Reefs Edge Grill

Wonderfully creative menu that’s been streamlined, yet is capable of suiting multiple palates without feeling forced. Big ups to the chef for offering sustainable options as well! Try Reef Fries as an app or with the grilled cheese! New favorite (:

This was my first visit to Reefs Edge. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to my friends. The food is good. We had reef fries that they give to first time patrons and the clam chowder. The service is excellent. Our server Derryl was great… he was very attentive to our needs and very friendly. He treated me like his own mom. I would definitely return as long as Darryl is there! He really deserving of recognition! Great experience!

Love this place, delicious food and good service. The complaints about dry burgers and small portions is junk, the burgers are fabulous and the portions are fine. Thank you for such a great restaurant!

Great food and cold beer. Sat at the bar and had awesome service. Happy hour is fun and chicken tenders are perfect. The owner has been present the 3 times I have been, I think that is what makes the place great.

Not very satisfied at all with the food and or the customer service of this place at all, mind you my husband is a certified chef and has a family owned restaurant. Before coming in and eating here we decided to check it out on Unilocal/​website seeing as well as anywhere good reviews and bad, but the website is what jumped out to me stating how they have a famous chef, really you feel the need to put that on your website? The food was bland and did not reflect the «celebrity chef» what so ever. My advice to you update your menu and learn to hire the correct people to execute the style of food you are trying to sell. Your money would be better off at Applebee’s.

This place is such a gem! Amazing food and dessert, and great service. We had the tri tip sliders and mahi burger. Both were excellent and the fries were cooked to perfection. The pineapple upside down cake was really good and not overly sweat. One of my favorites!

I’ve been wanting to try this place & finally did. While being seated, the waiter asked if we’ve been in the restaurant before. Of course, I said ‘No’. Just a few minutes after we placed our order, another waiter came and delivered a complementary order of Reef’s french fries with aoli for us to try as new comers. The fries were crispy & sooo delicious with the drizzling of aoli. I think it was wasabi aoili, and don’t worry, they are not spicy.
My husband and I ordered the following to share:
1) Ahi poke with chips — They are not remnant scrap parts. These are sushi grade ahi.
2) Clam chowder — I like that it is not starchy and overly creamy. There’s plenty of bacon in it.
3) Ahi Tuna sandwich — Seared medium. It does have wasabi dressing but not spicy at all. It also came with a side of Asian slaw & regular french fires. I am not crazy about coleslaw but I tried this one. The slaw was so-​so but still gave this restaurant 5 stars because I’m not a coleslaw person anyway. And, the price of food at Reefs is reasonable.

I love this place. I live in the neighborhood and my wife and eat there at least once a week. They have everything from fine dining to quick and easy.
If we just want something light my wife will order a cup of their clam chowder and their awesome grilled cheese sandwich and will scarf down the fabulous chicken sliders.
We have also mad our reservation for New Years Eve as they have an amazing dinner planned for that nigh. Don’t miss out.

I really liked Reef’s Edge Grill. Very nice and attentive service staff. If you go, tell them it’s your first time: they give you their special spicy fries, which are really tasty. We went for happy hour and tried the street tacos and the sliders. Definitely get the steak sliders – really, really tasty, with crispy onion rings in a soft, warm bun. Loved the sauce on the shrimp tacos, too. Beer and wine is cheap at happy hour – which always ranks high on my list! I’m going to try the meatloaf on my next visit. Too bad they aren’t open for lunch, it would be a perfect spot.

First time here. Friends said it’s a great place. He was right, very good food, portion size just right, staff very nice. We will be going back. Give it a try and you will not be disappointed.

The food is so good here. Great prices for gourmet cuisine, and beer and appetizer specials. The owner really has his stuff together with the menu and is a very nice guy every time we come in. The service is also excellent.

Finger licking good Reef fries! Kicked off our lunch experience and it just kept getting better. Of course I had to try their lightly breaded calamari with garlic aioli dip and my son fought me for the last piece! The boys happily noshed on their burger and Mahi tacos and I kept it on the lighter side with a spinach chicken salad. Overall very satisfied and the owner Gary was more than gracious! Glad we finally stopped in after driving by «the new place» for a while.

My husband and I love trying new local restaurants, and I had been talking about this new Reef’s Edge place for while now. We checked out their website to see what the deal was, and when we saw that they had an all-​day Monday happy hour, we were stoked to finally go in, try some happy hour snacks and watch Monday Night football.
The server was very sweet when we came in and asked us if it was our first time at the restaurant. We said it was, and the chef/​owner came out with some complimentary wasabi French fries and welcomed us to his restaurant! We totally appreciated the gesture, and the fries were AWESOME!
I asked the server about the wine selection that was offered for happy hour, and she told us that happy hour was over. We inquired about the all day Monday happy hour advertised on their website, and she said that they must have changed it, but she «guesses» that they didn’t fix the website. She continued to tell us that she would get in trouble if she rang in happy hour items and left to allow us time to change our selection.
We were a little taken aback by this response, and would have preferred that the matter was brought to the attention of the owner, as he does seem to really care about his guests and their impression of his restaurant. I was expecting her to tell us something to that end, that she would inform the owner about the discrepancy, but it just kind of ended there. Obviously, as I am Unilocaling about it 2 weeks later, it has left a bad taste in my mouth (I just checked the website again, and it still has not been updated, or our waitress was confused, because 2 weeks later it still advertises All day Monday Happy Hour).
I really like the casual atmosphere of the restaurant paired with a scratch-​kitchen, gastropub style menu. There were lots of TV’s to watch football, but I definitely did not feel like I was in a sports bar or pub, which I really enjoyed. It had a great local vibe.
We were just there for a snack… the chicken wings were really tasty… the fish tacos were lacking something… the fish portions were very small, which is fine, however I think that since there wasn’t much meat, the cold accompaniments on it brought their temperature down really fast, and we were eating cold fish tacos.
I had a glass of house cab, which was quite decent for a house wine.
We will go back (just not for the fake All-​Day Monday Happy Hour!) because I liked the restaurant’s concept. I do just hope they change their website, because for me personally, I do appreciate the little details that go into a restaurant!

