The Clubhouse - Costa Mesa

The Clubhouse
3333 Bristol St # 2802
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 708-2582
Type: American food / dining
Website
Map

.......must ..........post .............review ...................ughhhh .......



Back up on the horse with the first review of the year. Man. We went to this place probably in May or June. So I'm about 6 or 7 months behind with maybe 80 restaurants to still post up. Unless I get laid off or quit my job, the postings won't be coming along faster than I visit new places. Sometimes, I just go to old restaurants and order the same stuff just so I don't have to jot it down in my handy notes application on my phone. Sounds like I hate doing this, huh? Actually I love doing it, but it's a lot easier when you got nothing else to do-- which isn't the situation right now.

Anyways..... The Clubhouse. Costa Mesa. South Coast Plaza. Louis V. Bimmers. Yuppies. The End.

I went here and met up with my lady after a half day of work. She suggested The Clubhouse and I should've picked something cheaper cuz I was a little sick and my tastebuds weren't dead on (but when are they ever?). But here we were. In a fancy sportsbar where all the business guys go to ink deals and talk about how T.J., the CEO's assistant is rumored to be messing with the CPA from JDPA and he might have an STD. I don't know, but you didn't hear it from me.



On The Clubhouse's website, they describe the place as a stylish country club environment. Never been to one, so that's how the place looked inside. There were tv's everywhere playing sports channels and we got seated at a round table fit for about 8. The place wasn't dead, but it's pretty big so there's room for everybody. Plus, it might've been after the lunch rush.

This place is a little pricey, but then again it is a stylish country club environment. For appetizers we got the Flaming Spinach & Artichoke Dip ($12). See.... I told you it was pricey.



I think when it arrived it was flaming on top. I forgot. The dip was good. Not too salty nor too bland. Just right. Some might say it was worth the twelve bucks. I say it is if I'm loaded.

flaming spinach & artichoke dip minus the flaming part


My girlfriend got the Salmon Salad. I don't remember the cost. Maybe $15, but it was one of the best salads I've tasted. (I haven't tasted many salads so my credibility in this department is laughable) I just remember the salmon was a little raw or lightly seared. I'm assuming they used sashimi grade fish for it cuz it was bomb. The combination of the sauce they used on it and the fish and salad was pretty impressive for a salad hater liker myself. If I had the money, I would get that everytime along with my main dish.

the salad that wowed me


After the amazing salad, my order came. I got the Tilapia ($15). Since I wasn't feeling in top-top shape, I didn't write too much in my notes and put "tilapia was good. fish was light." Yup. LA Times here I come! No, but I remember liking it with the creamy sauce and the rice and that green stuff in the back. If you like fish you probably won't be too disappointed.





Oh yeah, there was free bread in the beginning too!


I want to thank my girlfriend cuz she paid and it was our 2 year anniversary this year. Happy Anniversary, honey! She's the one behind the scenes of this blog doing many of the better describing that should soon come in time. Clubhouse was a good place if you got a little dough. The food is pretty good (atleast the ones we tried) and you can walk it off after by shopping. Oh wait, you might not have any money left after.

Zipangu - Costa Mesa

Zipangu
2930 Bristol St # C
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 545-2800
Type: Japanese food / sushi / fusion
Website
Map

The view from the jungles of Habana


click here to read the first half of our restaurant-hopping journey

So we had our taste of Caribbean food (Cuban to be exact) at Habana. Next door a few steps away was a Japanese sushi/fusion restaurant called Zipangu. Because it's in the same hip shopping area as Habana, it also attracts the hip and cool. Zipangu has a modern design inside. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Ask a girl or a poet to describe the details of the place if you want. Inside isn't as loud as Habana. It's a little more laid back with a loungey feeling.

Over here, we didn't order very much. We ordered one roll and a few pieces of sashimi, but I think we ended up spending more here. One reason was cuz we ordered the Maine Crunch Roll $18. The description stated, "Maine lobster with Cajun tempura, avocado, asparagus, flying fish roe and paprika soy paper topped with tempura flakes and sweet eel sauce. I don't know about you, but that sounded really good. We weren't super hungry anymore, so were hunting for quality. This roll was one of the biggest fucking let-downs in my sushi career. I had to say the F word just to emphasize how disappointed we were. For $18, that better be one damn good roll. To us, it was just weak and you could almost say bland. Maybe our expectations were high and we already ate before, but good lord! Never again.

