Old Vine Cafe

One of the best food and wine experience in OC! Everything on the menu look fantastic and selection was hard to make. We chose the caprese salad followed with scallops and then lamb chops. Oh wait! Mother of hen, mushroom Medley, was the perfect accompaniment!

Very pricey! I had the biscuits and gravy and it was so delicious! My mom enjoyed the cheesy grits. The location is very small so I’m sure on weekends the wait can be long. I hope to go back soon!

Excellent as usual! Favorite place to take my daughter when she’s home from school. I ordered the Goat omelette, my daughter is vegetarian/​pescetarian and ordered the Smoked Salmon omelette, both are very delicious. We normally ordered the Berry Crêpe but Ordered the Banana Crêpe this time, it was so good.

Super cute little restaurant, sometimes I wish there was more seating because the waits can be about 45 minutes on weekends.
They have really good food however. I have gotten the open faced. Wow that thing can feed 2 ½ people it is so ginormous and so rich and insanely filling. I’ve tried the French toast both the Carmel and the berry one! Both very delicious and very rich in flavor. They have good coffee (lattes, regular black, espresso) fresh orange juice and good drinks! it’s just an all around great breakfast and brunch joint!
Haven’t tired the lunch so I’m going to return for that reason!

Excellent food — we had the banana crêpe and the open faced. Good portioned and delicious. The sweet crêpe was well made with a generous serving of bananas, blueberries and strawberries.
Open faced was interesting biscuit wrapped in an omelette — slightly spicy with queso fresco and potatoes. The ambiance was relaxed and the service was excellent.

Hidden within the interior of The Camp lies a nice little date place called Old Vine Café. It’s a popular café, but there usually isn’t a line. And if there is, there are comfy saddle seats and a tree hammock directly across from the entrance for you to wait.
This was my second time here, after remembering how tasty my previous order, the Open Face, was. Get that dish if you come. It was a delicious monstrosity of a dish… essentially biscuits & gravy on steroids. Unfortunately, my gf and I decided to be healthier this time and got the Smoked Salmon Omelet + biscuit w/​pistachio nut butter and the Fresh Berry Crepes. Both disappointing.
— The Smoked Salmon Omelet was really thin and lacking of too many other ingredients aside from the salmon itself. It could’ve used some more substance, as it tasted pretty bland. The pistachio nut butter that’s supposed to go on the biscuit was lacking in pistachio flavor as well. I think going with any of the other spreads would’ve been better. Potatoes were delish.
— The berry crêpe was also underwhelming. The crêpe skin was not what crêpe texture should be like. It was thick, not browned, not airy, and not crisp around the edges (all opposites of how it should be!). Because of the thickness, it was a little hard to fold around the berries and eat all the contents together. I would’ve preferred ordering a bowl of fruit instead.
There’s a private parking lot that is often packed, but the service was pretty good. I give it a 3.5 stars, but I’d still recommend this as a date place because there’s a hammock; and we all know the ladies love hammocks.

This place was cute as AF. It’s tucked away inside The Camp (a very hipster/​OC plaza full of juice bars and yoga classes). It’s surrounded by greens and has a very delicate woodsy color palette and interior décor. I loved everything about it. We came hella early exactly at 9:00am, put ourselves on the wait list, waited only about 5 minutes before we were called. We opted for the patio, because patios are always the best. :)
Ordered the vegetarian omelette with skillet potatoes, sans toast and cheese with an order of OJ. I love that they have so many alternative upgrades to sides (french toast, hot cinnamon roll, etc.), but of course for an additional fee. But it’s always nice to have options, many restaurants I know hates giving subs. The omelette was awesome, btw. The shiitake mushrooms in it gave it a very unique flavor since I’m accustomed to restaurants (and cooking at home) using white buttons or criminis. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it because I always found shiitake to have a very strong flavor profile that can be overpowering in dishes so I always had a hard time eating it. But this time I finished every last bite of my plate!
Our wait staff was amazing, they were efficient and accommodating to our large order. They also made sure our coffees, waters, and juice were refilled. Their attitudes were positive and extremely friendly. I would definitely come again for breakfast!
They seem to peak around 10:00am so come at 9:00am or before to get in ahead of the crowd because by the time we got our food at 9:30am there was already a crowd waiting.

