La Cave

La Cave has been around since the sixties. Still feels like that kind of place. Stopped by for dinner.
La Cave is in the basement. It is really dark. I mean really dark. The servers need flashlights. The crowd is all old regulars.
The menu is a rolling cart. All premium items like filet, lobster, ribeye, and crab legs. You order your protein and everything else is standard. Ribeye was just ok. A little salty for me. Salad was nothing special.
Service was nice but not very attentive for us.
Price was too much for what it was.
This place is stuck in the sixties. Not someplace that will go on my short list.

Not a good steak house. My steak was super bland. I can make better steak at home! The drinks are good though.

I have been to La Cave twice, once for an anniversary, and the other for my boyfriends birthday Monday night. The first time I came to La Cave, it was mouthwateringly delicious. The mushroom appetizer was amazing! And the the filet was to die for, it cut like butter and was grilled perfectly. The sides were great as well.
Unfortunately when we went on Monday night we were expecting the same delicious food. The mushrooms came out a little mushy, but the sauce was still good. The most disappointing part was when our steaks came out. We both ordered a filet and they BOTH came out completely charred on the outside. We cut into them, and they were still cooked medium rare, but the charcoal ruined the flavor completely. We mentioned this to our waitress and she apologized and took one of our steaks back and had it remade because it was my boyfriends birthday and he wasn’t going to eat a burnt steak. On my steak I just cut off the charred edges and ate the inside. The second steak they brought out tasted much better and was seared perfectly. I’m just surprised the waitresses would have even brought out the steaks the way they looked the first time. For as much as we were paying, it was definitely not worth it the second time around.
As for the service and atmosphere, absolutely wonderful! Our waitress was kind and we had an intimate table away from others because it wasn’t too busy and it was relaxing. Our waitress made sure to check on us and bring us what we needed. Will definitely come back for drinks and dancing, but probably not for a nice steak dinner after our experience.

This place is a true jewel of Costa Mesa. Great food, service, and a cool cozy atmosphere. Vintage, and dark, private and old school. This place should be busier on weekdays, but it is easy to score a great table. Five Star!

I took my wife here for dinner never have I been here before it was all kind of strange to me ordering food with no prices but I figured it can’t be that expensive so we ordered a steak dinner with some sides it cost me $ 240 for two steak dinner was really disappointed in the stake I’ve had better at Denny’s the waitress that helped us was kind of rude I don’t know maybe having a bad day either way overpriced way overpriced for the quality of the steaks if you’re looking for a good steak I recommend Outback Steakhouse much cheaper and better taste I’ve talked to a few people who have eaten here before and everyone is telling me that this place is going downhill that used to be good once upon a time ago but I guess not they must make their money on the bar not the food either way just wanted to leave this for you hope it helps out I will never be eating here again

Steak melting in my mouth and the Crab was cooked perfect! It’s dark and very loud but worth the wonderful atmosphere and food!

A great old-​school steakhouse. Three stars for the food. An extra star for ambiance.
Place could not look any better! Dimly lit and awesome! Right out of Mad Men.
On to the food. I found the cocktails pretty small. Like 2 ½ ounces with a lot of ice melt to fill up the glass. My drink didn’t last too long.
Dinners are basic. For instance my chicken teriyaki came out on a very small plate. Just a small portion of chicken and a very dry twice baked potato. The dinner salad on a chilled plate was the best part.
All in all, a super fun place but the food is not going to win any awards. Go and support it, though because places like this need to survive!

Great food, awesome ambiance and service. Very friendly staff, I’d eat there every day if I could.

We absolutely love La Cave… classic dining at its best. From the hostess, to the bartender, to the service staff… quality and professionalism all around. Our dinner was perfect, and you can’t beat the ambiance.