Maine Crunch Roll. Wack son. That lobster tail is empty-- which is a similar feeling I had after eating this.


In between eating the lobster rolls, we had some sashimi. We got the salmon ($7) and yellowtail ($9). Now these were good. Nice cuts and good color. Great taste. Too bad we wasted our money on the rip-off roll. We coulda got more sashimi.

good sashimi. shoulda got more.


We went to Zipangu another time after this, and it was good-- though pricey. This place is good. I can look past the Maine Crunch Roll cuz I ain't getting it again. The second time we came I forgot what we ate, but we were happy, although sad to spend so much. I don't mind coming back here again.

Habana - Costa Mesa

Habana
2930 Bristol St # A110
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 556-0176
Type: Cuban food / restaurant
Map

Ditched work today to post this review. Not really. My car ain't healthy at the moment. So luckily for all y'all, you get to read about the stuff I ate a few months ago and look at the award-winning pictures I took.

Lately, my girlfriend and I have been doing some restaurant-hopping on occasion. It's like bar-hopping, but fatter. We'll order a little at one restaurant, then go straight to another and order a little there. We got hungry and couldn't decide whether to eat Caribbean-type food or sushi. So we decided to have a little of both. She took me to a place down the street from the South Coast Plaza Mall. It's a trendy shopping area with Urban Outfitters, some artsy stores selling different stuff, a cafe with a gypsy theme where the hip hang out to lounge and eat, and other places I didn't walk into. Now that I think about it, I've been frequenting these kind of places lately. Does that mean I'm turning into a yuppie or am I just cool and hip-- or neither still?

The first spot we hit up was a place called Habana. My girlfriend loves the sangria here. It's a Cuban restaurant that attracts young-ish, probably successful people. "Young-ish" being 30 something. (I'd like to consider myself "young" at the age of 25.) The place was pretty crowded. I forgot what day it was that we went, but we ended up eating outside cuz it was just too tight inside. We sat outside next to the parking lot (which sucks cuz it's so hard to get parking there). From there, I could see our next stop after this place, but I'll get into that on the next post.

The menu prices here aren't cheap. It ain't super expensive but I'm glad we didn't have a full meal here. We ordered the calamari fritas ($8) and the seared ahi carribean rub ($21). The menu isn't that extensive. If I had somewhat good memory, I could probably memorize the whole menu after two visits. We got some free bread that had some good butter/spread. I think I always rave about the free breads cuz I'm super hungry. This case isn't any different. I killed those carbs.

The calamari fritas were very good. The calamari was light and fluffy in a way and not too chewy. The sauce was like a salsa which was very very good. We killed that quickly and painlessly.

calamari fritas in the dark. really good.


The seared ahi caribbean rub wasn't bad. It came with garlic mashed potatoes and fried onion strings. The tuna was nice and rare. The sauce was a little tangy but not overwhelming. It wasn't filling if I remember correctly. Would I get it again? Hmmm. Maybe not.

seared ahi caribbean rub was coo


After all was said and eaten, we still weren't full. Although the calamari was good and the ahi was cool, the prices for the main meals were kind of high. If I got money to spend, cool, I'll go here if I can't think of anywhere else. If I don't, I'd rather not hit this place up. "Well that's an obvious answer," you might be thinking. But even if I'm broke-ish, I'll still hit up a sushi restaurant and spend $20-$30 per head for my meal. At the moment, I'm in the red financially, so I won't be coming back here soon. On to the next restaurant next door.....

Yotopia - Costa Mesa

Yotopia
3033 Bristol Ste R.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 432-8897
Type: frozen yogurt / dessert
Website
Map



So right after Hashigo, we go to this frozen yogurt shop called Yotopia. We went to Yogurtland a few days before, so we'd see how this place stacked up. Sorry to say it Yotopia, but you got your work cut out for you. When you walk in, the place seemed a little dimmer than Pinkberry's and Yogurtland, and it seemed like they tried to design the place to be similar to those places. They fell a little short on that. Even I noticed and my eyes suck. But you can't judge on looks alone.

