My husband and I got a
date night this evening; I think it’s been about 10 years since that has
happened. We took a few gift cards that
have been collecting dust in our cabinet and decided to finally try out the Nirvana
Grille in Mission Viejo. The grapevine
has been telling me for years how amazing the food is, so we were excited to
have a nice meal that didn’t require me searching online for a coupon or
cutting a coupon out of an Entertainment book.
When we got to the restaurant
it was located in the run down shopping center I get my $5 pizzas from (Little Caesars)
and my cheap fruit (Ranch Market); not super high class. When we walked into the restaurant I was
surprised by the décor. I was warned that
the food was very expensive so imagine my surprise when I walked into a pretty
bare restaurant with not much of an “ambiance”.
The walls had a couple of small white mirrors and some mounted white
plates (not quite minimalist but not quite Denny’s); would be cute for a start
up Ma and Pa establishment; however most of the meals were about $25 each.
We ordered an appetizer,
salad, main course and dessert. The
appetizer was their Wild Mushroom Ravioli ($11); though it tasted great there
were only three small ravioli’s on the plate.
So needless to say, I’ve been given a larger appetizer serving at the
last wedding I attended held at the local community center. The salad was a mixture of beets and citrus
with some goat cheese ($10). The salad
was very plain with little to no dressing and was not really worth
ordering. When our main courses came
out, they looked great. My husband
ordered the sirloin ($27) and I had the filet ($32). Both tasted great and were cooked perfectly. I personally really liked the corn that came
with my husband sirloin (poor guy, I ate most of it). The part that made me laugh: I was using an
Ikea steak knife to cut into my $32 filet.
Desert was an interesting
salty caramel mouse on top of coconut almond crust ($12). It was really good, however, it was a tiny
slice and in typical Nirvana Grille fashion… overpriced. Our bill totaled $106 plus tip. Ouch.
Thankfully we had my mother babysitting, because paying for a sitter
would have seriously spent my whole monthly entertainment budget!
This restaurant obviously
doesn’t fall in the category of “freshly squeezed budget” living and though the
food was overall pretty good, the price just didn’t add up. If the bill was half, I would tell everyone
about this place. If the restaurant was amazing
inside, I would tell my husband to take clients there. But sadly, Nirvana Grille didn’t think about
our pathetic economy or an interior designer when they opened.
My take on this
place: save your money and go some place
that accepts coupons! And if you decide
to “splurge”, than make sure it has a gorgeous ocean view or at the very least
seat cushions that aren’t ripped.
No comments:
Post a Comment