Lazy Dog Cafe Opening

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irvinerealtor

Well-known member
At Irvine and Jamboree. Opens tonight, 3/4 at 5pm.

They had a small invite-only crowd last night to run the kitchens and get the crew familiar with their new digs. The food is good but not fancy. The owner and manager were on hand and I wish them well in this location, which has been a very challenging one for a couple of other more higher-end establishments (formerly French75 and a Steakhouse). Maybe comfort food will find a more regular crowd, or their extensive remodel will help open the place up and make it more inviting than before.

http://www.lazydogcafe.com/
 
[quote author="irvinehomeowner"]It was an asian cuisine restaurant too (we went there once way back when).

We'll give it a try.[/quote]

Yeah, it was by that Yang can cook guy.
 
Tried to go there last night, too many people, it was busier than BJs. Ended up with a good meal at Opah
 
[quote author="StuffIt"]Tried to go there last night, too many people, it was busier than BJs. Ended up with a good meal at Opah[/quote]

Anyone from TI try this place yet? Please post your thoughts.

Reading a professional review is one thing but is nice to here from locals.
 
[quote author="IACRenter"]
[quote author="StuffIt"]Tried to go there last night, too many people, it was busier than BJs. Ended up with a good meal at Opah[/quote]

Anyone from TI try this place yet? Please post your thoughts.

Reading a professional review is one thing but is nice to here from locals.[/quote]

I second - has anyone tried it?
 
I went for drinks / snacks and it was completely mediocre. Their house beer is much too light, it reminded me of JT Schmidt's in the District. I don't think that place will be open much longer, we went 2 weekends after it opened on a Friday night and it was practically empty.
 
I went here last saturday night for dinner, we got there at around 7:50pm and it was about a 45 minute wait so we went across the street for some shopping then came back at 8:30 and were seated about 5 minutes later. (if you leave and come back make sure to have the hostess reset your buzzer thing, it beeps when you take it out of range, so they need to reset it or it wont ring when they buzz it).

My wife and I are big fans of the lazy dog cafe. We used to live in redondo beach and would frequent the one in torrance. We live in Irvine so are very happy to see a location open up here. I had the BBQ Beef sandwich (shredded beef) on a potato bun, it is very tasty, right up there with Lucille's beef sandwich. My wife had their meatloaf, which she loves. We would highly recommend, the portions are good and like the food critic said above, the prices and portions match. they used to have a burrito on the menu that you could get with Chicken or shredded beef, but for whatever reason they stopped selling it, that was one of my favorites. their burgers are also very good as are their chili nachos (we had this as an appetizer).
 
Thanks qwerty & diulei! Always good to see some local reviews. I will eventually make my way over there and check it out myself. With so many local businesses closing, I love to support the good ones in my neighborhood.
 
We went here on Saturday afternoon after visiting Woodbury.

We just missed the 4pm cutoff for lunch but we also got in before the dinner crowds.

It doesn't seem to be any different from your typical continental-style fare... they have the normal things plus some Asian and Mexican style dishes. It reminds me of the whole Cheesecake/BJs/Elephant Bar type dining.

The service was great but I think I need to order something different as I had the Spaghetti Bolognese (I was in the mood for Italian as I wanted to go to Bucca next door). It was okay, they put Alfredo sauce in it which made it heavier than it already is. I was going to try the meatloaf or the beef sandwich based on qwerty's recommendation but we had gone to Lucille's earlier this week and I was over my BBQ limit. Mrs. IHO had some Habana(?) chicken thing.

They had two levels of kids meals, an 8 and under which only had 4 items to choose from and then a 12 and under "bigger" meal that had more variety. The problem is the stuff my kids liked were on the 12 and under menu and they are both under 8. So not only did we have to pay more, but the 12 and under meals don't include drinks (we had to pay $1.00 extra for each).

I'm going to sidetrack nitpick here but I always feel that if a restaurant is charging over $10 for an adult entree and over $3.00 for a regular drink, their kid meals should include the drink and dessert. But that's just me... most will include the drink, not many will include the dessert.

I didn't get a chance to sample their desserts as we were full (I had to take home over half my meal) but I'm not sure if there was anything I was really into.

Will we be back? Maybe... but currently we are going to the places that have Costco gift cards so we can save $20 on $100. That's CPK, Lucille's and Elephant Bar. We would probably do Ruby's too... but we've been there way too many times and both me and the Mrs. are sick of that place. And for that kind of dining, I would rather go to BJ's or Cheesecake Factory.

(BJ's used to honor their lunch specials any time of the day so their $5.95 mini pizza and salad special was an incredible bargain)
 
We went there for Saturday lunch just before the crowds. The service was attentive. The menu had a wide selection and a lot of items I like but there was nothing that distinguished it from any of the other chains.

For the main course I had the steak, wrapped in bacon - medium rare - I was disappointed that the steak came out medium. It wasn't as good as marmalade's sirloin.

For dessert I tried the cinnamon pizza. It was okay - nothing special.

But for the ultimate critic I asked my 5 year old daughter if she liked it, her response - 'not really'
 
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lazy-dog-cafe-irvine

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"bone" cakes
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Breakfast pizza
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Hawaiian fried rice

Had dinner the other night and saw the weekend brunch menu and decided to come back to try that.  The breakfast pizza did not disappoint and one of our favorites now.  A white pizza with sun dried tomatoes, bacon, spinach, with a sunny egg on top, crunchy cheesy good.  Hawaiian fried rice is ok, maybe good as hangover food, needs some pineapples in it.  Pretty good beer selection, focus on pales.  Prices are decent, our breakfast was around $20, probably would've cost more at IHOP across the lot.
 
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