Mimi’s Cafe Reopening Celebration - Irvine
Press release for Mimi’s Cafe remodel launch that is starting in Orange County. They are going to be installing full service bars and updating the decor.
MIMI’S CAFE BRINGS NEW LOOK TO IRVINE
Upscale Casual Restaurant Plans Reopening Celebration on 4030 Barranca Parkway
TUSTIN, Calif. (November 17, 2008) – Mimi’s Cafe, a collection of upscale casual dining restaurants, will celebrate the grand reopening of its Irvine restaurant with a series of community events. City officials and community members will attend the ribbon cutting on Thursday, November 20, while more than $3,000 worth of free gift cards and coupons will be offered to guests. Prior to the ribbon cutting, Wednesday, November 19 will be a day of delicious fundraising with a percentage of the day’s proceeds benefiting Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). During these events, guests can experience the redesigned restaurant and sample Mimi’s Cafe’s new “Just Enough” – favorite menu items now available in smaller portions – and “Comfort Classics” prepared fresh daily from scratch.
“Mimi’s Cafe has been part of the Irvine community for many years. We are thrilled to share the enhanced Mimi’s Cafe dining experience with our loyal guests and new visitors.” said Tim Pulido, president of Mimi’s Cafe.
The Irvine location follows recent reopenings in San Bernardino and Laguna Niguel as the newly updated décor will eventually roll out to the 139 locations nationwide. The new design also includes a full service bar with specialty drinks including the Mimitini and Fresh Squeezed Margaritas.
As part of the Irvine reopening, Mimi’s Cafe will be raising funds for CHOC. “We are thankful for all of the years of support from Mimi’s Cafe. It’s a great way to get the community involved in a fun way,” said Zachariah Moonitz, manager of special events. Funds raised will benefit the Childlife’s program, which has aided hundreds of thousands of Orange County families.
To mark its official reopening, Mimi’s Cafe has the following community events taking place:
Wednesday, November 19
Food, Friends & Fun Day – Irvine guests can help give back to the community. With the support of the Small Guild, Mimi’s Cafe is donating 15 percent of the day’s proceeds to CHOC for everyone that presents the special flyer. To receive the flyer, please contact Jeanne Turner at jeannet@mimiscafe.com.
Thursday, November 20
Meet Me at Mimi’s – The first 75, 18-year-old plus guests at Mimi’s Cafe will receive free gift cards valued up to $100 beginning at 11 a.m. Other valuable offers will be awarded totaling more than $3,000 in giveaways throughout the day. Mimi’s Cafe West Coast director of operations, Steve Standlea; city officials, Nour Al-Hashimi and Amy Choo; and CHOC will participate in the official ribbon cutting at 10:30 a.m.
The Irvine Mimi’s Cafe is located at 4030 Barranca Parkway and restaurant hours are from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information on Mimi’s Cafe, please visit www.mimiscafe.com.
About Mimi’s Cafe
Mimi’s Cafe is a collection of upscale casual dining restaurants with 139 locations in 22 states. Mimi’s Cafe is a unit wholly owned by Bob Evans Farms, Inc. a publicly traded company (NASDAQ ticker symbol BOBE) is known and loved for its full breakfast, lunch and dinner menus with high-quality, eclectic cuisine, unparalleled service and tastefully appointed décor.
About CHOC
Children’s Hospital of Orange County’s (CHOC) mission is to nurture, advance and protect the health and well-being of children.
Veggie Grill Pre-Grand Opening - Irvine
We had the pleasure of being invited to the pre-grand opening of the newest Veggie Grill location in Irvine. It was a reservation only meal provided to us free of charge! Although both Veggie Grill and Native Foods have been on our list to review, we just had never got around to dining there. I’m glad we finally made it, because the food was delicious and would have fooled most meat eaters. Their grand opening will be on Friday, November 21st, In celebration of the grand opening, the Veggie Grill will be donating 20 percent of restaurant sales to the Irvine Public Schools Foundation from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23.
We were able to sample a starter and two entrées, along with drinks, and some dessert. I’m going to do a little different then normal since this isn’t an official review due to the restaurant not being officially open yet.
Veggie Grill - Chill Out Wings ($6.25)
Veggie Grill - Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ ($8.95)
Veggie Grill - Chipotle BBQ ($8.50)
Chill Out Wings ($6.25)
Bite sized chillin’ chickin’ with our tangy BBQ sauce. These were great, they had near chicken consistency, just a little softer then real chicken. The white sauce is the chipotle ranch.
Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ ($8.95)
Crispy fried chillin’ chickin’, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, southwestern spiced vegan mayo. Mrs. DanGarion commented that she probably would order it without the mayo next time, but she liked it. It had a lot of spiciness to it. The chickin’ had a little firmer consistency then the wings.
Chipotle BBQ ($8.50)
Shredded veggie-steak, marinated in our tangy BBQ sauce, with chipotle ranch, caramelized onion, lettuce, tomato. I liked this a lot the veggie-steak actually held together and fought me when I tried to bite it, like real steak would. My one problem with this sandwich is that it had a sort of cigarette smokiness to it that some people could be put off by.