LOVE THIS PLACE! I have only been on Friday nights for live music 90s night! Need i Say more! Good drinks at reasonable price :) Also great for large groups… I would get there around 9:3ish to get a spot if you want a place to sit or close to the singers :)

*Writing this review after only one visit on a Wednesday night*
So after living in Europe for a year I really missed having a local deep house-​underground club to go party at. The Newport and Costa Mesa bar scene is full of Newport Harbor graduated douches and creepy old men trying to grind on you. After coming to La Cave with some friends last wednesday night I can honestly say I won’t be going anywhere besides here for some good quality deep house music (as if that even exists in Orange County)
Upon arriving and paying the 10 $ cover, I met my friends downstairs in the red light/​dimly lit dance floor. The DJ playing was awesome and the crowd was cool. No creepers; everyone just doing their own thing and dancing. Drinks weren’t too pricey and the place was clean and well maintained. To top it off the whole front entrance had a huge smoking/​socializing area so I give this place 5 stars for the surprisingly solid Wednesday night.

This was my first time at this restaurant on a Saturday night. They have a very busy dining room. The staff and waiters are attentive and always asking if you need anything.
We had the shrimp cocktail appetizer-​big shrimp — delicious. We also had the filet — husband enjoyed it. I had the crab legs — ample serving and very good. Your meal also includes hot garlic toast, a salad or soup. We both had salad with blue cheese dressing. It was a little diluted from how moist the salad was — however it was very fresh. We also had sides of baked potato and asparagus included in the dinner. Overall a very good value.
Parking is tricky — and somewhat crowded. We did get a spot. The ambience is energetic — busy, noisy.

So amazing!!! My husband and I celebrated an anniversary and throughly enjoyed everyone and ALL of the food!!!
Our favorite drinks were the martini and gin and tonics. WOW… Their drinks are incredible and of course after 4 who knows right?
Making a reservation was easy and on a peak day we were happy to be able to get in. The location is in a shopping center right by a Get Fit, the outside does not match the inside at all, so you will be pleasantly surprised.
No menus. Great staff. Sweet waitresses and hostess. Very tight close quarters but quaint.
Incredible, juicy perfect filet minion 10 oz was perfect and a twice baked potato. Tastes like heaven. Lobster half shell disappeared from my plate. Cooked just right with light seasoning.
Great dance floor and fun environment. You can’t help but feel like Frank Sinatra ;)
This is our new favorite steak shop!

2÷7÷16 My boyfriend and I had dinner here last night. We both had the porterhouse steak with asparagus. We had a nice time, unfortunately the next day we became very ill. We have been sick all day. I’m going to call the restaurant and complain and I’m calling the Health Department. We believe the steak was under cooked.
This is not a ploy to ruin there reputation it’s a warning. This whole incident ruined our weekend.

One of my favorite restaurants in Orange County. Great food, tasty cocktails, nice ambiance and a friendly staff. Prices are very reasonable too. Definitely check it out if you haven’t yet.

This is a great place for a fabulous meal in a romantic setting. We have been going here for many years and we have never been disappointed!

We love this place so much that we had our last dinner of 2015 here.
call before you go to let them know your on your way. They will usually find you a seat.
If you never been there try there mushrooms for appetizers with the garlic bread it comes with. Im not even hungry and I’m ready to drive there now as i write this review. The steaks are really juicy and tender. Big enough portions to split if your not a big eater.
Service is great and the romantic dungeon like feeling downstairs only adds to the mood.
If your looking for steaks this should be on your top 3.
Cheers!

I should have prepared for the dankness. It’s a basement filled with a lot of meat. Therefore it’s odd smelling and chilly. The potato and salad were good, but I couldn’t order an entrée as I am a vegetarian and they didn’t have a veg plate. Maybe if you are a big meat eater you would like it here. But the basement vibe gave me the creeps. Waiter was nice, bartender very very very nice. Average age was 55.

Excellent. Restaurant is in a non-​descriptive shopping center on a corner location. Once inside, the ambiance lives up to a «cellar» cozy steakhouse. Steaks cooked perfectly to order. Our party ordered the 7oz. filet, medallions of beef, and King Crab with a filet (surf & turf). Choice of potato with all the trimmings or twice baked. The shrimp on the appetizer dish are huge. Salads fresh with a choice of dressings. Garlic cheese bread average, but 5 stars for excellent meat and good service.

