Old Vine Cafe - Costa Mesa

2937 Bristol St # A102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-545-1411
www.oldvinecafe.com

Located in the eco-friendly, hip, and cool CAMP retail center in Costa Mesa, Old Vine Cafe focuses on seasonal ingredients and an international cuisine style. Highly rated by OC Weekly, Yelp, and Chowhound polls, I wanted to eat here for quite some time. For some reason or another, I just never got around to eating here. Until now that is. My wife surprised me with a "happy hour" at OVC. This happy hour is a steal at $15 per person for 4 courses. Keep in mind the 4 courses as you read the post.

Included in the happy hour are complimentary chips and salsa. These crunchy chips were quite greasy and oily. Salsa was fresh and had a nice heat to it. 

Eggplant Buratta -Mozzarella, Panko Crusted Eggplant, Grape Tomatoes and Basil Pesto

Our first official course was the eggplant burrata. This was my favorite course of the night. Although the panko crusted eggplant itself was oily like the chips, I still enjoyed this dish. Enjoyed the texture and flavor of the burrata and when everything was eaten together, it was a nice contrast in textures and flavors.

Seafood croquetas with Cajun jambalaya sauce
The seafood croquetas were nicely fried and the accompanying Cajun jambalaya sauce added a welcoming heat to this dish. 

Vegan Quinoa Jambalaya

Cajun Quinoa and Seasonal Vegetables garnished with Fresh Cilantro
Since I don't eat seafood, the chef was kind enough to prepare for me a non-seafood dish. Instead of the seafood croquetas, he replaced it with a vegan quinoa. Included in the quinoa were shitake mushrooms, zucchini, and onions. The sauce was similar to that of the spicy Cajun jambalaya sauce. Not having eaten much quinoa in my culinary life, I thought this dish was OK. I would say that I am not a big fan of quinoa. 

Beef Tenderloin Stroganoff
All natural beef tenderloins medallions and shitake mushrooms served over rice w/ cream demi glace
The beef tenderloins were indeed tender. I can't recall much about the cream demi glace. This dish was an overall good dish, but nothing too exciting since it had a very one note in its flavor.

Vermont Cheddar with dried figs, apricot, and cranberries
This is where things got a little strange on the service side. Having been told that there were 4 courses involved in our meal, we waited patiently for our last cheese course. Eventually, the waiter came by and dropped off the check to our table. My wife and I kind of looked at each other, telepathically saying "Didn't he say there were 4 courses?"  I eventually got the waiter's attention and asked if there were 4 courses involved, to which he replied "yes." So, now we were thinking.. O.....K.....What the heck is going on here? The waiter then asks us if we were interested in it. Of course we are!!!! Why wouldn't we be???? Didn't actually say this to him. Just politely asked for the 4th course.

Having been really looking forward to eating at OVC and hearing great things about it, OVC did not meet my expectations. The food itself being OK and the service being OK to bad with the 4th course snafu. I don't know if can attribute it to the $15 happy hour and the courses served, but looking at the menu online, most of these dishes are ones that are served on the menu anyway. I might return one day to try out the one of the tasting menus.  But I am definitely not in any rush.