Arc Food & Libations — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

Being brutally honest here, took my brother out to celebrate his 44th birthday and highly disappointed.

First off, they do not open at 5:00 like it says on their website or my reservation. They opened at 5:05. Made me panic that I got the wrong date or wrong place and had to do a drive around and started looking at other options until someone opened the door.

Starters: fried olives. Sadly the best thing my table ate due to the uniqueness of the fried lemons.

Duckfat potatoes: cannot believe they served us burnt to the crisp.. literally all black on the outside with a very thick crust with potato you had to dig out from the middle. NOT like the pictures. This was not the only with this app but also the same with our steak... Maybe the chef and staff felt overwhelmed with the guests and forgot our order in the broiler?

Fried chicken: how can you f this up? By making tasteless, dry, thick wannabe adult tenders... Made me believe that this was the adult, not-so-fun but healthy version of a kids chicken tender.

Duck taco. 10 out of 10 would recommend! No complaints there, only that the waitress took the plate before all the artfully splattered sauce could be used so ended up dipping into the fried olive sauce.. sure it would've been even better with the whole plate.

House pizza: thought this was okay to get for my 3 year old and share with the table.. I must have missed this but THERE ARE HOT PEPPERS in this... My brother was sweating bullets and my son's tongue was on fire for the rest of dinner... When I read sausage, mushroom and cheese I thought it was just that... Not with peppers that scorched the poor tongues of half of my party... Fine for those that can handle the heat but please put a warning label.

Short rib pizza: more like mayonnaise/cheese pizza with some grated short rib... It was interesting.. but with the pile of peppers on the corner, not many were interested in that.

Tomato soup and grilled cheese: tomato soups was decent, but the grilled cheese... More like cheese with soggy soaked plain bread... The proportion of bread to soup was a bit baffling so I would name this blocks of cheese with some break with a tomato dip.

The staff was great so cannot go down to 1 star, but you go there to eat so apologies for ringing the restaurant's staff... The coffee and cigar drink was really great and the iced tea was refreshing! Cold, bottled water was greatly appreciated, but the music... One end of the table had to shout to even say anything to the other end, and flies galore. Thought that eating inside would reduce the annoying elements but it seemed like we should've brought our own fly tape above our table to eat in peace.

I wouldn't come back for food but may come back to check out the back room for drinks.. just save your money in paying a lot and being disappointed for food... We didn't even want to get into dessert due to the food quality... We ended up going for the safer bet of left overs at the end of the Susie Cake day...no dig on them.. just what happens when you try to salvage a birthday...

My wife and I consider ourselves foodies. We know good food and we appreciate when a restaurant gets it right. Unfortunately, ARC missed the mark.

We came in with a $100 Amex credit through Resy and figured we’d give it a shot. The vibe? Confused. It’s dark, cramped, and leans heavily into a gothic aesthetic but without clear purpose. The booths are tight. The bar is crammed. It feels like they moved in last week and just said, “Screw it, this is what we’ve got to work with.” Music was a bit loud depending on where you were seated, and overall, the space didn’t invite you to stay and settle in.

The food? Disappointing. We ordered: • Short rib and blue cheese pizza • Duck tacos • Chicken tenders with fries • Salmon tartare

The chicken tenders were fine, mostly saved by the sauces. The duck tacos were bland and forgettable—small portions with no punch. The pizza and salmon tartare were marginally better, but still lacked the excitement the menu promised. Nothing was outright terrible, but nothing left us wanting more either. It all felt like style over substance, and not even particularly stylish at that.

As for the drinks, we passed. The specialty cocktails didn’t appeal, and honestly, the list felt more experimental for the sake of being different than well-curated for the crowd.

Service and Ambience We had three different servers, and two were fine. One was excellent. But their uniforms seemed to follow a “black goth and sexy” dress code, which didn’t match the tone of the restaurant or the neighborhood. It came off awkward, not edgy, and it didn’t add anything to the experience. In fact, the staff often looked uncomfortable in their own outfits, which just added to the overall sense of a place that hasn’t quite figured itself out.

Bottom line We won’t be returning unless ARC clarifies its identity and delivers a dining experience that matches the menu and pricing. Right now, it feels like a concept still stuck in draft mode. I wish them luck, but...

After driving by this place for years we decided to give it a try. We read the reviews and where expecting to be delighted. I'm no Foodie but I have been dining out for 20yrs or so. The atmosphere is great, moody dark light, very "hip". Warning though it's not really a restraunt for 2 people, the plates are all shared, and the price tag matches that. 75$ steak, for 3-5 people, as an example. That made it a bit tough to explore the menu for 2 people. We ordered bruscetta bread as an appetizer, that was the best part of the meal! Not knowing what to do we ordered the "fried chicken", which turned out to be nothing more than chicken strips served with mustard, ranch and ketchup based BBQ sauce. Seems like Raising canes does a much better job with these. The batter is sweet and the sauces, well it's sauce. 15$ for about 6 pieces served in a bowl. We also ordered the grilled cheese and tomato bisque. Nothing to write home about, and because all the other portions where meant for sharing and we both eat differently it was kinda a ditch effort. The soup was more like a dip very thick, not bad soup, but not fantastic. The grilled cheese was overly cheesed and very rich, made on a big ol' bun, filling but not the way you want, I couldn't eat much because as it got cold it got to be a ton of stiff cheese . The bar tender is not schooled in making drinks, we ordered a couple cocktails and where not that impressed, that finial touch seemed to be missing from those. All and all , nice staff, nice decor, average food as far as what we had. It makes you not sure if you want to bring 6 people here , what if the 75$ steak is...