Opa Restaurant — Restaurant in Providence

I would rate it below zero if I could. Pretty much, the food was decent and the belly dancer was great. I had a good time until the end of the night when we received our bill. We were about to add on our tip (which was way over 20%), when my husband and I noticed that 20% gratuity had already been added to our bill because it was circled with an arrow pointing to the word "tip." I thought this was odd so I asked our waitress about it. She seemed apologetic and explained that it was customary and that if we were in Lebanon that is how it would be. We explained that we were planning on tipping more, but we were slightly offended that the tip was included in our bill as if they expected us not to tip. She apologized again. I told her she did not need to if that is how they normally do things and that I asked because I did not want to jump to conclusions. At one point in this conversation, she asked if it was our first time there, and we told her we had never been there previously. She then stated that she thought she had served my husband and me there before and I again informed her that we had not been there before. So at this point, we thought the tip thing was settled and we decided to give her the original tip that was over the included 20% gratuity. However, she then kept explaining and stated that her manager adds on the gratuity after a certain hour, which was different than what she previously stated. Nonetheless, we were still planning on tipping her over the 20%. She then kept saying, "oh, you really don't have to" and I assumed that she was just being gracious. However, she then stated, "Please keep your money for your wedding because you may want to get married some day." I informed her that we were already married. Then she stated, "oh you look so young!" I told her that I am 35 and she mentioned her age, which I did not hear because of the music. For the record, I don't look that young. Additionally, my husband had a shirt on that states "3 Reasons I love being a dad..." and lists the names of our children that she and the other waitress noticed and commented on when we first entered. I also had on my wedding and engagement rings on my finger and my husband had his wedding band on as well. Nonetheless, we are black, so she and her manager assumed we did not have enough money to tip or get married, even though we have three kids. Needless to say, we decided not to add anything to her tip after her comments because, for me, that proved that we were correctly offended initially. We will not be back to Opa again and if you are black or look black, I would say...

We went there after being told that they have a good program and it ended up not on a Saturday, ( that was first disappointment). If you are from a Mediterranean country and you know what the taste should be, nearly all that we ate was not good!!! The hummus was not good, and the quantity they used is so low, hardly a spoon full for something that nearly costs nothing and I think they charge 7 or 9 dollars for that plate..

The fattoush salad was also bad too... the mixed grill same... presentation sooo bad too. I can say none tasted good. Even the garlic paste was sooo light as if it had no garlic !! The only thing that was maybe ok was the small amount of rice they had under the mixed grill even though my friend didn't like it.

If you never tasted good Lebanese food, you might think that is great but if you know how things should taste, that is not even considered mid range.

The place was full but I think it was mostly for the argheeleh cause if I am considering the food, I won't eat there again.

I don't want to appear negative but I was amazed to see that they have good reviews and I assume it is not for the food but more for the atmosphere and the argheeleh option.

Update: based on the reply from OPA. Your reply proves that you will never improve. I assume most of the people who like your food has never tasted the real mezza and so. And the people from the middle east are mostly there for the argheeleh nothing more.

My dear... I am more Mediterranean than you will ever think of... and I know how this food should taste and yours is not even close. Really take my advise and improve your so called recipes especially for the hummus :)) you really need to visit Lebanon for example and taste what hummus should taste like. Concentrate on the argheeleh cause that seems to be your best asset !!

As for management wise: a good manager takes a negative review and sees why the customer felt so, does not attack customers. You would have simply said that sorry we were not up to your expectations, hope we do better next time versus what you said. Another advice is a management course that would teach you to respect your customers wether they liked your...

Mediocre was my experience here, I wanted it to be better and the menu certainly does a good job of convincing you you're going to get great Mediterranean food however the reality is anything but. Don't get me wrong the food is not bad at all, you get a good portion that is well cooked and flavorful but there are things missing or missed. Some of the dishes seem to be missing staples that you would expect, like hummus or tzatziki as a part of certain plates. Others seemed to have the average fare on the side, nothing inspired and nothing you couldn't find anywhere else, I didn't feel necessarily ripped off but more disappointed. We did try the cheese galleon and it was more of a dingy or raft to be honest. It was not served fondue style at all as the menu touted, no fondue pot was present whatsoever, instead it came in a very stylish plain white dish..how chic! It did have bread served with it and oddly triscuits which is different, I would expect pita or something else as it's supposed to be a Mediterranean place but mediocrity reigns I suppose. The service was slow and required us to ask for everything, like water refills or reminding them about the check. The ambiance was akin to eating in a cave, it was so dark that it was hard to see and I watched the waiter use the light from his phone to set a place at another table. All in all not horrible but not what other reviews lead me to believe, as I said...