Cafe Tria

Good food, great service. My only complaint is that the chocolate lava cake had no «lava» gooey filling. Still delicious though. Great for lunch.

I was actually heading to Bruxie for my first ever visit to that Unilocal darling of several years. I know, a big Unilocal fail eh? My old excuse was that it was in Orange, and I just never got around to making the trek. So now there is one on either side of home, DTHB, and recently Costa Mesa. So with no excuses left I headed on over. As fate would have it, I made a wrong turn on 17^th, and instead of doubling back I came to Café Tria as a friend was recently touting them. So Bruxie, be patient would ya?
I was immediately greeted by the friendly owner, and sat at the small bar. Comfy nicely decorated place in one of OC’s many strip malls. I ordered an Adana (spiced grilled ground beef) wrap, and while it wasn’t up to Jacks Bakery’s Adana, it was very good and perfectly seasoned. Everything was extreamly fresh, and the owner went back in the kitchen and made it himself. He apologized towards the end of my meal for the slow service, but had sent his crew home since it was so slow (3:00 on a Saturday). No worries, I always prefer to have the owner cook for me anyway. In chatting with him I discovered he is of Turkish descent, and I look forward to trying some of his other Mediterranean dishes. My buddy and his family go frequently on Mondays and Tuesdays for their pasta specials, so I may have to follow his lead soon. They also have 50% off bottles of wine every Thursday, always a draw for me. See their website for details.
It’s not a date night spot, more like an upgraded fast casual resto. IMO one of the better options on thee annoyingly busy 17^th street. Can’t wait to come back.

1.24.14 — Lunch
3.5 Stars, rounded down… Walked in. noticed that there was a $ 5 gyro special from 12−4pm…I was looking for koobideh in my area, and this was the closest thing… I wanted to eat low-​carb, so had the Turkish kebab (Adana), along with an order of gyro… The owner was nice and suggested the combo… Asked for extra tzatziki and I received… The gyro meat was seasoned like the kebab, but tasted fine… Asked for no rice and all salad. The salad was mediocre… This place is hard to compare to other places in the area, but Akropolis by NB Pier is all-​around better for their Mediterranean offering. Tria offers Italian dishes, but did not try… Nice little place, may try again if I get a super craving for kebab and don’t want to drive out of Newport area.
Expensive for what you get.

Just ordered a Family meal for4 people… that had barely had enough food for 2 people! Are u kidding me, RIP OFF!!! Then I called back and they wanted me to buy more food instead of making it right. Horrible place!

Who: 3 hungry foodies
Eats: Hummus appetizer, Adana Kebab, Mixed Kebab Plate, Gyro Plate, and Penne Calabrese Pasta
Takes: The hummus was great – there’s a bite of saltiness that complements the toasty pita! My favorite of the meats is hands down the Adana. The Adana is chewy and packs the flavor with every bite. The beef is tender and cut into large chunks. The pasta’s creamy sauce makes the dish! No, soggy pasta here!
Portion: Each plate is quite filling in itself! We were struggling to finish the pasta and ended up taking it to go.
Service: Hospitable. You def feel the family vibe here as if you’re dining in your own kitchen.
Price: It is on the expensive side. The mixed kebab plate and the pasta together was already $ 25.
Tip: Check in on Unilocal for your $ 6.95 pasta special!
Parking: Shared private lot.
Highly recommended.
Go here for your Italian and Mediterranean fix!

I was disappointed in my experience here considering such the high reviews. There was no wait on a Friday night but only one person working the entire café. The food was good but portions are small. The beef kebobs were chewy. The hummus was on the salty side. I think maybe their lunch is better than their dinner since the menus are different. However, I really liked the Adana kebabs here. Moist and super flavorful.

Nope.
Not for the price. The scallops in my Linguine Pescatore were fishy and the side Caesar for $ 4 was awful.
How on earth do you screw up a Caesar salad?
(All that was $ 24.)