The yogurt choices they have weren't that great. If you think 3 different types of flavors is enough variety, this place might be cool for you. All of them were tart flavors. We got the green tea just to try something different. I think the other choices weren't that great, so we didn't feel like we were losing anything.

On to the toppings. "Are there any mochi balls?" "No. Sorry." Damn. My favorite yogurt topping. Non-existent. Eff it. Just give me Cap N' Crunch and some Oreos and let me get outta here (I didn't actually say that). The total was maybe $3 or $4 something. No cash on either of us, so I whip out the card. "Oh, sorry. There's a $5 min charge for credit/debit cards." Aye-yay-yay. "Alright gimme some blueberries." The total came to $5.12.

I don't know. The taste was whatevers to me. I need the mochi balls man. Without it, it's just some sour dessert. Sorry for the bad picture. I just wanted to take it and get it over with.

there's no hope with Yotop(ia)


So I'm not going there again if I have a choice. It's probably not bad for some people. I guess Yogurtland just spoiled me. The guy that helped us with our order was cool, so the service wasn't bad. It's just a sad fact that there's a place superior to it in almost every aspect. Their only advantage I would say is that they're located not near any Yogurtland or Pinkberry. Sorry Yotopia. I wish you well.

Hashigo Tofu - Costa Mesa

Hashigo Korean Kitchen
3033 Bristol St
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 557-4911
Type: Korean food / tofu / restaurant
Map



redundant info.


Heard good reviews about this place on the internet. It's located kind of near the South Coast Plaza, but closer to the Active Rideshop and Urban Outfitters stores. If you don't know where those are at, then I can't really explain how to get there. I didn't drive and I'm not familiar with that area too much. Hashigo is in a small shopping plaza right next to an MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) store and a sushi place I believe.

For the non-observant, we got there at night. The place wasn't packed but there were enough people in there that you weren't really worried if the place was gonna suck. It was pretty dark inside. Almost like a club or lounge kind of lighting. The place is kind of small with modern Asian fusion-looking design. There looked like a bar at the end of the restaurant.

We got seated right away and looking at their menu, I noticed it's different from most of the other tofu spots we've been to. This place serves more than the usual tofu soups, bbq short ribs, and bulgogi. If I can recall correctly, they had some sushi items. They also had other stuff which I always forget or are too lazy to jot down in my notes. Since we came here for tofu, that's just what we ordered.

I got the seafood tofu ($8.95) which comes with the usual shrimps, clams, and oysters. My girlfriend got the-- I forgot. It's mostly all the same anyways. All the soups are the same price. Before we got the soup though, comes the moment of truth. The maker or breaker of tofu restaurants for me. The sides i.e., banchan. So first comes the pickled cucumbers and sweetened potatoes. And then come the.... and then come the.... ahem... and then come the!!! What the freak man?! That's it? Two sides? I was so shocked and appalled. This was not gonna be a good meal for me I thought. Oh well. Just gotta make due with what you got. So we dug into the measly sides, and they actually weren't bad. The pickled cucumbers weren't too tangy and sour. The sweetened potatoes tasted just right. The two went together nicely.

pickled cucumbers and potatoes... and that's it.


The soups came soon after the sides. A pleasant surprise was that the soup pot/bowl seemed bigger than most other places. Another point for Hashigo. It tasted like most other good tofu places so that's a good thing. Like I said before, most tofu spots usually know how to make their soups consistent. They all taste pretty similar to me. You gotta be having an off day or you got rotten ingredients to have bad tofu. That's just me though.

larger than most tofu soup portion?


So I was disappointed in the amount of sides we got. Luckily for them-- and us, the two sides we got were perfect compliments to the soup. My girl said she wouldn't want to go here again. I say it's better than BCD and I wouldn't mind going here if I'm in the neighborhood. It's a good place to go if you're fiending for some soon tofu and your companions want something else. They got other options available at Hashigo for them. For me, I'll stick with the tofu here.

