K'ya Lounge II

Since I enjoyed the food the first time, I thought it would be fun to have a post-Christmas dinner here before venturing to see the Newport Beach boat parade.

I made reservations in advance. Happy hour starts when it opens at 4:30pm. However, when we got there at 4:30pm, there was a group of people already and when we asked the hostess for help, she said she had to help those other people get seated first and she would get back to me.

Well, once those people got seated, I had to get her attention again by standing really close to her and making eye contact. She finally asked "do you need help?" like we never spoke before. I said that I made reservations and she asked if I wanted to make reservations. I said no, I made reservations today at 4:30pm. She finally led us to a very small table next to the kitchen. We had to ask for a better seat.

It was my fault for mistaking K'ya for the Rooftop Lounge because when you go to their site, it also advertises the Rooftop Lounge with the beach view. It is kinda confusing.

Well the service was pretty good despite the initial mixup; I don't like the waitresses too much though it is understandable they get busy and confused themselves with the large crowds and people that stay at the hotel. Perhaps they get priority.

I got the mushroom ravioli and the pomegrante martini. It was a bit strong.

My sis got the Shrimp Fra Divolo. When it came out, my ravioli was piping hot but her dish was luke warm. So she got it remade and it was fresh and hot. All appeared well until the waiter asked my sis if I was her daughter. LoL.

I really liked my ravioli but I think they only gave like 6 pieces. The cream sauce was good and it was not too cheesy so that you could really enjoy and appreciate the mixture of the ingredients. The Shrimp pasta was pretty good too once they provided a fresh hot one. It was not too shrimpy, which meant that the shrimp musta been fresh; you know when you can tell when certain seafood's been lying around because it stinks! On the other hand, I am not a huge shrimp fan and it was kinda just like an ordinary penne pasta with tomato sauce and shrimp to me.

I don't think I would want to come here again. The food is good, but the servers (and waiters) can make you feel a bit uncomfortable with their uncouthness. For me, it was the difficulty in getting seated (twice) by the hostess and for my sis, prob the unwanted assumption by the waiter. I do want to try the Rooftop Lounge though for the view.

K'Ya Bistro

Make sure to book reservations in advance for K'Ya Bistro. At approximately 7pm, we decided to have dinner there at the recommendation of the art gallery director's suggestion. The art gallery is located directly across the street and the fellow's name was John, enthusiastic about Chinese art. We put our names down, but our names didn't get called until 9pm.



I ordered the Macaroni and Cheese and Coq au Vin. Brian Boitano had made Coq au Vin on his show and I had wanted to try it since having seen that episode.

The Mac and Cheese was wonderful, not too cheesy with crunchy bread crumbs on top.



The Coq au Vin was interesting. The meat was very tender. It's meticulously created, but not being a huge fan of red wine, I wasn't able to finish it.



And finally, the creme brulee was amazing with the right amount of brulee and creaminess, topped with fresh berries and a sprig of mint.

I highly recommend this restaurant and would love to return! Service and food is excellent; ambience has a ritzy feel to it with many people dressed up for dinner, as is typical of the OC area, especially in Laguna Beach. The price is unbeatable for such an elegant cafe.

Next time, I want to go during the day to get the amazing ocean view I hear about.