Mendocino Farms — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

Perspective.

So many years ago I lifted Mendocino Farms to the highest pedestal of sandwichdom that it's hard to see and even tell others of it's fall from grace. The simplest way I can put it is to reread your favorite book time and time again at different times in your life to see how you relate to things. The book did not change, but your did.

All the wonders of the Marina Del Rey location stood tall for a long time. I actually didn't even realize there were a half dozen others throughout LA. I fawn'd over this and had high expectations. Years later when they venture out of LA and into OC I took my place at the front of the lines and waited patiently for my fix. The past 4 visits have proved that for me, that level of sandwich love is just a memory. Perhaps it's my own foodie maturation, but I found the kurobuta bahn mi to be dry, overly sweet, the slaw didn't compliment as it once did, the bread, ciabatta didn't work the way it once did for me. I became traditional on my sandwiches. The sizes have stayed the same, the quality of the food, cooking remained high along with a chic unique décor, love the writing and designs on the wall, but to me it's doesn't seem as centric a theme. Love the organic and small farm sourced meats, produce. The set up here is a little confusing, but the parking is just as bad as MDR as are the prices. What Mendocino farms doesn't really account for is that many of restaurants here in OC, but mores o in SD source locally, organically which to me are better than using heirloom breeds and farming co-ops.

Pesto basil pasta salad was ok, definitely needed more garlic. Probably should have made that one a caprese version. I was not a fan of the honey ham in the summer cubano, that and the plantains natural sweetness and the mendo mustard had way too many sweet ingredients to counter with the mojo and dill. I loved the aged white cheddar in the country club, they should definitely use that in a mac & cheese, it's actually one of my secret ingredients in mine, but the bread was too rustic and the red onions were overpowering. Why does everyone think that red onions compliment every sandwich or salad or anything with lettuce or tomatoes. Come on people.

Love the option to get smashed avo. I dig the shaved chicken items, but found them dry, not fully brought back to life with the aioli, pesto and other sauces. My favorite sandwich is the Italian love, the fennel salami is excellent along with the spicy giardiniera, ditch the herb aioli, go with their medno mustard with avo on top, not inside. Basil pesto vinaigrette is not as sophisticated as it sounds, but the mustard dressing on the steak cobb was excellent. That was a very round flavor set, easily the most whole. The lemonade is too sweet.

Parking sucks because they basically share with Starbucks which is equally as busy at times.

They certainly are no longer at 5 star in my mind and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since they are still newish but they are probably in all reality closer to the 3 stars than 4. The game has changed and so many places...

Consistent food and service, fairly priced. Staff is clearly well trained and will often greet you and ask if you need anything or if you are waiting on an order. My only complaint is they almost never include utensils for online orders (even when you check 'Include utensils', so I hope you have a spoon if you order soup.

Also, not sure if they are under contract with Mendicino's or what, but they have useless "valet parking" some days, which just makes the already small parking lot a bit of a zoo. The valet stand is literally at the parking spots, so it's actually less efficient when there is a valet there. Seems like this same valet company just scams local businesses or lot owners into taking over their parking lots or something, as it seems semi common in costa mesa/newport, and it's always the same valet company. It takes six seconds to pull into a parking spot and several minutes to valet, but they reserve half the parking lot for valet, so it becomes full, and you are forced to valet since those are usually the only open spots. It works in some parking lots, but definitely not this one which is already a narrow entryway that isn't really even two lanes wide and an already small...

This place knows how to treat their loyal customers right. My local Mendo’s is in Tustin, but they close earlier than this location, so I had to travel a bit further to get the salad I was craving. I got the avocado superfood salad for takeaway, and when I got home, I realized that they hadn’t added the chicken that I had paid for. It wasn’t a huge deal because I’d literally smoked a whole chicken two days before, so I was able to add the leftovers to my salad and it was still delicious. But the next time I ordered there over the phone, I asked if they would please make sure they included the chicken because they’d forgotten it last time. When I arrived, they informed me that since they’d made the mistake last time around, my meal was on the house. Restaurants make mistakes sometimes, and that’s not necessarily a problem for me. It becomes a problem for me when I bring it to their attention and they brush it under the rug or don’t offer to make it right. Not only did Mendo’s make it right, they went above and beyond. THIS is how you run a business, and THAT (along with the quality of their amazing food) is why I will be a Mendo’s...