I am shocked to see less than 5 stars. The restaurant has been my top of the list place to go for over 20 years. Can’t get enough garlic bread. Steaks, fish, and ambience are great. Cozy atmosphere like a French underground restaurant is unique. Even the Blue Cheese dressing is great. Heck, after writing the review I think I am going tomorrow.

The complementary cheese bread always hits the spot. I usually get a shrimp cocktail to start because the cocktail sauce is spicy, how I like it and they poach the shrimp perfectly, it is never overcooked and chewy. Do yourself a favor and order the mushrooms, they are addicting, they are Cooked in wine and butter with plenty of garlic! The rib eye never disappoints and the ambiance is old school. I love this place !

I’m glad people hate on this place, it keeps the crowd down so people who appreciate it and enjoy the food can get a table. For everyone who complains about the meat cart and lack of menu, I’m assuming you are hipster brats who have no culture. In the olden days, before the Internet and wearing glasses ironically, what you would call a classy restaurant, would have a meat cart where customers could pick out their cut of meat. Maybe ask your grandparents to explain this to you. As for the lack of selection on the menu people have complained about, this isn’t Applebee’s. If you want a choice of 40 different items this is not the place for you, this is an old school classic steak house. They have a small but classic selection of appetizers, steaks and fish, all are perfectly prepared and have always tasted great. For people who complained about presentation, again this is a traditional steak house — think Goodfellas but without mobsters. If my meal came out on some huge white plate with my food neatly stacked on top of each other with some foo foo greenery perched on top I’d be pissed. If that’s what you are looking for go directly to your nearest hipster farm to table place where you will pay the same price for half the food presented in a sterile, generic environment.

You can’t beat La Cave. The food is great, and it is fun to get drinks there late night in the cool atmosphere. Shout out to Tom… best bartender in town.

Boyfriend took me here because he loves this awesome establishment… I understand why now that I’ve been. All we got was a shrimp cocktail and a couple cocktails. Holy cow!!! The shrimps were huge! The sauce was great but they didn’t put much in the martini glass and they never came back around. I hope we come back as I am excited to try the whole menu. Place is literally dark and cavish feeling which is rad since it holds up to its name. Tnis was our first of three stops for hopping around the area and I was not disappointed. I also absolutely love how the menu is fresh meat on a cart brought to you… not a book or piece of paper to read and order off if. Nice touch and great ambiance:)

An old school steak & seafood joint with a lot of character. You may not get the extremely predictable heavily salted perfect every time steak of a Ruth Chris chain but that’s what I love about the place. Guess what? You can actually taste the meat.
These classic steak houses are becoming harder and harder to find. Although there is no menu that u have ever seen the bottom line price at the end of the night always seems reasonable.

La Cave was a blast from the past, in a good way of course!
We arrived early for our reservations and seated right away.
I had been to La Cave many years ago, they have keep things the same. We ordered Moscow Mules, mine was a bit strong (said no one ever). We had the garlic bread delivered, it was good.
Our waitress showed us the display of steaks and sea food options. I was somewhat uncomfortable not seeing a menu, and no pricing was offered. My husband ordered the porter house steak w/​twice baked potato and I ordered the 12oz lobster tail. We both went with the blue cheese salad and a side of mushrooms.
The meal was cooked perfectly, the mushrooms had so much flavor! My husband said it was the best twice baked potato he has ever had!
Total with lobster, Steak, mushrooms and cocktails came to $ 130.00 before tip. Not bad.
La Cave didn’t disappoint. Enjoy

Dining at this restaurant was quite an experience the outer appearance of this building has a more younger hipper feel making me ponder rather I would experience a true feeling of a traditional steak house but after deciding to give it a try
What do you know «I loved it!!» When you walk into the restaurant the feel changes you feel that old traditional familiar steak house luv. Dining here was comfortable and just easy to do!
The lingering smell of steak being grilled while sipping on a glass of red wine just did it for me awesome staff as well.
Great experience!

