An, Vini, Jeannette and I decided to go to the Nirvana Grille in Laguna Beach over the one in Mission Viejo. Originally we wanted to go early at 5 pm and do the community tables since all of the reservations were booked and these tables were "supposedly" open to the public. However, they was a private party that booked the tables. That should have been a warning sign but they called and told us they could squeeze us in but the reservation block was only for a 1:15 hr block. Uhmm. Really? who can eat a 3 course in that much time on a Saturday night? Well if they can get food service out then okay we went ahead and booked it but we should have seen the bad karma to come. :(
We made it in plenty of time and had to wait a little for our table. The restaurant was quite busy and was actually promoting a play nearby. When we ordered the waiter was quite pushy about getting our order from the menu that we didn't really have time to ponder our choices figuring we would get our 1 hr 15 min limit. We got our bread and butter (not as good as the other 2 reviewed restaurants). AK tried to order Ginger Beer and the waiter said they didn't have it. (she later got it at WF) I mean really couldn't they have restocked? I tried to order the strawberry lemonade. I got regular lemonade and didn't once get offered a refill. it was very bad service. Each drink they asked for winded up being a canned product.: Promegranate Green Tea Soda turned out to be a Hansen Green Tea and White Green Tea was a Ikko White Green Tea.
My appetizer (left) was the Chilean Mussels with Thyme Fries. It was stringed fries and almost looked exactly like Jeannette's (right) Portuguese Clams except hers had bread instead of fries. My sauce was creamy without the wine with shallots.
For my entree I ordered the Blackened Jumbo Prawns. After all of the protein from the previous restaurants, I figured seafood would be okay. The wait time between the appetizer and the entree did seem a bit long and we did remark that we wouldn't make the 1:15 mark that they gave us. I wasn't facing the manager so I didn't notice much of what was happening. When the entree arrived, the polenta did taste creamy. The girls said the starches were overwhelmingly rich and the protein was salty and I had to agreed. The carbs had a lot of butter and cream, not that I mind but it was a bit heavy. The salt was heavy handed for our taste buds and even in combination, it just didn't work well. Maybe the cooks were overwhelmed with the orders, I don't know but it was just too much.
Jumbo Blackened Prawns Jumbo Sea Scallop Butternut Squash & Portobello Mushroom
For dessert I got the Darken Molten Cake and it came fresh and hot out of the oven. The cream melted and formed a pool in the middle of the bundt. Vini and AK got the ice cream trio of Vanilla Bean, Goat Cheese Maple and Blackberry Cabernet Sorbet and Jeanette had the Grand Marnier Seasonal Fruit (Pineapple) Served over the Goat Cheese Maple Ice Cream.
So while we were finishing up our meal, the waiter brings us the check and we start to figure out the check. We are in the middle of everything and have to wait for change when the manager goes: we need your table. WTF? We go, we need change. Hello, if you MANAGED OR LOOKED AT YOUR STAFF better you would realize that you have a full house and that they are working to try and get change. Instead this guy is giving us the evil eye like we are holding his " precious table" hostage like the ring in LOTR. I mean really guy, if he was a true manager, he would be helping his staff with the register instead of working the podium like a dictator. I think his comment was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was excited to go to LB to try new foods but I guess $ can't buy class. That's sad because the people do seem nice but they were really overworked for Restaurant Week. It would have been nice to try it in a not so busy setting but I doubt I'll come again.
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