Henry's Coastal Cuisine — Restaurant in Huntington Beach

The Baseline: For a in hotel restaurant (fine dining) must have a good drink menu, excellent starters, fabulous main courses, delectable deserts, and a stellar staff to bring out the experience.

Food: Chef Lewis is the Executive chef of the hotel and restaurant and put together an incredible meal for me. My starter was a wedge salad that blew me away. Heirloom tomatoes a thick strip of smoked bacon with a chunk of blue cheese was an amazing. Second course was a charred octopus with fingerling potatoes, bean purée, and amazing sauces. I was going for a surf and turf mode this night and the surf was up. The combination of the sauces, aiolis, and pure mixed well with the octopus. Main was a New York strip with mashed potatoes, mushrooms/onions, and asparagus spears. The steak was rare with a perfect sear and sauced with a a flavorful reduction. The only slight less than wanted part of this meal so far was the thick asparagus spears but that is because of my preference, not on preparation or seasoning of the vegetable. Finally, desert was a pear tart which was so pretty I almost didn’t want to tear it apart and eat it. Almost. The poached pears were delicious and the tart was not overly sweet which made for a nice closure to the meal.

Drinks were a flight of High West Bourbon and Whiskey and a Smoked Old Fashion. Really worth trying out and enjoying.

Service: Beyond top notch! My server Vicente was amazing and anticipated my wants, needs, and desires. Mei was my bartender and took care of me on my whiskey needs. Tony was the head of house and was welcoming, informative, and made sure I was taken care of.

Ambiance: The restaurant is inside the Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton property. The inside has a very upscale, welcoming decor that maintains upscale class with a bit of beachside charm.

Henry’s Coastal Cuisine blew away the...

Flavor was excellent, service was attentive. Some of the dishes were on the salty side. Everything I tried made me want more but be aware that most plates are on the smaller size side as expected for this type of restaurant. Mussels: definitely a fresh take on fan favorite.. The sauce adds a very unique and gentle flavor to the mussels Farmers Market Melon Salad: sweet and fresh but they could definitely fill the plate a bit more Potato and Kraut: delicious but note that this is saltier than I expected bc it's cooked in lard oil. I asked for a less salty version and then I found it more enjoyable squash: perfectly cooked, not too soft, not too hard Japanese Myazaki tenderloin: amazing Buckwheat Pasta: never had pasta made this style. Served with no protein. Lots of cheese and sauce. Was ragout-like soft. Real good. Is not heavy like some Italian dishes Corn creme brulee: loved that it's not too sweet. With the topings, I'd call it more a "creme parfait" (similar to a...

Table moved from side to side; not balanced. We were sat down right away but no one ever came to serve us. After about 10 minutes I stood up and walked over to the guy who sat us down and asked if anyone knew we were here. He went to call a waitress who didnt know we were there..... Served complimentary bread but was almost frozen in the middle. The waitress said it was freshly made by hand. Hmmmm I dont think so. Food took about 15-20 minutes. From the time I got there to the time my food came i observed two different tables leave because 1) no waiter came to them and 2) the food took forever.

Nothing amazing about the food but it wasnt bad either. Water was clearly tap unfiltered (I expect better water from a high end place like this). Overall would never return or recommend. Go outside of the resort for...