This restaurant is located in the back of The Camp, the hipsters paradise. We got there relatively early, so we didn’t have much of a wait. I would say this place is on the smaller side, so bigger groups beware and call ahead of time. My friend has a dairy allergy which they were able to accommodate. They also have a solid brunch drink selection. Everyone at my table had something different, and everyone seemed satisfied. The reason this place doesn’t get a full 5 stars is because the prices (really expensive mimosas for not being bottomless) and portion sizes. My friend got the rabbit mole, which was not very big and he had to polish off my goat omelette. Overall though, this is a solid spot for brunch if you are in the area.

This place is a gem!
I had the vegetarian omelette and substituted my potatoes for the cheese grits and let me tell you, it was worth every calorie and bite.
The service was great and our food came out super fast. Our server was very attentive and sweet.
I will definitely come back when I’m back in town! ‘Til next time.

Wow!
What a great find this was.
I was lucky enough to arrive just before they opened. Got my name on the list and waited 10 min for my table.
Service was fast and friendly. I ordered the BBQ pork omlet, a biscuit and coffee. Everything was delicious! The coffee cup was kept full, at all times.
I hope to come back soon.

This place is so cute! The look & feel is really cool and it’s inside a lot with a bunch of different restaurants which is nice if you need other options.
The service was really good, everyone was kind and attentive. The food was really good but I felt it was over-​priced for what it was. It was nothing too special but the portion was sized well, so I suppose it depends on what you personally care more for. Do you care about portion or the specialty of the food?
If you need a tip for what to get, I ordered the open faced biscuit & my friend had the apple French toast. Both were very delish and I was impressed with the queso sauce they put on biscuit.
All in all, I loved this place it was a unique setting with great service and good food!

Unique, cute little place in the corner of this plaza. I came here with my mom for a quick bite to eat and looked up Unilocal really quick to see anything close with good ratings, not expecting to find something like this!
I got the apple caramel French toast which was more like a bread pudding and very sweet. It looks dense when you cut into it but it’s very light and they don’t skimp on apples or caramel sauce! Not the healthiest breakfast, but so worth it!!! It was really delicious.
Mommy got braised beef tongue sandwich, which I got a bite of. I’ve never had beef tongue before but this was very tender, soft, and like beef! Haha. I liked it and I would definitely order that for myself.
We are coming back tomorrow morning and I’m going to try one of the savory options! To be continued.

Ok, I brought my Mom here the day before Mother’s Day (Sat) to celebrate. I don’t get to spend much time with her and was so excited to bring her here and treat her to something special. The last time I came was around 4 years ago and I remembered loving it. I thought it would be just the same. Nope! Here’s the breakdown:
— snooty bad attitude manager/​host upon arrival
— outlandish prices
— $ 4 for bread
— $ 8 for sparkling water
— the food isn’t good! What happened?
— was misguided with the ½ wine glass pairing. $ 7 for 2 sips of cheap wine? So another $ 14 there because she asked if we wanted to split it. I said yes without knowing.
We ordered the burrata arugula salad to start (can’t go wrong usually? Well it did. The arugula comes fried and was sooo greesy. It just overpowered everything. Oily and greesy. Photo attached. The next salas was also oily and greesy. Ingredients taste cheap also.
Only good thing is their bread! But they don’t make it here.
I ended up spending about $ 68 on this lunch with my mom and we were soooo dissatisfied. If we hadn’t eaten all the bread we would have left hungry. The food was that bad and overpriced. I was so sad I brought her here. Such a disappointment. I will not be back unfortunately. Don’t waste your money!

After my daughters volleyball tourney, this place is such a beautiful treat, such a trendy, bohemian– like, super fresh atmosphere.
Ambiance: two thumbs up
Food: really good
Waitstaff: excellent

Came in for a late brunch on a friday and were seated right away, great service and food came out pretty quickly. Everything tasted amazing, definetly stop by this place for a good brunch or lunch option, located inside the camp!

