Newport Landing Restaurant — Restaurant in Newport Beach

Came to Newport Landing Restaurant for dinner, and was given FOOD POISONING.

I ordered the Seafood Pasta, and the waitress mistakenly asked the chef to prepare mine with tomato sauce instead of the parmesan cream sauce. I did not ask for tomato sauce. No big deal though, the waitress said she'd have the chef make me a NEW one, with the right sauce. I didn't want to make a big deal over it, so I gladly accepted her offer of simply replacing it with the promised FRESH DISH. When she returned with the "fresh" dish, it still had a reddish hue to the sauce. Clearly the chef had just taken the tomato sauced dish and tossed it with some parmesan cream sauce, then sent THE SAME DISH back. I was disappointed, but didn't want to complain or make a big fuss, so I started to eat it. It was okay -- not great, but not inedible. The issue came when I started to eat one of the scallops in my pasta. It smelled and tasted strongly of AMMONIA. I waved the waitress down, and as discreetly as possible notified her of the issue. I didn't want to alarm the other diners; I just wanted to alert the staff to a potentially serious and DANGEROUS issue with their food. The waitress was very sweet and apologized profusely, promising to bring the general manager to our table. When the GM arrived, she offered to have the chef make me a different dish. I politely declined, and simply told the GM that she should check her scallop stock as they smelled and tasted like ammonia and shouldn't be served. She offered to bring me three "fresh" scallops and I trustingly accepted, keeping the dish I'd already eaten half of... I wasn't there to take advantage of a restaurant or get free food; I just wanted a good meal. When the "fresh" scallops arrived, I tentatively cut into one and smelled it. It also smelled like AMMONIA. I took a tiny bite, and the TASTE OF AMMONIA WAS OVERWHELMING. I spit it out and left the half-chewed lump and remaining scallops on the plate, and didn't eat any more. The GM took a measly $10 off our $200 dinner bill as "compensation." We thanked the staff, paid, and left. After driving home, my stomach was churning and I had abdominal pain, and immediately got THE WORST DIARRHEA of my life. I am currently not vomiting, but it feels like it's coming. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I am extremely disappointed in Newport Landing Restaurant for serving me ROTTEN FOOD and making me literally sick to my stomach.

This is NOT worth a pitiful $10 discount, and if the GM and chef are willing to serve spoiled food to their guests the way they did to me, this restaurant deserves to be SHUT DOWN.

A quick Google search shows that scallops that smell or taste of ammonia are SPOILED, and should NOT be eaten. Any chef or GM working at a seafood restaurant should have known this. I wish I had Googled it at the table, but waited til I got home and am deeply regretting it.

The GM and chef on duty that night (Wednesday October 21, 2020) should be fired for serving ROTTEN seafood to customers, and thinking that they could get away with it.

I am absolutely disgusted with the GROSS NEGLIGENCE of Newport Landing Restaurant's chef and general manager.

DO...

2018 Update: Two Awards

We chose Newport Landing Restaurant for our end of year (2018) visit. Once again great food, drinks and service. Our Waitress Esperanza was great! I am a top Google photographer/reviewer: I am awarding my own Google Guide Top Picks .. Best Waitress of the Year for 2018.. Thank you Esperanza and thank you Newport Landing (One of my top 10 SoCal Restaurants for 2018).

Before:

What an enjoyable restaurant! We chose to sit on the gorgeous patio in the upstairs dining/bar area. We arrived in time for Happy Hours specials so we ordered off the regular menu for dinner and we also had a couple of HH specials.

On the Happy Hour menu we ordered the Clam Chowder, a Margarita and she had Rum something or other. Both drinks were good but the Clam Chowder ($4 on Happy Hour menu) is the best I have had anywhere (I ordered a second bowl and still could have eaten more. Great Clam Chowder! I had Fish for my meal (I ordered Cod because I like the flavor of Cod). I asked for their coconut rice instead of french fries (the rice is very good). My dinner came with their coleslaw which was a bit too bitey for my taste (I think they add some horseradish in it). She had a Lobster and Crab salad that she loved so we were both very happy with our visit (oh, she loved the Clam Chowder also).

The view is exceptionally nice as the restaurant is right on the water; as we ate upstairs on the balcony we had a great view (also the day was warm and the sky was clear; a beautiful blue).

People around us were very approachable (I am quite a friendly guy so I like that). The place had a good crowd both in the restaurant and at the bar.

The employees were well trained and were at our table right away for anything that we wanted. Esperanza was our waitress. She was very good at her job; quite attentive to us and her other tables.

The manager (John) was pleasant; I called him over to commend him, his staff and the Clam Chowder (geesh I wish I had a bowl of that right now).

Other staff of note: Juan the server was very helpful. Eric the greeter upstairs also did a good job. I enjoyed talking with Ryan and Tom downstairs; very polite and seem to be very smart guys.

I think you will really like this Newport Landing Restaurant as it is very good for many reasons. The restaurant is additionally set in a great location; surrounded by a lot of interesting places so you can enjoy time before and after your visit.

We have returned to this restaurant because we really like it. I think you will also. Have fun.

Hope this helps your choices... best regards

cmilton111 Google Guide (Level...

The restaurant appears very nice from the outside and a lot of the staff are pleasant, but the circumstances surrounding our visit there were less than ideal. We were told that the wait would be about 20 minutes due to them being understaffed, completely understandable. The wait was less than expected. Things were all downhill from this point.

After ordering, the wait for the food was over an hour and it was not good in the slightest. One of us ordered the ABC burger without avocado, bacon, red onions, or sauce. She got the ABC burger with sauce and bacon. There was another order for the ABC burger without red onions, her burger came without avocado or sauce, and with red onions. The california chicken sandwich was also ordered, without cheese. There was cheese.

Fine, we aren’t picky. However, we also ordered the shrimp pasta without mushrooms. The shrimp didn’t have the tails removed, nor were they all deveined. I don’t believe everything that remained were veins, but I’m also not a professional shrimp deveiner and the chef wasn’t either. Additionally, I don’t feel that the shrimp was cooked properly and tasted like something between canned dog food and liver.

Overall, a subpar experience. The expectation for food to come as ordered after more than 60 full minutes is not unreasonable. That’s the bare minimum. You are a restaurant. Treat it like an episode of Chopped if you need to because, geez, you can’t just prepare food incorrectly and expect people to be okay with it. You have an oyster bar upstairs and I hate to think what your oysters are like if you think the shrimp was okay to serve. It’s hard to even know where to begin and end with this review because everything sucked from the moment we sat down. Only 2 of the 6 orders were correct. If your success rate is less than 50% then you need to stop and think about how you are running this place.

The bright sides? There were some cute dogs and a man caught a large fish on the adjacent pier. I’d be grasping at straws to say...