Opera

Great restaurant! Can’t wait to see the new concept when they re-​open next month!

Been there many times! Very close to my office! Always friendly service and the Trout with almonds is delish! That jalapeño bread is amazing!!!’ & Also have a great wine list! Great place in Downtown Monrovia

Been here four times now with the wife and the service and food don’t disappoint. We had the shrimp cocktail and calamari. All was fresh and tasted to order. Drinks were great as well. Their Midnight Manhattan an the Rosie O’ Rita are strong and flavorful! I had the Seafood Paella and my wife had the Linguini, Shellfish and Mushroom excellent. Service was great. I suggest going for a late dinner if you have the time.

Wow what happened to this place!!! We used to like coming here and now its a ghost town on a weekend night. We should of known that was a sign but hunger took over. First they were lacking in service… We had to guide the server to do her job… Bring the menu… Do you have a drink menu… Any specials. Can we order? It was us leading her. Then to the most disappointing, the food. I tried to order something that couldn’t be too difficult. Chicken parmesean with pasta. Well it tasted like a jar of ragu on not so fresh pasta. My husband’s meal was even worse. He had a filet mignon asked for med rare. It came out fully cooked, and tasted nothing like a filet, took one bite and couldn’t eat it. We didn’t want to make a big deal so we just asked for a box… Server was kind of surprised we asked for the boxes just a few minutes after getting our food. But never did she ask us… Is there something wrong? So in that being said… No more café opera for us.

I love the flavor of the food! We had the fish tacos… They were moist and delicious. We also ordered the sesame chicken salad and it had great flavor and crunch! Super fresh! I would definitely come back here and bring friends I think you get great quality of food for the money. The service was nice and attentive. I think this is a keeper!

It was my first time at opera café, Every time I passed by the place durig the holidays it caught my attention, it looks beautiful from outside as one walks by, well, it is nice, I understand the owners of The Derby, one of my favorite restaurants, owns it, but I am not sure, one thing I am certain, is that they do not compare at all to the Derby on their menu, prices are good, but you get what you pay for, I ordered the mixed grill, which is a mix of shrimp, sausage, chicken and beef served with a side of risotto and broccoli, the meats are ok, but the risotto was not good at all, they have a delicious lemon cake, I do not recomend their cappuccinos, I ordered one and it was really bitter, I was not very happy with the service, from the beggining the waitress was pushing her choices of salad, even though I was very clear on my order, when I was ready for dessert, she offered once again her two choices, I requested the dessert menu, her answer was, «well I can get it for you, but I don’t see the point we only ha e a few items on the menu» over all, even though its a nice place, I don’t think I have the desire to go back, it wasn’t a terrible experience, but for me, they don’t offer something that keeps me wanting to come back

food was delicious, service good. I might have gone on an off night before, just wanted to update the review. CLOSED

We were a party of 18 arriving quite late (30 mins before closing) on Friday night after a church event. Luckily the restaurant was very accommodating. They set up the tables for us. The unfortunate part was that they only had 1 waitress to take care of our orders. Took some time before we got our orders in. To our surprise, our dishes still came in order, and even though it is already after closing time, we did not feel that we were rushed at all.
Food was great. I had a chicken Marsala and enjoyed the sauce quite a bit. The chicken wasn’t dry like some other places I had visited. Too bad it was late dinner, or else I would have tried their appetizers and desserts. Maybe next time? Our friends enjoyed a lovely time celebrating a surprise birthday late dinner.

Beware of this restaurant if you plan to visit this restaurant for groupon deal.
They refuse our «$ 48 for $ 80 worth of Italian cuisine for dinner for four or more» groupon deal because we didn’t order 4 main meals. I went there with my wife & 2 kids so we didn’t order main meal for kids. When they refuse my groupon, I thought maybe I miss some limitations on groupon fine print. That’s probably my fault. I paid them in cash with fair amount of tips for the waitress serving us that night .
But when I check my groupon today, there is no such main meal only limitation at all. They made up the meal only rule to refuse groupon. I called groupon for refund. Groupon rep specifically said merchant can’t add additional rules and suggest me to follow up my case with their resolve team. But one night is enough for me. We won’t visit a place under such management twice anyway.
Food — average
Service — great
Manager — nothing good to say

My favorite Monrovia restaurant for years! Best server ever, Marnie left, moved to Hawaii, Marta started as busser now most fabulous bartender! How awesome is she?

