Restaurants in Costa Mesa

After walking through the brick archway at the entrance to Akropolis Restaurant & Coffee, guests take their seats beneath hanging, tulip-shaped lights. A candle casts a glow over each tabletop, mirroring the warmth of Greek entrees such as souvlaki chicken and moussaka—baked eggplants, potatoes, and minced beef in a housemade cream sauce. The chefs have even instilled elements of the Mediterranean into seemingly familiar dishes such as burgers and pizzas: bifteki patties come crowned with hummus or tzatziki, and the Akropolis pizza bears the weight of gyro beef, eggplants, sliced tomatoes, and red onions. Plates of burnt figs round out dinners, and glasses of Californian and Italian vintages add excitement to meals through the ever-present danger of red-wine stains.

One look at the food at 5ifty Forks Restaurant and you'd think you were in the hands of cooks with decades of culinary experience—which is true, in part. Two professional chefs oversee the kitchen, but the lion’s share of the work—from menu creation to presentation—is carried out by students of the culinary program at The Art Institute of California - Orange County.

Drawing on what they’ve learned, the chefs-in-training run both the on-campus eatery's front-of-house operation and exhibition kitchen, where diners can watch their meals being made. To create the frequently changing menus, students rely on locally sourced ingredients, including many grown in the restaurant's own garden.

Recently, those fresh items have found their way into dishes such as roast quail with fig marmalade and desserts such as chocolate caramel tart with malted milk chocolate ice cream. In the dining room, natural light illumines seasonal installations by local artists, creating a warm atmosphere where patrons are invited to linger and provide students with feedback.

When people say Watson Drugs and Soda Fountain has a checkered history, they’re talking about the ever-present tablecloths, which flaunt cheery red-and-white squares that whisk diners back to the 1950s. Here in the more than a century-old establishment, cooks still stack pancakes higher than the Statue of Liberty’s beehive hairdo as kids ogle retro candies such as Necco wafers, Sweethearts, and Clark bars. Come lunchtime, half-pound burgers sizzle on the grill, alongside toppings such as bacon and mushrooms.

Near a vintage Pepsi-Cola sign, soda jerks uncap bottles of root beer and scoop banana floats into glass boats en route to white leather booths or a sunny outdoor patio. The shop also summons nostalgia with its shiny jukebox, vintage postcards, and iconic storefront, which has been featured in films, commercials, and PSAs for time travelers.

Quite possibly the oldest continually operating restaurant in Orange County, The White House first opened its doors in 1918. Since its founding, the restaurant has fused meals with live entertainment and served as a popular landing spot for generations of Hollywood luminaries. Today, sporting a completely remodeled design, The White House is still home to casual, California-inspired cuisine, including seafood dishes and refreshing cocktails. The dining room doubles as a rotating showcase of local artwork, and in the next room, the venue's tradition of live music lives on every night of the week inside a lounge and dance area.

As a teenager in the farm village of Calabria, Italy, Domenico Maurici helped his family grow farro, a rare grain, to feed their chickens. Eventually they realized the healthy grain had a lovely taste, and they began using it in their own family meals. After getting a diploma from Italy’s Culinary Institute, Domenico went on a cruise of the Pacific Coast and fell in love with Orange County; he selected it as the place where he would open his own restaurant centered on the grain he had grown up with.

At Il Farro, Domenico transforms farro into pastas and risottos, which he uses to build specialty dishes such as the farrotto con salsiccia with Italian-style sausage and pecorino cheese. The menu also includes pizzas layered with prosciutto. If you’re on a date with a homesick mermaid or merman, there are seafood creations such as linguini pescatore with New Zealand mussels, manila clams, calamari, and king crab.

So successful were the three original Lamppost Pizza establishments that the eatery has grown to 37 locations since its inception in 1976. Friendliness and fun unite with the pizzeria's penchant for sports to make visits memorable. But as nice as big-screen TVs can be, the real magnetism of this haven for sauce and cheese lies in the pies spun in the kitchen. Beer and wine complement the menu, which also includes calzones, pastas, sandwiches, and grill fare such as burgers.