Opal Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Mount Pleasant

I’ve been here 3x so far. The first 2x, amazing service and amazing food. This most recent time, we came for happy hour at 5. Our hostess was very sweet and sat us at the dining room. A server came to our table, didn’t introduce herself or say hello, and started filling waters. I found this a little strange, she said not a single word. I assumed maybe she’s shy. I asked about the happy hour menu, and she informs me and my guests that Opal only does happy hour at the bar. This is our mistake as we didn’t know this, so we ask to move to the bar and we do. We take our menus and water because we’ve already used them, but I here the server whisper to another employee in a very negative tone “they’re taking their things” as if it’s wrong for us to take the menus and water. Seriously?

At the bar, the bartender asks us in a snappy tone, “where did you come from where you had waters and menus already?” I wish this tone could’ve been interpreted as a joke, but it wasn’t. We tell her we came from the dining room because we’d like to order from the happy hour menu. I even asked my friends if I’m crazy for thinking the service is off tonight, but they agree that everyone’s tone has been rude.

I ask the bartender about what oysters do they have tonight. She tells me 2 names, no description of each. I then have to ask if she can describe the oysters, is one brinier/sweetener, bigger/smaller, etc. She tells me “X oyster is brinier and tends to be bigger, but from what I just saw they seem to be running smaller than I expected.” I then say, “oh so do you think the other oyster type is better?”

She snaps at me, full on very harsh as if I had insulted her, “I didn’t say one is better at all just that one is brinier.”

Look Opal. I love your food and everything was delicious as always. But if staff is rude, makes customers feel like they can’t ask questions, this is not a place I want to bring friends. I raved about this place, and I was EMBARRASSED to have brought them. And they asked me if service is usually like this, and I said no. Service is typically great. We were so disappointed by the service that we got fewer entrees than normal so we could go somewhere else after and...

Our visit started on a sour note. It got better, but we expected better based on recommendations from friends. The sour was the hostess. We arrived 15 mins early and checked in. When reserving we’d requested a booth because my father is hard of hearing and booths help him be able to engage in conversation. We were verbally told it wouldn’t be a problem. When arriving the hostess told us our table wasn’t ready, but should be on time. We said we’d go for a short walk and return and she said no problem. When we returned on time our booth had cleared, but another party had been sat in the booth. When I asked why we weren’t given the booth the same hostess now said they save them for parties five and larger. She completely denied she’d told me differently. Mistakes happen, but rather than admit it she chose to lie. In addition a couple parties of three were given booths during the course of our meal. We accepted a table and the service was very good. Three out of four of us really enjoyed our dinners. We had salads, two pasta entrees, a chicken entree and a steak. The person having the steak didn’t care for the searing which they said tasted burned, but once cut away it was good. We also sent back a shrimp bisque that was delivered cold. Portion size were reasonable. Wine was good. It’s not an inexpensive place, but the value was...

Great food and friendly and helpful staff. One of the better restaurants I’ve been too in the last year. Would recommend.

EDIT:

I’ve been dining at this restaurant with my wife for years. The food and service has always been fantastic. Tonight, we came out with a party of 5 plus a toddler. We sat for a 6:30 reservation. Our waiter, who seemed like a fine waiter, was overburdened by waiting too many tables and came to take our order 45 minutes after we sat. After waiting another 45 minutes for our food to come, my wife and toddler left to go home and go to bed, with the food seemingly never coming. After they left, I ran into our waiter, who told me that it was normal for a restaurant of this type to take so long. I explained to him that I had been coming here for years and never had run into this issue prior. I spoke to the manager, Paul, who told me that there was a glitch in the ordering software and their system had “doubled all of the tickets”. we revived our bill with no comps. Needless to say, it will be a while before we come back, if ever. Very disappointed tonight in this restaurant and...