Opa

This place gets five stars just for its treatment of octopus. The octopus dish I had as part of the New Years Eve fixed price menu was perfect. It was beyond perfect. It was outrageously flavorful and cooked exactly as it should be. The rest of my meal was fantastic (pork shank, especially), but I will be making a special trip to Philly just to try that octopus again. Well done, Chef!

I went to Opa for Restaurant Week, January 2016. It was my first time dining here– while I had heard of it for as long as I’ve lived in Philly, I always kind of seemed to forget it existed. Since my mom is a very picky eater and only eats Greek Food, Italian, and dried meat (read: hamburgers well done), Opa was really one of the only options for Restaurant Week that I knew she would enjoy. And it was delicious.
First, we had reservations for 7pm, and when we got there, it wasn’t too crowded. It definitely became more crowded as the evening went on, so I definitely suggest reservations if you want to dine. They have a great bar in the center of the restaurant, however, if you just want to go for drinks.
Now, it being Restaurant Week, we got to sample a TON of food. Our waitress told us that they are typically small plates that are meant to be shared, so we went about ordering off the menu with this in mind. To start we got: Dolmades, Tzatziki, Fava Hummus, Chicken Gyro, Lamb Gyro, and the Tirokafteri. The starters also came with pita bread, and this is where my only real complaint lies. If there are THREE people dining, WHY are you going to bring TWO pieces of pita? And then when we ask for more, WHY are you only going to bring ONE?! I’ve never before seen such stinginess around pita bread, but come on… Anyway, the Dolmades, Chicken Gyro, and Tirokafteri were the real winners of the bunch, although everything was delicious. If you like spice, definitely go with the Tirokafteri.
For our main course, we went with: Roasted Potato, Shrimp, Pork Souvlakia, Chicken Souvlakia, Hangar Steak, and Pastitsio. I can honestly say that I was so full from the starters that I didn’t really get to enjoy much of the main course, however, the Hangar Steak and the Pastitsio were phenominal. The shrimp were a tiny bit too fishy for my liking, although the zucchini fritters they came with were great. My mom ended up taking all of the Pork Souvlakia home, because we were all about to burst at the seams.
And finally, for dessert, we got the Baklava and Tsourek Bread Pudding. While I was too full to really eat them, the Baklava was definitely the better of the two. I only wish I had more room to fit it, because this girl has got a sweet tooth and would have definitely enjoyed chowing down on it.
All in all, Opa is a winner for Greek food in Philly. Definitely go for restaurant week– this is one of the restaurants where you absolutely get your monies worth.

Finally got around to tasting the food which gives Opa an additional star. Food is Delicious, the cocktails continue to be delicious and the staff is extremely attentive. Great for a date of grabbing some drinks with friends.

Dan the bartender at Opa was awesome. Super friendly, willing to make random drinks, gave awesome suggestions for both food and drinks, very apologetic when busy for not checking in sooner, he was amazing! And the food was awesome too highly recommend the grilled octopus. I had mostly been here before for just drinks and had a good time but I am so glad I finally tried the food cause it was great. Octopus was my favorite but the Kalamari and Mushroom pastry dish were also delicious. Overall I had an amazing time at Opa and huge shot out to Dan for his amazing service!

The manager at craftsman row sent us over here and we were not disappointed. I suppose this bar and that one are «sister» bars, which is understandable because they’re both great. The staff at both locations are wonderful people. Great locations for any night out. The food is wonderful and at this location there’s a beer garden in the back which is pretty cool! Lots of fun games and out door hangs when it’s warmer. We will be back for sure.

Had a very negative experience at the opa beer garden last night. I went there with a bunch of friends. While ordering at the bar, the bartender kept completely ignoring us. He served atleast 10 people who came in line after us and only asked us for drinks after the entire bar was empty. This was during the early evening and the place was not even busy. Will not be coming here again!

Opa turns into a really interesting night club during the late nights of the weekend. They also have a nice back patio that is enclosed during the winter.

Had a lovely early afternoon lunch here with a friend. A menu comprised of a brunch, lunch, and dinner selections. Tasty garden salads and extremely tasty beverages. Pricing is very reasonable and portions are unlike most Mid-​Town Center City restaurants. The hostesses and bartenders are extremely welcoming and pride themselves on good service and creating a friendly environment. A bartender named Dan can quickly change that frown upside down. His mixology is on point.
(Kiosk out front is a crook! Beware!)

