Opal Bar & Restaurant

Bummed it closed!!!

An above average player when it comes to a nice place to watch ball games on large flat screen panels with an airy interior. The surprise comes in the form of a reasonable decibel level despite the location and young crowd that frequents this venue. Drink options are plentiful with top-​shelf offerings as well as beers on tap, but the personal attraction to Opal would be the friendly bartenders who are extremely easy on the eyes.

Came here for happy hour and I have to say it’s awesome! This is one of those stumble-​upon gems that’s in the Turtle Bay neighborhood. Happy hour specials were great! Drinks were good and inexpensive. The atmosphere was chill and perfect to start off the weekend. We were just staying in the front and when I went to the restroom, I realize that there was another whole room for dancing! Now, if I were to have spent my whole evening there, it would have been fun to make my way over there… Although it did start to feel like a huge frat party near the end, I would still go back to Opal no doubt. Check this place out if you are ever in the neighborhood!

Half-​price bottles of wine on Wednesday. It’s a no-​brainer.
Come in, grab a table, and get over hump day at Opal.

I stopped in for brunch this past weekend. and we did the $ 20 mimosa and entrée special.
My issues with the meal were:
— 1 Waitress and 1 Bartender for the entire restaurant. No way could they keep up on drink orders because they were so severely understaffed.
— Mimosas served in small glasses, maybe a couple sips. I paid for aycd and i’d like to be able to. Small drinks and understaffed is not a good combo.
— The food was really bad. Nothing anyone ordered looked good and I was still hungry afterward. All the eggs were overcooked and small portions. My expectations were managed because of price but still, there are better brunch deals all over the city.
It’s a poorly managed restaurant with staff that are trying.

This is with reference to weekday afternoons.
The establishment is a standard sports bar. It has a decent selection of beers and midrange liqueurs but is not a place for craft beers, wines, or specialty cocktails (go to other places along 2^nd for those needs). There is usually only one employee working the bar in the afternoon.
The bartenders are always nice to all their customers. The customers that come in on weekday afternoons are okay-​never too many people. Expect business people from out of town to hit on the poor bartenders and talk loudly to the population around them.
The food is fine-​normal pub food. But they do have brunch food all the time-​nice change.

Great boozy brunch here. Wasn’t crazy busy, around when we went at 2, but did fill up after.
Had a great egg’s florentine at the bar, and my friend had the breakfast burrito with bacon, and the other had eggs benedict. There were no empty plates. $ 20’s for mimosas and food for about 2 hours. Our server Paul took very good care of us and never let our drinks get empty. You bet we stumbled out of there!

A slight disappointment. Checking out my Scoutmob mobile app reveals that today, New Year’s Eve is the last discount usage day for Opal. Since I was in the MIdtown area, enjoying the festivity of Rockefeller Center, I decided to trek several avenues down despite the bitter wintry weather. Besides, I did enjoy my meal the last time. Not hotel quality, but decent bar grubs.
This time around, the food was still decent. My mixed green salad was fresh and well cleansed, though the avocado was left out and only returned with measly 5 thin slices when asked. The huevos rancheros’s requested poached eggs were sadly over cooked, lacking the runny, sunny yolks and the tortilla was too fried and hard. A big bowl of split pea soup was in order on such a cold day. Unfortunately, it was very thin, not the chunky, hearty potion that is often called for to cure a cold or an itchy throat. Service was manageable. A single waitress and a runner and everything went well until I found out the disappearance of the Scoutmob code on my phone. Now, I saw it this morning and it just went away two hours later. The waitress couldn’t do much as she needed the code to provide the discount, so I was understanding and just paid the full check. I called the manager later (since no manager was present then) and explained the situation to her. Instead of offering any sort of compensation (my discount would’ve been $ 20 and yes, that’s a lot of money for me) like a free appetizer on next visit or what not, she just brushed me off and justified that she had asked for Scoutmob to take them off a month ago, so it’s not her fault that the deal was still on. So she suggested that I speak with the higher power instead. Of course, I will reflect this problem to Scoutmob, but I was just disappointed at how the management handled this. I wouldn’t have dine there if it wasn’t for Scoutmob (like most deal users anyway, right?) and there was no gesture of hospitality at all. The food prices are not even that affordable ($ 13 brunch dish with no drinks included), so I doubt I would ever return again, despite the refreshing salad I had. What a way to end the year…

It’s a good area bar. I stopped in for dinner and a drink as I am in NYC often with work and wanted to go for more of a dive this time around.
The place is a good spot to watch a game and the bar staff is awesome and definitely takes care of you. I had a goose island IPA and the bar tender mention to me it was 2 for 1 night on beer. Then, I picked the fish tacos and it turned out those were 2 for 1 as well — therefore my order of tacos was 4. 4 tacos is more than one guy needs, but they were awesome and I ate all four — thank goodness my hotel has a gym.
Definitely recommend the place for the best dive bar in East Midtown.

