Cucina Enoteca Irvine — Restaurant in Irvine

OC Restaurant Week Review Only

Came here for dinner with a group of girlfriends on a Wednesday night for OC Restaurant Week and was impressed!

I loved how they had 2 different dinner menus - a pre fixe option for $30 (pizza) or $35 (pasta or entree). And everything on their menu is what they normally serve on their regular menu. And there were so many options!

AMBIANCE: Intimate and romantic. Great for a date or group dinner.

SEATING: This place was really big! They offer patio seating, seating in the wine bar area which is well-lit, or the back loungy area with cushions which was dimmer in lighting.

SERVICE: Excellent! Our waiter was cute and very friendly. He offered great recommendations. He did an excellent job refilling our waters, letting us know when our dishes were coming, and definitely made us feel welcomed. It was the first time I ever tipped anyone 25%!

APPETIZER: *Grilled Mediterranean Octopus (with pickled beech mushroom, charred spring onion, aqua pazza aioli & black garlic and coriander vinaigrette) - Tasty! Perfect texture for the octopus.

*Creamy Tuscan Kale Zuppa (with garlic, onion, shallot, basil, spinach, celery & mascarpone) - Creamy and delicious!

ENTREE: *Spicy Shrimp Puttanesca Angel Hair (with olive, caper & tomato) - Perfect level of spiciness and great flavor! The pasta was cooked perfectly. I loved the big pieces of shrimp.

*Pepperoni & Fennel sausage (with house made mozzarella & peppadew pepper) - Very good! This was recommended by our waiter. It's one of the top-sellers.

*Margherita (with san marzano tomato, house made mozzarella & basil) - Classic, simple, and tasty!

DESSERT: *Dark Chocolate Budino (with blood orange marmellata & chocolate tuile) - Very rich, sweet, but tasty!

*Zeppole (italian style donut holes, nutella crema & chocolate banana sauce) - Amazing! Tastes like cream puffs with powdered sugar and nutella filling. Must try this! :)

PARKING: Free parking in the garage/structures at Irvine Spectrum

I highly recommend this place for a great Italian dinner. Also great option if you like wine. You should make reservations on Open Table if you have a large group or if you don't want to wait for a table.

I will definitely be back when I'm...

This will be my one and only one-starred reviewed restaurant. Sure, the location is nice, but that's the only good thing about this place. Why the hatred? 1. I found a bone in my ragù-polenta, a chef's special. I spoke up because small children could have easily choked on such an inconspicuous bone. Large bones, like proper shortrib ragù doesn't bother me because a large bone cannot be mistaken for anything and is therefore less likely to be swallowed and subsequently lodged in a throat. Luckily I wasn't the parent from the table across from me feeding their small child. That could have been disastrous. 2. The food runners brought out the entirely wrong item to another member in our party, and then charged us for the item after taking it back. Luckily I had a good check through our bill. 3. For the price, I expect a cohesive service. We had a total of 7 different people serve our table and it wasn't during a rush. For $17 lasagna, I expect to get to know the server's name, not their name and the 6 other food runners, busers, and managers. 4. The problems should have been fixed by our server, not the buser. 5. Some things are served on unclean, spotty, and cracked (a paradise for bacteria) wooden boards. What was wrong with a dishwasher safe bowl or plate? 6. The hand dryer in bathroom looked as though it has been through a war zone, covered with some mucous and hand prints, paper towels were out uncovered in a basket so they were soaked in water because of wet, and thoroughly rummaged through by the unwashed hands of others.

I wasn't expecting much because food at the Irvine Spectrum is largely terrible. But this takes the prize. Poor quality food. Comedically high price. Bad sanitation. Uncohesive service. Unnecessary decorations.

Don't be foolish to go out of your way to eat here. If $17 lasagna is in your budget, go to Sapori in Newport Beach, where that is a decent, Italian restaurant. If you want better service, or if you are a parent and don't want to have your pride and joy choke on a duck bone, eat somewhere else. There are many options in the spectrum, none are all that good, but all are better...

I usually enjoy this restaurant and my husband and I have been going there for a couple of years now so last Saturday night we made reservations and invited another couple who had not been to the restaurant before so we were looking forward to sharing this unique cuisine. We arrived at 5:30 and left around 7:30. We ordered some of their signature cocktails to try something new. I'm not sure I have the right name but I believe they were the Malibu by the sea??? They were a cucumber vodka with lemon cocktail. The drinks were in a long stem champagne glass and were sweet and cucumber heavy with pulp?? Both my husband and his friend did not like the drinks and commented that thankfully they were very small. I ordered the Lavender 75 and it never came so I reminded the waiter and he said he was sorry he forgot to place the order. Okay while I waited our party decided to order something safe a dirty martini and vodka soda. After 10 minutes the 2 drinks came but again no lavender 75 and my friend said she wasn't sure what arrived but it was not a dirty martini. The waiter said the bar was busy but my drink should be out soon. Thank goodness we ordered a few appetizers. We ordered the Giant meatball with a polenta sauce and the waiter suggested we also add the facasia bread to use as a dipping bread for the polenta. The bread was dry and there was a tiny dish of butter not enough for 4 people and tonight the meatball had very little polenta not enough for dipping. So far nothings going well. We ordered our main courses and the food arrived and eventually so did my 1 drink. My butternut squash raviolis which are normally one of my favorites were barely warm. I decided to order a glass of wine and my husband ordered another vodka soda. We ended up finishing our meal and paying our $300 check and sat there waiting for our drinks arrive again. Our friends were less than impressed with the overall dining experience and we are taking a break from...