In my search for the perfect Tuna Melt I found Opa Beppo's in Gene Coulon park. Okay, I was a little lost because of all the construction going on in that new apartment building complex and it really is a hole-in-the-wall. It's a good thing I love walking because I walked pretty far to find this place. I checked out their website and I found out they have Tuna Melt on the menu and I live pretty close to Coulon Park so I thought, 'what the hell' and went right in.
Interiors: It's cute... A little stand-offish but cute. I'm a big patron of The Met in downtown Renton so I have big expectations for Opa Beppo's since it's obviously modeled after the place. They have a wine cellar on the right side of the wall and this is when The Met versus Opa Beppo's start and pretty much end. Their wine cellar have "30% discount on this rack" signs all over them. So I thought... hmmm... a little too retail for me..
One thing I noticed is the cafeteria tables and chairs. They don't have couches which I would have expected them to have but just standard issue wood-crafted tables and chairs.
Food: The menu's pretty big. They have sandwiches on croissants and bagels which comes with a side of chips or potato salad (pretty good too), daily soup specials, appetizers and salads, pasties and dessert. When I went there last Wednesday they had Turkey and Provolone and Ham and Cheese Croissant on their specials board.
So anyway, I went in for the tuna melt. I had high expectations for their tuna melt because a year ago when I was working for an upscale retirement home my co-worker made the most amazing tuna melt in the history of all tuna melts. It was so simple too, tuna, tomato, cheddar melted on top of an english muffin but it was scrumptious.
I walked in, it took me a while to find the menu since it was tucked somewhere in the cash register but you can take it with you. I ordered the tuna melt (no half orders on this one!) with potato salad. They have self-serve water and a silverware station so I grabbed a huge glass of water and sat down.
The barista/server was a one-man show. He was quite busy too because people were walking in and out of the shop for their coffee orders (they have smoothies and frappuccinnos if you're into that kind of stuff...).
At last! My Tuna Melt. I took one bite of my potato salad, and thought, this is pretty good (red potatoes, celery, onions, mustard, mayonnaise). Unfortunately, whatever good fun i had with the potato salad ended with the potato salad. The tuna melt is served with swiss cheese and seeing no convection oven in the premises, I'm guessing the tuna melt was melted under the microwave (a huge no-no!). It was served in a bagel and the bagel was obviously not fresh. Good bagels aren't supposed to be wee bit rubbery and wee bit tough. The tuna meat itself was so bland I would be surprised if you told me I was eating tuna!
I was sorely disappointed with the food. The barista was oh-so friendly but not in an obnoxious, Victoria's Secret sales associate kind of way. It was a $7 lunch so I wasn't too pissed off. Sigh... the quest continues...
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