The Balcony Grill & Bar in Irvine

A Taiwanese restaurant that serves Shabu Shabu. It is located on the 2nd floor of the Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center in Irvine. They also serve fresh soy drinks by Soyumi - a fresh delicious healthy soy drink. Portions are pretty big. We ordered pineapple fried rice, braised pork chop noodles and shrimp in spicy garlic tomato sauce. My wife likes the desert from here. Dinner cost $50. As this place has a bar, lighting is dim (the only negative point for me).

Chili's Grill & Bar Restaurant

A typical US diner. Always want to try out as food on their TV ad look tasty. We had Old timer burger with cheese, shrimp taco, blackberry ice tea, etc. Looks good but taste was ordinary. When we first arrived, the waitress gave us pieces of paper for coloring/drawing, apparently they were collecting donation for the St Jude Children's Research Hospital. The finished artworks were hanged on the ceiling as part of the deco.

The Olde Ship in Santa Ana

This pub has all the favourite British dishes on the menu. I had fish and chips - the chips were fresh and crispy, just like those in the UK. The fish wasn't as deep fried as I would have hope for. Nonetheless it was a proper fish and chips portion, not like the US diners which serve fish fingers instead of cod. My wife had lamp shank, portion was huge and it was very tasty. I loved the mash potatoes with gravy that came with lamp shank. We also ordered custard toffee pudding, the custard was nice and warm. They have another pub in Fullerton, 709 N. Harbor Blvd.

BJ's Brewhouse Restaurant in Laguna Hills

BJ's is a chain pub food restaurant. Food was ok. Pizza was good, so as the salad. But my spaghetti was a bit dried, without much sauce. Fish and chips - served in mini fish portion just like the Cheesecake factory. They brewed their own beer, quite a few choices. We will probably eat at BJ's again some day.