Dumplings, thats all you get here. This place has a rep of its own, juicy dumplings. you have to deal with a long wait, especially if youre like me, not very chinese because this place is monsterously crowded and parking is a pain, but you get to enjoy some dumplings served in a little bamboo steamer thing. I would say come here if you happen to be in the area, but don’t go too far out of your way. You might be tempted to rave about this place, but you have to keep in mind that by the time you actually eat you are starving, so the doughy goodness makes you overly extatic. again, try if youre near arcadia.

Yeah yeah nice chinese chain, pretty good food whatever, come here after church with the whole family etc. The real reason this place is getting reviewed is because its the new boba, its better than boba, its the mango delight. oh man they get pissed off at me when i walk in and say “two mango delight please, and yeah i’m paying with card.” The stop, sigh, and go to the back to make and spit in my drink, but i don’t care because it tastes so good (that might even be the secret ingredient for all i know). The mango deligh is some sort of sweet young coconut milk with chunks of little asian mango and it has not boba inside but these little tapioca things, i think it might actually be tapioca. but its oh so good. when i first had one by a phoenix by din tai fung i had to get more, and i learned there was one in irvine, i think i had like 11 in one month. my iselts of langerhans hate me because of this place. if you don’t like coconut flavor things then just pretend you never read this. important thing to remember is that you can just get a mango delight to go, and leave, its simple. go here when you go to the bank or when you need more hookah coals from super irvine ore something, whatever it is you’ll start to have more and more reasons for going into the walnut shopping center. just try it. its the new boba for me, and theres about 95% less jdm kids hanging around in the parking lot talking about active yaw control. not open on tuesdays anymore, and open till 10.

The cellar is one of a few stereotypical “fancy french restaurants” that southen california boasts, except its dungeon themed, sort of. It feeds off its reputation and its aesthetics these days because it seems to have lost its place in the sun and its somewhat of a novelty. You have to climb down a basement until you find the hidden entrance to a place that takes itself too seriously, and then you have to sit in this beautiful little cellar, and you have to eat pretty good food. Its a fun place to go once every 5 years, unless youre unoriginal, then come for valentines a bunch. however, as you may have guessed from the name, do not #!*$ with the cellar when it comes to wine, because they will win. i am not a sommelier, but if one happens to see chateau lafite-rothschild on a list and its prenatal as far as one are concerned then one can take this to be a passable wine list. if you find yourself here then just go all out, break the bank as it were. but with the ill-fated(and reasonably priced) “cafe frances” having been out of the picture for sometime now, this is where one can go.

with the thai nakorns out of the picture the citizens of irvine are forced to search a little more north for thai that is edible. a 10 minutes drive from where the 405 hits the 55 then off on ketella. i used to go here when i lived in villa park and i had no idea that it was some of the best thai food around until i went to other thai places. rule of thumb for thai places, if they have “tod man” then its a thumbs up. thai orchid is a little place that offers family made food in a location where they can afford to pay the rent (i.e. not irvine) which is a reason its hard to find thai food in irvine that doesnt have the word “spice” in the title. key thing here is the food is good and the wait isn’t that long. fresh and friendly, and each table gets its own little flower for whatever that’s worth. if you like thai food then you’ve probably already been here.

Cuban college food. sit in downtown orange inside or outside while being taken back to a very continental cuban cafe, you can just feel the 70’s air, i don’t know what that means but you can feel it, its been there for a long time. the food: empinadas, steak, dessert. thats what you need to get. the food is cheap and good. if you havent been here yet you own it to the vast homogenous culture that orange county. some of the entres are hit or miss, so order the hits.

Lebanese food here good. take the drive to downtown orange for a “middle east feast” without politics. family owned, very nice people and my favorite hummus. its a pretty small place but a good atmosphere. you get really warm and soft pita with everything which lets you eat with your hands if you want. don’t skip dessert, its heaven, no really it is.

izakaya in tustin. imagine a gill/pub in japan but in tustin. authentic atmosphere, run by japanese owners, with all kinds of decorations. Theres bar seating, table seating, and a tatami room. it features kirin on tap and a grip of other harder drinks. the food selection is pretty vast, they have pretty much anything japanese you can think of, except curry. the highlight is the yakitori, you check off what you want on what looks like a paper sushi menu, except its for little bbq on a stick, pretty good stuff. the draw back is that there is always a wait, but its open till 1am so at least youll get to eat. but you put you put your name on a list kind of like at shin sen gumi, and then you wait for them to call you. also good place if its your birthday (they have the scariest happy birthday music) and on halloween everyone dresses up and you get free beer if you dress up. look to spend around 15$ to 30$ depending on how many pitchers you get.

Come here on monday night for good all you can eat sushi. If you have to eat sushi once a weak, and you want a good ratio of quality:quantity, this is the place. its $20 for the all you can eat, you sit and check off a sushi list and they bring it to you, and you stop when your full. very loud, expect a lot of eating and not a lot of audible conversation, but don’t worry there’s a lot of visually pleasing things to look at.

You know how theres quantity vs quality, this is quality, and it is expensive. One of only a couple sushi restaurants in southern california that rival enoshima. This is also the best traditional japanese food around, but once again very price. You can sit in a traditional tatami floor and have a private room if you’d like. authentic ambiance and refreshing change of pace, good for very special occasions.

this is the place that you go for breakfast when you want ya know…really good breakfast. the atmosphere is almost out of the hippster handbook these days, but its still got that warm feel that’s intrinsic to most of those places the sprung up in the 90’s and are still around, nostalgic i guess? Bit pricey, but good place to impress a date, if your date gets impressed by food.