I’m Greek-​American so I appreciate when I see care and delicacy put into the Greek cuisine while living in the states. This is a very trendy restaurant with an awesome twist on certain authentic Greek dishes. I was there last week most recently for brunch and I had their breakfast gyro which was really good. The reason I give this place 3 stars is because I was quite disappointed in the Nutella pancakes. I follow Opa on Instagram and the delicious looking photo of these pancakes was nothing close to what we ate. For $ 10, they were ridiculously small and crispy instead of soft and the drizzled chocolate on top was not Nutella. I told the waitress and I hope Opa does not continue posting any more misleading photos of their food. Other than that, their butternut squash pita pie was awesome and I do look forward to coming back for dinner and giving the new menu another chance!

Stopped in for brunch while out for a morning walk. Right away I thought it was a cute place and perfect for the quiet brunch we were looking for. Immediately, I was surprised by the vibe of the servers, running around frazzled and no hostess to seat us (not a big place and tons of open tables?). After standing waiting to be seated, the bartender asked if we had resvs (it was MAYBE ½ full?) we said no but we’d happily sit at the bar. We were in the mood for a drink and a small brunch and we are not high maintenance. The bartender was serving at least half of the patrons in the spot while squeezing OJ for mimosas and making drinks. The other waitstaff was really invisible except to run by? I didn’t understand, even if they were understaffed they could have easily waited the crowd that was in there at the time? Our food took a long time to come out but we weren’t in a hurry or starving so it wasn’t a big deal and the mimosas were delicious. The tzatziki came out and was perfect. My husbands breakfast sandwich was so delicious it deserves to be famous in the city. It was the most beautiful breakfast sandwich I’ve ever tasted, my burger was excellent too, but this was really incredible! The food was so good when it came out and the bar service was excellent I just wish the kitchen and hostess/​servers were able to keep up the pace. I noticed a lot of people glaring and looking at their phones/​watches. I hope the service deal was just a fluke because that breakfast sandwich alone should have people lining up on weekends.

I’m a regular here. Love the music, love the beer garden, love the food. But door staff needs to treat people right– I give Opa plenty of service and have had many interactions with bouncers. My friends had waited for 1 hour to get in and were at the door when bouncer stopped letting people in, which is fine if its a crowded night, but basic etiquette and customer service would have been preferred. There is a way to respectfully communicate with guests that make them want to come back, and that was not the case tonight. Love ya Opa, but I’m definitely going to think twice about referring people here or giving you all business next time.

This place rules. Chef Bobby is among the best. The food is way more dignified and daring than anything I would ever make at home, but somehow it still has a homey and authentic flavor. Top level stuff, here.
If you go, drink wine, all their wines are lovely.
Also if you go, get dessert. The halva is light and unforgettable… the work of a magician.

I’m disappointed with the menu. We ordered the gyro and it was lack luster, tasted fatty, and came in a pair. It was not good. Sorry, I usually love this place.

Came for dinner recently and had a pretty swell experience. The service was great. Our waiter was really helpful and everything came out pretty quick. The place has a well designed atmosphere with a pretty unique layout. Everything feels very fitting and well done to this place but just a few unsuccessful menu items.
I’d say we ordered wrong and should have gone for more of the traditional greek items. We were curious about some of the more adventurous items they had to add some creative twists to mediterranean but a lot of them fell short. I love what they were trying to do, but they can probably narrow the menu to the real star dishes.
We were very interested to see how they did gyro with crab and got that. It was unfortunately not very favorful at all besides the spicy sauce and didn’t taste fresh. We got a feta spread and added it on top which helped give it some taste. The spread was great. I do think it was an odd garnish choice to put a whole charred green onion on every pita that came out. It presented nicely, but was useless and got in the way. Also should bring more than one pita with a dip (pita was very fresh and delicious though). We tried to the wild boar ragu as well which was very tasty, but the egg noodles it came with were just a solid unflavored hardened block mostly. You can tell they know how to cook red meat so know to go for that more next visit.
We were there during sips so our drinks were probably not as good as they usually are. They were loaded with simple syrup so were too sweet and artificial tasting. We tried some of the sips apps as well which were are very tasty. The fries were surprisingly the best of what we got with a unique great seasoning. the stuffed grape leaves weren’t the best I’ve had, but still satisfying. the chicken skewers had a really well developed sauce, but the chicken was pretty undercooked unfortunately.
I’ve seen their other more traditional plates and love everything else about the place, so thats why they’re still getting a nice handful of stars. I would just order better than we did. I know not to fully judge the place based on going during sips. I will absolutely still be back at a less busy time and attack that fava bean hummus and octopus instead next time.

