Brio Italian Grille — Restaurant in Irvine

I went to Brio for my wife's 30th birthday tonight. We were a party of 4 plus a kid. I ordered a $45 New York strip steak medium rare. My first steak that came out was medium-well to well done. Very light pink in the center, and very firm. I sent that back since it was not the correct temperature. The second steak they brought out to me was blue. There was a crust on the outside and the inside was thoroughly raw. I cut into it in front of the server and immediately sent it back. At that point, I just asked for it to be taken off the bill.

I worked in fine dining as a server for 10 years including upscale steakhouses. I know exactly what procedures are for dealing with this and how steak should be cooked. I avoid ever making an issue about my food due to understanding the circumstances of back and front-of-the-house dining experiences. However, for a $45 steak, I refuse to eat something that is very overcooked and then raw. At the point in which I sent the second steak back, which was raw, the service staff should've immediately let the manager know and the manager should've made a table visit to rectify the situation. That didn't happen. Our server and the restaurant were perfectly happy with me not eating at all during the meal. They didn't make any other table visits and then eventually brought the check. That's when I asked to speak with the manager since they had not made any initiative.

I spoke with the manager: Priscilla. She was immediately defensive saying the steaks had been cooked to temperature. I asked if she had seen the steak herself, and she said no. I asked if she was made aware of the situation, and she said no, only just before coming to the table. She did not offer anything to rectify the situation. I explained to her that I'm very aware of how the process of the experience of fine dining should work and how far this was from it. She was never made aware that I did not eat and did not offer anything to rectify the situation after learning of the situation. We paid our full bill and left.

Overall I would never return to Brio. It's shocking that a fine dining restaurant would not understand how to cook a $45 steak. From overdone to raw. It is shocking that they refused to take any accountability for their lack of service and of quality of food. It is shocking that the manager seemed unbothered by the fact that a guest did not eat. My only regret is not taking pictures of the food I refused as I was made to feel as though I was lying or somehow unaware of how steak should be cooked. Again, I worked in the industry for over 10 years and am an avid cook myself. Just from the touch test, you could see the steaks were incorrectly cooked. On top of that, visually it was extremely clear. My suggestion to ANYONE risking a fine dining outing at this restaurant is if you are unhappy with your food please take pictures! The servers and managers will not hold their restaurant accountable. It's imperative that we share the quality of food being served at this establishment. If you go there, be very weary of their steak. I suspect the chef is very disgruntled and cannot...

Our family arrived last evening to a very noisy restaurant due to several large groups that were allowing their children to use the restaurant as a playground. Unfortunately, the management of the facility was perfectly fine with these groups disturbing all the other guests. Anyway. our disappointment with this establishment started this way. We asked to be seated elsewhere in a more quite part of the restaurant and they accommodated us which helped a little but the noise was still annoying. We placed our order and then waited. The dinners finally came out maybe 20 or possibly closer to 30 minutes later. I ordered the Risotto and it was okay, served in a long shallow dish which allows it to cool off quickly ( it would be better in a round deep bowl which would allow it to remain warmer) on the menu the dish was pictured coming with four or five large shrimp on top, where as mine had only two shrimp, but all and all it wasn't bad. My wife ordered a chicken salad and it was fine but my daughter who order sliced tomatoes with a fairly large piece of salmon was a mess. The salmon was grilled so much it became rubber and she just couldn't even eat it. I called the waiter over, who was very nice and apologetic and immediately said he'd have another piece cooked right away, so we waited, and waited until I had to get up and track down the manager. I asked as nicely as I could when can my daughter expect to see her piece of salmon it had been like 15 minutes? She said, well let me check sir! She came back from the kitchen and said it's almost done. We had to wait another 5 minutes and finally after everyone at our table had finished their meals they brought my daughter a slightly undercooked piece of salmon. Of course they couldn't finish the presentation off with the few slices of tomato as was on the first plate. Just a slightly undercooked piece, this time around, of salmon on an empty cold plate. To be honest, I am familiar with cooking salmon and on a hot grill, especially with the thin pieces this restaurant is using makes cooking it a real trick. If they used thicker pieces it would be much easier on the cooks to get it right.

Since I'm the customer who's paying for the food and service they failed at every level in my humble opinion. Except I will say our "Waiter" was outstanding in a very unfortunate situation that was no fault of his other than he chose to work in what is a very poorly managed restaurant. Needless to say we will not be returning to this...

I am sorry to say that our meal was less than what we had hoped it would be when we looked at the menu earlier in the day. Most notably disappointing was my Shrimp and Scallop Risotto especially since this was supposed to be an Italian restaurant which should know how to cook a proper risotto.

Here's how the menu described it:

Risotto, roasted mushrooms, freshly grated Reggiano & black pepper cream sauce topped with seared shrimp, scallops & truffle oil

Now, I don't expect it to be stirred and simmered as you would do at home given the time needed to properly cook it. BUT, I should not expect the rice and seafood to be literally SWIMMING in a heavy handed cream sauce. It is a RICE dish and this was basically what I would describe as a Cream of Risotto Soup. I had to basically use my fork to strain whatever rice and seafood I could get out from the soupy mixture. After I finished eating what little rice I could get out of the "cream soup", along with an underwhelming amount of tiny but sweet bay scallops and three shrimp (a tad overcooked), it looked pretty much like I hadn't eaten anything. That's how off the liquid to rice/seafood ratio was. The flavor wasn't bad but instead rather unremarkable.

One highlight was the Tiramisu for dessert. For me, it could have stood to be more espresso flavor forward, but it was better than some we've had.

Upon arrival, the hostess was non-existent for a while, only to appear to tell us that it would be a 30 minute wait which was surprising since there were an obvious amount of empty tables that we could have been seated at. They must be having staffing issues either in the kitchen or on the floor, because the certainly could have seated us immediately. When we asked about eating at the bar, she made no promises about how quickly we'd get served but we ventured there anyway.

Luckily, our bartender/server Dennis was spot on, was very attentive and deserving of the tip we left him. Dennis was on us immediately and was a shining star. We were served bread/butter immediately which was tasty, but a bit off putting since it was sourdough bread rather than traditional Italian bread. It did have a nice crunch and chew to it - I just don't prefer having sourdough with Italian cuisine. That's a mismatch in my mind.

Sadly, I don't see us returning. There are way too many other excellent Italian restaurants that know what they are doing when offering authentic Italian cuisine. This meal was pretty much Olive Garden...