Selanne Steak Tavern — Restaurant in Laguna Beach

I tried calling them a while back to speak on my last experiences versus going straight to social media to write my discontent. To date, I have not heard back from anyone, so going to put this out there in case they actually do read reviews?

The last time I was physically at the restaurant, we took a group of friends. It’s somehow always the worst experience when you bring people and rave about a place, I guess.

My husband and I always ordered the same thing— a chicken and two sides (maybe a salad as well) to share. It’s the perfect amount of food, especially with a drink or two. When we ordered, our server said something along the lines of “have you had the chicken recently?” We thought that was an odd question, but said “Yes, we were just here a week or two ago.” Nothing else was said.

Our friends got an appetizer and were a bit disappointed. When the server asked how it was, they were honest, but she just didn’t seem to care that much. To be honest, the entire experience just didn’t feel the same, like we were bothering our server just being seated in her section.

It took a while to get drinks, even though the restaurant wasn’t very busy. Drinks were so-so, some better than others.

When our meal was set down in front of us, I was genuinely shocked and even made a joke about the rest of the plate missing. There were two small pieces of sliced chicken breast maybe each the size of a child’s palm. Not enough to feed a single person, definitely not enough to feed two. Going from a half chicken to this (and it costing more now?!) was definitely a bummer. It came with small pieces of vegetables that were randomly assorted across the giant plate. Nothing looked appetizing. I just don’t think the cost justifies what the customer gets anymore, to be honest. I understand costs are up for restaurants, but not even serving enough food is a bit offensive.

Our friends weren’t overly thrilled with their plates either, I could tell they were trying to be nice but there was just a lot of picking going on. None of them finished their meals and none of them took the leftovers home, which is rare with this group.

My last experience (at the end of December) was not in person, just over the phone. It was not great either. We had some family come in from overseas finally after 3 years. We had been talking about this “amazing restaurant” and how we would support them throughout the pandemic (being big ducks fans, supporting this restaurant made us feel like we were still supporting our team despite the shutdowns). They were very excited to go and I tried to make a reservation over a week in advance on a random Wednesday. When I called, the hostess seemed mad from hello. I asked if I could make a reservation for 7 people, and she immediately said no before I could even finish my sentence. When I asked if they were fully booked, she said no. I asked “is it just the party size that is the problem?” And she said yes. I responded saying “oh okay, would we be able to split up the group. We wouldn’t mind sitting separately if needed. We could do a reservation for 3 and another for 4.” She told me that they weren’t going to move tables around “just for us” because there were people who made reservations enough ahead of time and that wouldn’t be fair to them. I tried clarifying once more and apologized if I had been confusing and she STILL wouldn’t make the reservation, and honestly just made me feel like I was being super rude or something. It was just really off putting. We haven’t been back since and probably won’t be. “Our place” we went for special date nights, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, etc., where we took friends and family when we would get the chance, just isn’t the same anymore, which is sad.

I get we’re only one couple and probably won’t affect them much. But I really think they could work on some issues they’re currently having so others have better experiences than we have had. It used to be so much better, I don’t know what’s changed. But, I hope they can go back to the way things were for...

This was one of my bucket list place to eat, and my boyfriend decided to take me for my birthday this year. It was incredible! The atmosphere is cozy when you walk in, and the staff is top notch. Also note that the menu IS seasonal, so it does change, meaning some of the items I'll mention may not be available next menu change, but don't let that stop you. We were seated in the wine library next to a window. To start off the evening, our waiter Guillermo was fantastic. He was able to explain the menu beautifully, and answer any questions we had. We started off with the bread service, and the rosemary brioche was delicious, and the house made butters were phenomenal, we especially enjoyed the salted caramel stout butter. I had the 10 oz Wagyu fillet, medium rare. Now all the steaks come with a rich bordelaise sauce and truffle butter, and I took our waiter's suggestion and had them on the side. Normally fillet mignon isn't the most flavorful of cuts, just one of the most tender. This was not the case with my fillet, it was tender AND flavorful. The care and attention was notable, at least to me. The crust and sear was lovely, and it was the most flavorful fillet I have ever had. The sauce and butter on the side was a great call, and I barely touched them though they did add to the steaks, they weren't necessary. On the plate there was also a smoked mushroom which I will now crave (they could have just given me a plate of them and I would have been happy), and a seared cipollini onion which brought out the sweetness, and helped cut a little of the richness of the meal. My boyfriend has the 14 oz 45 day dry aged bone in ribeye, and it was amazing as well (from the 2 bites he gave me, lol). The sides are served family style, and we chose the parmesan truffle risotto, which was rich and creamy and decadent in all the best ways, and the broccoli gratin, which was decadent and cheesy and something I'm going to try and remake, because yum. To end the meal we ordered the Raspberry Souffle with the house made honey ice cream. The souffle was just what a souffle should be, a light sweet cloud with a delicious burst of fresh raspberry flavor. The ice cream was, once again, phenomenal. Sweet, creamy with a hint of salt that complimented the sweetness of the ice cream and souffle. I am now going to have to try to find honey ice cream because it was so delicious. They also brought out a piece of vanilla cake with macerated berries and fresh whipped cream for my birthday. The last lovely and wonderful touch was the hand written birthday card, which made the whole experience that much more amazing. Thank you to my amazing boyfriend for taking me for my birthday, and thank you to Selanne Steak Tavern for making it one...

Honestly, it was a disappointing experience. We were sat at our table next to the bar, where a bunch of loud women were highly inebriated.

We were told our server's name. He quickly showed up and introduced himself and brought us our water... And then we didn't see him for another 15-20 minutes.

I'm not exaggerating either. We were on our phones looking at other restaurants nearby when he finally came back.

We ordered our food -- the bread appetizer (black pepper and thyme loaf), a ribeye for my father, the chef's cut (a picanha) for me, and the corn and mac and cheese as sides to share.

The bread came out and we got our hopes up for the rest of the meal. It was delicious. It came with rosemary honey butter (yum), Mediterranean olive butter (my fave), and a tomato tapanade (also pretty good).

Our food came a bit longer than was comfy after. The picanha was good -- meat was flavorful and cooked just right. My dad's ribeye was... Ok. For a $72 ribeye, however, you'd expect it to be better than ok. It looked slightly overcooked and seemed thinner than a normal prime cut of meat should be if that makes sense? It looked like something you could buy at a grocery store, and according to him the flavor was "fine". I didn't try it but it looked like due to the thinness it was possibly overcooked (but then again I'm not sure how you're supposed to cook a steak less than an inch thick to medium rare while also charring the edges)

The corn side was our other highlight. It was very flavorful and buttery, and the corn was firm and tasty.

The mac and cheese was a disappointment. I LOVE mac and cheese. like, an unreasonable amount. I order it as a side at every opportunity. This mac and cheese was just... Underwhelming I guess. Like it was fine but certainly nothing to write home about. It tasted like the chef heard that cream is the most important ingredient in mac and cheese, and then he forgot to add any flavor. The bread crumbs on top were not even present, flavor-wise, there was minimal cheese, and it just tasted like cream for the most part.

I guess we should have known when we walked in for our reservation (which they charged $25 for, by the way, that was not comped on our bill) and there were multiple open tables when every other restaurant had lines out the door because it was 4th of July weekend.

All in all, 3/10, would not recommend, food was edible but we had sides as leftovers and the ribeye was Texas Roadhouse quality. Picanha/chef's cut was pretty tasty, and the bread should not be missed if you do go. And service was... Not quite terrible (our water cups stayed full) but certainly not what I'd expect from a $100 per...