Tabu Grill
- Price Range: $$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: No
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
61 reviews
Irvine, CA
"Great fries and burgers. Steaks are also worth coming here for. Great ambiance and wonderful staff. I'd come back here just to make chit…" read more »
10 Reviews for Tabu Grill
This is one of my favorite places to eat when I am looking for something extremely delicious. The head chef, kevin, is awesome and I love to sit at the counter with my husband and watch him cook. The pork chop is one of my favorites and the seared scallop appetizer goes greast with a crisp white wine. It's a small place so make reservations. I never go on the weekends.
Incredible......
The chef is from San Fran... and the food tastes like it!!
The flavors and ingredients are fused like magic...
The service is very good and The bakery Chef came out and personally introduced herself to us and gave us a glass of wine with our flourless choco cake!!!
Gretchen was our server and this girl is on the ball... she knowledgeable and gracious.... I love the environment .. small, loud with amazing smells emanating from the open kitchen.
Very romantic and great for parties of 4 or less....
You will NOT be disappointed .....If you are vegetarian the chef will make you whatever you want and will add his own twist to it....
Ingredients are fresh and the quality is very good... highly recommend this place...... It gives off NO pretentious vibes... It really does make me feel like I'm in Northern California.
This place is just wonderful! However, there were things I hated about it. It's kinda hard to spot while you're driving and looking for it, and there is no parking. We had to drive up and down the street to find an open spot. No such luck, so we called the restaurant and asked them where their lot was and they directed us to a small, underground-like lot in a business structure right next to the restaurant. This was okay but it's so cramped down there that if there's a lot of cars in there already and you have a medium size car, you probably will get stuck. Thank goodness my car is a small two seater so we were cool.
Okay so now, we walk in and the place is small, dark and very romantic. The tables are very close together and if an annoying party is seated next to you ( which was the case for us) it kind of ruins your night. I hate to be forced to listen to other people's obnoxious conversations, especially if they're total snobs trying to throw daggers at my sexy sister and I!! ;-)
Anyway, back to the restaurant, the food was awesome. Bone in rib eye and risotto, my gosh, fabulous. My sis had the maple glazed pork chops, heavenly. I forgot what we had for dessert but I remember we finished all of them cause they were so good. Service was good not great.
Overall, I would love to go back with my husband because this place is super romantic.
This is one of my favorite restaurants. Keep an eye out for it or you might just drive right by it. It's at the intersection of PCH and Nyes. Parking is scarce, so be prepared to park in the housing area on the same side of PCH and walk over.
One of the partners is Nancy Wilhelm, ex David Wilhelm spouse. One thing she learned from David is how to create and run a great restaurant. She might even do it a little better than him.
It's tiny, but oh so cozy. The staff is very friendly and very knowledgeable. And the food? You'll be wondering when you'll be back as you eat your dessert.
I have to say this... If you go, GET THE SCALLOPS!
They have a really nice wine list and the servers can help you pick something out if you can't decide. The menu is awesome with a nice selection of appetizers and a great variety of entrees. But be sure to listen to the specials, because if Oso Buco is available you should give that some serious thought.
This is just a great place to celebrate a special occasion with a few friends or have a romantic meal for two. Be sure to make a reservation, and if your party consists of two people I suggest you request the tall table in the corner. You can sit side-by-side and face the restaurant in an elevated table, for everyone to envy.
Enjoy!
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Tabu Grill is a 3.5 star restaurant trying to pretend to be a 5 star establishment.
The place itself is decorated nicely, with a touch of Polynesian/island flair. A closer inspection shows wear and tear - seams ripping, paint peeling, etc. As many have noted, this is a small place, which adds to a cozy factor. We sat nearest the back bench table, and felt like we were "on parade" as soon as a couple was seated there.
Because the place is small, the wait staff seem awkard - not sure where to loiter in between helping you. Some chose the small area outside of the bathroom; ours chose the front door area (which meant it was almost impossible to get her attention when we wanted something). The assistant waiter was fabulous - running around, helping with drinks, bread, etc. Beware of the noise levels - I think they play the music fairly loud so you don't feel like you can hear your neighbors' conversations. And heaven help you in the bathroom - bring ear plugs!
