Cafe Opcao

FYI: it is now called «The Patio»
Wait did I just give this place a star ?
This place is not even worth a penny let me just say. Well let me just start off by saying how when we walked in, no one was there to greet us as how it used to be when it was café opcao. While walking I noticed there wasn’t any seating outside, so as I would normally do if mention to the «waiter» that we would like a table outside and when one becomes available let us know that we will be sitting at the bar. What was that for, sitting at the bar was like sitting down just playing the waiting game. No acknowledgment or ANYTHING, which surprises me because how do these bartenders expect to make money? But anywho, 15 – 20 min later they tell us a table is ready. Oh and just as how I figured there were people sitting that walked in way after me, so if you don’t know someone that works there get ready to WAIT! So they have no drink menu, so we ordered «passion fruit sangria» which tasted like watered down Goya «passion fruit» juice. No one came to ask if everything was okay, we had to get another waitress and ask «can we order food? … Oh no sorry the kitchen closes at 11 «but mind you it was 10:40 & we had been sitting for 10 min already with no menus or anything.
If your looking for a place to go and get piece of shit service and pay $ 26 for a pitcher of water & juice then go ahead & enjoy.

Came in to have a few drinks. Service was horrible they only came by for the initial order. Then no one came by to check on us and see if we wanted anything else all between the span of 2 and a half hours. Then it’s 3 am and they are closing getting things ready. We had to get their attention to give us our bill we gave them our card with 10 dollars cash to split a 29.00 charge. As we are waiting for the receipt so we could sign it the owner screams out if you don’t work here get the F@&k out of here. Finally we get our card back and they charged it for full price keeping the 10 dollar as tip. I don’t know about everyone else but after service like that they do not deserve any tip… Unless you don’t waiting around and having no service I don’t recommend this place.

Came here to have lunch with my family and it wasn’t the best but it’s better than most.
Food:
I ended up getting the Francesinha which is a Portuguese sandwich, made with bread, ham, linguiça, sausage, steak and covered with melted cheese and a tomato and beer sauce served with french fries. The plate was presented well but the steak was a bit chewy on the outer portion. The sausage was a bit watered down compared to a typical sauce. They replaced the sausage for slices of chorizo which I didn’t mind and it actually gave it a nicer taste then I’m usually used to. The fries were great, but who doesn’t love a good French fry.
Price:
The total for the bill for 3 came out to $ 60. It wasn’t too bad, all three of us had the same meal and we each had our own drinks. It’s reasonably priced. The beer was pretty pricy, $ 5 for a smaller bottle of beer but in their defense it is imported from another country.
Atmosphere:
The waiters were a bit too relaxed when serving us but he was friendly at times. He didn’t check up on us during the meal, didn’t ask us if we wanted anything after the meal and we had to flag him down for the check but once we asked he was pretty quick with getting it to us. This spot is spacious and the inside seating has AC which is great on a hot day. We chose to sit outside and it was comfortable.

I don’t know why I’m here for the second time I tried giving them a second shot but never again. They can’t mix drinks for nothing there sangria is pure water. The food isn’t great terrible presentation. No wonder the place is half empty when i came here. I don’t not recommended this place at all. My drink went back 3 times scarred wether something was done to it. Staff is rude and not attentive. Doesn’t even deserve 1 star

Food is alright and drinks are okay. Reasonably priced. Staff is not very friendly and food takes long to come. Their outdoor seating is pretty nice. On nights and weekends the place is full of really loud 18 – 21 year old kids. One trying to show off and be louder than the next. Their coffee is good.

I’ve been coming here for years when it was still called Opcao. Now its called The Patio. I haven’t been here for atleast a 1 but when I do

This place is now called The Patio.
The Patio has BY FAR the best latte coffee in town.
I’m not kidding, I go out of the way to sit in there and have my latte.
They also make a great brunch dish called «Francesinha» (not sure if spelling is correct) that is amazing!
Finally, also been here at night and they have a bar-​lounge area and DJs play really good and tasteful house music that sets a great mood.
Outdoor seating area is great in the summer.
Only complaint is bartenders are not very professional, inexperienced and some don’t speak English very well which makes ordering at the loud bar a frustrating experience.
Nice place overall.

The staff here do not know their menu and couldn’t get a simple steak sandwich right. They took my plate back 3 times and STILL didn’t get it right. Steak wrap with lett, tom, mayo on bread instead of wrap. Made 14 diff variations of a chipotle wrap/​sandwich after i repeated it multiple times. I’m only a party of one. Imagine a large order. Unreal!
Place now called The Patio

They’ve changed their name to patio. This is hands down the worse service in the state… it is so bad it is funny and you should go there to experience it first hand. They’ll mix your order, forget your order, tell you an hour after you ordered that they can’t make what you asked them for. Expensive and not that tasty food. Terrible mixed drinks. Drink Portuguese beer… they’ve got Super Bock. I should also add that they charge $ 5 for a jar of tap water– I could not be making this up, yes it is too silly but they do this.

