All the girls were ordering Mojitos but since I had a long drive back to LA, I went for their red sangria. It was pretty good; I had to force myself to slow down.
We started off with complimentary bread. I liked that it was sweet.
My cousin’s friend ordered the tuna tartare. I took a bite…hey her friends should expect me to snack on their food. It was good—I probably should have ordered my own dish…
Another friend ordered the Sofrito Steamers (manifa clams, black and green mussells served in a white broth). If you don’t want me to touch your food, just order a dish with crustacean.
I ordered the potato croquette. It was ok and it did its job –helped soak in the alcohol.
I shared the sirloin in red wine reduction with grilled artichokes and Peruvian potatoes with my cousin. My cousin no longer needs me to recommend restaurants to her. The sirloin was juicy and loved the Peruvian potatoes with it.
For desserts…my cousin’s friend bought a cake from Vons…gasp. It was a sweet idea but from Vons or whatever grocery store??? Habana was cool and didn’t force a cake-cutting fee.
I would have been happier if we’d just chip in for one of Habana’s dessert..
If you’re in the OC and need a good restaurant for a large group, dine at Habana.
Address: 2930 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone#: (714) 556-0176
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Let me go over Falcon's policies 1st:
-party of 10 or more: will only accept 2 credit cards max (I'm fine with that as I was a waitress in my past life and it was really annoying ringing a bill with 10 ccs)
-$15.00 min food charge per person (I'm fine with that)
-dress code: no shorts or tank tops on gentlemen (but what if my friends have nice manboobs and legs to show off?) and no athletic attire (ok, I'm fine with that)
-Half of your party must be on time otherwise you lose the reservation (we live in LA where everyone is always late) (ok, i'm fine with that and luckily most of guests were on time)
-Corkage fee: $20 per bottle (I think that's standard...)
-Cake fee: $3.00 /guest (so it's best to order desserts there and share it)
-party of 20: you have to do a set menu and the price options are $45 or $65
Now that you're aware of their rules, let me go over my headache:
My party gradually got bigger to the big date...10 grew to 15 and grew to 19. To me 19 is under 20, but 19 is 20 to them and requested me to do a pre fix dinner. I was a bit peeve. The whole reason why I picked Falcon, is because it is a nice place, the yelpers like their food, and they had some inexpensive food options. I don't know what everyone's budget is and a few guests are vegeterians, so the pre fix is not going to work. I could have been a stickler and said 19 is not 20, but time was running out, and I wanted a stress free night and so I had a friend booked a patio table. Party of 14 is not 20 to them. Just to be fair, they explained that they needed prefix dinners so it's easier on the chef, but hey, just bring out whatever food is done out but keep the drinks coming. Another thing that annoyed me was that they set my friend's table inside when she specifically requested it to be outdoors next to my table. The manager wasn't rude but he had to think about whether or not to give the outdoor table to us. Dude, it's my birthday and you're trying to give me stress? Btw, we were one out of the two biggest party of that night; I would have said "Yes" immediately and adjust the other reservations around.
Ok, let me move on with what they did right. The bartender was great -he made my chocolate espresso martinis just right. I tried my friend's dish, the House Made Beef Tortellini and it was heaven! My steak frites was perfect. I give their food and drinks 5-Star. I forgot what the dessert was...but I'm sure it was good.
Address: 7213 W Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90046
Phone#: (323) 850-5350
Rating: 3.8 out of 5
In a nutshell, come here if your party is small.