I really want to love this place for the brunch special alone: order a menu item and get unlimited Bloodies or mimosas for 2 hours. $ 25. But the food was just OK and the Bloodies were served in rocks glasses with no garnish. The sidewalk seating is a plus, especially since the traffic isn’t terribly loud. The service was great, too, but the décor is blah and I’m not convinced it’s the cleanest place on the block. I think they need to step it up a bit.

I remember coming here years ago with friends when the DJ was playing at night and it was fine, but probably more fun b/​c of the people I was with rather than the venue itself. Since then, I’ve returned a couple of times to watch Sunday games. Again, just a typical sports bar so didn’t have much to complain about. Recently ate brunch here though, and would never come back for this. I should have figured it wouldn’t be the best meal when we saw a man at a neighboring table tell the waitress to cancel their order b/​c their child was crying from hunger after having waited 20 minutes with still no grilled cheese sandwich in sight. Yeah, it took our food a long time to arrive too and when it did arrive, we received some measly portions that totally weren’t worth the price and not too tasty either.

I blame the waiters, they got me wasted!
I had two vodka drinks and a few beers, and the rest of the night is a fog.
The front of the bar was packed during happy hour, but I didn’t realize there was a back room… this back room was bumping tunes… maybe a bit too loud, but it would be cool if other people wanted to dance.
The patio seating area was really nice, and you can hear yourself think. Opal was a good happy hour joint, that made for a nice thirsty Thursday evening.
PLUS they put ice on the side of your pitcher! GENIUS

A standard, but VERY well priced happy hour in midtown east. Everything 5−7pm on the bar menu is half priced. I got two glasses of sauvignon blanc (and not bad glasses at that!) for only $ 8 total. (Note wine bottles are not counted in the half price happy hour) The tuna tartar was also extremely well-​presented and delicious! highly recommended.
The annoying bit is that I bought a Unilocal deal, 10 $ for 20 $, and they failed to tell me until the very end when we asked for the check that happy hour can’t count for this deal, so I ended up not even being able to use it. Ah well, guess I’ll just have to come back for more drinks another time!
This place didn’t blow me away in a good or bad way, just seemed very standard. I would come back again simply because the happy hour is great, and they give generous pours. Oh and free drink with Unilocal check-​in!

This place doesn’t get as packed as the other bars around the area and I like that. The bartenders are friendly and I haven’t had an issue with service. Cheapy drinks, I would come here to pre game before going to the party bars.
Also, I stepped a foot into the back room and saw some weird individuals, got scared and left lol.

What a fantastic bar! My wife and I went here for lunch with a livingsocial deal and I have to say I was quite impressed. The waiter/​bartender was polite and attentive to our needs, and the burgers were cooked to perfection.
Overall I rate it ⁵⁄₅ because of the quiet, unobtrusive atmosphere absent of the noise of sports games or overly loud music. The music is quite pleasant, a blend of contemporary music and classic rock.
They also sport a full bar and a very well rounded beer selection.

The staff here is great, all very polite, accomodating and just wonderful.
The management is even nicer; well organized and good handle on their establishment. I have seen managers get behind the bar to help out their staff during busy moments… and clearing tables and all.
They have a great brunch deal. The food is OKAY; it’s bar food and great for the price that you pay. Drinks are always great. Great selection and the bartenders are always willing to stir up something fun for you in the event you want to try something new.
The location is to be desired; next door to Turtle Bay it can get rather young in the area but it sure does keep up the lively nature of going out… so that’s a PLUS.
The venue has been around for a while, I have been going for about 10 years or so and it’s always been a great place. I recommend it for a night out.

Update: Opal is great for happy hour drinks but has quickly become my favorite weekend brunch spot. Brunch is from 12−6pm on Saturday & Sunday and for $ 20-​$ 30 their brunch entrees include unlimited mimosas, sangria, or bloody marys.
*The crab cakes are awesome!

