The Wine Artist

This is a truly unique event venue that deserves a 10-​star rating! What makes it so unique is its flexibility. Both corporate, nonprofit and «regular» folks can rent this venue for meetings, birthdays, showers, retirement parties, wine tastings and food & wine pairing classes. Great for team building events, book signings and private product launches. You can also book everything from bottling wine to creative cooking classes. The breath-​taking event space lends itself to so many different configurations there’s pretty much nothing you can’t do here. Owner MJ Hong is a dream to work with and prices are reasonable. Lots of FREE parking too. What’s not to like?

Every time I have been to The Wine Artist, I have had a blast! MJ Hong, the owner, always has something fun prepared for the group. She is so organized that the event appears to flow effortlessly.
Try this event venue for wedding showers, baby showers, corporate team building, birthday parties, children’s parties, and cooking classes. This is Orange County’s ultimate private event venue!

My boyfriend and I had the best time last night at The Wine Artist with MJ. The ambiance is amazing, we loved the Italian look of the place and we learned how to make noodles from scratch and several yummy sauces. We can’t wait to go back for another class!

My bride and I just had our wedding reception at The Wine Artist and I can’t say enough good things about MJ and staff! They were very attentive and accommodating. The space looked incredible, the AV equipment worked flawlessly, and the food was, of course, fantastic!!! It was very reassuring to overhear guests commenting on how delicious everything was and MJ’s Tequila Lime Chicken and Vegetable Lasagna were huge hits! And all the guests loved the wine bottling event! Now that we’ve taken cooking classes there, wine classes there, and chosen it for our wedding reception, I can say that I highly recommend The Wine Artist!!!

The beautiful venue of the Wine Artist was perfect for our champagne themed bridal shower. Jamie and the Wine Artist staff are delightful to work with. They tailored our bar drinks to mimosas and our food selections were delicious! We have received numerous compliments from the ladies who attended the shower; the majority of their comments were about the gorgeous venue. The venue is so beautiful, you really don’t need to add a lot of decorations. I highly recommend this place! Every thing about the venue, menu, drinks, and staff far exceeded our expectations.

Such a cool spot. Me an couple workers came here for a fun day. mJ is such a cool lady. Get buzzed and cook. Best time

Took two Tastes of Italy cooking classes with MJ. Absolutely the best. Casual environment and easy-​to-​learn hands-​on meals, 4 per class! Cook them weekly. Look forward to more.

There are just too many good things that I can say about Jamie and The Wine Artist. I recently had my wedding here on May 02 and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. The venue was beautiful and the food was delicious! Jamie was so good at returning my emails and texts promptly. She paid attention to every detail and was always on top of everything. And even though she didn’t have to, I really appreciated how kind she was to offer to return the cake stand to my cake vendor for me.
Their rates are extremely affordable compared to many other venues that charges for space instead of «per head.» The best thing about them is that they coordinate the wedding for you too at no additional charge. The staff at The Wine Artist really go above and beyond for their customers, and they truly care about what they do. If you are looking for a reliable and affordable venue, then this is the place for you. Special thanks to all the staff especially MJ and Jamie for making our special day so fantastic! Taka and I will definitely be back again to host another party here soon.

MJ was super nice and walked us through the cooking class with ease. She made us feel comfortable and was eager to answer any questions that our group had. I liked how it was an intimate setting with a class of about 10 people. The venue was beautiful and had plenty of space. great for parties and special events! It ranges from about $ 70 – $ 100 per person for a class and is on the pricey side. It was a great experience though!

Mercy House has worked with The Wine Artist for the past two years as a host for one of our fundraising events. Not only is this venue beautiful and the food delicious, but MJ and her staff are such a joy to work with! They were more than accommodating to our event needs, and very responsive to our communication beforehand. We highly recommend the Wine Artist to anyone looking for a fun and elegant venue for their next upcoming event.

This place is amazing and Jamie and Mj do an amazing job they have food tasting they have wine they have cooking classes everything try it out you won’t be disappointed!!!

I had SUCH a great time at the Valentine’s Day Surf and Turf class. It was my first cooking class ever and MJ made it so fun. I enjoyed picking up on little tips and tricks while also cooking a delicious meal in a fun, laid-​back atmosphere.

My team and I went here with clients for a private cooking class. MJ taught us how to make mediterranean food: Spanakopita, Chicken Tagine, Lamb Patstitsio, and Mediterranean Couscous. The food turned out amazing and we had plenty of leftovers to take home.
She’s completely self taught and offers a lot of great advice to make these recipes something you can recreate at home. I would absolutely recommend taking a class with MJ at the Wine Artist. I’m sure all the other instructors are just as great!

Outstanding!!! MJ is the best hands down! We had an amazing team dinner that was a ton of fun. The entire atmosphere is amazing. The Taste of Thailand was great especially for those with allergies. Highly recommended if you want to have a blast and enjoy some amazing food. Bravo!!!