Had a drink at Bar O while waiting for our table at another place the bartender was super sweet and the Jalapeño Popper she made we was amazing!
A few nights later we decided to try it out for dinner for a special occasion and it was a very different experience!
1 – 10 scale
Service: 3 pretty much non existent just took drink orders and then food. Never came to check in!
Live June Bug in bread basket: –5 a lady came and took the basket then our waitress came over we told her what happened and she said «hold on» and walked away i guess she didn’t believe us so needed to go check, she came back and just said «sorry» and that was it NO manager and NO discount on our expensive check.
Food: 7 A few things were better than others
I probably will not go back to this place but Bar O was great for a drink!
Update!
Upon checking the receipt the day after my aunt noticed they overcharged us for drinks! She called and spoke to a manager about it and also informed them of the June bug incident. The manager was very apologetic and not only fixed the overcharge but took a little extra off which was nice.

I’ve gone here a few times and I love it. The service has always been wonderful and attentive, the servers are helpful and recommend delicious options, and the food is great. They have a nice selection of wines and they have new menu items. The brochette is so yummy with the kalamata olives and the clams appetizer is great when you have some bread to dip into the sauce! I tried the tuna tartare and it was perfect. Very fresh. I would be adventurous and try new items on the menu because I haven’t been disappointed yet.

My first time. FANTASTIC! Went for a mid week lunch with a businesss colleague. GREAT SERVICE. GREAT FOOD!
I had the pasta with chicken in an orange cream sauce. Sounds funky but was absolutely amazing. I would go back and get the exact same thing. I like change but why mess with perfection. Cheese/​jalapeño bread. Superb! Glass of Spanish red wine. Very nice. Would have given it 5 stars had the Crème Brulee been properly prepared. It had not set; it was loose and eggy and the appearence was off putting.
Other than that-​wonderful. SO great, that I had to sign up to Unilocal so I could give a review! Enjoy!

Great service. I came here for lunch and were seated immediately. Our server was attentive and made great recommendations. I ordered the Salmon over salad but substituted the salad for broccoli and potato wedges. $ 15 The salmon was cooked perfectly and had some brown glaze on top it was delicious and a pretty big piece. We also had the complimentary bread which was warm and fresh. I would like to go back and try something different. The place itself was quiet and classy.