I like this place! It’s got a cool bar with seating almost all the way around, which I had the opportunity to sit at once for happy hour and it was great! The happy hour deal was decent also. The specialty cocktail on happy hour was a black currant drink with vodka. I was a fan! I think the food is pretty good here also, although I will say that the portions are a little on the smaller side.
I had the spinach croquettes and they are AMAZING. I took the recommendation from other reviewers here on Unilocal and they did NOT disappoint with their suggestions. So I’m passing along the message… get the spinach croquettes. When I ate here, we sat at a table by the windows, which they had opened up (we visited during the summer) and it was a really nice setting. We could watch people walk by on Sansom St and there a was a good breeze that day.
I’ve also been here after the kitchen closes for the bar and it was a great setup. They have a DJ playing a good selection of music and the tables become open seating. Overall, it was a fun place for nighttime!

I came for a light lunch with my mother and aunt. My mom picked the place and I was pleasantly surprised by my experience. I was very surprised that this place is below a 4 rating as I have very high standards for quality and it met my standards. All dishes were fresh, inventive, and presented beautifully. This isn’t your classic Greek menu.
They offer a lunch special for $ 14 where you choose half a sandwich and any two items from the salads or souvlakia/​plates section. I’ll be back.

Went to Friday night happy hour out in the back of the place – haven’t been there for awhile so the covered tented areas were a nice upgrade from the last time I was there. Five of us got there before 6 and snagged a place in the corner of the bar to post up, there weren’t any tables left.
They were out of Brooklyn summer cans (womp womp), but all other beer was in stock and good. Tasted my friends red sangria and was pleasantly surprised. Service was a tad slow but it was busy for the night and they kept tabs on you. Overall a great experience!

I can’t say it’s a coincidence that Opa is right next to Time. Seems like they also caught the sellout vibe, and decide to turn a nice restaurant into a genuine try-​hard when the night crowd rolls in. Overly loud music and «menacing» bouncers. I took a few friends from out of town here and watched our wonderful bouncer for the night get into TWO altercations with some patrons.
It was beautiful 70-​something degree night in late May; c’mon, nobody wants to see that. Oh, and last call apparently only lasts less than two minutes. Almost immediately after our last call, the same bouncer (surprise) decided it was time to kick everyone out.
Opa’s previous reviews definitely warrant another visit to at least try the food, but in the meantime, I can’t ever see going back to enjoy a night out with friends. Ever.

I decided to check out Opa after seeing it on a list of «best places to eat outside in Philly.» We didn’t actually end up eating outside, but that was alright because the ceilings are painted the same color as old Greek houses and I loved it.
The food ranged from okay to fantastic. If I could do it over again, I would skip the melitzanosalta (charred eggplant dip – meh) and get the tirokafteri (feta & pepper dip – so good!). We tried the duck gyro, which was fine but nothing to write home about. The macaronada was good but seemed like it was missing something that could have made it great. But the grilled octopus was delicious – cooked just the right amount, had great flavor and texture.
The service could have been better. Our waiter forgot my friend’s ginger ale, other times they would take our empty beer glasses but wouldn’t ask if we would like another (and yes. yes we would).

We went to Opa last Sunday night and we had a really nice dinner. Opa is just off the 13^th street transformation on Samson. The restaurant is very beautiful inside and does a great take on chic, industrial Greek. On the Sunday night we dined there, the restaurant was not very crowded so the noise level was quiet.
We had Grilled Octopus, Beet Salad-​Batzarosaláta, Shrimp Pasta-​Hilopítes Me Garídes, Gýros-​Gýros Arní and the Whole Fish. The Octopus was very good and came with some vegetables. I think Estia and Barbuzzo do this dish a little better, but it was still quite good and tender. The Beet Salad was very good and large enough to share with 2 people. The Shrimp Pasta was excellent with a very tasty sauce and we also really liked the Lamb Gyro. The meat was tender and it had just the right amount of tzatziki sauce. We ordered the whole fish, which was a grilled Bronzino. This was another excellent dish and the fish was light and moist and had that nice grilled taste. For dessert we had the Baklava with Fig Ice Cream. We were able to share this with 3 people.
The prices are fairly reasonable at Opo. Dishes ranged in the $ 9.00 to $ 14.00 range for the most part. The Bronzino was $ 29.00 but that was market price and typical. We really liked our dinner at Opa and our server Jesse was great and also very attentive. We will be back.