Honestly? I’m being extremely nice by givingthis place a“2″ rdculous, rude, and unprofessional. But location is amazing! Décor is cozy and nice but feels a bit dirty in here which I’m not a big fa of… Anywy my suggestion to this place is to either upgrade their game plan or close down! However, if the café is mostly empty, and you walk up to me and ask me if I’m ordering anything else and if not then ask me to leave, you have a problem with customer service. Not to mention that you were terse and rude to begin with. Just plain cold and unfriendly.

Best lunch I’ve had in a long time. $ 12 huge plate of pork & clams with great bread, glass of wine, and coffee. Worth the walk from Penn Station, hopefully I’ll get back soon.

Have been a customer at this place for over 5 years and service just never gets better. There’s just so much terrible service I can handle. Foods good and so is the coffee but there seems to be no care for attending to customers. This place needs help with training the servers.

I was a regular last summer. Great vibe at night: young crowd, sangria, hooka. This summer? The service took a nose dive for the worst!!! The place was basically empty and my waitress still to took forever to bring us a menu. Then she took forever to come take the order. Then she took forever to being the one pitcher of sangria (to start). Then she never came back. Had to flag someone down for my check.
Plenty of better places to go to in the Ironbound.

I live nearby, but never really stopped in until this weekend. Service really is horrible. Waiter took forever to greet us and barely understood our drink orders (drinks are very watered down), appetizer took more than 30 minutes to come out and was extremely salty. The waiter also didn’t bring a pen with him for us to sign our check. I guess they don’t like money… Won’t be going back.

Not a bad spot but they never have lava cake I went to this café about 6 times and 5 times out of the 6 they did not have the dessert!!!

Ok so i read the reviews about bad service but as i was curious about the francesinha, i decided to take a gamble.
Sunday around 3 pm we decided to stop by. Street parking, but with a little patience you’ll find a spot.
Walk in, greeted by a nice girl which walked us to outside seating. A few other tables have people but mostly for drinks because it’s mid afternoon.
Girl leaves as we look at the menu. 10 minutes later nobody has come to take a drink order. 15 minutes, then 20 and nobody.
My wife asks me if maybe we should say something, but at this point i’m purposely sitting back and seeing if they even realize that we are just sitting there. 25 minutes
after sitting there and nothing.
We get up and walk out. As we are walking out nobody says «thanks for coming» or «have a nice day».
As i’m walking down the street i look back and see our menus being blown around by the wind, and that same girl that greeted us seemingly looking around for us.
What a clueless restaurant.

I stopped here nearly every day during my visit home. Sadly, I never tried breakfast, but for lunch, dinner, and coffee-​and-​dessert, this place was perfect. My nephew from New York’s Greenwich Village said Café Opcao was just like a New York bistro, without the New York prices or snobby attitude (hey, he said it, not me…).
I heard that the place is very busy in the summertime, with the outdoor seating full of sports fans watching the outdoor TV. There also might be a larger menu available. I enjoyed the more quiet ambience I experienced. Every customer seemed to be treated as a valued friend of the business. The food was fresh and served with care.
A very good place in every way. The only drawback I can see is that parking will be difficult. If you are prepared to walk a little bit to get to Café Opcao, you will be rewarded!

First time here. I liked the ambiance. Perfect for a good conversation over coffee.
I had the Francesinha, portuguese comfort food. I like the combination, however the sauce was too salty for my taste. The hostess was good. Had the crème brûlée for dessert, it was nice.
I loved the fact that this place was open untill 10:00 pm on a sunday night. Will be back just cause its a good place to hangout.

So, management recently changed (again). I’ve been here a few times during the summer and am pretty impressed with the changes. Their service has changed for the better: I’ve noticed them come around more often, checking up on everything.
The food options have definitely improved. They’ve added some new items and kept some things on their menu. My favorite now has got to be their wraps — they are pretty amazing! I’ve had the Chicken Chipotle a couple of times and it astounds me every time. It comes with a side of fries or a side of veggies. The veggies are cooked fresh and oh so tasty! Also, try their Greek fries! AMAZING! You won’t regret it!
I still recommend coming here if you want to hang out and a grab a bite to eat!

I happen to live in the neigborhood and stopped in several weeks ago to get a cup of coffee to go. Expecting sb prices I was pleasently surprised to get money back. The coffee was outstanding. I went by there this past friday, it was the first nice weather day of the year. Sitting outside, having a bite to eat and enjoying my coffee, you would never guess that this was Newark NJ. I cant wait until weather breaks to come check out the action that I am told is one of the best scenes in New Jersey.