For months, the signs outside promised, “Soon..Soon…” And finally, the new “A” restaurant opened in the old Arches building a few weeks ago, with a lot of hoopla and buzz and of course, the expected comments about A-holes eating at A-restaurant. It was big talk amongst our friends: Who was going? Who had a wine locker? Who knew the investors? Who had been to the grand opening? What was the crowd like? What were the all-girl valet parkers like? What was the room like?
Not too much talk about the food.
We were going to resist the place. After all, we’d barely liked the old Arches. It was an old-style place, dark even on a hot summer day with heavy wood panels, ancient waiters and old-fashioned food (and high, high prices.) They moved to Cannery Village, and we’ve heard that the style and food are far too heavy for the waterside, airy place they now inhabit.
The new A restaurant seems to want to pay respect to the old place while refreshening things up. We applaud that, and we also had read that the food was great and not so pricey as other local hot spots.If so, we’d welcome the addition to our local food scene, in spite of reservations about the trendy, desperate crowd we thought it would attract.
We went on a Saturday night, about a month after its opening, with friends. The room was still darkly paneled as we walked through the red-lighted bar to our table, a cozy curved booth.
The place was busy and noisy and had a frantic feeling (rather than an excited hum) about it. The room tried hard to be updated with black and white photographs, modern and clean, against the backdrop of old-fashioned red-leather booths and wooden walls, but there seemed something incongruous about the effort. It was an interesting crowd: drunken old-timers finishing up an early supper alongside tables of kids who looked like they borrowed Dad’s platinum card wandered in, a hopping bar scene and every table filled. But they definitely needed something to buffer the noise. We could barely converse over the din.
Nothing on the drinks menu seemed exceptionally exciting, and our mojitos were a bit flat, although the Manhattan was certainly adequate. We brought a bottle of wine and were happy to learn that corkage was just $10. But had we wanted to buy a second, which we usually do on a Saturday night, we found nothing of note on the wine list and no one on staff who could offer up a suggestion.
The menu was a strange mix of retro choices that screamed 1950s and an attempt at a more modern steakhouse feel. Choices ranged from lasagne and pot roast to a selection of “steaks” and nothing seemed to really fit together. Obviously management is trying to walk a balance between the old school Arches and a newer more popular alternative. However, to us this menu was confused at its best and read like a food network special on how to open a steak place at its worst.
We started with a roasted pear salad, a hearts of palm salad and grilled octopus with fingerling potatoes. All were okay. Certainly both salads could have been replicated at home with ease. The spicy tomato sauce with the octopus was quite good and without a doubt the best thing we had all night.
We skipped the daily pasta choices, which frankly seemed out of place on the menu, and decided to have steaks with yummy sides. We had Kansas City strips and a ribeyes, and the waiter told us that two veggie sides would be more than enough. We paid no mind and chose three: creamed spinach, corn gratin and onion rings.
And now, the night goes from just ok to really bad.
The steaks were cooked to the proper temperature, but they were very fatty and gnarly. They also lacked that wonderful crust that you come to expect from a restaurant. We understand marbling and butchering enough to know that this meat was just not great. When was the last time you paid $36 for a steak and only could eat one-third because the rest was gristle? With all of the high quality product available in the marketplace we were very disappointed in the quality of what was served. This was a particular disapointment after the phenomenal steak we had at Blanca (see our review below).
The sides were ridiculously off-putting. The onion rings were not drained properly, so after the first bite, you were left with a greasy, limp goo. The creamed spinach was like frozen spinach boiled in cream: when you took a spoonful, it separated into a soupy mess. And the corn? We were served a ramekin so small that if it had been a dessert serving of creme broulee, we would have felt shortchanged. We joked about how it was the best of the sides, and yet we had to divvy up the kernels one by one. Why had the waiter hinted we were over-ordering? And why did they charge six bucks for that?
We ordered a dessert to share, unmemorable, and some coffees. Then we paid and left to get our car from the girl valets. (This hiring of girls is apparently something to brag about.) However, the girls could not find our car, and we had to kneel on the pavement to go through the rows and rows of keys. They still had us pay $5, and they even left us something in the car: marketing materials for the restaurant’s brunch, and for how we too could hire the all-girl valet staff.
This was so insulting to us, to leave brochures in our car. We don’t know why we felt so annoyed by this, but we were.
Overall, we’d have to give A a D. Not pretty enough of a room, too loud, not great food, not a pleasant experience, especially for the price.
It is unusual for us to get “hot” restaurants here in Newport Beach. A was the fourth in Newport-Mesa in a short window of time — Mesa, Javier’s, Blanca and now A. The good news for local foodies is that two of the three — Mesa and Blanca are fantastic; the perfect blend of atmosphere and great food. And Javier’s is good Mexican, although we could do without the fussy, fancy Newport crowd if only we could go back to the Laguna Beach location.
A, on the other hand, is the standout — in a bad way. We wonder if the crowds will continue to ram themselves into this so-called hot place, or if people will realize that the emperor has no clothes and move to Blanca instead?