Taverna Blu

I came to this place hungry for Mediterranean food and I left satisfied. Both times I came I ordered a variety of appetizers, all of which were really good. The owner of the store went to ask me and my date how the food was, which was a nice touch. I was disappointed to find out that this place closed down. I guess the food was too good and the price was not high enough.

The best Greek place as it is from the creator of Daphne’s. Classy restaurant vibe for the price of a sit and eat fast food. Delicious, one of my favorite spots in OC now!

Great service: Our waitress was super friendly and kind, she even brought out our chocolate cake with a candle on it for my birthday.
Great food: It was delicious! Ordered the chicken sampler platter which was perfect for two.
Tip: Check out their deal on Groupon. $ 39 for one sampler platter, desert, and a bottle of wine. They also have a deal for a party of four.

Food seemed good, however I didn’t even eat it because their service was so bad I just wanted to return the food and get out of there. Our server spent alot of time at another table smiling, being attentive, but barely even handed us our menu or looked our way since we sat down and had no patience in explaining the menu to us. The rest of them were just as unwilling to greet us with a smile. They were fawning over the people who looked like they had money, kissing their behinds. Smiling, making conversation, and empty compliments, and treated us like we were freeloaders since we went in there with a groupon.
Prices were high, expect to pay $ 20 for a plate and another $ 20 for sides and deserts to fill up on since their portions are small. I originally ordered their lamb plate, but moments after ordering I asked them if it was too late to change it to the Pita Melt. She said it was fine. 30min later she brings me this plate with less than a handful of rice, less than a handful of lettuce, and 2 small skewers with just a couple small pieces of lamb on it, this makes up their Lamb Kabob plate which was nearly $ 20. «2 LARGE skewers of lamb» the menu said.
Sitting there confused, I asked her «Is this the pita melt?» At which point she gave me some excuse that the chef couldn’t change the order, and gave me a very rude «Sorry» and walked away instead of asking if I was ok with it or not. I had to wait 20 minutes before they would come back to our table so I could ask them to take my untouched plate away and bring me the check. I was very upset that they didn’t think that I deserved to have a pleasant dining experience I felt was worth the money I was spending. Regardless of whatever the groupon promotion was, I spent $ 40 on it and was ready to spend more in their restaurant. The promotion itself was deceptive and wasn’t even a good one.
Their menu was deceptive, and their servers’ rude attitudes and unwillingness to communicate with us ultimately resulted in an unwanted $ 6 extra charge. Aside from that extra charge, they had also tried to charge us for food we had ordered but that they forgot to bring us. There was a lot of back and forth before they brought us a check that reflected what we actually ate.
I didn’t want to tip them because they were so unbelievably rude. I was so upset I didn’t think they deserved a penny from me, but they thought because we had a groupon we were probably going to be cheap. I tipped them anyway so they could be embarrassed for behaving so poorly. It was unreal.

This place is hidden behind all the action, you can barely see it from the parking lot near Barns & Noble. It also has a slow vibe or something since it’s pretty empty until later in the night. The place is nice, the food is good, the happy hour prices are OK — but you don’t see anyone coming in. They are closed after lunch until 430 and after that there was only 1 lady taking care of the whole place! So they expect it to be slow on a Friday night, even when the pizza place next door was buzzing with people. We sat outside by the fire pit and had a sample platter for our friends and some Mama Ganoush and Spanakopitas for ourselves. The platter is A LOT of food, like half a chicken and lamb and other stuff, you have to share with al least 2 others. Service was great and it feels OK, just nothing special to get excited about. 4 stars for the potential that it has for a romantic date to a hh night out with friends.

Food was good. Service was ok. We ordered a chicken sampler platter and a meat sampler platter. Both servings were huge. The food was good but nothing memorable.