Old Vine Café (OVC) is located in the corner of the Camp. It’s a very small and quaint restaurant with no more than 12 tables and a few patio seating tables. It was pretty packed on the Saturday but luckily for me I made reservations. I’m not going to do an in depth review cause I’m saving that for my blog.
The service was fantastic and our server was pretty amazingly awesome. She came by more than enough times to check up on us and glasses were never empty including our wine glasses. She did a fantastic job and even comped us a slice of their Grandma’s Cheesecake. She was a total sweetheart.
Now, the food. OVC had a few tasting menu options and a good size a la carte menu. The tasting menu consisted of four different options. We both weren’t very hungry so we decided to go with a la carte. Beef Tenderloin Stroganoff was surprisingly pretty good and I was definitely impressed. Hand Made Gnocchi came in the same size as tater tots and it looked like tater tots. My friend definitely enjoyed the dish and thought it was pretty tasty.
Overall, I would definitely recommend OVC for the food, service and ambiance. It was pretty casual but it didn’t feel like a cheap restaurant. It’s definitely not one of those establishments where you go for a guys’ night out. I would totally come back to OVC.

Came here with a few friends for brunch and had a very nice experience! We really enjoyed the ambiance and the service here is excellent. We ordered the Biscuits N’ Gravy, Open Faced, and the Strawberry Crêpe and were all surprised at how large the portions were when we received our food.
The Biscuits N’ Gravy was a bit too salty, while the Open Faced was a bit too heavy and creamy for my liking. However, we all enjoyed the Strawberry Crêpe — it came with fresh strawberries and was absolutely delicious!
I am willing to give Old Vine Café another chance since biscuits and gravy dishes just might not be for me… Next time I eat here, I will probably try the more sweet/​fruity options rather than the savory ones!

Met up with my friend here for brunch. I knew this place would be packed after 10am, so I went early. Of course my friend almost an hour late. Luckily, it was still early enough not to wait too long. Roughly 10 mins and we got a seat inside.
It’s a bit crammed inside and probably not ADA compliant in certain areas. The waiters were rushing to take orders and serve food to the point where he bumped into my friend’s chair and end up spilling water on the next table. Onto his lap and table and splashed the lady’s leg full of water. The waiter didn’t really realize at the moment, probably a 2 second delay. He just wiped the floor and apologized. Ugh hello? The guy and the lady’s legs are wet and the table is wet. Spilled on his napkin and everything. A manager should’ve came to apologize and give them more napkin/​towel. It definitely upset the lady’s mood and it didn’t seem like they were having a good time. They even scoot their table away from ours to prevent it happening again.
Aside from that incident, we order our food and everything was great. Food was delicious. I order the homemade gravy and biscuit. It was giant!!! Like mount Everest! Probably should share two plates or something. My friend had the omelette lengua. It was delicious and flavorful. He certainly enjoyed it because his plate was licked clean. His plate came with a choice of bread and he took the homemade cinnamon bread roll. OH EM GEE! It was huge and it was delectable! It would go nice with a cup of earl grey tea. But we were just too full to eat it so he took it home. The portions are generous, so if you want to try more than one item with a friend, I suggest you share. =)

This place knows how to do a brunch! Mimosas and other adult beverage offerings and an omelette with an entire biscuit in it! Yes you read that right, an omelette with a warm buttermilk biscuit inside. Known as the Open Faced, it blew my culinary brunch mind. With the potatoes it came with on the side, I couldn’t even remotely finish the whole thing. The sauce on top is spicy and delicious. Truly one of the best breakfast meals I’ve ever. Their mimosas are good sized too which considering the price (around $ 11) is warranted.
Definitely get here early if you’re going on a weekend! Word is out about how good this place is and it’s not very big. I met my friend at 10 and there was already a wait of about 5 groups ahead of us. By 11, it looked like the wait was at least an hour. A helpful tip too because as a newcomer I was confused by this, if you don’t see any of the staff around there should be a clipboard on a chair outside that you can write your own name down and # in your party on. A little different and a lot of us were super confused about what to do.
Our server was super friendly. It took a little while for our food to come out but after that, everything was quick and our waters were never empty.
This is definitely more of a splurge type of meal place. I spent over $ 30 including tax and tip. But it’s definitely worth it for the portion size, quality of the food and the service. Just remember, this is at The Camp, awarded the Worst Parking Lot in Orange County 3 years running. Ok, not really but it definitely gets bad quickly. They do have valet now though which is great if you want to pay but conversely limits the number of regular spots too I think.

