Aura Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Irvine

Service staff was friendly but not very attentive. Nice hotel-bar type atmosphere. $7.50 for a beer but I think that's normal for the OC area.

I was so disappointed in the food here I refused to pay for the 2nd meal. For lunch I ordered fish tacos. They came so overstuffed I could only eat them with a fork & knife, I needed the knife to cut the tortilla shell it was so rubbery. They tasted like old fish and onions and tomato. I ate them both but later regretted it when the tacos had a fight with my stomach.

For dinner I ordered the grilled cheese. I ate a few pieces of fruit that were on the side but the rest were hard and not ripe. The menu says "cheddar, gouda, and jack" cheeses. Sounded good but the combination has a weird taste like goat cheese, or like the cheese had gone bad. It was pretty awful. The server offered me another meal but I had already decided I wouldn't eat any more of their food. Not sure why he didn't offer to get a manager or comp the meal. I didn't want to cause a scene so I signed the bill and then went to the hotel front desk, where they promptly removed the charges from dinner. April 2014)

I gave the restaurant another try (October 2014). The service was better but the grilled cheese was...

They are spread out perfectly to comply with COVID requirements indoors. Out on the patio, there is plenty of space to sit mask free and comfortably around fire pits. The chairs are a little awkward for eating, allowing you to sit way far back, actually causing my companion at the time to misjudge and gal back, nearly dropping their food all over them. Speaking of food, yeah I know it’s CA, but this is not a 5-star dining facility yet the food is outrageously priced. $17 for three tacos?! And they aren’t the best tacos. I’ve had much better street tacos from taco trucks! Additionally, I went to purchase two small naked juice drinks from the cafe vendor in the morning and they wanted $11! I’m glad the payment machine was not accepting Apple Pay or contactless payments because I didn’t get to pay and saved myself $11. On a positive note, the hot tub was very warm and clean and the room was comfortable and heavenly. Nestled in downtown, you’re going to hear jets passing over to land at night, but I might stay here again. I might try another place if able, in the future, then see how...

We stayed at the hotel for 4 days and been ordering from this bar several times due to limited time. We had some unpleasant experiences with the bar staff. While the bar was completely empty me and my friend sat for just a few minutes at one of the tables and the waiter comes up to us and says “if you are not ordering do not occupy these tables.” Note that the bar was empty. She clearly was annoyed and showing us attitude. Another time she came up to us and said don’t stay on the hallway. We really didn’t know...