GET THE GROUPON WHILE YOU CAN!!! Three of my girlfriends and I were searching for a place to have dinner and we came across this Groupon deal. The deal was $ 55 for 2 sampler platters, 2 desserts, and a bottle of wine for a party of 4. At first I thought «sampler platter» meant small finger foods, but when the food came out we were all pleasantly surprised. The chicken platter comes with half a chicken and a chicken kabob. The meat combo comes with a lamb kabob, sliced gyro, and a sausage. Each platter came with dolmas, hummus, pita bread (they gave us more for free), fries, chips, and more olives than I can imagine anyone eating. The menu says the platters serve 1 – 4 people. Kind of a big range don’t you think? I think a sampler platter can realistically feed 3 people or 2 really hungry people. Taste-​wise, I liked it! The meat and chicken kabob were a little dry, but it didn’t ruin my appetite.
For dessert we got the baklava sundae and the chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was pretty good, but the baklava sundae was pretty much plain vanilla ice cream. The description says it’s served with a baklava crumble, but it was more like baklava crumbs.
We went with a bottle of cabernet and everyone enjoyed it. However, someone needs to give a wine pouring lesson to the waitress. My glass was filled ¼ of the way as was my friend who was sitting next to me. By the time she got to my second friend, she must have noticed that there was still a lot in the bottle, so she filled her glass ½ way full. And then she filled my last girlfriend’s glass ¾ full. LOL we were all cracking up because it looked so absurd how full her glass was. I mean I don’t expect all waitresses to have the most even hand, but this was a little silly. She could’ve just left the bottle at our table too… Life is full of options, my friend.
With the groupon, I give Taverna Blu a solid 4 stars. I’m not sure I would come back without one though. Without the groupon, our meal would have costed us more than $ 90, which isn’t too bad, but for that price I’d rather go somewhere else.

Second try. The waiter seemed bored, irritated, too good for this place, or just not too sharp tonight.
We did not have the specials mentioned. We did not have any smile or glimmer of emotion from our server. Our food was delivered to the table next to us by our waiter who took our order, and there were not many occupied tables.
Our meals came out in record speed, in other words, probably microwaved at least for one of the entrees. The taste was nothing special for the moussaka, and I usually love that dish, just not here. Both entrees were not hot, just lukewarm.
It took a long time to get our change and I had to flag our charming waiter to ask him only to be told that the manager was making change for our cash payment ($ 50) .
He probably should have told us that within the ten minutes before I flagged him down instead of chatting it up with the other servers.

being there twice, both purchased the groupon deals. it is a really good deal! however with two visits, i think i am done with the place — don’t get me wrong though, the food is OK, the service was pretty good, and i love the décor and the environment!
just, not feeling the vibes — there are lots other places to try! however if you’ve never been, give this place a chance! it was so empty last night when we were there and i m afraid that it won’t survive too much longer…

I walked right in for dinner before the Wayne Brady show at the Improv. We were seated outside. Since it was still happy hour time everything we ordered was on that pricing menu.
We had red sangria and the Trivento Malbec to start with. We both liked our drinks. For food we ordered everything to share; Flaming Cheese, Calamari, Feta Herb Fries and Mama Ganoush. I enjoyed the fries and cheese the most; something felt off in the Mama Ganoush.
There were a lot of delicious choices so I’ll be back for more. It’s certainly a nice option when the lines at some of the other eateries are quite long. Parking is plentiful as it is i the Target/​Ferris Wheel side.

I was excited to see a Mediterranean place open up here so I decided to try it. I called and made reservations. It was super packed for a Saturday night and difficult to even find parking! This restaurant is near Wahoo’s and Pieology, next to the parking lot. I got lost trying to find this place! The décor of this restaurant is an eclectic mix of industrial, rustic, and modern.
When we arrived, they missed our reservation on the list since it was misplaced. It took them 15 minutes to scramble for a table for us. I was bit annoyed about that, it was unprofessional of them to do so.
Since it was the four of us, we decided to order 2 platters: Meat lovers and Vegetarian. For $ 22, I was sorely disappointed with the amount and quality of our food! We were still hungry after wards! They should really tell you that each platter feeds 1 person, not 2. The quality of everything tasted store-​bought and not homemade or traditional. The only items I enjoyed were the lamb kabob and the spanakopita.
The desserts were good though. We ordered the Baklava Sundae and Heaven. Heaven was a bit too heavy for my taste but the Baklava Sundae was not too sweet and light. I also did not like our wine, which was J. Lohr. It was too acidic and did not pair well with our food.
Overall, food was not memorable, but service was decent. I would return for happy hour which is daily from 4 – 6:30pm for some wine and appetizers but that’s about it.