The food was good, some was great, but it wasn't fabulous. The bread is definitely to die for. It was, perhaps, the best part of the meal. It's almost garlic bread, and they prep it fresh per each order. Yummo!
For appetizers, I had the scallops and DH had foie gras. The scallops were cooked to perfection, but were a bit chewy. (In other words, the quality of the ingredients were iffy but the execution was good.) The lemon beur blanc was excellent. The foie gras was good, not great. The portion was rather small and the accompaniments were a bit off. For better foie gras, try Blue Fin in Newport Beach.
For mains, I had the Australian Kobe flat iron steak and DH had the ribeye and risotto. DH's entree was excellent. My steak was so-so, and the blue mac and cheese for which I had been thinking about since making the reservation fell short of my expectations. You could taste the blue cheese, but there were large pieces of onion and red pepper, which didn't seem to go very well.
The wines we had were good, but nothing remarkable. It was disappointing that the wait staff couldn't provide more information and guidance on the wines, especially in terms of pairing with the food.
All in all, considering the price, the place wasn't worth it. I would expect better quality and much better service from an establishment charging such fees.
This was one of the best date nights...It's Sat. night, the restaurant was busy and although we had a reservation, we waited another half hour for a table inside (outdoor seating not practical - a bit noisy from PCH and very cold...)
TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT.
The food was good, the cozy atmosphere was nice, the wine is on the pricey side, but all in all, just a really nice place and I can't wait to go back again...
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I went to Tabu Grill last night with my parents! My Mom claims it as one of her favorite restaurants and before she moves back to the east coast, I got taken to dinner. (Yes, my parents are pretty cool.)
The food is simply amazing...not a bad choice of the entrees we had...seared Yellowfin Tuna, these ridiculous Scallops (not to be missed if you go), and probably the best grilled pork chop I've ever eaten. We brought our bottle, but the wine list is also pretty impressive. Okay, and as a single guy, the servers there were pretty outstanding. :) Please go...Tabu Grill is pretty great.
laguna is super cute -- someone please do some magic so that i can be a laguna local. i wanna iive in a town where the surf shop has a back-to-school sale.
tabu rocks! we created our own tasting menu from a gazillion appetizers and an entree. service was perfectly balanced between helpful and distant -- no, "hi, my name is so-so and i will crack stupid jokes and disrupt your conversation flow."
btw, how is gazillion not a real word? it's so fun to say -- gazillion. i think it should be another word for 3, so we get to say it often. how many cookies would you like? a gazillion, thanks!
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We really enjoyed our meal at Tabu Grill. Everything but the wine was excellent. I especially liked the ravioli with walnuts. The lamb was also tasty, and the panna cotta was a nice way to finish. Our waitress and the other staff were friendly and helpful. Only drawback is the small space. Overall, I would highly recommend this place.
Visited this restaurant for the first time this past Saturday. Ambience is nice. Small tight quarters. I normally don't like close quarter dining but it was loud enough that you felt comfortable enough to carry a conversation and know that the table next to you has no chance of eavesdropping. Not like Bluefin where you can hear the conversation from even two tables over. The din of the happy customers probably had something to do with it.
Lily ordered the bone in rib eye and I ordered the seared ahi tuna. Yes, you heard me correctly I ordered the light and refreshing dish while Lily ordered the man's dish. Our friends Joanne and Ken ordered the pork chops in brown sugar sauce and the bone in ribeye as well. We all pretty much cleaned our plates so that's usually a good sign. We topped off the dinner with an order of the tahitian vanilla panna cotta and the dark chocolate boca negra cake. We both liked the panna cotta more so than the cake for different reasons. I wasn't really into the richness of the dark chocolate while Lily doesn't like dark chocolate period. Whereas the panna cotta was nice because it was light in flavor and texture. We had a great waiter and even though I state in the review that it's not child friendly I didn't mind bringing our baby girl as the place was so bustling that it drowned out her occasional tirades that any 2 year old will get into once in a while.
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