Bluefin — Restaurant in Newport Beach

Review for Newport Beach Restaurant Week 2014 Dinner Menu $40 per person:

Nice decor & ambiance but for me, food is so so much more important because I can't eat / take home the decor =)

Down to the food:

Season's Oyster Fritto in Shiomiso Sauce: 3 Stars Lightly fried oysters in Light shiomiso sauce. A bit too light on the sauce & too oily because it was fried too. Not my cup of tea, but good try though.

Dashi Soup w/ Blue Crab & Pork Cake: 4 Stars Good hearty soup that had a good balance of flavors. The tiny tiny pieces of blue crab was definitely hiding in this soup. the pork cake was decent sized & a bit chewy.

Chef's Omasake Sushi: 4.5 stars Very fresh & tasty, the pieces just melted into my mouth. =)

Japanese Yellow tail in Tamari Shoyu, Butter Lemon Sauce : 1 star Fish look at 1st like a piece of meat. I've eaten plenty of Yellow tail but I've never come across one that tasted like this one. It was way too fishy & had no taste other than being fishy. Yuck. =(

Desserts:

Pear Creme Brulee: 3.5 Stars Very creamy & light but was barely even reached to be half of the container. A bit of a rip off here & the top middle was burnt =(

Gateau Chocolate Cake: 2 Stars Too floury & not enough chocolate taste to this cake. Sorbets were very small & not fruity at all.

Service: B- I RSVPed on Open table & they were prompt in seating us but service started to drag towards the middle of the meal.

Overall, I know that there are many local regulars that come here but for me this place was busy just because it was one of the few Sushi restaurants in the area. There are many other better sushi restaurants in surrounding areas, this place wasn't very memorable for me, it...

Save room for dessert, and order the mocchi ice cream! You will enjoy clean, fresh, authentic Japanese cuisine at Bluefin. Upon entrance, you will notice the cleanliness of the restaurant and the uniformed, professional sushi chefs. The staff were kind and polite, especially Gregory, allowing us to dine in at 8:30 pm even though they close at 9:00 pm during weekdays.

Indoor/Outdoor/Bar seating: Plenty of seating at this location. We sat inside.

Delicious Food: Clean, fresh and flavorful. Ordered the mushroom miso soup with shiitake mushroom, grilled salmon with grilled vegetable, teriyaki sauce, wagyu beef carpaccio with onions, chive, goma-soy dressing, sesame seed, albacore dynamite roll, salmon avocado roll, and mochi ice cream. Loved everything.

Excellent Service: Gregory, Jason and Raymond were professional, kind and attentive during our dining experience and each interaction.

Parking: Free parking in parking lot. Valet parking is also available but it is closer to Javier's, so free parking is the better option.

I highly recommend this restaurant for a clean, fresh, authentic Japanese dining experience, and thank you, Gregory, Jason and Raymond for a...

Be careful, their operation is not safe. We ordered in the restaurant and was told it would be 25 min but turned out to be an hour. So I got to watch how they handle payment and packaging. The waiter took several payments in person by credit card with signature required and then wrapped all the food without washing his hands. it was so surprising because even a boba tea place offers gloves for people to sign. When I asked him to wash hands, he said I only touch the packing, not the food. I saw him taking a phone order using a walk-in customer's cellphone then handed it back to him and packed my food. I also noticed the chef run out of bento boxes, and went to grab some more wrapped in plastic (just piled up on the table and chairs in the restaurant) and unwrapped them and immediately continued to make my rolls in the box. No hand washing either! So one hour later wait and I got $150 worth of sushi I don't feel safe to eat. Very very...