I’ve taken several cooking classes and I have to say that the Wine Artist is my favorite by far. Here are the reasons why.
#1: You don’t have to cook and prepare the entire dish yourself. The duties are shared among your group so all that chopping and measuring is much less tedious!
#2: Plenty of food for everyone! She warns you that you will end up being full and each time I’ve taken her class, she was right.
#3: Free wine! You get 2 free glasses of wine per person and you can also BYOW if you want!
#4: You LEARN! She teaches you neat little tricks that are actually very interesting!
I’ve taken the Italian and the Indian class thus far and I have to say they were both equally enjoyable. I will definitely be signing up for other classes.
I would recommend this for dates, Girls Night Out, or as a gift to someone. It’s wonderful.

I just celebrated my birthday here and it was amazing! Jamie and MJ were great to work with and they made everything very easy.
What I loved most was that the only thing that I had to bring was a cake! They take care of everything. The space was very nicely decorated so I didn’t even bring any decorations. They even have TVs with a laptop that you can use, so you don’t have to worry about whether you have the right cables, etc. It was also nice that they had commercial free Pandora, just let them know which station you would like to listen to.
The hosted wine and beer bar included a good mix and had something for everyone. We had the gourmet pizzas, which included a salad and cookies.
Everyone had a nice and relaxing time. It was nice to end the afternoon with an activity. Everyone had a great time bottling their own bottle of wine.
I definitely want to come back and try out one of their cooking classes.

We hired The Wine Artist to host a team building event for 15 people. We decided to do the «Cooking with Wine» class which was a hit amongst the team.
MJ was our instructor and she made everyone feel extremely comfortable and taught us all about the food we were cooking, including the ingredients and background of the dishes. Everyone had such a great time and the menu was fantastic!
The venue is beautiful and I wouldn’t hesitate doing this event again. It was well worth the $$ in my opinion because everything was all inclusive, the ingredients, the cooking class, the food, and drinks including wine/​beer were all provided.
Two thumbs up!

Came in for a bachelorette party the other day and had a great time.
Our chef/​instructor MJ was awesome. She is super knowledgeable and personable. I loved how hands on the class was (totally different from some of the other classes I have been to). YOU are the one prepping and making the dishes. The only part that you don’t have to do is the dishes!!!
We had eight girls and ended up having the entire class to ourselves which was really nice and relaxing. The venue is really big and there is plenty of space for larger parties.
The dishes we made were simple enough and definitely something we could replicate at home (unsupervised) which is always a plus.
Parking is plentiful since they are located in a business park.

Who knew that this hidden gem is located in Lake Forest! This Lake Forest native sure didn’t, but I’m glad I found it!
A friend of mine and I came to The Wine Artist for a Vegetarian Cooking Class. Classes are held here once, sometimes twice, a week from 6 – 8:30pm, classes are typically 10 people (the night we went there was only 8 since two were sick), and classes are $ 70 per person. On the cooking menu for the night we went was: Arugula Salad, Mushroom Risotto, Eggplant Rolls, Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin and Strawberry Shortcake. Seems like a lot, but with a class of eight, it isn’t so bad!
Upon walking into The Wine Artist, you are greeted by a very friendly MJ, who is the owner and is the host of the cooking class. She makes you feel very much at home and like we are one big family. Right away she offers everyone a glass of wine (which I read is made at The Wine Artist), and we all talk for a few minutes. After everyone shows up, we start cooking. MJ divides everyone into groups to start working on certain items of the meal. You’ll be assigned to chopping, measuring, mixing, rolling, or whatever else needs to be done for the meal. She’ll explain to everyone what each group is doing before we start so we have a basic understanding of what to do if we make this meal at home, and then she lets us go at our certain projects. The entire meal takes about 1.5 hours to put together and cook.
After we were done cooking, we were able to eat our creation! Everything was SO good, but I really loved the Mushroom Risotto and the Strawberry Shortcake the best. We got a second glass of wine during dinner as well. I liked being able to talk with everyone during dinner too.
Other then cooking classes, the Wine Artist also hosts events (baby showers, bridal showers, wedding receptions, work events, etc) and they also do wine tasting here as well (wine tasting maxes out at about 55 people). I’d consider having a bigger event here if I ever need it since it’s so nice and MJ is such a nice host.
Come check this place out if you haven’t yet! So worth it!
Cheers!

I came in last night for their Flights & Bites after hours ($ 30/​person). The Wine Artist is run by MJ and Jami, just ask them any questions you might have. The event included a variety of appetizers ranging from cheese & crackers to eggplant crostini. Desserts were provided by an outside vendor. The price included five 2-​oz pours of wine and there were eight wines to choose from. There were 3 whites, 3 reds, and 2 dessert wines.
My cousin and I decided on the reds and worked our way through to the dessert wines. I love the open space that they have and its very conducive to large or intimate parties. They can accommodate team building sessions to wedding rehearsal dinners. The really cool thing that they do is they can bottle your own blend of wine or provide custom labels for bottles. That would be great as gifts. They also offer cooking classes from time to time, just check the calendar for future events. They have a Unilocal check-​in deal for 20% off a bottle so I bought a bottle of the Amarone. If you’re looking for a new wine bar, check out the Wine Artist if you’re in the area. Cheers!