Dinner at Opus Restaurant in Salem MA

Opus Restaurant in Salem MA doesn't take reservations for parties under 6. With that in mind the 5 of us arrived and put our name in with the hostess. We were told it would be about a 45 minute wait and we could see if there were seats at the bar or go downstairs to the 2nd bar area.

We opted for seats downstairs and were able to watch a band setting up for tonight's show. We ordered a few cocktails and beers and chatted away. After a while we decided to order some appetizers and it's a good thing we did our wait ended up being about an hour and 20 minutes. We ordered the shishito peppers, Berkshire pork dumplings, semolina dusted calamari, and the Korean chili grilled octopus. All of these dishes went fast! We thoroughly enjoyed all of these dishes even the extra hot shishito peppers. 

Once our table was ready we headed back up to the main dining area. Unfortunately, the 5 of us were put at what was essentially a table for 4. Another round of cocktails were ordered and we also decided to try a few more appetizers. Our 2nd round were the deviled eggs, steak tartare (special), and Gonfietti (sage dough, Coppa, and ricotta). I wasn't thrilled with the steak tartare. The flavor was fine but the cuts on the steak were too large and very unappealing. 

For entrees we ordered the short rib udon, Opus chicken and waffles, spicy tuna roll, pork belly tacos, and another special of the evening. The short rib udon was just average, the chicken and waffles were delicious, the spicy tuna roll was average, the pork belly tacos were stale tasting, and the special was good. 

I definitely wouldn't return to the restaurant with a larger group but I would return for good music, good drinks, and excellent small plates.