— Locale Destination —
It’s on Fortune Dr in Irvine Spectrum.
Next to «Pieology» and «Wahoo’s Fish Tacos», close to «Macy’s».
Very nice setting — both inside and outside. Décor is simple, casual yet more sophisticated atmosphere than others in the Irvine Spectrum. Outside seating area is very nice. Great for date or chill with friends for beers! Inside is very roomy. Service is very attentive. Plenty of free parking in Irvine Spectrum.
Happy hour: Daily. 430−6pm,
$ 2 off any glass wine, draft, small plate, $ 4 off any sampler platter. Good deal!
Menu: They have salad, sandwich, pasta, small plates (hummus etc.), entrée, and sampler plates, and desserts.
— Gluttony Expedition —
Sampler platter (Meat Combo): $ 22($ 18 for Happy Hour — take advantage of happy hour!!). They put all kinds of foods, so I’ll break them down:
— Sliced gyro: It was like everyone else. Decent.
— Lamb kabob: It was tender, cooked and seasoned nicely. Good.
— Sausage: It was a bit dry side but good unexpectedly.
— Dolma: It was light and meh. I didn’t particularly care for.
**** What’s Dolma? ****
Dolma is a stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Balkans and surrounding regions, Middle East, the Caucasus, Russia, Central Asia. Common vegetables to stuff include tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant, and garlic. Grape or cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling are called ‘sarma’ or ‘dolma’. The stuffing may or may not include meat. Meat dolmas are generally served warm, often with egg-​lemon or garlic yogurt sauce; meatless ones are generally served cold.
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— Fetta fries: I love French fries. I’m super picky about the quality of French fries. Don’t give me the leftover crap from the tray. Next table got nice and long fries unlike mine (mine was short and crappy ones). I should have complained about it. I was too nice ;p They put feta cheese and tons of garlic on the top of fries. Most places do like this for the fetta fries, but it’s a really uninspiring dish in my opinion. Just put some «mediterranean» ingredients on top of the fries won’t cut it. They can do better…
— Threesome dips: hummus wasn’t garlicy and mild. The sauce on the top had lots of parselery and flavorful. Spicy fetta was pretty good. «Ganoush» (eggplant dish) was kind of like a warm pico de gallo… I didn’t like it at all.
— Corn chips were way too crunchy and hard for my preference.
— It comes with a few pitas. Nothing special about it.
— Olives are very very salty. I couldn’t eat much.
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
It was a little better than I expected — especially out of Irvine spectrum.
Nice atmosphere to chill, drink and have some bites. Foods were not bad for this type of establishment. It might be a bit expensive side, but take advantage of their happy hour!

Casual atmosphere. Seating was comfortable inside. We started with — and enjoyed — the Flaming Cheese appetizer; the Lamb Ka-​Bob plate was a nice portion — even split into 2 servings
The only oddity/​disappointment was we were told that there wasn’t spinach available for the Spanako Penne pasta; however, a plate of spinach was served to another in our party in her Spinach and Spicy Beet Salad. Go figure.
Very friendly and attentive service!

I first visited here last week while I was actually trying to visit Pieology next door. The long lines there was discouraging and so I needed an alternative. I checked out Taverna Blu next door, initially out of convenience, but was eventually sold because they have a quick weekday lunch special, and I realized it was Greek and Mediterranean food (it wasn’t apparent at first). In fact, they apparently know their clientele well and advertise that they will bring out your food ASAP, as you can even order at the counter to make things faster.
I was seated immediately by the door in a fairly full restaurant. I didn’t initially realize if the restaurant was full service or fast casual (order at the register and they bring it out). I later realized that it’s normally full service, however, people can be more proactive in making it more fast casual by ordering and paying at the register by the door upon leaving or before being seated (that point wasn’t exactly clear, but everyone was flexible).
Inside, the restaurant is actually very spacious and airy. The blue and wood colors and large use of glass are actually kinda nice and different from other eateries (but then again, they reflect the colors of the Greek flag, so it’s not without planning). The service was attentive and the restaurant turnover was moving along at a brisk pace. There’s an outdoor dining patio, for those that feel so inclined to enjoy good weather or people watch (i.e.: those standing in line at Pieology).
The lunch special of the day when I went, was a gyro flatbread with a side salad. There’s usually just one lunch special they serve all day. I don’t think a gyro flatbread is 100% traditional, but it tasted good and was hardy. The best way to describe it to someone who hasn’t tried it is that it’s kinda like a loaded, meaty quesadilla, but with gyro meat, instead of chicken. The tortilla is actually a flatbread, and was hot-​pressed, which gives it a firmer quality. I ate it like a pizza with occasional dips into the cucumber sauce. The side salad was a Greek salad, with plenty of olives, tomatoes and a tangy dressing. It actually provided good contrast to the gyro flatbread.
I noted that they do have a pretty good selection of beers and wine and a social/​happy hour pretty much every day. I will have to make it a point to have this place as an option for a casual happy hour at some point down the line.
The walls are adorned with quotes from Greek philosophers as well as a brief origin of how they derived the name (you’ll notice it if you use the restroom). Apparently, back in the day, there wasn’t a word for the color «blue» in ancient Greek. («Blu» may have come later). They used a derivation of the word to describe a dark color wine to describe the blueness of the ocean, for example. So, one can derive that describing the color «blue» was apparently pretty Greek to the ancient Greeks. «Taverna» sounds close to «tavern,» so the name Taverna Blu probably means «The Blue Tavern.» I bet you didn’t think you’d get a history lesson here, but hey, that was on the house, or should I say, tavern.

