OPA Estiatorio, Vernon Hills

Went to the relatively new Greek restaurant in Vernon Hills last night.
Its been open for a little over a year and has had good reviews from both the Tribune and Sun-Times. (For whatever that’s worth.)

The room has been nicely remodeled from its former incarnation as a “North Woods” style restaurant, all white washed stucco
and high ceilings. My wife liked the view out over Bear Lake. They offer outside seating which would have been very nice on a day like
yesterday but it was all reserved for a function from the local Orthodox Church.

Service was very good; they appear have a large staff for the number of seats and they were very efficient and helpful.

For appetizers we had the OPA! SAGANÁKI and the DOLMATHES. Neither my son nor wife is very adventurous eaters but both enjoyed
the flaming cheese show. The olive oil with the stuffed grape leaves had a nice slight lemon flavor.

For the main course we had KOTOPOULO SOUVLAS, Rotisserie Greek style chicken served with lemon-roasted potatoes & briami, and
ARNI Shish-kabob (lamb). I also had an order of fries with feta with the lamb. The half chicken was nicely done; slightly crisp on the outside
and still moist on the inside. The lemon- roasted potatoes disappeared before I could taste them so at least my son thought they were good.
The lamb had a nice flavor from charcoal however it was done well beyond the medium level I asked for. The fries were definitely hand cut and
were very good with the feta.

My wife had the Crème Brulee and my son had the Chocolate cake for dessert. The Crème Brulee was a fine Crème Brulee but chocolate
appeared to be something special and my son claimed it was one of the best he’d ever had.

While we don’t eat out much, except when traveling, we will be back to try some of “Greek Comfort” foods on the menu.

OPA Estiatorio
950 Lakeview Pkwy.
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
phone: 847.968.4300

Thanks for the post. Great detail.

Hi,

My Dad has been there for several occasions this summer. Everytime I ask about the food, I don't get much feedback.

Thanks for taking time to write the post. I hope to get up there someday soon.

Regards,

I thought I posted something in a thread somewhere about Opa! in Vernon Hills, but now I can't find it. My first time there with the Boy, we liked it a lot.

The outdoor seating area looks delightful with the strings of lights. We would have liked to stay out there but it was that time of summer and the mosquitos were getting to us, so we moved inside.

Instead of eating in the big room (with the high ceiling), we went into the bar to eat. It was nice and cozy, the whitewashed walls notwithstanding. I wandered around the restaurant to look at the food displays in the cabinets and the wall decorations while we waited for our food. I could just imagine how cozy a table in the bar area would be come wintertime, when the fireplace is going.

I remember that we liked all the food, but all that I can remember specifically of what we had was the fried eggplant appetizer, and -- I think -- some sort of skirt steak thing for me. Both great. I'm ready to go back again any chance I get.

We tried this place tonight. The wife and I had had Htipiti, Saganaki, Greek Salad, Greek Chicken, and the Chicken Kabob.

This place reminded me of Greeks Islands in greek town... It was serviceable but yet cafeteria like. Nothing stood out at all, everything tasted adequately greek like, but there was nothing special in the least. If yu want greek I would recommend hiking it to greek town instead of eating here... Parking in Greek town is cheap since it is subsidized (like China town parking), and many of the smaller restaurants have mind blowing fish, chicken, and lamb dishes.

A good friend, my boyfriend and I, we ate there back in the summer ... we love the place. We ate outside on the patio and the service and the food was excellent. I have been to other "Greek" restaurants and I wasn't impressed. The only thing I didn't like about the place, is that the portions were a little small ... I'm a big eater.

I had lunch at Opa with my mom yesterday and wanted to share our experience. We shared a small Opa salad...the tomatoes were ripe and the feta was creamily delicious, though the dressing was extremely minimalist! Nice olive oil, couldn't taste any vinegar. The small was definitely enough for us to share.

Unfortunately we waited a while for the salad and then entrees were brought out about 30 seconds after we received our salad. They returned the entrees to the kitchen assuring us they'd be re-cooked fresh...not sure about that but they did come hot and timed a little better the second time.

She had gyros, quite tasty (not terribly hot temperature wise) and the tzatziki was fine, not super garlicky but fresh tasting. I had a chicken breast with artichokes and lemon, it was a little salty (no surprise) but the chicken was quite juicy and very nicely cooked. Didn't eat any of the rice but let mom take it home and she said it was good. The bread was nothing special, only had a bite and the crust wasn't that crusty so I'm glad I didn't order lots of spreads!

Service was serviceable, other than the timing gaffe it was all pretty fine. I wish there'd been a few green beans on the otherwise very white plate, but it was a nice change of pace. Not sure I'd run back there but wouldn't argue if someone suggested it.