Life has been coming at me fast & furious as of late. Recently returned from my first blogger’s conference, Blogalicious ’12, you can read all about it here. Let me say it was a blast, I learned a lot, and I met some remarkable people… will definitely be going to Blogalicious ’13!
I want to share a restaurant with all of you. I think you will love it, I know I did! A month or so ago, we spent some time in Newport Beach. We met-up with some family members there and enjoyed the sand and sea together. When it was time to leave, we started thinking about where we wanted to eat. I got on my phone and started checking Yelp to see what was nearby. We had decided on Seafood. There were quite a few seafood restaurants close-by, but since we did not have reservations- our wait would have been about 2 hours…umm…no, thank you!
Time for Plan B. Since we were heading back to Orange, CA, I decided to Yelp again and see what I could find. What I found, was one of the most amazing restaurants I have been to in about a year. Please remember that we were coming from the beach- which means we were not dressed in our finest threads! When we stepped foot in Manhattan Steak & Seafood, I think all us adults kinda went, “Uh-Oh!” We realized we were underdressed… but we pressed on and had the hostess seat us anyway.
We were a party of eight, so we got the big table! Once seated, we looked around and took everything in. Nice! I did not have my camera with me, but I did manage to snap a few pics with my phone.
Menu
The atmosphere in the restaurant was very jovial. Everyone around us was having a good time, and we followed suit. Before we knew it, we were laughing out loud (perhaps a bit too loud?!) and trying not to get thrown out! (I must confess, we were laughing about something we had observed earlier in the day and you know how when one person starts laughing then everyone starts? Yeah, that!) We managed to compose ourselves long enough to hear music being played. Turns out the restaurant has a live jazz band playing Weds-Sat. nights. Very nice!
We placed our orders and then sat back and waited. Much to our surprise, our waiter came to the table with an appetizer for us-compliments of the chef. It was a Quail Egg on a plate with chocolate sauce drizzled on the side. I had never had a quail egg before- we quickly devoured our eggs (we’d been at the beach all day, we were hungry!) and looked forward to our meals. (Kudos to the chef for that special treat!)
We did not have to wait long for our meal. I ordered the Seared Scallops plate which included lemon-butter porcini risotto, polenta cake, & garlic dijon beurre blanc. Here it is:
It was absolutely delicious, although I did bite down on a couple grains of sand in the scallops.
Check out the Red-Seafood-Pasta with clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, assorted fish, linguine, spicy roasted tomato sauce, & parmesan crostini.
Next up, Wild Ahi-Tuna-Tataki with sautéed baby bok choy, ponzu sauce, & wasabi mashed potatoes.
This is the Wild-Sauted-Tiger-Shrimp with Garlic, diced tomatoes, white wine, lemon-butter sauce, & shaved parmesan.
Here we have the Bone-in-Beef-Short-Ribs – slow braised, caramelized onion mashed potatoes, sauteed asparagus, & natural jus.
We enjoyed our meals and the restaurant immensely. Their Southern California style cuisine is delightful! The restaurant is gorgeous, and they have an extensive wine list. If you want to be wined & dined, Manhattan Steak & Seafood is the restaurant for you. If you want to impress someone, ditto! We truly felt like we were “living the good life,” while we were dining. The staff is very attentive and caters to your every whim. The restaurant is quite large, (three levels) so don’t worry if you are with a large party, I’m sure they will be able to accommodate you.
Here’s the address:
202 S Main Street
Orange, CA 92868
They can be reached by phone at (714) 978-6161.
I hope you have enjoyed my little visit to Manhattan Steak & Seafood, keep them in mind next time you are in Orange, CA.
(I was not compensated for this post, but if Manhattan Steak & Seafood would like me to be their guest in the future; I will gladly accept!) 😉