Several new restaurants opened up at the Irvine Spectrum this year, Taverna Blu being one of them. It is located in between Wahoo’s and the new Pieology near Macy’s.
The restaurant is fairly small with an outdoor patio area for dining, also. I made a reservation for lunch here.
My friend and I decided to go the small plate route for lunch. Their small plates are either $ 5 or $ 8 depending on the dishes. We decided to order the Homemade Dolmas, Mama Ganoush, Chicken Souvlaki and Spanakopita.
I had never had Dolmas before, but my friend really enjoys them and she said these were very good. Tomato, rice and herbs wrapped in grape leaves. I thought this was a very good value for $ 5.
The Mama Ganoush was their take on Baba Ganoush.
I enjoy Baba Ganoush because I love the flavor of the eggplant with the spices. This version, the eggplant was hardly detectable. It just mostly tasted like tomatoes. I like tomatoes but this was not what I was hoping for. We barely touched this one and was a wasted five bucks.
We also ordered the Chicken Souvlaki which was one skewer with three small pieces of chicken with their Taverna Blu rice.
This was very tasty but very, very small. I could have put this whole skewer in my mouth at once but I was supposed to be sharing, I didn’t. For $ 8, I thought this was very overpriced.
Our last small plate was the Spanakopita. I thought these were very well made. These flaky pastries of spinach, feta and herbs were yummy.
Service was very friendly and attentive here. Food was some good, some so-​so for us here. Not the best Mediterranean food I have ever had but certainly not the worst either. Wish the value on some of the small plates was a bit better, though.

Taverna Blu is a new Greek eatery at the Irvine Spectrum. I jumped on a LivingSocial deal for this place after seeing it. I convinced a friend to join me on my little foodie adventure. Reservations can easily made on the restaurant website. Upon entering, the place has an open air patio and a very chic modern décor. We ordered the Mama Ganoush ($ 5), meat sampler ($ 22) and the braised lamb shank ($ 20). The food was pretty tasty but not very memorable. I’ve had better baba ganoush elsewhere. The lamb kabobs are good. The feta fries are really tasty. The hummus is standard fare. The dolmas are forgettable. The braised lamb shank is fall off the bone and served with rice and vegetables. My friend barely ate and was full so I guess the meal was pretty heavy. I ate my normal portion and was full too.
The service was ok. Our waitress was really nice but seemed frazzled because she mentioned that they just got very busy. Um, it’s dinner time, and most people go out to eat around a certain hour. That’s pretty obvious. She forgot to mention the special for the evening which was listed on the chalkboard. I didn’t notice it until after we ordered and I was looking around the restaurant. They were really good about refilling our waters. I may return to try the small plates since they are really reasonable. The sampler platter is a good way to share a variety of their dishes. They have 4 kinds of platters: meat, chicken, vegetarian, and seafood. They do happy hour daily 4:30 — 6:00 pm. I think the best deals are to be had around HH.

I was worried about the service after reading many reviews, but it was pretty quick despite being at lunch time on a Saturday.
Being a indecisive glutton, I of course ordered the Meat sampler platter. It consisted of:
Gyros = tasty, but not the best I’ve had
Lamb kabobs = very good flavor, just wished there was more lamb on the kabob
Dolmas = ok, not great
Pita & hummus = pretty standard
”Mama” Ganoush = better than babaganoush!
Red roe spread = awesome. My favorite thing I had.
Olives & cheese = ok, but super briny
Spicy red pepper hummus = pretty good kick in this sucker!
Feta cheese fries = a little too salty, but tasty
With a drink, tax, and tip, it was a total of $ 35. Pretty steep for lunch. It wasn’t a huge portion, but decent.
The 80’s music playing was fun, but seemed out of place for a Geek restaurant. It didn’t really enhance the ambience, but wasn’t a detractor either.
Overall, I don’t have a ton to say about this place. It’s nice, it’s good, but it doesn’t really impress much. As far as Greek /​Mediterranean food goes, I’d put this place on par with Panini Café. Solid, but not on the same level as Papa Cristo’s or George’s.