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- Veggie Grill - Chill Out Wings ($6.25)
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- Veggie Grill - Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ ($8.95)
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- Veggie Grill - Chipotle BBQ ($8.50)
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- Veggie Grill Enterance
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- Veggie Grill Counter
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- Veggie Grill Drink Station
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- Veggie Grill Sign
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- Veggie Grill Store Front
We didn’t get a picture of our dessert, which was carrot cake, but it was really good, the frosting had the perfect sweetness to it.
Rating: 
the Veggie Grill
The Irvine Spectrum
71 Fortune Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Phone (949)727-9900
The Counter - Irvine
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- The Counter, Irvine, California
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- The "Fifty-Fifty" with Sweet Fries and Onion Strings
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- Burger with Avocado
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- Burger with Grilled Onions and Bacon
So the day has come, we finally made it to The Counter! I’ve heard so much about this burger joint. After all the fanfare from their Santa Monica start, to their launch in Orange County, I was expecting to have to wait 30 minutes to be seated. But fortunately for myself and Mrs. DanGarion we were immediately seated; the advantage of arriving at 5:30 PM on a Thursday! The first thing you notice as you enter The Counter, is the bar, since it’s right there in front of you at the entrance, it’s not a large bar by any means, but because it’s at the entrance and the entire place is surrounded by windows the bar really stands out. From the looks of it the bar serves only wine and beer, and they have a pretty interesting array of beers to choose from. But tonight wasn’t about beer; it was about trying our first burgers from The Counter.
First off The Counter is sort of like the reverse version of what Flakey Jakes was, and Fuddruckers is; you get a burger, and lots of toppings to put on it, but instead of doing it yourself you pay a little more for The Counter’s cook to do it for you. When you are seated the hostess hands you a clipboard with an order sheet to fill out so they can make your burger to order. You have a choice of the type of patty (beef, turkey, veggie, grilled chicken); along with the size (1/3 lb, 2/3 lb, and the gluttonous 1 lb). I can tell you one thing, I like to eat, but even I couldn’t eat a one pound hamburger! I’m not going to name off every choice you have for your toppings, but I will mention a few of the different toppings; herb goat cheese spread, dried cranberries, scallions, sun dried tomatoes, apricot sauce. Wow that list almost sounds like a burger someone would put together doesn’t it? Along with the toppings you also have a choice of three types of buns, with English muffin being the somewhat unusual choice. We tend to like the more traditional choices when it comes to burgers so we didn’t steer too off the traditional path when we constructed our burger masterpieces. I went with; 1/3 lb beef, cheddar, grilled onions, lettuce blend, tomatoes, honey cured bacon, mayonnaise and red relish on a hamburger bun. In case anyone is asking what red relish is, it’s just traditional sweet pickle relish mixed with ketchup (wow that’s pretty gourmet isn’t it?). Mrs. DanGarion went with 1/3 lb beef, cheddar, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and mayonnaise. Pretty boring burgers we got, eh? To go along with the burgers I ordered a “Fifty - Fifty “of Sweet Fries and Onion Strings.
Our fried goodness of sweet fries and onion strings arrived about 10 minutes after we placed our order. I dug in straight for the sweet fries, while my wife went for the strings. Along with the fried goodies they give you three dipping sauces to enjoy. The waitress told us which sauces were for what, but I broke the rules and used whatever sauce I wanted whenever I wanted, HA! The sweet friends were good, much like ones I’ve had at other establishments. The onion strings were a lot like the “Awesome Blossom” from Chili’s, which isn’t a bad thing, unless you are looking to watching your calorie intake. Fortunately for us it wasn’t as big of an order as you would get from Chili’s.
About 5 minutes later our burgers arrived. The first thing you notice about a burger from here is that they are stacked tall! These things must have been about 5 inches tall, which for someone like me with a bad jaw, can be very intimidating! Honestly though I can’t say I was blown away as I was eating my burger. Neither was my wife. That’s not to say the burger wasn’t good, it was a really good burger, but it wasn’t the best we’ve ever had. I have to give it to The Counter though, they do a good job on the burger, and all the ingredients were fresh and had a good taste to them.
My review of The Counter really was a lot of build up, just like I heard before I went there, lots of build up; but in the end you are left with just a normal burger. Granted the concept is different and I have to give that to them, but it’s not the type of place I would go out of my way to eat at.
As for our service, it was average. Our waiter was nice and for the most part took care of us and asked how everything was. Total bill was right about $32 for two burgers, two soft drinks, and the “fifty-fifty” order, a little more then you would spend at Red Robin or the equivalent sit down burger chain joint.
05/09/2008
Rating:
The Counter
Woodbury Town Center
Irvine, CA 92620
(949) 336-7272
Yard House - Irvine
Of the three Yardhouses I’ve gone to this is our favorite to visit because after we stuff ourselves with half price happy hour appetizers we can walk some of it off window shopping at the Irvine Spectrum.