Amazing place!!! We went on a Wednesday and it was 8.95 Kabab day! The guy who works there who runs the place. Dom is amazing! He is such a nice guy and a sweet heart! We ordered all 3 Kabab deals and split them… they were nothing but amazing!
We didn’t really want dessert but he insisted and im SOOOOO Glad he did! DO NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE WITHOUT HAVING THE BAKLAVA!!! you will be crazy mad at yourself!!!
Either way go here whenever you can… support and go back again… never a dissapointment

Family owned, great service and yummy food!
We came for lunch in the middle of the week, the owner/​server was very helpful. He provided great suggestions. We ordered an appetizer which included two dips with pita bread and dolma, it was delicious!
For the main course I ordered the gyros plate which came with sliced gyro meat in a marinara sauce on a bed of basmati rice. Ordinarily I wouldn’t order beef/​lamb gyro because lamb tastes gamey but this was outstanding. The plate came with a side salad and this cucumber yogurt dipping sauce.
I definitely will be back and will order this dish again.

Beef kabob — very good
Chicken kabob — very much average
There is also Italian food, which conceptually blows my mind.
Server was bizarre /​borderline rude

I had this place bookmarked for months — I have been having crazy gyro cravings lately and drove from Garden Grove just to eat here!
Service: One guy working … pretty much doing everything… He was friendly but he forgot the sodas … and we had to get his attention a couple times but it was not his fault … they did get busy
Food: Gyro plate — flavorful but a bit too salty
Rice– such tiny grains
Hummus — more on the chunky side but good
Chicken kabob– lemony and soft
Beef kabob– tasty
Lamb– not a fan
the cake was good but still on the frozen side…
overall Good service and Tasty but needs a little improvement

The pizza was good, the Chicken Alfredo was super plain!
We only came here because we wanted to snack on the Banzai Bowl next door.
It was a fair warning when the plaza was full in parking and yet this restaurant had no customers but us.
To be fair, the chef/​owner came out to ask how the food was but I didn’t have the guts to tell him the pasta was ooober plain.
Maybe its my palate who knows.
Try it, maybe you’ll like it, but don’t blame me if you don’t.

I was really happy with the way Café Tria dealt with our order issues. I was able to speak with Jay — their in-​house manager– and he made sure that we would receive a free lunch on any day of our choosing.
The day I came in for our redo lunch, the food was ready to go and piping hot. Every single item that we ordered was done right and each side was available with each dish as promised.
I really liked that they went the extra mile to help us out… The family that owns the restaurant is very friendly and the food (when done right) is excellent.
Pros:
–Good Food
–Great Customer Service
Cons:
–Parking is still tough!
Tips:
–If there is an issue with any of your food, say something! The management/​customer service here is excellent so they will make sure that you are happy.

Mediterranean has never been my thing, but this place made me change my tune. I used the Unilocal check in deal and got the beef shish kebab to go for $ 8.95. Regular price at $ 12.95 is a bit too much. The beef was über tender and flavorful. Usually, I find shish kebab meat to be tough, but this was not the case. I also tried some of the chicken which was also tender, especially for white meat. Not usually a fan of rice pilaf either, but their version was delectable. I enjoyed the side salad but would have preferred some sauce to go with the pita bread, e.g. a tzatziki sauce.
Seriously, that beef was freaking good. I’m still thinking about it 2 hours later…

AWESOME. I’ve had the gyros and the koobideh here. The gyros come in a marinara sauce and it works very well together. The koobideh: OMG. It tastes charbroiled and like heaven.
The staff is so friendly and nice. Everyone should be like them. If we were all like them I don’t think there would be any hate in the world.

Let’s start with the staff was super nice! Very attentive and friendly, well we were one of two tables in the place and I think I kinda know why.
First off the menu is confusing sort of. I think they confuse you with the Italian meets African or middle eastern cuisine. Or maybe this is common in Europe but not here. I never had a menu in hand and said do I want the hummus starter with spaghetti or the Bruschetta with a Felafel plate?
Well we ordered the Borek which is a phyllo dough stuffed with feta cheese and spinach with a balsamic vinegar which was really nice. We enjoyed it. I got the Gyro plate which seemed pretty simple but lacked all the wonderful things I love so much about gyro meat. Once again experience has blessed my palette on a trip to NYC and ate this cart that had the gyro from heaven so ever gyro experience has paled in comparison since. The meat just didn’t have any kick and the sauce was just that… sauce.
Loved the place but just don’t see us coming back again.