This restaurant is located in a very cute plaza along with hipster signs and designs. The interior is small and the tables are too close together. On a date? need some privacy? Nope! The people next to you will hear all your cute couple-​y conversations.
Now for the important part: the food! I ordered the open faced. It was good but just that. The orange sauce (Chipotle gravy) was on the heavier side and too salty for my liking. I also think maybe if my plate had arrived at the table warm, I may have enjoyed it a tad more.
Service is good. No complaints there. Our drinks were routinely filled and plates were cleared off the table. Also a little on the pricier side compared to other brunch joints in the area $$
Overall, nothing to write home about. I had higher expectations for you Old Vine :(Still haven’t quite given up on this place. I will have to stop by for lunch maybe and give it a final go.

New favorite spot for brunch in OC, hands down! Friends have been recommending Old Vine Café for a while now, and I wish I had listened sooner! This little café is tucked inside The Camp in Costa Mesa, surrounded by other small eateries, boutiques and shops. It had a quaint, relaxed aesthetic that is very calming and cozy. The wait staff is incredibly friendly and if you come on a weekday, the café is relatively empty and you can sit and enjoy your food and drink, listen to the folky indie music they play, and chat with your friends without feeling at all rushed.
We had the smoked salmon omelette and the caramel apple pie French toast! A little bit of sweet, and a little bit of savory! The smoked salmon omelette was perfect. The egg was fluffy, the salmon was fresh and delicious, and it is everything you hope for in a salmon breakfast and more. It came with your choice of bread – we chose their house baked English muffins with apple butter (ridiculously good, I wish I could buy the apple butter by the jar!) and breakfast potatoes. It was a very, very filling brunch meal!
I am absolutely obsessed with French toast. I get French toast at almost every new brunch and place I go to, and let me tell ya, Old Vine knocked it out of the park! Major props to their baker Stephanie, who whipped up the magnificent dish! It’s beautiful, decadent and hands down the BEST French toast I’ve ever eaten. It isn’t your everyday French toast, it’s a beautiful cube of brioche bread with freshly baked apples interwoven in each layer, with just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar baked in. It’s got more of a bread pudding consistency, but I’m not complainin’!
All of this, plus endless coffee refills (the waitress helping us even gave me a to-​go cup of coffee as I was finishing up) and I was more than sold. Old Vine Café has my heart, and I can’t wait to come back again and again!

Great service, great food, great atmosphere. They have lunch course every day from 11am-​3pm $ 26 per person so we figured why not?
Food– We both started out with different appetizers. I got the mushroom bisque which was very delicious! My boyfriend got a salad which was pretty tasty as well. For our main course he got a beef tongue sandwich and I got a meatball sandwich with a tomato-​ish soup? The beef tongue sandwich was pretty amazing. It did have a lot of meat, but it also had a very spicy pepper that added just the right kick for those who love spicy (me). The meatball sandwich was good with the soup, however it did get a little tiring after a while because of all the cheese in the sandwich. For desert he got the pecan pie, while I got the cheese cake. The cheesecake was good, it was a little heavy but it was pretty good. The pecan pies were good as well, however I disliked the sea salty because it was just WAAAY salty, but that’s what salt is!
Service– Service here is super friendly. They treat you like you’re family, check up on you and make sure you’re okay. The lady that took our order felt like she could be like your mother or like the lunch lady at school who sneaks you an extra brownie just because she knows you like them. The other staff members were also extremely friendly as well. They definitely know a thing or two about good customer service here!
This place is just simply amazing. I would come here if I am feeling quite hungry and in the mood for a full meal. Thing place will have you full as if you were going home to mama and asking her for a meal. Love love love this place.

