by Court L. on Here's the problem with Opera...people are still going there! Including me...*sigh* But only if I get in for free...and only if my friends promise to avoid the main dance floor... What sucks about Opera... - It's a "dance club" that doesn't allow you to wear comfortable shoes. I wear Adidas Sambas...not Air Jordans with the tongue hanging out. - The reason they don't allow you to wear comfortable shoes is because most guys in there don't dance. They just stand in the middle of the floor, trying to look hard, and don't move for the people that might actually want to dance. - The guys that are "dancing" are typically creepy looking dudes with bad B.O., that trying grinding on any female that moves past them. Or they dance in their own drunk circles, arms flailing about, running into others. - Speaking of the guys...you've never seen so many Ed Hardy, Affliction, and TapOut shirts in your life... - Yeah...you get some skanky women in there (the kind that typically hang out with guys that wear Ed Hardy, Affliction, and TapOut)...but a lot of them are women that just didn't know any better. So, I feel kind of bad for them because they are circled and harassed by the aforementioned guys. - The music on your standard weekend nights pretty much sucks. I SWEAR TO GOD, ONE DJ must have made a "mash-up" CD a few years ago, and they just handed it out to all the clubs that advertise on Q100, to be played over and over again. Because I heard the SAME MUSIC played this past Saturday that I heard the last time I went, about a year ago. Oh...and I want to scream every time the douchebag DJ sets off that air-horn sample...you guys know what I mean. People bitch about the staff, the line, the "free before 11" stuff. But none of that really bothers me. I've never had real problems with the staff, but I've always been courteous. If you are drunk, or start whining to them about something, of course they are going to be dicks. The line is typical New York bullshit. Keep it moving slow to put on an air of exclusivity. And yeah...no shit that they move the line slower before the 11PM "free" cut-off. This is just common knowledge. Deal with it... The times I have gone there without being VIP or on the guest list, if I know I'm not going to make it before 11...I don't GO! I'll be damned if I'm going to pay to go there! :) Why Opera is not going away anytime soon... - Probably the biggest reason...they advertise heavily. The people in the 'burbs don't know where to go for a night out in the "big city". So they just rely on Q100 to tell them. - The same music I was bitching about is more easily accepted by the masses. There is no accounting for taste, eh? - There are people that have an innate desire to be seen. They don't care about the music, or dancing, all they want is a chance to be photographed out "having fun". Places like Opera cater to this type of behavior. So why 2 stars instead of 1? Well...somehow Liquified and Opera manage to get some decent REAL DJs/producers in there every now and again. The music in the back room is bearable compared to the main room and patio. Finally...if you are a "people watcher" this place does not disappoint!
by Lori Weaving on I am sad to do this, but it must be done. Had I not had the end of the night experience that I did, this would have been a solid 4.5 stars, maybe even 5. So, the place itself is beautiful. Champagne and wine bar, beautiful brick and wood decor, loungie seating, comfortable couches, and a very sexy feeling about the place. Upstairs has the lounges and chairs and bar, and an outdoor patio, and downstairs is a private room, bar, and dance floor. It tends to be crowded in here so expect to wait for a drink. The staff is kinda snotty sometimes, but it goes with the place. Drinks here are definitely pricey, but again, it goes with the atmosphere, this is not a just got out of college hangout. This is a work hard and play hard kind of crowd. I always have fun here hanging out, dancing and enjoying the scene around me. So anyway, to our experience: it was a friend's 30th birthday. We decide to get the private room downstairs, which requires that we spend $500 which is no problem because there are 20 of us at least, and we like to drink. We go down and I tell the waitress over and over that we as a group will order some stuff, and that when we get close to our $500 to let us know because then we will close out pay up, and from that point on everyone will be on their own paying cash. I see 2 bottles of Grey Goose, and 4 or bottles of champagne coming through, and tons of mixers. People are also ordering mixed cocktails, beer and wine. As the night progresses, people start to leave and they ask what they owe. The waitress is nowhere to be found, and when she is found, she tells me that "we are good". I in my drunken stated takes that to mean that we haven't hit our minimum yet so I tell the people starting to leave to leave cash for what they think they owe. Fast forward to 2am. Bill comes: $1200. No breakdown of what that includes. I ask her for a breakdown, she tells me they don't have one. WHAT? You can't charge us $1200 and then not tell us what it's for! Meanwhile security is telling us the place is closed and it's time to leave. I'm not paying unless I get a breakdown, and I don't think security is gonna let me leave without paying. So I wait, and wait. Finally she comes with a breakdown. The Grey Goose was $275 a bottle! Are you effin' kidding me? It's $50 at Costco! Everything else seems on par, though there is a $200 bottle of champagne that someone ordered, and I don't know who it is. I look at our cash from everyone, we have $400. So that brings up a whole new set of problems. We work out the cash issue, finally, and then pay the bill. She reminds us to include tip. But later on when i get outside, I see that a 20% tip was already included. WTF? If I didn't have the problems with the end of the night, I would have enjoyed myself alot more. And though I don't blame the bar for the shortage of cash we had ( that equals people being sneaky), I do not like the fact that she wouldn't give us an itemized bill upfront and when I did ask, took her time getting it to us, and I don't like the fact that she also reminded us to tip when it was added in, and seeing as she wasn't new, should know better. Either that or relearn how they run things over there. I'll be back, but not in the private room, or if I do that again, we are NOT ordering Grey Goose and we are making everyone pay the bill before they leave, no guessing as to what people owe. We can just ask for an itemized statement before people leave or they can pay cash as they go along.
