May 2007 by Gale McCune
“The buzz has been going around that Schlesinger’s, the upscale steak house in Newport News, would open a restaurant here in New Town. And sure enough Opus 9 has appeared at the foot of Main Street. There is definitely a classy, “downtown” feel to this place.
The decor is elegantly simple with colonial blue walls, dark woodwork, and polished pewter-colored interior brick walls. With carpeted floors and acoustically tiled ceilings, it has a quiet, intimate atmosphere.
The menu offers what you would typically expect from a “chop House”, every cut of steak imaginable, pork and lamb chops as well as Chicken Marsala and wonderful seafood choices such as a Seafood Trio of Scallops, parmesan coated Shrimp and a jumbo Lump Crab Cake; Shrimp Opus which is filled with crabmeat; Honey Balsamic bronzed Salmon and Flounder stuffed with Lump Crab.
My choice was the night’s special, Broiled Rockfish over Spinach with Wonton Chips topped with nothing but crabmeat. Fabulous! I had to try their Opus Salad and since it was a chop house, their Blue Cheese dressing – house-made and just perfect. My partner had their Soup du Jour, a “to-die-for” house-made New England clam chowder, followed by two Jumbo Lump Crab cakes. As you might imagine we each had a second meal to enjoy later. The salads are a la carte, but the side dishes of several types of potatoes or sautéed vegetables are included. The dessert menu is fairly standard, offering a Crème Brule with three different flavor toppings (I’ll save room for that next time!), New York Cheesecake, ice cream and sorbet choices and Tiramisu.
For lunch they offer seven salad choices, five sandwiches and their special Mozart burger and Beethoven burger. (See, I told you it was classy!) Of course, they also offer steak, chops, chicken and pastas as entrees.
We were there on a week night and the bar was packed. And, be warned, it’s a smoking bar; but I detected no aroma of smoke in the dining room. There is even a humidor offering very expensive cigars – not something you see in a typical Williamsburg restaurant. But again, I assure you, we detected no smoke outside the bar area.
To me this would be a “special evening out” place. The owner welcomes Wine and Dines and has already hosted at least one. Steak prices range upwards from $35, seafood averages $27, and appetizers are plentiful, from the Calamari at $9 to Lobster Scampi at $25.”