Opaque Dining In The Dark

We arrived to an empty old night club which they were still cleaning to very indifferent staff. We were very quickly ushered into a black out room and sat down with our guide which are apparently ""Blind"" which we found out later are not and are wearing night vision glasses so they can see. Overall ""Terrible"" experience. Not for the scared or claustrophobic. more

A unique experience to say the least, but during the second course, something kept brushing my cheek. At first, I thought it was just a fly buzzing around, but once I tried to slap it and it felt like I hit an exposed penis. Was I being crop-dusted? I will never know for sure. Otherwise, the experience was a positive one. more

Seriously.....one of the best dinner experiences i have ever had. I surprised my husband ...and by the way it was a first time for me. I never thought eating in the dark ( pitch black to be exact ) would be so much fun! I am always up for new experiences and so is my husband. He was amazed the entire time. It was interestingly relaxing. Having one of your senses tuned down completely was truly exhilirating. Try it and see......have fun! Pros: Service,food more

This is an awesome experience. I wanted to take my girlfriend out for something different, she loves good food. This dining room is pitch black and you cannot see a thing. The purpose of this experience is to rely on your touch, smell and taste to guide you. You blindly select a meal and then you enjoy. The food was really awesome, the server was great and the experience was unforgettable. Really made for a great date. more

I read the reviews here and made the drive to Santa Monica to try the unique experience with my Wife. Our server and guide through the dark was super nice, but she was smacking gum for the first 5 minutes of our interactions. It is true that other senses come out in the dark and listening to someone smacking on gum is not a great appealing. In addition, the food was awful. In fact, I did not even eat my salad. It was like they took a bag of unwashed bitter mix and threw it on the plate with some sesame dressing. It was awful. Main's were okay. In truth it was like wedding food at 50.00 a plate. Further, the tables and chairs were a very low quality, again like cheap banquet tables and chairs. Yep, I learned a lesson - you can see quality in the dark. With all of that said, it was a cool experience and something to talk about with friends, although very expensive! Pros: something to talk about Cons: food more

Nothing, plain nothing, is what you get. In terms of what you see. But they offer you the world of senses on a silver tray it is up to you to choose whether you want to take it and where you want to take it. Do you want to listen, smell, touch, or taste, or all at once. It was a concert of senses conducted by our lovely waiter Michael. Do yourself a favor and request him. more

I have been getting ready for this day a long time. I am putting my best gear on... gonna look real pretty, as there real beauty is proven when no one sees. This is so exiting and I will follow up when its on my 'seen' that done that list. more

don't waste your money. its awful. everything tasted like it came out of a can. they take advantage of the fact you can't see what you are eating. Pros: the concept is cool Cons: food is AWFUL more

What an amazing experience! To have your site taken away and rely on your other senses and trust everything will be OK. The food was incredible. 1. It started out with a prosciutto wrapped fig with a caponata relish. TANTALIZING! 2. then we got fresh bread and butter. 3. The salad was just popping in our mouth, so much going on, arugula, sweet tomatoes, amazing wine dressing, truffle cheese and topped with a bruchetta and toast, I must say the best I have ever had in the light or in the dark. 4. I had the Salmon and my partner had the Filet Mignon, OK, the Salmon was the most delightful i have ever consumed, not dry and it just melted in your mouth. It was made with a Caribbean spice topped with a sweet chili. Amazing! My partner had the Filet Mignon with goat cheese sun dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers with a sweet wine sauce that made me have an orgazm, I swear i did! 5. we both love Tiramisu and we are very critical when we have it. THE BEST IN LOS ANGELES! We got to meet the Chef for the evening, Chef Michael Parise, not sure if he is always on board, he said he would be there temporarily but he gave us his card, he owns Cannoli Kings Catering. Dining in the dark was a great experience and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who would like increase the other senses in their body. The service was wonderful and overall first class. I hope it stays that way! Pros: The food! more

Pros: Good place to go on the third date. Pros: You cant see your date Cons: You cant see your date more

I just went last Friday and it was such an amazing experience. It was a bit scary at first being in pitch darkness, but you hear voices around you so you know you're not alone and you really learn to use your sense of touch. I was holding hands with my date most of the night. The food was pretty decent and the portions were big, I couldn't even finish all of it. I loved the game of guessing different objects in a bag just by feeling the objects. And our waiter Michael was wonderful, he even serenaded us at the end of the meal. more

Concept was great but it was definitely not worth the money! I've had much better tasting food and more filling at Lawry's or Morton's. The portions at Opaque were small and the taste was horrible. Pros: Great Concept Cons: Bad food, ridiculous pricing more

