Prelude at the Opera House - Lower Level

The non buffet menu is much improved this year , as have several of the options on the buffet.

Salads were varied and the salmon on the buffet moist and delicious. Great pre-opera event.

They have the pre-opera market cornered by location. Food was quite good, reasonable price, service fast. But with the number of older people they REALLY need a bit more space between tables. And they need to tell their front desk staff to not be so snooty. Wish they opened at 530pm instead of 6

Your waiters are terrific!! We are regulars before the Opera, so they know us, what we like, are prompt, courteous & super efficient!
Thanks to them especially.
I mostly enjoy your buffet, particularly the vegetarian options.

Primarily a great buffet pre-opera dinner. I ordered a la carte salad, which was very good. BUT service for months-buffet was V E R Y S L O W .
Not enough waiter staff. Cool coffee arrived after long wait, more wait for dessert....I had to stuff dessert cookies in purse while standing at table to get attention of someone to pay. NOT fault of staff who were there....

I ordered a Ceasar Salad- with salmon.should have sent it back!
The lettuce was very old. Salad was obviously dressed hours before...salmon was small bits and pieces scattered here and there-
My friend ordered the Same BUT dressing on the side. Lettuce was fresh and crispy and lovely
Salmon filet in one piece - so obviously singly prepared...Food quality gets worse and by the year. Patina Food Group is inconsistent- menus stay almost identical yearafter year

The buffet was excellent: varied, freshly prepared, and very tasty. One might have expected something only passable, since they have a captive clientele: opera goers in a hurry to make curtain. But the cafe more than stands on its own. I went with my daughter (11), who has a serious allergy to tree nuts. The chef not only replied beforehand to an (yes, I know, overanxious father's) email, but also recognized us when we arrived and personally went over each dish. Unstinting generosity and attention to detail.

This Cafe is only available to Opera customers. The buffet is $40 but quite good. All others are basically salads.

This is a fabulous venue for the ambiance, food, and convenience of seeing the opera located in the same building.

We had a nice, light pre-opera dinner. We enjoyed dinner salads (seafood salad with crab & salmon and Caesar salad with a large piece of salmon), roll and wine. We were given a table for 2 that was not in the middle of the dining area, so the ambience was quite nice. The service was fine, as usual.

With excellent service and a tasty menu, we enjoyed our pre-opera dinner.

Rustee was our server and as always a very good time. We had the buffet. The food is always tasty but it is just a little pricey. No dessert come with it.

The pork tenderloin with its special sauce was outstanding

We dined with Chang whom we always ask for. He is a treat to work with. And the buffet is always excellent, always. Variety of choices and high quality, cooked perfectly. We love it.

The duck salad was wonderful!!!!
The waiter was attentive and professional bot in manner and dress

Very good food and overall experience and the convenience of it is incredible

Rustee and her assistant always provide excellent personal service! And the cafe is just right before the opera matinee. Relaxing to be in the house and have a leisurely meal and be sure not to miss the curtain.

Always pleasant to enjoy the wide variety of food choices on the buffet.
The servers are nice and efficient. The ambiance is happy and so comfortable with
cheerful decor. We do recommend this to friends and always mention the new and wide variety of salads and other dishes.

Excellent service at Chang's table. He has been my server for many years I have enjoyed dinning before the Opera on Sunday. Have been a season ticket holder for years.

Excellent handy location at the SF Opera house for a pre concert meal. The food has a lot of creative dishes and can be ordered a la carte or from a buffet which has 2 serving lines - one for salads -breads-fruit- and the other for warm dishes featuring meats -vegetables-and some excellent breakfast items at the noon luncheon. There is a good wine list and ice water is also available.

Service is attentive and tries to get your group out for the concert on time. Noise level is low and is adjacent to the main bathrooms so they are handy before the concert.

If you're going the opera, do this! The buffet is large and generally terrific,with enough outstanding dishes to please everyone's tastes. If you're there for the brunch, do not miss the chocolate croissants -- trust my wife on this, she's an authority. And if you're lucky enough to get Percy as your waiter . . . give him a hug and a kiss like we did. He made the celebration very special.

Ms rustee is just a great server--makes a good meal a great meal!

Cafe at the Opera is a very good option for a night out at the opera. Vegetarians dine in style. The food is buffet, but imaginative and varied, and it is labelled for vegetarians, vegans, gluten free. The setting is quiet and pleasant, and conversation is easily carried out. Wait staff is pleasant and professional. Entries from the bar are good. And if you are attending an opera, the convenience makes it so easy to have it all at one location.

Enjoyed the return to composed rather than tossed salads. The gingered steak salad with a generous vegetable accompaniment was much improved from previous years' offerings. The Buffet also appears to have been revitalized, now a more tempting choice.

Wish you opened at 5:00. Hard to eat AND hear the lecture before the opera.

They provide a reasonable lunch value before the opera or ballet. It is just right menu, satisfying meal, delicious!
It was easy to make reservations on open table. Thank you.

I am glad that the catering company refreshes the menu every opera season. We had the steak salad and the duck leg/salad. They were both good, light enough with enough protein to last through a three-hour opera. We prefer to dine here before opera for its convenience factor.

The new menu items sound great, and the duck leg confit was wonderful. I look forward to trying some of the others on future visits. And Rustee is one of my all time favorite servers, a gem!

At the end of the meal, I would recommend ordering dessert to be served at intermission, as your waitperson will do a nice table setting there and... then there is no wait for a beverage and a dessert.

THe remodel of the space is quite nice. A great plasce for a pre-opera dinner.

It's great to be able to count on Cafe at the Opera for a pre-performance dinner. Whether we choose a light meal from the menu or enjoy the full buffet!

Our 2 dishes from the a la carte menus were outstanding, the wine list was good with great half-bottel options, the rolls were pathetic (why can't you have some sour-dough options?) Our waiter was very prompt, attentive & friendly.

This was great for our pre-opera dining. We got the buffet which had an Asian theme to it since we were going to see a Chinese themed opera. All the food was very fresh and very tasty. I definitely would go to this again since it was so convenient. The only drawback is that they do not offer any dessert with the buffet. For $40 you would think you would get dessert. You have to order off the regular menu and that is an extra $10. I would have given it 5 stars otherwise.

Always a wonderful experience. Great buffet. Delicious martinis thanks to Jonathan. Awesome service by Percy and Bob again!! See you in October.

A bit overpriced @ $40 for the buffet. The food was good, but they kept running out of the dishes. So you had to stand around and wait for a favorite dish. I come here for the convenience, of attending an Opera House performance.

This is perfect for a pre-opera dinner. It's convenient. The buffet offers a nice selection. Food selections are either pre-made warm foods, salads, or sandwiches. Tables are close together so you get to meet fellow opera attendees.

Great pre opera dining. The convenience of being right inside the opera house, two minutes away from your seat, surrounded by your fellows opera buffs... The buffet is a great value.

I always dine here while attending the Opera. Love the food, convenience and the service, especially Percy and Bob !

We dined at the Opera Cafe for the sake of convenience before the performance, but the experience was better than expected. I enjoyed the buffet while my husband had the duck leg. Tables for 2 are close together. In this case that made for interesting conversation with a neighboring table. I would gladly dine here again.

We had a reservation for a party of two prior to an Opera matinee. Although there were a number of tables available, the hostess insisted on seating us along the side of the dining room with less than 12 inches of space between tables. It was impossible to have a conversation without the parties on both sides of us hearing every word - and visa versa.
We asked to be moved and were told that the open tables were being held for larger parties.
We chose to leave without having lunch.