AnQi Bistro — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

Food: Their award winning garlic noodles is truly a must try. It definitely is one of my favorite garlic noodles around the area. was not a fan of garlic until I tasted this dish at AnQi! The fillet mignon was actually medium rare. Mostly seared outside and just enough redness in the middle to be medium rare. It was so soft and plump. Very nice texture and easy to eat. Keep in mind that it leans more towards the sweet side than savory due to the sauce. The truffle sashimi was also good, but lacked the quantity I was expecting for the price I paid. If you have one appetizer to choose from, hands down I would recommend to get their Award-Winning Tombo Tuna Tacos. The mix of flavors and textures of the tuna sashimi,white truffle, caviar, avocado, and crisped taco shells all complemented one another so well. It is delish!

Service: The service is exceptional. Servers are very attentive and gave very helpful advice on the menu. Very knowledgeable about the ingredients in the dishes, which really helps if have any allergies. They go above and beyond to accommodate your wants with the menu. When there was a mistake on one of our orders, they immediately took it back and cooked a completely new dish to accommodate.

Cost: I think that for the amount of food I receive, AnQi really sits at the more I expensive side of the spectrum.

Overall: If you're into Asian fusion, looking for a nice sit down restaurant with great aesthetics , food and service (& not mind paying a more than your average restaurant) this is definitely a place for you. It's also located at South coast plaza so it's a very convenient place to eat if you want to take a break...

We came on a Thursday night ...was seated within ten minutes without reservation. Dinning area is dimly lit, the music was almost too loud. We ordered jumbo prawn with chorizo rice (38$) . The prawn was not overcooked but the rice and chorizo was not a good combination. The sweetness and freshness of the prawn was over shadowed by the salty sour spicy chorizo. The sauce just kind of sits there ..not enhancing the dish in any way. The other dish we ordered was butterfish in saffron red rice and broccoli rabbe(35$). You can also have the fish with noodles. We opted for rice. The fish was cooked very well with a black bean glaze. Tender and moist. For the rice , we could not detect any saffron at all. A light yet slightly creamy and may be little too salty sauce envelops the red rice. Both portions are extremely tiny . All in all nothing spectacular. If you want to show off to your date and pretend you are a young hip successful person, this is the perfect place for u. Basically mom's cooking slightly fancied up. Would I come back? probably not. My moms cooking is much more to my taste, and I am sure I my stomach will be satisfied. The flavors of the two dishes we sampled are not quite 'there'. There are other items on the menu but majority of them are basically Asian fusion fare fancied up to match the price. Flavor wise the two items we had, seem to not completely melded. Perhaps a little more sweetness would have cause more excitement to my taste buds. Too bad since I wanted this place to do well. And yes, I ate at Crustacean ( sister restaurant ) and was thoroughly disappointed there. Even their famous garlic noodles left much...

AnQi Bistro – A Spectacular Dining Experience

I recently revisited AnQi Bistro, and my experience was nothing short of exceptional. Two years ago, I wasn’t impressed, but this time, everything was on point.

We started with the Caesar salad, which was surprisingly delectable. The crispy jam lettuce and the warm crisps added a delightful texture. Then came the King salmon, paired with a side of vegetables. While the vegetables were mediocre, the salmon itself was well-prepared.

The absolute standout was the Brussels sprouts and cauliflower—one of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever had, with a generous portion size. The garlic noodles, though a smaller portion, were perfectly balanced, especially since we were saving room for dessert. We also added chicken thigh skewers, and despite typically not being a fan of dark meat, I found them fresh, flavorful, and surprisingly enjoyable.

For dessert, we ended the night with the tableside ice cream experience, which was mind-blowing! Watching them make the ice cream right in front of us added to the excitement. It was served with a warm cookie, crisp peanut brittle, custard, and jam—pure perfection.

Our server, Thuy, was fantastic, pacing our meal perfectly and giving us a much-needed break before dessert since we devoured everything so quickly.

Pictures don’t do justice because the it’s a dark restaurant with a cool Vegas vibe.

This was a completely different experience from my visit two years ago. I highly recommend AnQi Bistro, and I’ll definitely be back. Posting some pictures and videos to...