My experiences at the Yardhouse have strictly been with drinking beer and eating appetizers so unfortunately I will not be able to put in my two cents when it comes to their dinner or desserts but I’ve read the menu and seen other peoples plates to come to the opinion that their food sounds and looks really good. And if you are feeling happy because of the delicious malty, barley, hoppy beverage in front of you what’s it matter!
I love their beer, there isn’t much more to really say about that. I mean the place has over 100 beers and if you like beer there is no possibility you will be disappointed in their beer.
As for the appetizers here are the ones I’ve had and recommend.
Lettuce Wraps, nice for a light appetizer.
Onion Ring Tower, not much different then most places but comes with a good sauce.
Fried Calamari, not the best I’ve had, but good if you like calamari.
Buffalo Wings, nice and spicy.
Firecracker Wings, bringing a little more heat to the table. I liked this a lot.
I don’t recommend the Grilled Jamaican Wings, because they just didn’t have enough taste, plus the ones we got didn’t seem to be cooked enough (probably because they are grilled).
Our service has always been good, with the wait staff always checking to see if you need another drink.
Rating:
Yard House
71 Fortune Dr
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 753-9373
The Melting Pot Restaurant - Irvine
What a complete waste of money and time!
I really wanted to enjoy my dinner at The Melting Pot. I had heard it was a pretty good place on a number of different occasions from other people, and also from the guy on KLSX 97.1 that does the food show on the weekends. I was ready to fall in love with The Melting Pot. But The Melting Pot decided to slap me across the face and shit in my double boiler!
I called on Friday to make a reservation for Monday, not a problem they had a 7:30 PM spot open (not the 6:30 or 7 we wanted but that’s fine). We arrive at 6:45 and they say we can be seated whenever we want (we were still waiting on 2 from our party of 4 so we go the bar). We have a couple drinks at the bar and at 7:25 we go to be seated. They walk us through the entire building to the very back, we pass empty table after empty table as they lead us to the furthest back spot of the building (this is important as the night goes on). We decide to get the special they have that’s the 4 course meal, cheese, salad, meat, dessert, called The Big Night Out (basically $90 a couple). We order a couple of the Strawberry Basil Lemonade (come to find out they are $9.75! each!) which were really good but overpriced for only having some strawberry twist vodka, no other alcohol in them. After a couple minutes our cheese arrives (Mediterranean Cheese Fondue and Fiesta Cheese Fondue), the highlight of the night! The cheese was wonderful and honestly could of been a meal in it’s own. Next was the salad, very good caesar salad. Then everything started to go downhill…
Our meat was brought out and things were looking good. The waitress got our oil and broth ready for our table, she tells us quickly of all the cook times for each thing on our plate. It would probably benefit them to have list of cook times for people that get 6 types of meat that all have different cook times especially when they have two different fondue bowls to cook in that also cook things in different lengths of time! After running off all cooking times she leaves. We discuss amongst each other the various cook times and decide just to wing it. Everything is looking good over on our broth pot, but the pot with oil doesn’t seem to be bubbling up like it should if you are frying food. It continues to just sit there doing nothing as we wait for our waitress to come back. After about 10-15 minutes she comes back and after showing her the problem she proceeds to get a manager who fiddles with the pot and decides the heating element needs replaced. Another 5 minutes passes and they replace the heating element. Even though 20 minutes passes and the oil is cool they decide not to replace the oil. Since the oil wasn’t replaced we had to wait another 10 minutes till it was able to get to cooking temperature. While we are waiting to use the oil we go ahead and just use the single broth pot for a majority of our food. Well over 1 hour passes without much interaction with the waitress other then refills to my iced tea, she never asks the rest of the group if they want more drinks or water, they had to ask for water eventually. It’s 9:40 and she takes our dessert order. She drops off the chocolate and things to dip in it and leaves. We eat our dessert and sort of just sit there waiting for her to come back with the check. She comes by at around 10:00 and I ask for the check, 10 minutes pass by and she finally comes back with it. I place my payment in with the bill and 10 more minutes pass as we wait for her to take it. We finally are able to leave at 10:25. 3 Hours for dinner. No wonder they are always so booked! Not to mention there were lots of empty seats, but for whatever reason we were sat in the back but when each of our members went to the bathroom she was up front near the bar talking with the bar staff, no wonder she kept taking so long.
Last couple things. The cheese was great! The meat portion was pretty good, but nothing amazing. The dessert was ho-hum, for what you are paying the milk chocolate should have been something of quality but it wasn’t really that tasty, this coming from my wife who absolutely LOVES chocolate.
Service was just way to slow. No wonder they charge so much and are always booked, the wait staff isn’t that great.
I would have expected the manager to comp us some of our bill for the issue with the burner, especially since it took nearly 30 minutes for it to be fully resolved (but I’ll take blame on not bringing this up).
Lastly we used our Entertainment Card which is supposed to get you a discount. The discount was applied AFTER tax which is not correct. Discounts are to be applied before Tax, they cannot tax you for services, items that are discounted. This would be like the grocery store charging you all the tax on everything and then taking the coupons off.
I’d rather just get my own fondue set. Then I’m responsible for the service.
Rating:
The Melting Pot Restaurant
2646 Dupont Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 955-3242
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