Vaca — Restaurant in Costa Mesa

As much as I was REALLY looking forward to this, it left little to be desired. I’m from Spain so I went in knowing it wasn’t going to be as good as one of my grandma’s home cooked meals but from that to what I had was far from impressive.

We ordered- croquetas de pollo, gambas al ajillo, pan con tomate, papas bravas, and jamon Serrano.

The croquetas were ok. They weren’t super flavorful but were breaded and fried well. I was surprised they weren’t served with a sauce of some kind because in Spain we always eat them with mayo or something to dip them in. I had them with alioli since they didn’t have mayo and that made them a little better.

The gambas al ajillo didn’t have a very strong garlic flavor the way they should. They were good but didn’t bring any flavors of Spain to my mouth.

The pan con tomate was the furthest thing from typical Spanish flavors out of everything we ordered. It’s such a simple dish I’m not sure why they’d change it. Typically it’s bread with a clove of garlic rubbed on it, a drizzle of olive oil, topped with freshly grated tomato (yes like on a cheese grater to slice it and make it frothy), and a pinch of salt. Here they bathe the bread in garlic-infused oil, bake it to a crisp, top it with a tomato paste-like pure and add a pinch of rock salt. The flavor was unpalatable. One of my favorite simple dishes and the first time I didn’t like it.

The sauce of the papas bravas was on point! I’ve never had papas bravas with alioli but the flavors worked very well together. The potatoes however were tiny grease bombs. The potatoes are supposed to be large cubes so when they’re fried they’re crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. These were very small, fried too heavily and so greasy I couldn’t have more than a few forks because I knew I’d regret it later.

There wasn’t much that could go wrong with jamon Serrano. It was good and served on a pig shaped board with crackers, pickles and some sort of cauliflower mix.

My mom also mentioned how odd it was that they didn’t have bread available because in Spain, pan is a huge part of any meal.

It was nice to try some place new. But it’s not someplace I’d go back to unless I were having just cocktails. It has a great ambiance and vibe inside. The best thing on the table was my mock-tail. They have 2 house specialty mock-tails and I had the ginger infused one (Sanskrit). Although it was 1/2 a glass of shaved ice, what was in there was very tasty. Overall friendly staff, cute outdoor patio seating with heat lamps, and nice atmosphere...

We went to this restaurant on a recommendation from a family member. We rounded up to a 4 out of 5 but I think it was closer to 3.5 due to the flavor of the food and the atmosphere.

The drinks were pretty delicious I must say. I had a royal tea which has gin and Brandy and it was absolutely amazing. The presentation was also really nice with a circular ice cube that had a flower inside of it. I also had a margarita which was very tasty as well. So the drinks were definitely on point.

As far as the food, to me it was just a little disappointing for the price point they are at. We did have an appetizer of choosing three cheeses. All three cheeses didn't seem to have a lot of flavor and we're very similar to each other as well so pretty disappointing there.

I had ordered the scallops and wagyu meatballs as well as a rare 8 oz filet. All of the food was cooked very well to my liking, however all three dishes lacked flavor and I had to add salt and pepper to all of them which was a little disappointing again considering the price point of all of them. The steak alone was 60 dollars and was just not seasoned at all. Even the sauces that food was laying on just didn't have flavor and tasted very bland. I will say every tapas dish did a good job of incorporating different textures which was really nice, just wish they had some flavor as well.

The service was very well. Our waitress was extremely nice and was on top of everything. They brought us everything in a timely manner which was actually faster than we had thought. The food also came out very hot and seem to taste very fresh as well which was really nice to see.

I do think the atmosphere was a little off as all the tables were very tight and very close to each other, just made it hard to get out sometimes to go to the bathroom or anything like that cuz you had to move the entire table and once they started filling up it got pretty loud and you just felt really close to the table next to you especially if they were talking loud or anything like that.

Overall we did enjoy our experience, we were just a disappointed with the food or the lack of flavor on the food. I would definitely go back for drinks as they were unique and the bar had some really cool features and choices of...

A feast for the eyes, and at times for the palate!

We came across this restaurant when searching for a dinner place. The staff was wonderful to hold a table when I called by phone. They were even more gracious throughout the dinner, attentive and kind. I will also note the restaurant in simply magnificent in beauty. The problems come when you eat the food.

Some dishes were outstanding while some Weren’t. I think the owner and chef could use advice from a real Spaniard to tweak the problems. My husband and my family are from Spain and I’ve been there many times to back up these criticisms.

The potatoes bravas were 4/5 stars, heavy in alioli (not typically used in a Spanish restaurant) overpowering the marinara flavor. The croquetas had too much chicken and not enough filling. The paella had nearly zero salt.

However the biggest problems came with the steak and the desert. The steak came out rare when I ordered it medium rare. A huge strike when I ordered it to be cut in the kitchen. You would think a chef cutting the steak would notice that It was not cooked to order. And, even worse, it was heavily over seasoned. I think they seasoned it in the Dead Sea.

It’s also worth noting that they had no bread service which is a travesty to the cuisine of Spain. We asked for bread and got burnt toast.

The desert was churros and chocolate. The chocolate was AMAZING but the churros were clearly cooked hours earlier and then reheated via microwave. I know because they lacked the crunchiness of a fresh churro. It was soggy like McDonalds fries 12 hours later and 30 seconds in my GE microwave.

I will note that the Ham charcuterie was simply OUTSTANDING. Definitely something you can’t get here often in the states compared to Europe.

The cocktails were out of this world!

Overall wonderful experience, could use some sharpening from a true Spaniard. (My hubby is open to consulting). The staff was wonderful and the...