Opera is a very nice, intimate restaurant located in Old Town Monrovia. Even though I’ve walked by this place many times, and even walked my dog across the street at the Monrovia Library Park at least a dozen times, I never thought to try this place out. That is until my wife brought me there for dinner with a Living Social deal.
The menu they offer for LS deals is different from their regular daily menu. Unlike DineLA week, where most restaurants offer a very trimmed down menu with carefully picked items to reflect the promo price, Opera’s LS menu was still impressive. From what I can see, they simply omitted the rib eye and filet, probably because these are more costly. Most items consisted of fish, chicken & pasta. There were 4 items for the appetizer and 3 for dessert.
We ordered the shrimp cocktail & calamari for starters. Then, the almond crusted trout and pan fried filet of sole for main course, and a chocolate bread pudding & the lemon cake for dessert. Here’s the breakdown:
Shrimp cocktail: 2 pieces of shrimp. Not camera worthy. All I can think was,” awww… what a cute little plate of shrimp” But the flavor was good. Shrimp was fresh, big and a bit sweet.
Calamri: as someone else posted, looks like fish sticks but had a panco coating, which made it delicious.
Filet of sole: tender, huge piece of sole, pan fried w/​slghtly charred edges and buttery, sweet and very tasty. The flavor is much better than the plating technique.
Trout, not quite as tasty as the sole, still dairly decent. It’s not almond crusted, as it’s actually sprinkled w/​toasted almonds. But with so many other tempting items on the menu, I won’t be ordering this again. Both entrees came with cheesy scalloped potatoes (au gratin?), garlic broccoli & yams.
The chocolate bread pudding was a soothing comfort food. Warm, not too sweet, great! The first bite of the lemon cake shocked my palate with a bit of tartness. Then the sweetness of the cream and white chocolate shavings kicked in. Though the lemon is refreshing, it turned out to be a very rich cake, but ultimately very good.
The décor is intimate and romantic. It’s dark w/​deep red walls, shiny patent leather upholstery for booth seating. A nice wine rack with color coordinated bottles and a contemporary water fountain right above.
The servers were very pleasant and nice. The quality of the food matches the flavor and I actually like the décor with its large windows looking out to Myrtle Street.
When we dined there Sunday night, there were only 5 tables occupied. By our meal’s end, we were the only people left. Most diners were of a certain age (old) Perhaps it’s the dim lighting or the furnishings. Or perhaps it’s the soft background music or the demographics of the area, but it’s missing some energy to bring in the crowds.
They definitely have the potential. I will be back & recommend people to give this place a try. It makes for an ideal low key celebration or date place where you can actually carry a nice conversation w/​o having to shout.
Side notes: *scenes of American Pie was filmed here.
* there’s a street fair on friday nights, good time to walk off your meal.

You must come on a Friday, so afterwards you can enjoy the street fair that starts at 5pm.
They had a special menu for those that bought the LivingSocial deal.
For our champagne, we got «Zinfandel» which was nice and sweet (I can’t handle alcohol much). For appetizers I picked the «Calamari» which looked like fish sticks but tasted great. My boyfriend picked «Bruschetta» which was good too but only two bites worth. For the main course, I got «Chardonnay Chicken» which was really creamy and delicious! The boyfriend picked «Rosemary Chicken» which he liked but it was too strong tasting to me. Both of our dishes came with mashed potatoes, broccoli and yam. I was surprised at the portion of the desserts, I thought they were going to be bite size like our appetizers but it was a nice generous portion. I got «Chocolate Bread Pudding» which was OH GAWD *drool*. The boyfriend picked «Lemon Cake». We got so full from our meal that we took half of our desserts to go.
All that for $ 25 (after the coupon code that LivingSocial was offering).

They say every meal starts with a fantasy. Very true, here. It’s really gorgeous when you first walk in. High ceilings. Art on the walls. Nice lighting, comfortable booths.
The house bread has red pepper in it, was very unusual, delicious.
Our friends were treating us, so we didn’t want to ruin the evening with complaints. However, the caesar salad was overdressed and mostly end pieces of romaine. You know, the end root, not the leaves, not the «heart.» The broth of the cioppino was awful, a thick tomato soup, lacking in seasoning, and the selected white fish terrible tasting. I did eat the shellfish. The waitress never made a comment, or «deduced» that the cioppino was inedible. And often, as she extended her arms, her shirt sleeves came close to touching our food.
DH’s tuna tartare was swimming in soy sauce. Drowning. He ate the top pieces, left the rest. Again, the waitress chose to ignore that. He enjoyed his flat iron steak more. I had a bite, but took forever to cut, too chewy for me.
Our friends got the pork tenderloin and the salmon, ate most of it, so that must have been better.

