Terrace by Mix Mix — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

My fiancé and I have eaten here NUMEROUS times. It was one of the first places we went to eat when we moved in the area. It’s a place we’ve taken others to and recommend to people. We loved this restaurant.

Which is why this experience was so DISAPPOINTING.

Let me preface this by saying- service has always been amazing and that didn’t change. Our server was wonderful. The food however- took a HUGE dive. And the chef…. I don’t even know what to say about what was the cause for why the chef did what they did.

I ordered the Angus Hanger steak for the first time. The menu description read: “potato gratin, asparagus, and peppercorn sauce.” When the dish came I was a bit surprised to see TWO little squares of gratin potato and THREE measly asparagus stalks.

One of the reasons we liked Terrace was the portions were healthy sized, you know sometimes at frou-frou places they give you a bite on a huge plate. But that had never been the case before now… so I brushed it off.

I tried to cut into the gratin potato with my fork, because gratin is supposed to be fork tender, and couldn’t. I used my steak knife and had to really dig into the plate. I tasted the potatoes and they were CRUNCHY and BLAND. I shook that off too, thinking “okay I can have some of my fiancé’s risotto. Everyone has an off day.”

I then cut into my steak, which I ordered MEDIUM, hoping to see a nice warm pink center. Was SHOCKED that it was completely BROWN. Not even a hint of pink. The steak was pre cut so I sliced into every piece with the same results.

I was sad but my fiancé’s Mary’s Farm Chicken with risotto was delicious. I kindly asked the server over and informed them that the meat wasn’t cooked and the dish wasn’t satisfactory. I asked if I could just have some risotto to go instead, since we had a prior engagement and needed to head out soon.

No one came over to check on us, which was another odd thing. Granted nothing had ever happened at Terrace before, but usually with upscale restaurants they take extra care with complaints. I wasn’t looking for anything special or to make a big deal. I didn’t ask to speak to anyone. I worked in the food industry for eight years, I get it. It’s not the server’s fault and everyone does have off days. I was willing to write this off as one of those days.

The server brought the risotto to go with ANOTHER fresh steak. I thought in my head “Oh that’s nice.” Thinking that was the chef’s way of apologizing.

Nope! When we got home and opened the container- we saw that the steak was RAW. Not, rare RAW. So raw that you could see the white fat in the meat. The risotto was UNDERCOOKED and OILY. I cooked the steak myself. Not reheated it. Cooked it. In a pan. Just to try and enjoy it.

Needless to say we won’t be going back. All the other mediocre things aside- the chef either truly doesn’t know steak temperatures, or decided to give me a completely raw steak as an F-you for complaining. Both assumptions...

We were a party of 4 who opted for the Chef's Counter Tasting Menu. For this, you make a $10/person deposit which is applied to the $85/person, 6-course prix fixe. Generally, I LOVE chef's counter/table and tasting menus; this was no different. This tasting menu was more approachable (read: great bang for your buck in a nice-casual setting); it was very reasonably priced for what we got without the formality of fine dining...which is exactly what we wanted. Chef Trevor is an amazing chef; our group just LOVED every bite of each dish, using the bread that was served in the first course to soak up the sauces on the other dishes. Everything was flavourful, each dish was unique and cooked just perfectly (not overdone and not underdone).

There are a couple things I would change. We had to frequently ask for water. We were provided one small carafe for four people and it would have been nice if a server kept an eye on this...but we had a 3pm reservation and perhaps we were in between services (though if a 3pm seating is offered, someone should keep an eye out for us). The other is that I would have liked a written/printed menu of our courses. While Chef Trevor explained each dish, it's nice to refer back to notes, esp bc he's too busy to entertain questions (he did anyway) and he's on the shyer side. Toward the end, Kenny came on shift and he was a phenomenal front-of-house presence. We would've liked to have had him present from the beginning. Anyway, Chef Trevor & Kenny make for an awesome duo.

Logistics: Terrace by Mix Mix is housed in the Bear St wing (just west) of South Coast Plaza, immediately across the Bridge of Gardens on the third floor. Parking can be accessed from Bear St.

Reservations: these can be made on Tock. As of now, there are two seatings: at 3 and 6 pm, Thu-Sat.

This is truly a great value for such wonderful food. I think it started off as a mix of Filipino and American flavours which evolved into something delicious. We plan to...

My mom special requested we eat at Mix Mix for her birthday. This location was open on President's Day, so we opted to try this one out.

We pretty much ordered the ENTIRE MENU. Since I love food, I had the pleasure of making sure I tasted everything we ordered. Oink!

Bacon wrapped dates: Comes in 3's, so if you are ordering for a big party I think 3 orders would suffice. I loved them! Very tasty

Roasted Mushrooms: Very good and flavorful; bigger one of the starters... Enough to share between 3-4

Goat Cheese Toast: I absolutely loved this starter... Eat a piece with a grape on it and it's a tasty treat!

Albacore Tostada: It was good, but not my fave

Pork Adobo Fried Rice: I loved it. I used this dish as my entree and it was plenty. It was perfectly flavored, not too oily (sometimes Adobo can be too oily for me).

Hamachi: Amazing! But in my opinion I would probably use this as a starter/appetizer

Mussels: Definitely a must, comes with a bunch of mussels and two slices of toast. Great to share if you would like.

Favorite dish was the New York Steak. It was cooked to perfection and had the most amazing, juiciest flavor. Next time I go there, I will definitely get this and NOT SHARE so I can take some home! haha.

This place got 4 stars because our server had no personality, but because the food presentation and the amazing taster was so great I couldn't do anything less than that. We had to wave him down a few times, seemed a bit shy and too soft spoken. Unfortunately I probably looked for him 4 times while my family and I were there, which is a...