Kura Sushi - Costa Mesa

Kura Sushi
212 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 631-3200
Type: Japanese food / sushi / restaurant
Website
Get directions





I heard about Kura Sushi while searching for a sushi place in Newport Beach. I always frequent the Monster Munching blog to get ideas and inspiration for new restaurants to try. He pretty much said that it was a good place to peep out. He also gave a breakdown of the different prices of the plates. I liked.

Kura is unique in that it's a revolving sushi restaurant. The whole restaurant doesn't revolve like the one in Sleepless in Seattle. The food is put on plates and the plates are put on a conveyor belt that goes around to all the seats and tables. The plates are different colors so you know how much each one is. See the Monster Munching blog for the breakdown of the prices cuz I forgot.



There's just too many items to list that we got just between two people. I like this place for several reasons. One is that the amounts of sushi/rolls/food is small enough so you can try other things. It's also small enough in price to try other things as well. I like the conveyor belt thing because you can get the food when you feel like it instead of ordering it all at once. One thing to note though: If you want a lot of food available on the assembly line, you should probably go during peak hours. When we went, we had to order most of the good stuff, cuz not much was coming around. You should also ask about things not on the menu they give you. We saw some other people ordering things and were like, "Damn. We shoulda ordered that." So ask.

Edamame, albacore (ponzu sauce too tangy for me), cajun salmon sushi, and regular salmon sushi. I liked the two salmons although not the greatest.


don't remember


Rainbow roll and Crunchy roll. I liked the crunchy roll. I think it was less than $3 per order.


umm... Spider roll?


More rolls with tangy ponzu sauce


Candy roll?


Good ol' California roll ordered just to take up space in my stomach so I don't order too much


I had no complaints about the place. My girlfriend didn't really like it that much. I guess she knows her sushi more, but maybe I'm the lucky one for being ignorant still. I'll go here again, but I'll check out other places in Newport/Costa Mesa first.

A glimpse of what we're capable of...

I Love Sushi - Costa Mesa

I Love Sushi
2340 Harbor Blvd.
Costa Mesa, California 92626
714-540-6195
Type: Japanese food / sushi / restaurant
Website
Map



Yup. Another sushi restaurant. And there's more coming....

"I Love Sushi." I really do. Well, mostly the baked rolls, but after Sushi Roku I've been easing into the uncooked territories more often. I found out about this unusually-named sushi restaurant when I was looking for good sushi bars in the O.C. I saw all the great reviews about the place, and I believe it was ranked in the top ten best sushi places by AOL Citysearch. I had to see for myself. Plus, people said the prices were decent. So that was a big decision-helper.

So let's see. Did I love the sushi at "I Love Sushi?" It was okay. The fried oysters ($5.95) were good.

Fried Oysters (I think it came with maybe 6 pieces)


The salmon sashimi was cool.... for the price ($9.95). My girlfriend said it wasn't that great. The crunchy roll ($7.65) was pretty cheap, but I don't recommend it for avid crunchy roll consumers. One word.... wack.

Wack Roll... I mean Crunchy Roll (back) and salmon sashimi (front)


I'd say that the Toyota Cut Roll ($8.95) was the best thing we had. I ordered that cuz some other reviewer said it was good. Thank you reviewer. The fujiyama ($7.95) was ok, but the cooked fish that it came with was not good. I didn't like the salmon sushi ($3.95) only because they put wasabi in between the fish and the rice. I don't get why they have to do that. If you want wasabi, there's some on the side. I heard that's some traditional way of preparing it, but I'm good on that.

From left to right: Toyota Cut Roll, 2 pcs. salmon sushi, and 2 pcs. fujiyama.


So does this place deserve to be in the top ten in the OC for sushi bars? To me, that's a no. If it does, I feel sorry for Orange County. Maybe I came at the wrong time, cuz most of the people who reviewed the place on Citysearch gave it really good reviews. So maybe you shouldn't take my word for it. After all, I don't consider myself a sushi connoisseur. I just know my taste buds weren't agreeing with everybody else.