This is one of the best kept secrets in Orange County. I just really dig the whole atmosphere of this place. You walk down the stairs into this wonderful, dark room that is a total throwback to the Rat-​Pack days. There is even a Frank Sinatra entertainer.
The food is delicious! The presentation of the different choices is really neat– they wheel over a glass case with the different meats to choose from. I usually come on the prime rib nights because good prime rib is hard to find! Sometimes it is discounted even. The garlic bread is amazing– seriously hands down the best garlic bread ever. The mushroom appetizer is delicious. I’ve tried to mimic the mushrooms at home but yeah. I’m just not meant to cook.
The staff is very friendly and attentive. This small, intimate restaurant is a true treasure of Orange County that you should definitely experience.

I’ve been here 4 times… Always get the beef medallions and twice baked potato and have never been disappointed! Oh, and the complimentary bread, YUMMMMMM!!!
They make the best lemon drop martinis ;)

— Locale Destination —
It’s on Irvine Ave and E 17^th St in Costa Mesa.
It’s in the big shopping plaza, at the corner, right by «my fit food». It’s in a big building, has a sign for «La Cave». Once you see the sign, get into the building and take an elevator or stairs to go downstairs. Take the dingy little stairs with old fashion drawing.
Setting: Classy steak house one. Classy couches, old school table setting, bar etc. Lots of seating but tight setting. Everything is ancient. They have TVs at the bar for games, which is cool to me. The tiny kitchen is right by the elevator. The bathroom was clean but it’s super small.
Ambiance: Very outdated, a total old school «steakhouse» setting, classy, dingy… Great for date (old school — don’t expect the swanky ambiance here). The ambiance must be the ONLY reason for the low star rating.
Service: Great. The staff must have worked here for a long while. Very classy, pleasant, and attentive.
Drinks: Classy but they got good bartenders. I drink booze sometimes, but am not a fan of too much alcohol. Most bartenders in US can make only standard cocktails and make way too strong ones. Even if I asked «very little booze», they tend to make it «too strong». They make quite great drinks and my request was perfectly executed. I did enjoy my cocktail — it hasn’t happened for quite a long long long long time.
Menu: Steak house. They have a little drink menu, but don’t have a menu for food. The server will explain to you all. The price is nowhere. Have a big wallet to be safe. I guess it comes appetizer (soup or salad), one side and one entrée. Maybe cheese breads?! The price was very reasonable for the quality and portion. 4 whiskeys, 1 cocktail, 1 appetizer, 2 baskets of cheese bread, 2 steak, 1 asparagus ended up around $ 160 without tips.
— Gluttony Expedition —
French martini: very sweet, sissy and good. The bartenders know what they do. My request for a little booze was happily well executed.
Cheese bread: Tons of cheese on the toast. Crispy and so good. Dip it into the sauce for appetizer mushroom. So good!
Mushroom: Tons of garlic swimming in the oil. Simple but good. Mmmm good with the cheese bread.
Steak: Pick whatever — The server will bring the protein cart in front of you. It has both meats and seafood. You can double the meat or make it surf and turf — whatever you want. All of them looked pretty good. they can cook very well and the meat quality is pretty good. It’s x100 better than“Mastro’s” food wise.
1) Rib eye — It was huge and I could eat only the half. The meat was very tender, juicy, and cooked very well. No sauce — I wish they had some though it was very tasty with just salt & pepper. Well done.
2) NY — Awesome.
Twice potato: They seasoned mush potato and put it back into the potato skin. Seasoned well, a little dry, but not bad. (see pic)
Asparagus: Nothing special. They could have been better. Need a little seasoning.
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
4.5 stars on steaks and cheese breads.
I wish they had better sauces on steaks, though steaks tasted really good by themselves. They just offer simple salt and pepper. The salad and soup could be updated. But overall, it’s really not bad.
I came here long long long long long time ago (probably over 10 years) for the club night when I was a student. But I’ve never come here for the steak.
I’m not a fan of steak house generally because most places don’t cook steak well and make me disappointed thinking I could have gotten a better meat from the butcher for less $$$. This place is very old school and has a very outdated ambiance, but they cook steak very well and food are better than most steak houses. Don’t be fooled by the low rating. It’s way better than «Mastro’s» for sure. Impressive!

