Opal Thai: Review

We decided to go to Dole Plantation with the Mioles since Emil and them haven't been there. I want Emil to experience the maze before we leave the island. When we got on the bus, we felt hungry so we decided to eat lunch first and also try a new place at Haleiwa which received great reviews from friends which is Opal Thai.

We came there around 11:25 am and they just opened at 11:00 am but when we arrived, there were already a lot of people and they were only 2 tables for two left and there were 4 of us (2 couples). Since we didn't have any reservations, we volunteered to divide and just sit on the two tables for 2, one table per couple but then one of the servers didn't allow us since "they want families to sit together." We were just thinking of leaving when they offered us to just order take out (which is not what we wanted because there were tables). We were talking among ourselves when they asked a couple with a child to move to a table for two and then just offered a booster chair for the kid. The couple obliged but I don't know, I just have mixed feelings about this. 

So we we're seated on a table for four and were handed the menus. Emil and Newel are still in school though Kaye and I are already working full time so we were on a tight budget. In fact before we left home, Emil and I are thinking to just spend $20 + tips for the two of us since we looked at Opal Thaii's menu on Yelp and thought that that amount would be enough. We were done looking at the menu but nobody was taking our order. I looked around and saw that only one guy was taking the order for everybody so we waited. He came to our table after a short while and took our menu. We were ready to tell him what we wanted when he "interviewed" us if it was our first time there and it was. He asked us if we liked Thai food and we really do (especially me), and asked us to name 5 Thai dishes. We only got to 4 though. haha. He also asked what Thai ingredients we liked and when he was done, he said that he'll take care of us. We didn't actually understood what that meant until food started coming to our table.

left: Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

right: Papaya Salad

cute little water cup

The first one was Chicken Satay which was really good! I didn't really like Satay before but this one was sooo good! Next one came the fried tofu with basil which I so loved because there were lots of garlic! haha Then came the Papaya Salad which was sooo spicy for my liking but the guys loved since they love spicy food. After the third dish, Kaye and I started sniffing because of the spiciness of the food! After that, we had Pad Thai and Pad See Ew. The latter kinda taste a little burned for me though. We were so full but they asked us to try dessert which was the ginger cheese cake. We only ordered one for the 4 of us. It was good and I could taste the ginger but not over powering the cheese.

left: Pad Thai

right: Pad See Ew

left: Cheesecake

right: Fried Tofu (my favorite)

We asked for the bill and it was tumataginting na $73 for just the 4 of us!!! We were so shocked!!! Yes we enjoyed the food but we didn't expect the bill to be that expensive though. I was telling Emil what if we didn't bring enough money but the food just started coming. I really really loved the food here and it was a good experience until the end. I kinda felt that we were tricked into getting all those dishes we didn't even order because it was our first time there. We didn't know what to feel! Lol I didn't even want to give tip because of how I felt but Emil said that we should just give some. The guy who took the order was in fact the owner and he is a good business man. I give him that. When he was getting friendly to us, joking with us and talking stories, I thought that the customer service was really good but not until I felt how we somehow got tricked.

Emil and our friend (I refuse to tell the name but you know who you are! lol) didn't wanna come back here because of how they felt but for me, I would still go back and just order to go just because of how I really liked the food. haha

ALL PHOTOS ARE TAKEN FROM YELP.COM