I came here on a Sunday at 12:30pm and put my name down for a party of 2. They don’t take reservations for breakfast or lunch. I’ve been wanting to try this place (and have tried once but the wait was too long, I gave up) but the parking situation at the camp and the long wait always deters me.
Luckily (this kind of surprised me), we only had to wait ~10 minutes for a table outside. I decided to order the BBQ omelet with sourdough toast and apple butter (upon recommendation from our server) and my friend got the reuben omelet with english muffin and apple butter as well.
I asked for «light/​easy» cheese on my omelet, but the interpretation of what is little/​easy/​light is always subjective so I’m not going to really hold that against them. Our food came out shortly after and the omelets were overwhelmingly a huge portion. We had a chance to try each other’s plates and the reuben omelet was stuffed with pastrami and tasted like it had some horseradish in it which added a little kick. Likewise, the BBQ omelet had a mountain of pulled pork in it and was good — but after a while the cheese got congealed… and was almost difficult to eat (I’m not a big fan of cheese overpowering the flavors of a dish which is why I asked for light cheese).
The apple butter was probably my favorite part of the meal. Overall, the food was good but it didn’t really leave a memorable impression on me. I was lucky to have gotten a table so quickly, so if the circumstances were in my favor again (easy to find parking, fast wait for a table) I’d come back — otherwise I’m okay to pass Old Vine up.

I was pretty torn between giving this place three or four stars, but decided to give it four stars just to round up. Old Vine is tucked into The Camp, and it’s a small little café with indoor and outdoor seating. The waitress/​waiter were very attentive and came by promptly. Didn’t really have to ask for anything or have anything to complain about. I came with two other friends and we shared two items.
Open Faced: comes with a biscuit, chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, chipotle gravy and quest fresco with potatoes. Definitely a VERY dense dish, so I would highly recommend sharing this with others. Sharing this amongst the three of us, we STILL had about ¼ of the portion to take home, and we were insanely full. Best part about this dish is definitely the sauce, which is rich and creamy. Biscuit and eggs on the inside were okay; I feel like there could’ve been more done, perhaps if the sauce came with an omelette with a ton of ingredients, that would’ve been better. Overall decent though.
Caramel Apple French Toast: garnished with a caramel and chocolate Swirl. The french toast itself was pretty moist and had a crunchy outer layer that was delicious. Not too overwhelming, but the texture was definitely on point and not too dry. Sauces paired well with it. I think it also came with figs, which tasted great with the toast. Would recommend this!
Parking is relatively easy, as there is a ton of parking around The Lab, fortunately. Service was great and food was decent. Would be down to come back!

Came here for brunch on Saturday around 11 and there was already a good group waiting but most were families so the two of us were seated in less than 10 minutes.
We wanted something sweet and something savory and decided on the Seasonal Pumpkin Pecan French Toast (freshly baked & garnished with Whipped cream), which was more bread pudding than french toast, but delicious nonetheless. For savory, I wanted the Open Faced (fresh biscuit, chicken sausage, scrambled eggs, chipotle gravy & queso fresco with potatoes), which was good but could do without the pickled vegetables.
The Red Sangria was good but not worth the $ 11 and coffee was just plain coffee, nothing special about it.
Minus 1 star because we were seated in the corner and it was quite difficult to get someone’s attention.
Parking is a mess here so I recommend just using Valet.

Old Vine Café’s brunch game is strong. I dropped into The Camp around noon on a Saturday to roam and found out there was an amazing little place tucked in the back with a great brunch selection. I liked that they had sweet, savory, and comfort foods. There were a few small tables ahead of me so I explored a few other establishments while I waited. My name got called rather quickly but I was in the middle of happy hour next door so I just decided to put myself on the list again when I was ready. The bartender told me that next time I can just tell the host I was next door and they’ll gladly come get me when the table was ready. They seem to have a great relationship amongst the stores there.
The café is rather small with both indoor and outdoor seating. It wasn’t too compact where you felt there was no privacy. My date ordered the rabbit mole and I ordered the lengua omelet. The mole was probably the best I’ve had so far because it was creamier than I’d usually expect. The rabbit was not too impressive though. The lengua was braised beautifully and the salsa verde was not overwhelming. It was topped with sliced jalapenos so if you want that extra kick, you’re more than welcome to help yourselves. I upgraded my english muffin to a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll was fresh and light, sweetened so subtly by the frosting. I highly recommend you try the cinnamon roll!
I’ll definitely return to try some of the other items on the menu. I like that it’s a popular place without the ridiculous wait and even so, there’s a lot to check out in that plaza. Parking is a bit insane but you just have to be patient because since there isn’t much shopping there, there are a lot of people coming and going at a decent pace.