This place is a roller coaster. It seems to have its ups and downs. It definitely makes for an interesting night to say the least.
My friends and I came here this past weekend for a birthday celebration. There were supposed to be 10 of us so we made a reservation a day ahead of time. As always, I was a little early and the first one to arrive so I asked the hostess about our reservation. The first thing she starts to do was apologizing to me… not a good sign. Apparently, a party of 15 which had a reservation 2 hours before us, came 1 hour late and took up the large table which our party was supposed to use. In any case, luckily for us and for the restaurant, 4 of our party cancelled last minute so 10 turned into 6.
Anyhow, we still had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table even though we had a reservation. We mad? Not at all. As a matter of fact, we got front row seats to a fight. It wasn’t a physical fight but boy, was a customer IRATE! I don’t know what the heck went down but he was asked to leave. The waitress who was serving his table said he was being extremely rude and they had a tiffy and the guy asked to see the owner and wanted all his money back. I wish I had some popcorn to watch this explosion.
Well, after that little altercation, my friends and I were happily greeted and seated by Briana and our waitress Jennifer came to our table as if nothing happened! That’s great waitressing right there. As the saying in show biz goes, «The show must go on.»
Since our table was taken by a tardy group of 15, we were given a smaller table that was meant for 4 but squeezed in 6 place settings. They don’t have a menu, nor pricing. They have a roller cart filled with 10 different cuts of meat from filet mignon to rib eye, new york strip, lobster tail, halibut and a few others. The waitress explained it all and to our amusement, my friends and I all ordered the same thing, the 16oz. ribeye. We were 3 couples, 6 total, and we all split the dish. The rib eye was huge and even though we split it up, we were all satisfied by the end of the night.
We also ordered some XYZ wine as well as an appetizer of mushrooms. Both were pretty fantastic. Jennifer, the waitress, recommended that we dip our complimentary cheese bread into the mushroom sauce and we did. I was disappointed at the quality of their complimentary bread. It wasn’t all that. I didn’t even mind that they didn’t replenish it after my friends and I asked THREE times to replace it before they finally did.
Anyway, aside from that, the rib eye was fantastic. It was very tender and tasted superb. Oh! Also, we ordered the twice baked potato which was a hit with me. I loved it. Imagine a crispy-​on-​the-​outside potato but mashed potato on the inside. Yummy.
Total COST for each person for wines, steaks, and appetizer was $ 35. All in all, it was a fair deal It was not a great experience but it was definitely a memorable one. Great company with friends makes any night a fantastic night, but the restaurant dropped the ball many times on their end.
Oh, my compliments to the waitress who was a real trooper though! Jennifer, she was cool. She even gave my homie a free chocolate cake for his birthday. Much thanks for that!
Will we be back? Who knows.

Welp, I guess I’ve been here before. This holiday season, my brother invited my bf and I to dine with he and my nephews. To save a long story, I got food poisoning and had the worst 18 hours.
That night, I ate the mushrooms and the halibut with asparagus. I only had one glass of wine. I ended up so sick. Skip the food here and just drink if you go!

Service is excellent. Maybe it was the time of night, we came early on a Saturday– but everyone was really attentive. Started with their famous cheese bread — I loved it, hubby wasn’t impressed. Interesting how you don’t get a menu — so knowing prices of items is difficult. I originally ordered rib eye, it was so chewing I couldn’t eat it. I rarely send things back, as I am afraid of what else I may get! But I am glad I did because NY strip was excellent! Tasty cooked perfect. Twice baked potato was very good. (Salad reminded me of my grandmothers favorite place)
prime rib hubby had was little over cooked, and just average in taste.
The music was all 60’s which I didn’t mind — hubby loves it (better then the techno we were forced to listen to Last weekend)
Overall I would probably give it another shot.