Onotria Wine Country Cuisine in Costa Mesa

An Italian restaurant in Costa Mesa, it has a couple of function rooms. There is courtesy valet, no self parking available. Nice setting and friendly service. After we ordered our dishes, the waiter pushed a trolley of tapas for us to choose an extra. Their special were wood fired pizza. The linguine was nice but without much cream sauce. The risotto was very tasty and delicious. Overall, we were impressed with the restaurant.

Olive Garden in Irvine

An Italian chain restaurant. Most dishes come with refillable free soup or salad. I ordered Seafood Portofino and my wife ordered half sided panini. The spaghetti was slightly salty. $37 for 2 people. For the price we paid,  food was okay and we had plenty of leftover to take home.

Buca di beppo in Irvine

An Italian restaurant recommended by my brother, located in Irvine, close proximity to Tustin Marketplace. When we first entered the restaurant, we had to go through the kitchen area before you arrived at our table - that's certainly a different experience. Decor is kind of European style, with Italian photos and artefacts on the walls as well as inside the restrooms. They had 2 portions size for most dishes - small (feeds up to 3 ppl) and large (feeds up to 5 ppl). They used sweet red peppers cans as stands for pizza plates. In fact these cans ain't empty, wonder whether red peppers are actually inside or not. We ordered margarita pizza and seafood linguine to share, plus a small cesear salad. Food was tasty, cost us $44. Likely to go back for more.

Romano's Macaroni Grill in Cerritos

Second time we came to this Italian restaurant in Cerritos. They have an open kitchen where you can see how their food is made. We ordered meatball spaghetti, pepperoni pizza, Romano's sampler (some deep fried seafood stuff) and grilled prawns. Food was okay, nothing spectacular, service was a bit slow. Atmosphere was good, there's a guy who sang 'Happy Birthday' in Italian for birthday boy/girl. $75 for 3 people. I doubt that we will return to this restaurant in future.

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.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza in Carlsbad

We came to this restaurant after we went shopping at the Carlsbad Premier Outlet. The restaurant itself looks like a sports bar kind of place. There were quite a few choices for think crust pizza on the menu. We were genuinely surprised by the quality of pizza and spaghetti, both dishes were delicious. The spaghetti dish wasn't too authentic though as noodle was used. $35 dinner for 2 wasn't bad at all. If we ever go to the outlet again, we wouldn't mind coming to this restaurant again.

Alejo's Presto Italian Restaurant in Westchester

My uncle brought us to this fine busy Italian restaurant in Westchester. We were served bread with garlic, which's different to those that served olive oil. House red wine was good too. Their Pizza weren't the typical American deep pan pizza, they were just like what we used to have in Europe - thin crust. The Spaghetti was creamy and delicious. The photo didn't do justice to the food. Halibut was a let down though, dry and rather fishy. All in all, good service and we will come back for more.

California Pizza Kitchen in Tustin's Market Place

After watching a movie at the Edward Cinema Tustin Market Place, we had dinner in the nearby restaurant called California Pizza Kitchen (aka CPK). Price is okay, 3 people for $40 - 1 starter to share and 3 main dishes. We were given a 'Thank You Card', basically a prize winning ticket inside, it could be anything from a 4-night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel at Beverly Hills to cash reward. However, the catch is... you cannot open the envelope and reveal the prize yourself as it becomes null and void; so you have to go back to the restaurant to let the CPK manager to open it for you in your next visit. So tempting to tear it open!