Opa! Grill & Taproom — Restaurant in Garfield Township

Visited Saturday, 2/15/14 and was very disappointed. Had bought 4 Up North Live coupons because our 1st visit months earlier was great. Only 2 tables when we walked in at 6:30pm but had to sit at a dirty table as many were dirty. Dining room was approx ½ full when we left. No house music so we could hear other diners and kitchen conversations, no video, asked waiter Brandon or Brent? if he could turn on digital slideshow on tables and he said it was broke, we asked to move to a new table as my daughter loves looking at the images, and that one was broke also, as well as dirty. We watched people coming in and no one greeted them so they would stand around wondering if they should seat themselves. Why not have a seat your self sign? Or better yet a hostess to warmly welcome guests as they arrive who could cross train as a busser/food runner as needed especially on a Saturday night and Valentines weekend?

We decided to order a couple of things to share so a gyro and Shrimp Supreme it was. Brandon returned, menus in hand, to inform us that the Shrimp Supreme should be removed from the menu because they never have it. So we ordered Moussaka instead. A few minutes later our waiter returned again embarrassed to ask us make yet another choice because the Moussaka was still in the freezer and no one thawed any. At this point I informed him that this was unforgivable and has the manager heard of a prep list? We struggled to make a choice that we both wanted and ordered a Spinach Pita.

Gyro dry, meat was not sliced to order but seemed to be in a holding well and dished from there. Spinach pita would not order ever again. Not gonna waste any more of my time explaining. Oh, almost forgot, we returned our iced teas because they were watered down.

We overheard a table behind us order the Phyllo Wrapped Coconut Shrimp and I noticed Brandon turn his back to our table and quietly inform the couple that Opa was out of that item and could they please select another item. Gee, I wonder why Brandon works here? He was a great server with enthusiasm and very attentive but his services could be appreciated elsewhere that knows how to run a restaurant. He did tell us as we were leaving that he informed the GM who had just called to see how things were going, about the missing items. My thoughts, why is the GM not here on a Saturday night to see for himself?

I don't see Opa lasting very long. If you want a great gyro that comes with a fresh and tasty side salad, go to the U & I on Front Street. It's delicious! Now we are stuck with 3 more coupons to use up. I should have known better. Not a good celebration dinner for my 9th grader on a great band...

Finally this place was open when we were in town. The atmosphere was so nice I did not think to ask details about the salmon when ordering a large Greek salad. I did ask the waiter if he recommended salmon or gyro meat and he said he really likes the salmon. The salad came out and the presentation was amazing. The vegetables were very fresh and beautiful and piled high. There was a lot of feta cheese. However the salmon tasted fishy and it made me then question its origin. I asked him if it was farm-raised and he went and asked, then told me it is "Atlantic salmon", which is the name of the fish and tells me nothing. Or it tells me that my suspicions are likely true. It reminded me of Aldi's "Atlantic salmon" (farm raised junk), and I found a little white froth left in the folds of the fish. The dressing on the Greek salad tastes like mayonnaise with some sugar, very unappetizing. It felt like very "Americanized" Greek food. We ordered two appetizers, saganaki and artichoke dip. They were okay but nothing amazing. The Greek cheese on fire is hard to screw up, however the pita bread was bland and not super amazing like we would be accustomed to at a specialty Greek restaurant. The artichoke dip lacked any taste of artichoke whatsoever. My boyfriend ordered a Swiss and onion gyro and said it was just okay. We would prefer any other Greek restaurant to this one any day. And when the waiter was alerted to the salmon tasting fishy his repy was, "it is not my fault". I would never recommend this place to anyone, unless they are looking for esthetics, bells and whistles. This place was lacking substance, authenticity, basic customer service skills and high quality, authentic delicious...

I almost gave it a full 5 stars! Seriously I almost feel bad not giving them that final star.

The restaurant is clean, the staff is super duper friendly, nice, and accommodating. I know this may sound silly to compliment, but their Pop is good too! A lot of restaurants don't take good care of their fountain machine, so when you order a Pop, it comes out tasting syrupy and watered down, NOT the case here. Tastes delicious, and like they just opened up a fresh can of Pop for you.

Now like most Michiganders, of course we compare Coney's from across the state. I grew up in Detroit, so even though the menus are similar, there are differences. I won't talk about the Coney Dogs, everyone's already covered that. I ordered a Chicken Tender Wrap. Now, what happened was MY FAULT, if I read the Menu correctly I would have noticed that they are open Pitas. I didn't see that, and was surprised when I got it, it wasn't all wrapped up. No biggie! I made to wrap it up myself, but it was SUPER hard to do, lol. Got really messy and broke apart! (Only reason I took a star off, and I still feel bad about it) That being said, it still tasted fantastic, honest to God, if not for the thing falling apart in my hands I would give a solid 5 stars because it tasted phenomenal.

I got a side Greek salad which was honestly, THE BEST GREEK SALAD I have ever had at a Coney Restaurant. Chickpeas, Cucumber, Onion, Banana Pepper, Cranberry, Feta Cheese crumbles, and delicious thick and creamy Greek Dressing. Hands down a absolute freaking delicious salad...