I respect a business that does their research before opening. It’s clear that Reefs Edge Grill is poised with all the right things in place to attract a young, upscale crowd in Orange County: great décor and food presentation (very Restoration Hardware-​esq), an on-​trend menu with all the gourmet versions of beloved comfort foods, artisanal alcohol options, a Celebrity Chef (they emphasize that on the Web site) and a well-​trained staff. What was missing from the checklist, at least on our visit, was any kind of distinction in the flavor of the food itself.
We opened dinner with Reef Fries as an app. It has fresh parsley and wasabi, seemed alright but had that frozen-​to-​deep-​fry quality about it. Our table had three entrees: a pair of shrimp tacos for me, a big bowl of Mac N Cheese, and Tri Tip Sliders. Let me tell you, it’s hard to miss with Mac N Cheese in any form; and while it was creamy and basically good, it didn’t have that little extra pizazz you’d want from a handcrafted Mac N Cheese; I’d rate it at 3.5 stars. The sliders and the little street tacos were similarly correct, but bland and small-​portioned for their price — at best, 3 star items. We all finished our meals feeling just satiated, but with that vague sense of «wishing for more». The total on our check, however, back-​sassed that we’d had more than enough already.
What I don’t respect is bragging and then failing to deliver. Do us a favor Mr. Celebrity Chef, and put more effort into making the food an exciting experience to match the high style of the restaurant you created.

A mixture of some promising elements and some needed changes. Their coleslaw is great, the mac n cheese was average. I am partial to baked mac n cheese. They broil the breadcrumbs, it’s a nice touch but it lacks the extra sharp cheddar crust and the gooey melted cheese, too bad, they have the skills to do it right. The burgers were dry and lacked good bread and the amount of food was on the small side.
Their prices are high for what you get, there is a lack of balance between quality and quantity. My wife got the salad with salmon and she sent it back because the salmon was mushy and flavorless.
Their fries are normal but offer you a $ 2.50 upgrade for a house sauce. A bit pricy for sauce.
I would say overall, for my tastes, the food was drier than I preferred. I look gooey fudge brownies and cookies that are soft and moist, not what they have. If the owner reads this, I recommend evaluating the moister balance and fat content to bring back the flavor and moister.
The service was real good. The owner came out and offered my wife anything she wanted on the house to make up for the salmon. He did the right thing. Super nice staff and owner. 5 stars for service. 2 for flavor 3 average.

Great food great service. I own a restaurant down the street called Sessions and I love to come check out the other spots in town.
This place is great. I had a burger my wife had mahi mahi.
Our waitress was awesome. Beer was great. We also took our two kids and kids menu was great and affordable.
Def give it a try!

Great service. Everyone is very friendly and accommodating.
Disappointed in tri tip sliders portions and flavor. The ahi burger was normal in portion, but only average in flavor.
Willing to try again for breakfast.

LeAnn was fantastic!
As always food and service were incredible
Angus Burger is a must get when you come in
Great selection of Craft Beers!
Nice menu. family atmosphere… good neighborhood restaurant

Reef’s Edge Grill has modern American food with a gourmet flair.
I had the Macaroni and Cheese during happy hour. It was cheesy comfort food, the pasta was small seashells. It came in a stainless steel miniature wok.
The interior design is modern and elegant. There is a lot of seating and it felt cool and refreshing inside.
There are some TVS and I met a friend here to watch March Madness basketball.
We shared a dessert, the Chocolate Bread Pudding. It came in the stainless steel miniature wok and was light and fluffy. There was a hint of brandy to give it flavor.
I came here for Sunday brunch before and ordered the Reef Omelette. It is three eggs with brie and caramalized onions, with a choice of side of toast or Reef country potatoes.
The brie melts inside the omelette and it becomes ooey goodness! There is a complementary mimosa or champagne with guava juice for brunch. A few slices of house made banana bread is given, too, for starters.
It is nice that the owner and head chef, Gary, comes out and says hello to the customers. Tonight, Russ, another chef, came out and talked to my friend and I.
There is good classic rock music playing in the background which makes it easy to relax.

Most of the fish at Reefs Edge Grill does not come from the reef’s edge, but at least the worker who took my order at the front was nice enough to inform me. If memory serves me right (and it has not been subservient lately), the mahi mahi and cod were wild caught while the rest were farmed.
The concept of this establishment is similar to California Fish Grill, with a higher-​end approach. For example, the seafood plates come with interesting sides– a carrot version of mashed potatoes and some caramelized shallot orzo.
We got the Mahi Mahi with greno sauce, a lemony cream sauce with capers. The fish was light and flaky, having been cooked just right. It came with the aforementioned sides which were both excellent.
The Poke Ahi wasn’t so stellar, mixed with some bottled variety of Thai sweet chili sauce which didn’t go well with the fish. The Clam Chowder had bacon bits which gave it good flavor, but you’ll have to go on clam dig in your bowl to find any clams.
The mahi mahi plate was small and at $ 13 costs several bucks more than at California Fish Grill. The quality of preparation is higher at Reef’s, but in the end, I’d also like to be full after eating an entrée.
Overall, the menu items were hit and miss, and the prices were a bit high for the portion size, considering that this is not a full service establishment. I ventured to the Reef’s Edge for a new experience but would rather swim to other waters for my next seafood adventure.