I am not sure what the other people on Unilocal are raving about. I tried this place for dinner and spent $ 16.00 for the Koobideh Kabob. The Kabob had zero flavor and chewy, indicating that it was overcooked. The rice was bland, had no flavor, the salad was overly dressed. Very disappointing.
I think I am going to stick with Panini for my Mediterranean food fix.

I feel like they took that «bland, bland, bland» comment to heart Amanda P.
Being a lover of all things spiced, seasoned, or downright hot as you will make it, getting bland food is just about the worst thing a restaurant can do.
That said, my one caveat for this review is that it’s only for the soup of the day. I saw that the board said, «Lentil» the night before when I visited Chixy, so I figured I’d try it out for lunch. I love lentil soup usually and the reviews for this place are glowing so…
I sat down and ordered some lentil soup! It arrived in a super quaint bowl like I might have had in college, which was a little weird and it was pureed. The guy warned me that it might be a little spicy. Never fear, sir I love the spicy. And it was. Definitely not «hot,» but it was perfectly seasoned and salted etc.
So based on the soup, I will return!

Bland, bland, bland. I feel a need to write a boring review to go with the barely edible, boring food we had here.
There was one bright spot in a completely forgettable meal: the baba ghannouj wasn’t bad. It was light and creamy, smoky but not overpowering. I would eat it again.
The rest of our meal, however, left a lot to be desired. I ordered the falafel plate. The falafels themselves were good, but nothing else on the plate had any flavor. The tomato and cucumber salad was tasteless, even after I tried to doctor it up with salt and pepper. I ultimately declared it a lost cause. The hummus didn’t taste like anything. I had to ask for the tahini that, according to the menu, was supposed to have come with the meal, and the waitress acted confused that I’d requested it; however, I was glad I did. I dumped the entire little cup of tahini into the hummus and stirred. That made it edible! Not great, but edible. I dipped the falafels into it.
My husband’s meal was another story altogether. He ordered the gyro plate. I should have known that this wasn’t going to end well as I listened to the waitress talking about «jie-​roh» over and over. I thought this was pronounced «yee-​roh». However, it seems that «jie-​roh» and «yee-​roh» are not the same thing. What he received was small pieces of meat in marinara sauce, over white rice. He described it as a thinly sliced Italian style meatball and said the rice was comparable to Minute Rice. Worse, it wasn’t even a good thinly sliced meatball. It was also not what I would ever have thought to describe as gyro. While this place bills itself as «Italian and Mediterranean,» I had no idea that they would attempt to combine the two in the same dish. It’s better to do one thing well than two things poorly; unfortunately, Café Tria fell into the latter category.
The same waitress came by and asked if our food was okay. Our mouths were full; my husband made a noncommittal noise that she apparently took as «all good!» If she’d waited for an actual answer, I’d have informed her that some salt, at the very least, would have helped everything.
We ate it because we were hungry; we won’t be back.

Amazing! Finally — a restaurant with great mediterranean food that is delicious! The family is so nice– it’s truly enjoyable coming here to eat.
The stars of the food:
Hummus– homemade. I am not usually a hummus fan, but this is unbelievable. Very light, room temperature, not too thick. Perfect.
Adana Kebab– this is a Kebab from the Adana region in Turkey. Spicy and perfect! Usually you cannot get this type of flavor outside of Turkey — but they managed to make it happen.
Chicken Kebab– juicy, tender chicken. Not tough or dry– like other restaurants.
Borek– SO good! Light fila dough with feta cheese and spinach. Very similar to what you will get in Turkey.
Baklava– THE BEST BAKLAVA YOU HAVE EVER EATEN!!! Not soggy, not dry — AMAZING. A MUST HAVE!
Turkish tea/​coffee– Perfection!
I love this place –everyone is nice and the food is amazing. Healthy, generous portion sizes and delicious! Needs more advertising for people to know about it.