Restaurants in Irvine

The kitchen staff at Suds Sports Grill takes a different approach to its classic pub menu by serving traditional items such as bacon cheeseburgers alongside a complete lineup of Mexican food. The south-of-the-border menu is dotted with spicy selections including the carne asada quesadilla and the Baja fish tacos. The staff pairs entrees with an impressive selection of specialty and craft beers by Bear Republic Brewing Company, Stella Artois, Shock Top, and other local and national breweries. Multiple TVs lure patrons in to watch multiple sports and ignore all dialogue coming from their dinner companions.

Pours from extensive wine and beer lists mingle with sea air and classic Italian flavors at Luggatti's Italian Grill. Pinot grigios such as fruity Corte Giara pair with scallop-and-clam-smothered pastas, and an Antigual Uno malbec pairs well with a 12-ounce new-york strip. Other featured wines include Educated Guess cabernet, Plungerhead zinfandel, and Zaccignini montepulciano. Taps froth with craft brews such as Allagash Curieux, Flying Dog Doggie Style IPA, Chimay, and Shipyard Brewery Monkey Fist IPA. On weekend nights, guests can sip to the sounds of live musical performances in the indoor space decorated with snappy art, or carry glasses outside to enjoy the breeze off the nearby beach and the warmth of an outdoor fireplace.

At Café Tu Tu Tango, edibles and art merge with far more dynamism than your average still life. Paintings and brick pillars surround the tables, where pizzas decked in pears and brie flank the miniature campfires of tabletop s'mores. Murals and mosaics fill the space beneath counters, and plush sofas on the patio replace the chairs and moss-covered motorcycles of traditional outdoor seating. Even the napkins "are a rainbow of jewel toned colors," reports The Food Channel's "Raves & Faves" feature, which labels the restaurant's design "pure local artist eclectic." The review documents the café's other artistic quirks, including the dessert menu's catalogue of painted depictions, the commissioned artists who compose their opuses live in the space, and the range of performers who parade through the restaurant, from belly dancers to balloon artists.

The kitchen makes its own chicken and beef empanadas alongside six types of skewers, which spear meats such as salmon, shrimp, and steak. A classic sangria recipe complements bites of roasted pears or mango-duck quesadillas, and seven specialty pizzas bake in a brick oven. To top off an original lunch date, groups can visit nearby attractions such as Disneyland and the Anaheim Convention Center.

You'll detect hints of Asian spices in many of the dishes at 7 Sea Sports Bar and Grill, from the Thai Basil Cayenne that peppers the popcorn chicken to the Vietnamese barbeque sauce that glazes the Ngon Ngon burger. Aided by the skilled burger-smiths from Savori, the eatery's skilled chefs whip up Asian takes on American pub favorites and fold choice beef and fresh buns into the imaginative, Vietnamese-inspired burgers lauded by reporters from OC Weekly. The chef's Asian culinary influences shine brightest, however, in their sushi—traditional Japanese rolls made from fresh fish and crisp vegetables.

Customers lounge on cushy red banquettes out in the lively dining room, clinking glasses of lychee martinis and coconut margaritas beneath soft blue lighting. Appeasing diehard fans of sports or glowing rectangular devices, massive flat screens speckle the exposed brick walls.

"If you succeed, it will change your lives." Accountant Afram Nimeh uttered those words to his two sons in 1993 after investing the last of his savings into a failing restaurant. Though he passed away the following year, his sons—Joseph and Steven—carried on his legacy, Chicken Dijon Rotisserie & Grill. Today, they have expanded the family franchise to seven locations, where customers gather to sample casual, healthy Mediterranean cuisine without having to build their own private jets. The kitchen staff efficiently assembles gyro and chicken platters flanked by sides such as rice pilaf, mediterranean potato salad, and stuffed grape leaves, as well as sandwiches topped with chicken, sliced gyro meat, or falafel.

The decor of Habiba Abdi’s restaurant, Gendershe Cuisine, is not ostentatious—she tries to impress the four senses besides sight. The aroma of all-halal meats marinating in signature spices tints the air, heralding Somali entrees such as the hilib ari, a goat dish that OC Weekly deemed "gamy and glorious." Mango lassis cool the tongue with a mix of almond milk, fruit pulp, orange juice, and vanilla. Pieces of bur—somali fry bread baked onsite—engage the hands, encouraging patrons to soak up lingering sauces with their dough instead of a friend's shirtsleeve. All the while, guests absorb the sizzling sounds of salmon and tilapia being sautéed in the kitchen's special "mother sauce."

Named after the Somalian city where Abdi’s father grew up, Gendershe Cuisine is an outpost of a kind of cooking rarely found in the United States, much less Orange County. Even so, Somalia’s rich culinary tradition—influenced over the years by Italy, India, and surrounding East African cultures—means that many dishes may look familiar even to the uninitiated. Crispy, triangular sambusas are relatives to indian samosas, ethiopian injera pops up beneath stews of beef, chicken, goat, or fish, and spaghetti and lasagna lie under sauces subtly spiked with Somali herbs and spices.