I’ve been waiting to try this place a few months now. Finally my girlfriend and I came here for lunch. It’s very open, with the patio and large windows and big dining area. They don’t get that busy for lunch so no wait for a table. The service was great! Our server was knowledgeable about the menu and was courteous and friendly. He’s also very good at selling you food. We both ended up adding protein for extra
The food took a fairly long time to come out. Not terribly long, but noticeably long.
The Greek salad had all the necessary ingredients: lettuce, cucumber, onion, tomato, and olives, and big chunks of feta. It was overdressed. I didn’t like how they left gigantic pieces of cucumbers in the salad. I also got the spicy gyro wrap. It isn’t spicy at all. It wasn’t flavorful either. This wrap also had gigantic pieces of cucumber in there, which I didn’t like at all.

The better half and I are huge fans of Mediterranean cuisine and were hopeful Taverna Blu could become a regular destination for us.
Upon arrival we were able to get seated immediately, but the table we were seated at was a little short. I have noticed this as a growing trend for some reason and it made my dining experience uncomfortable.
Rohlinism: As the world as a whole gets taller, does it make sense to make furniture shorter?
I wasn’t sure if I had joined Gulliver on one of his travels or if a couple of Oompa Loompas were joining us for dinner. I am sure of one thing: If you think you are saving money with those kiddie furnishing, just imagine what happens when no one above 5′ 10″ frequents your restaurant because they can’t sit comfortably for their whole meal.
Our server Amanda came over after we were seated and took our drink order. After she returned with the drinks, we ordered an appetizer of the Garlic Pesto Hummus (without the Pesto) which came with Pita Bread, Corn Chips and Celery Sticks for dipping and we ordered a Small Plate of the Greek Meat Balls. The Hummus
was good, the Pita Bread was fresh, warm and cut into triangles, the Corn Chips weren’t my favorite thing to go with the Hummus, but they weren’t bad and the Celery Sticks were fresh and was a nice change from the standard Pita. Laina and I found the Greek Meat Balls
to be really awful. The meat balls were hard and had no flavor, this is a Mediterranean restaurant, the ground beef should be packed with spices. The marinara had a really bad acidic after taste, the only good thing about this small plate was the Feta Cheese. I was going to send it back when I remembered I had a less discriminate four legged family member at home. Score two meat balls for Kaya.
Amanda came back and answered some questions we had regarding the menu and Laina settled on the Athenian Salad which has Greens, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Olives, Onions and Feta. Amanda suggested the Balsamic Citronette for the salad instead of the Pomegranate Dressing. For an additional $ 4, she opted to add Chicken to her salad. I decided to try the Spicy Gyro Wrap with the Broiled Beef and Lamb mixture, Spicy Feta, Rice, Greens, Tomatoes and Onion. For an additional $ 3, I decided to add an order of Feta Fries to my wrap.
The food came out a short time later. Laina’s Athenian Salad
wasn’t exactly what she was expecting with almost no chicken or feta, no olives and field greens instead of iceberg lettuce. The chicken which was in the salad was juicy and had a very good flavor and the dressing was a very good choice with the salad. My Spicy Gyro Wrap
was a bit of a surprise as well. It was wrapped a tortilla instead of in pita and the spiciness of the rice overwhelmed the rest of the flavors in the wrap. When I took a piece of the Gyro meat out and tried it, the meat had a good flavor and was juicy. The tzatziki was good, but it only helped a little with the spice issue. My wife tried a few bites and thought the wrap was horrible. I thought it was an interesting concept, just poorly executed. The Feta Fries were dreadful. Cold, over cooked and soggy … I barely touched them. When Amanda came over and asked how everything was my wife mentioned her disappointment over the lack of chicken in her salad, but didn’t actually make any requests. Amanda returned a short time later with a small plate of chicken and apologized for there not being enough chicken in the salad in the first place.
The server was one of the few bright spots of the meal. Amanda was extremely efficient, knowledgeable and showed initiative when a problem arose during the service. I didn’t have to ask for refills and all our orders were brought out promptly.
I like the restaurant’s general take on Mediterranean fare, but most of the entrees we ordered were poorly executed. The kitchen is lacking quality control and someone is lacking a palate when it came to the meatballs and the wrap. There is also no excuse for sending out cold, soggy fries. This place is relatively new, so maybe there are some issues which need to be worked out, but right now I wouldn’t go back and I wouldn’t recommend this location to any of my friends.

I foresee this place being a local hot spot very soon, they’ve only been open for a little over a week and they are located in an awkward spot — but it is right next to Pieology! They have an excellent wine list. We got the happy hour pinot nior and it was perfect.
They are serving delicious greek dishes. We split the seafood sampler plate. The shrimp and calamari were PERFECT. Loved the feta fries, hummus trio and the dalmas.
Minor gripe: I hope that they figure out a better was to set up a table for groups, by the time I was done with my dinner, a group had been seated a little too close for comfort behind me.