Our dark dining experience was truly exhilirating. We took my brother and his wife for their anniversary. I've been in a lot of places and done a lot of things, but this is truly an eye opener, if you will. It allows a sighted person to experience for a time, what the blind experience daily. Since my wife is blind, it was real insight for me. I gained a world of respect for the wait staff and for blind people in general. While they may be challenged navigating our sighted world, I'm sure that given the accellerated senses of taste and hearing and smell and touch and the amazing memory jog, it's a pretty good swap.I can't wait for this to come to the Scottsdale area. more

So much fun! It really was a once in a lifetime experience. It really is something you will remember forever. I thought that the food would be medeocre, (disney land-ish) since it is such an experience. But everything we had was great. My husband had steak and I had the salmon. They were both excellent! Pros: Great experience. Really good food. Cons: A little pricey more

if you enjoy eating in complete darkness, poking yourself in the face with a fork, spending $100 per... more

if you enjoy eating in complete darkness, poking yourself in the face with a fork, spending $100 per person, and are also an idiot, then you should... more

I saw some negative reviews online before my boyfriend and I went to Dinner in the Dark (but after it was too late to cancel the reservation - 3 days notice required) so I was really nervous and braced myself for a doomed evening on August 24, 2007. In fact when my boyfriend ordered steak, I almost told him to order something else because of the bad steak reviews. Fortunately, my salmon was perfect and his medium rare steak was prepared exactly medium rare - and it was probably one of the top 5 BEST steaks I have ever tasted. The tiramisu was lightly sweet and scrumptous, while the cheesecake was quite flavorful, and also a bit heavy - but that's exactly what cheesecake is supposed to be afterall, right? Also, all the food was served at the proper temperature, nothing was frozen or lukewarm. And everything you've already read about the ""dark"" experience is probably true: Yes, it is pitch black, yes your senses are extremely heightened, yes our server was blind (not blindfolded, actually legally blind - she used a radio head set to communicate our order), yes it is pricey, and yes it is quite fun trying to sample your dining partner's food without getting stabbed in the eye. In my Palm Pilot list of things to do is ""Write brilliant review of Dinner in Dark"" - and I'm usually WAY too busy to write reviews, but I really feel that those bad reviews are unfounded, or else this establishment has definitely changed for the better. Pros: Eating in the dark is an eye-opening experience! Cons: Expensive more

I love this concept but it is not executed properly. My bff took me to Opaque as a surprise about a month ago. Although the total darkness is a really cool and unique experience, it alone does not justify the EXCESSIVE PRICE. Personally speaking I don?t usually mind over-paying for ?a great dining experience? I wish this had been the case. Upon arrival they take your order and introduce you to your wait staff, who is dressed in casual (even sloppy) street clothes. They escort you into the total darkness and seat you at a folding chair. Your (uncomfortable) folding chair is then pushed up to a plastic (outdoor) patio table. Although there is a table cloth, it is still a plastic table with a folding chair and you are about to pay $99.00 for the least expensive item on the menu! The food is nothing special, typical hotel room service food. Certainly not the ?local star chef? quality they were advertising. I see they have now removed that statement from their website. We were offered a cocktail when we first ordered and then never approached regarding a second one. My friend and I giggled through out the meal and had fun, but, especially if this is something you need to save up to try? I suggest your money would be better spent elsewhere. On a side note, I posted a similar comment on their website and it was removed within 12 hours. I then posted another comment saying it?s overpriced and it too was removed from the site. So not only should you know that the comments on their website are censored, they are unable to take constructive criticism. The bottom line is this would be a terrific experience if it was 1/3 of the price and/or they stepped up the atmosphere. Oh yea, and it cost $20.00 to park! more

Have you ever wondered whether you should approach a blind person when they seemed to have trouble and ask them if they needed help? Not at this joint. They help you! big time. You eat in complete darkness, YEP! dark! as dark as it gets, you can't see your hand in front of your own eyes. All the wait staff is actually blind. They change roles. Now you are the one that needs to ask for help. They help you and give you a wonderful insight in the surreal world of mystery. As that is what this is. A dark room that leaves a vast space for your mind to expand and have the time of your life. If you are open for it and don't have LA stuck up your *** as some of the other reviewers seem to have. Does it cost? yes, and not to little but thanks to Mastercard we all know that there are certain things in life that are priceless. This place is one of them. Pros: no words for something so cool more

Unreal! How can someone come up with this idea only now? Why do we still eat in the light and in all those lame places? This is what LA, and I have been waiting for. Finally something that really keeps the promise of being a once in a lifetime experience. Thank you. Pros: unreal, magic, unbelievable more