3.5 Stars — Been here a handful of times for lunch. My friend/​coworker used to know the previous owner and recommended this place. The restaurant is on the east side of Myrtle just south of Lime Avenue in a historic building.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’ve never been impressed with any of their food. It’s good, but not memorable. I’ve tried their pastas, sandwiches, and salads. The interior is kind of cool with high ceilings and large pieces of art on the walls. The service is a little slow, so it usually takes a little over an hour for lunch here.
Reservations are recommended because they do fill up around lunch time (on week days). You can easily make a reservation online through Open Table.
Last month, my company hosted a joint meeting with other companies. People were flying from Sacramento and San Diego to stay in Monrovia. I went around to many of the local restaurants to see which could accommodate a group of 30+. I don’t know why — but at the last minute I thought of Opera.
We talked to the manager of Opera to see if we could host the dinner here. They don’t have any paper menus that we could take and the menu online is not printable! So we had to go back to ask for a copy of the hard menu so we could pick out the items for our dinner.
We had about 30 guests for dinner and everyone seemed to like the atmosphere. (A lot better than going to your typical BJ’s or something). They also have Happy Hour and their modern looking bar area.
Anyway — so for our year end luncheon… guess where we’re having it?! Yes, Opera once again. I’m thinking we should start getting commission or a discount now since we’ve brought in so much business for them.
I’ll see how they do for our year-​end luncheon and may have to update my review.

I’ll admit, the one and only time I’ve ever been to Monrovia was with the single intent to eat at this restaurant. Sure, I love Italian food and Opera’s reviews are good, but the real reason was because of this building’s history. But more on that later…
To my surprise, this little «downtown» area of Monrovia was pretty busy when I came on a Friday for lunch with a coworker. Parking was just as hard to find as if we were in Hollywood. There’s a public parking lot down the street of Opera but it was completely filled! We had to drive around a bit until I found a spot on the street. One amazing detail… NO PARKING METERS!
Opera had a big lunch crowd when we got inside. There was a large group taking up the window’s in front and only a few tables in the middle were open. The lunch menu has classic Italian pasta dishes and plenty of seafood. Everything looked delicious but I finally settled on the good ol’ fish n’ chips.
The fish was cooked to a perfect level of crispiness on the outside and flakiness on the inside. The meat was extremely tender with lots of fresh fish flavor (say that ten times fast). The fries, or «chips», were tasty as well. They were served with ketchup and tarter sauce (for the fish) but it tasted great on the fries as well! I also tried a bite of my coworker’s cajun shrimp spaghetti which was delicious too!
Opera served up a nice, filling lunch to help get me through the rest of the work day. The setting is casual yet classy at the same time for a long and relaxing lunch break. But as I started to say earlier, my true reason for giving it a shot was because of it’s history. This building doubled as the guy’s high school hangout «Dog Years» in the American Pie movies! Who knows, maybe I’ll start visiting this small town they call Monrovia a bit more often.

Came here many times for business meetings and a fancier meal for a company luncheon…
They have good bread– hot and fresh sourdough that’s sometimes (if you’re lucky) filled with jalapenos. Those slices are the bomb.
Otherwise, the food is ok.
Dishes I’ve had:
–Sole Filet with Mustard Butter Sauce: Every single time I order this, it tastes different. Most of the time, it’s too salty, but the sole is cooked to the perfect texture. It comes with sliced potatoes which are sometimes perfect too. The mustard butter sauce is very mustardy sometimes, pretty salty sometimes and kind of sweet the first time I had it. I order this because I crave sole and to entertain myself to see how different it tastes every time.
–Chicken Fajitas with Guacamole: Pretty tasty peppers and onions that it comes with because it’s soft and flavorful. Chicken is packed with flavor. Not too bad.
–Steak Sandwich: Steak on a soft bun served with warm potato chips (drenched in oil) or a salad. Loved the steak and veggies in my sandwich. great texture.
–Atlantic Salmon– Alright, good texture and flavor.
–Rosemary Chicken– Crispy texture, tender chicken. I like my chicken not as moist when it’s pan-​fried with hardly any sauce. It was nicely prepared but not my favorite.
–Tiramisu– Delightful and chilled. Great texture and decadent chocolate.
Skip:
–Spaghetti with Cajun Shrimp: My coworkers who ordered this said it was extremely salty.
The service is usually very slow or «relaxed», so don’t expect an hour lunch unless you’re lucky and catch your waitress’ attention most of the time. Overall, it was pricey for the quality of food I got.