSERT We had the sampler with two small pistachio baklava, one large walnut baklava, and the most decadent chocolate mouse cake we have ever tasted. Everything was superb. I have to single-out the cake, though. I could really taste the coco power with every bit (though not overpowering) which just added an appeal to the cake that I wasn't expecting. Many such cakes are too sweet and rich. This one was just right ~ and we...

I am the general manager of a restaurant and am solely responsible for customer experience. I can be hard on my staff when they aren’t doing their best, and enforce consequences when needed. I have my bad days but I’d like to think for the most part I have the job in mind in ALL of it’s respects. But, the day I purposely and unnecessarily put one of my servers in the line of fire with an angry customer whom they have no power to help in the end, is the day I will quit the industry I have loved for 15 yrs. We ordered takeout, and had a bit of trouble with confirming what we wanted and the server seemed confused but did his best. When we ended up being charged almost $90(+tip) for food we didn’t order and an incorrect item we did order. I called and started explaining, the manager immediately began interrupting me, told me we ordered what we ordered, interrupted immediately again as I tried to explain the mixup, and told me to “talk to the server” who answered the phone most likely terrified and feeling bad if he had made a mistake. APPALLED does not begin to cover it. I apologized to this poor person for their manager being so extremely inappropriate and refusing to do THEIR job, and told them my friend would be back soon to speak with whoever in charge. Mistakes happen. Mixups happen. You listen to your customer. You figure out what happened. You make it right and you move on. I demanded nothing but was frustrated at SO much extra ($25) money spent, and expected a concerned, customer service oriented person to resolve the situation and that would be that. Truly cannot say I have ever been more upset by seeing something wild in THIS industry, and cannot believe that they have 5 stars if that is the person in charge of...