Irvine Grill — Restaurant in Irvine

I'm visiting Los Angeles for a few weeks after having moved away in 1990. I still remember the fabulous Iranian/Persian food I had with friends as well as in restaurants. The aromas, the flavors, the colors--all of it were so pleasurable. And I haven't found anything to match where I live now.

I was running an errand in Irvine with someone and we wanted lunch. Irvine Grill was in the same shopping center, so I suggested we try it. I had no idea what it was, but hey, it's a grill, so how can it be bad.

The first thing I noticed was the sign outside with a picture of the foods. It had Iranian-style kabobs. They're simply different than what you might see elsewhere. Then we walked into the door and I immediately thought "I recognize these spices--this is Iranian food!" I WAS SO EXCITED.

The food was excellent. We each had our own plate--I had the combo beef and chicken kabobs because OF COURSE I WAS GOING TO, and my partner had the filet mignon kabobs. Both came with a generous portion of saffron infused Basmati rice and a salad. As I expected, it was a lot of food! We both came away with enough for a second meal. We splurged to have a taste of dessert -- a pistachio-based baklava made with a honey syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar

Service was excellent. Tara helped us to figure out what would be best, went back to get help from the wine steward to accommodate our request (we discovered a new wine that paired perfectly with the lunch), and visited our table several times.

It doesn't hurt to have lunch on a beautiful sunny day, either, sitting al fresco with a large glass screen protecting us from the breezes but still warm and relaxing.

It was an incredible experience that would be hard to repeat, but while I must return to home in a week, I was glad to have found a restaurant I can eagerly recommend to friends and family...

Horrible customer service!! I called to place my order and asked the man answering the phone if I could pickup curbside (which on their website they do offer) he said yes and took my order. I had my toddler sleeping in her carseat and therefore could not go inside. He had an accent so He gave me a hard time when I could not understand him. He repeated himself in a harsh tone, I ignored his rudeness from the start and proceeded to give him my order. He told me the food would be ready in 20 min. I pulled up to their assigned pickup parking space and called him that I was there for my order to be carried outside. Not once did he say they could not bring it outside, so I payed him over the phone with my debit card and told him I was outside waiting. After almost 30min wait I called him again and asked if my order was ready. This is where his tone of voice was raised at me and told me “I told you there is noone that can bring your food outside, we are very busy!” Not once did He tell me this before When I called to place my order or the second time I called to pay and tell him I was there. So I grabbed my sleeping toddler out of my car and had to walk inside to grab my food. This man saw me come in, never apologized for his rudeness, never greeted me, just put my food on the counter and gave me my receipt. I grabbed my food and left, once in my car I regretted not throwing it at him for the way he had treated me. Im not sure if he was the owner or manager, but Noone should treat a customer the way he did to me. Save your money and go somewhere else where they value their guest and or at least treat people with respect. This is definitely the worst restaurant experience I have ever had and will never set foot in their...

We recently visited Irvine Grill as a family of six. We ordered four dishes—one stew plate, one kebab plates and two kofta. While the 3 plates arrived within a reasonable time, one kofta took more than 40 minutes to arrive, despite us following up three separate times.

The first time we asked about the delay, we were told it was a busy time and they were working on the order. The second time, someone else said the kofta was still cooking. Finally, after nearly 40 minutes, they brought the dish—but to our surprise, it was already cut in half.

We asked why it had been touched, and they told us it had been cut in half to help it “warm up faster” because it was frozen. At that point, it became clear the dish was not freshly prepared. We also noticed that the two halves didn’t match, and when we tasted the food, it was cold.

Frustrated, we asked to speak with the manager. Instead of coming to our table, the manager asked us to come speak with her. We insisted she come over and try the food herself. She seemed surprised and asked, “What’s wrong with it?” When we told her it was cold, she responded dismissively, saying, “Oh, it’s only cold? I thought something was wrong with the taste.” This was not the response we expected.

She offered to warm the dish up again and was generally unprofessional and unapologetic throughout the interaction. At one point, she even used foul language and sarcastically asked, “Would it help if I said I’m sorry?”

Eventually, she offered to deduct the kofta dish from our bill. At that point, we decided to leave the restaurant, deeply disappointed by the service and the experience. This was far from the level of quality and hospitality we expect...