This is a really cute brunch place at the CAMP. I came here for a late brunch (1pm) on a Saturday. The quoted wait time was 30 minutes, which isn’t toooo bad, but expect a wait if you’re coming on a weekend. The restaurant isn’t too big.
I ordered the Open Face, which I had read many great reviews on it on Unilocal.It’s a very large portion and I recommend sharing this. It’s very heavy. I really liked the spicy kick that the gravy had on this dish. I did think it was a little dry… and the sausage was a little to sweet for me. Overall I did think it was good, but if I came back here I would not order it again.
My boyfriend ordered the Rueben omelette and liked it. If you are a fan of Rueben sandwhiches, you should definitely get this.
The service here is good! Everyone was friendly and our waters/​coffee were refilled many times.
Parking at the CAMP is the worst. I dread finding parking here, but it’s a really great place overall.

With accolades about their great food spread throughout the restaurant, Old Vine Café did not seem to live up to its great reviews.
Nestled in the back of the quaint CAMP surrounded with plenty of seats for waiting, Old Vine itself, on the other hand, is a pretty small restaurant with very few seats. Because of the seating, it is quite common for there to be at least a thirty minute wait to get seated and even longer for busier times.
On my recent trip, I decided to take my parents out here. However, it was somewhat disappointing. Here are some of the things we ordered:
Quattro Fromaggi: Basically a very nice grilled cheese sandwich with a mixture of light and heavier cheeses. Especially when the dish first came out with the cheeses melted together it was a cheese lover’s site to behold that was matched with an equally tasty bite.
Open Faced: A hearty comfort dish that would make Paula Deen proud. As the name suggests, they are doing a breakfast version of the traditional open faced with a flaky breakfast biscuit as the crust. On top of it was typical American breakfast fare, chicken sausage and scrambled eggs, drenched with a nice smoky chipotle gravy. Although I enjoyed this dish, this was hard for me to finish so either recommend splitting or taking it home.
Goat Omelet: Although nothing glaringly wrong in terms of flavor, the huge chunk of goat shoulder that they included seemed a little heavy handed and lazy. I guess it is nice that they give generous portions of the meat, but even as a goat dish blanketed by eggs, the meat was a little hard to eat and cut into.
Porcini Mushroom Bisque: A watery mess that I would avoid. Completely absent is any chunks of mushrooms. While it was clear that it was a mushroom dish, there was no depth of flavor.
For some reason for a place with this décor, they were playing obnoxiously loud music making it very hard to make conversation. Perhaps it was because of our location to the speaker, but even the 80’s rock music selection does nothing to add to the dining experience.
Although the service is overall attentive and friendly, I was a little rubbed the wrong way by how they handled a clear problem that was coming from the kitchen. My mother had special ordered biscuits for which they brought out butter. We open the wrapper and we notice a brown/​black bruising. I asked for a replacement. They bring out another… and it had the SAME problem! They finally apologized and brought out butter from the chef’s pantry. I think it was nice that they did this but it did not leave us a wonderful taste in our mouth.
While Old Vine does have some nice dishes, it also had some major pitfalls during my last experience especially concerning their handling of food which would just make me recommend this place with caution…

Huge portions here, which is great, but the reuben omelet I had was just too much of the same thing. It would have benefited with either less sauce or serving the sauce on the side, along with some added component or textural contrast. I think some incorporation of a rye bread would have given the namesake a better boost. The soup I had was a tad insipid, even with the self-​applied salt seasoning. Also, no bacon :(The sausage was great as were the side of potatoes.
I’ll be coming back to try other items. Overall, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.