I celebrated my 29^th birthday this year and I am a little upset with this place. They give themselves too much credit for acting like they are upscale with not allowing certain people in because of the way they are dressed. The music was good and it kept us all dancing but something just felt like it was missing. I found the food to be very tasty. If your looking for a place to plan your birthday don’t do it here because the plan they offered no one really decided to do the open bar because $ 30 for 2hrs seems a little pricey for my taste. I could understand $ 10 per hour per open bar that would have made sense and it’s not even top shelf stuff and shots are not included. The first impression is its a regular bar but the back area is where all the bumping and grinding happens.
:BATHROOM ALERT: For all you drunk people this bathroom is a real treat to get to when you are trying to look for it. First of all it’s downstairs and you will fall if your not careful. For some damn reason a bathroom attendant is down there and expects tips. I’m not sure why its just a regular bathroom with 4 to 5 stalls and it looks pretty crappy to me. The toliet paper seemed to always run out in every stall that I went to and at times the bathroom attendant wasn’t even in the bathroom. Again, this place gives themself too much credit.
BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR BELONGINGS. A friend of mine got her iPhone stolen from one of the waitstaff when we weren’t looking. I’m not sure how much their drinks are because as the birthday girl I didn’t pay anything. I do remember the drinks being somewhat watered down and that doesn’t make for a good drinking night when some people purchased the open bar, so I am glad some people didn’t purchase. The only down side is you don’t get a wristband if more then 10 people don’t buy. The party planner for this place said that the birthday person gets a free band after 10 people buy. BUT I’m glad people didn’t choose this option because they were watered down.
Some of the people here were a little sketchy, we found at times that some creepers were trying to make friends with our group. Granted non of us are mean we were nice but never again. The plus side is that there were a bunch of girls from a strip club there trying to give our boys tickets to go check their place out. It did make for an interesting night I give them that.
LAST TIP CALL BEFORE YOU GO THERE IS A DRESS CODE!

I think I would have had a better time in this place if I were with my friends. It’s not really a great place for a couple looking to just eat out and talk (unless you’re both drunk, which, in that case, it would probably be a fun night).
The bouncer was very nice to us. The music, however, was obnoxiously loud which forced us to yell out our conversations, the people there were all too dressed up (a bit too pretentiously in my opinion) and gave off the air that they thought they were extremely cool, which has always been a pet peeve of mine.
We sat ourselves down at a small bar area, wasn’t offered coat check, and it was only later that we were told (after asking) whether or not we could be seated at a proper table to eat (they all confusingly had «reserved» signs on them).
The redeeming factor was the food. It was delicious! The coconut fried shrimp with salad was scrumptious, the calamari was crispy/​tender, and the chicken bacon panini (with added jalapenos and pickles) was delightfully flavorful. It also came with a salad topped with dressing which I thought balanced out the meal well. I enjoyed the food so much that I would be more than eager to come back just to get more. But like I said, they definitely emphasize the «bar» aspect more than the restaurant one.
The molten chocolate cake, though small, was decadent (could have been sweeter, I still prefer Max Brenner’s).
In terms of price, it was a bit expensive ($ 12 for just an appetizer, $ 12 for drinks after happy hour was over).
As the other reviews said, there’s a place at back for dancing. It looks like an awesome place to be at when you’re with a group of people looking to get hammered. But if you want to have a conversation over dinner, this definitely isn’t the place to do it.

We came back here for lunch after being graciously offered a gift certificate from T.J., one of the managers (after our last visit). This time around, we stuck to the «small plates,» ordering a set of three for $ 29 (individually, their small plates are $ 12 each). The lump crab cake and quesadilla (with chorizo sausage) were tasty and beautifully presented, but portion size was a tad small, especially for the price if ordered individually. We ordered the hummus platter, bus were expecting a sampling of babaganoush and eggplant along with the pita wedges, instead, there was a generous helping of hummus and some greek salad. It was our fault for not asking, it was described accurately on the menu.
Unlike our last visit, service was excellent (as expected… I figured the last time/​review was the exception to the rule). There are plenty of TVs tuned to the games, and there were a handful of regulars engaged in conversation with the bartender and other staff. Windows were opened up for a nice airy feel, although the place is a tad bit dark inside. Overall, three stars for the experience and another for terrific management that followed through on a customer complaint (regardless of how «trivial» some may have interpreted it). Thanks for a tasty lunch!