Bayside Restaurant

I had the most unfortunate experience dinning here a couple of weeks back. I was on a date with my girl friend and selected the Bayside which was recommended by a few friends as well as the Unilocal reviews. The atmosphere was pleasant enough and the waiter was accommodating however the quality of food and the response from management with regards to our concerns is what prompted me to write this review.
I ordered the Fish of the Day special which is and was the concern. Mind you I have been eating seafood for many years and know when fish is turning by smell, touch and taste. First impressions of the platter and fish was good but I noticed the strong scent of ammonia which is the sign of fish turning. Hard to detect initially with the fish covered in a sauce. That was the smell test, the taste test was shocking to be frank. Instantly I tasted a bitterness and after taste of ammonia. I stopped eating instantly and brought my concern to my waiter. He called over the manager and we spoke. He agreed to replace the plate with another or remove it from the bill. I opted to have the charge removed but that is where his concession ended.
Now most restaurants would comp the cost of the meal and would extend an invitation to return to the restaurant at a more convenir time and would comp the future meal as a way to retain a customer however that wasn’t the case here. It was a game of profit with no concerns of quality and dinning experience.
So with this behind us, we can clearly share that «not all that glitters is gold» and treatment of clients is paramount to retaining their business.
We do not recommend Bayside and will never return.

The ambiance is nothing out of the ordinary that you would find at any other fine dining restaurant except they did have live music with the piano which was nice. The service was great and everyone was very friendly. We had a couple of drinks which were not mixed the best. We started with the tuna tar tar which was excellent. We also had the fried calamari which was good and they give you a lot… We both enjoyed the soy salmon and the Chilean sea bass. I thought the salmon was a bit to saucy but that’s just me. We had the banana bread pudding and the chocolate soufflé (which is more like warm molten cake) they were good but nothing super special. It was good but be prepared for a steep bill. Good for the experience.

AMAAAAZING… I had the tuna tartare and the MOST FAAAABULOUS White Peach Martini, topped off with the lemon Panna Cota … Excellent service and live band … will definitely come back …

This is my favorite place for a nice meal. The locator is great and convenient. The food is very flavorful. The service is impeccable and they have a great wine selection.
I have not been disappointed with anything that I have ordered here yet !!

My husband & I had dinner here for a night out without the kids & we had a wonderful time. The food was delicious & the staff was on point. We sat on the patio & the view of the water was lovely. We ordered the set menu which included appetizer, entrée & dessert at $ 62.
We ordered one of each, as we like to share our food. The first two appetizers we had was the lobster salad & tuna tartare. Both were great but my favorite was the tuna.
Entrees was filet & Seabass. Again, both were delicious but my favorite was the steak. The mashed potatoes that accompanied each dish was heaven. Oh & their bread was the perfect consistency! Soft & warm on the inside with a crispy outside.
We can not wait to go back & truly enjoyed our meal here.

Reserved a table for 8, I preordered everyone’s entrée and all our appetizers and. They worked with me perfectly without any problems! The food quality is worth the money, it’s all reasonably priced. Will always remember the great service and acoustic singer! Will be back continuously!

I was very impressed with not only the awesome food and drinks (try the pear-​tini!) offered at Bayside, but also the great service. Unfortunately, we did have a hiccup in the beginning of our visit. Although we had made a reservation hours prior, when we arrived, the whole dining area was full and we were told we would have to sit on the patio. Not a deal breaker, but not what I was expecting. But then the table the hostess took us to was right next a table with two really young children, and we weren’t asked if we were okay with the placement. I hate to be picky, but we were celebrating and I work with children and this just wasn’t my idea of the best spot to be in. We asked to be moved but there was quite a bit of confusion which made me very anxious. My advice to anyone making a reservation is to confirm with the staff that you will actually be INSIDE the restaurant in order to avoid the stress we had to go through. Post seating drama everything was great. The scallops were amazing and lobster mash was FABULOUS! Also, don’t be afraid to ask your server what wine they suggest, as they are very knowledge and will ensure you make a terrific choice!

We went to Bayside on Mother’s Day for dinner and had a great experience. Tasty food, atmosphere, music… But the highlight of the evening was the service. Our server Saro and his assistant Polo were on top of everything. They really made our dining experience a 5 stars!!! Thank you Ed Rugg for your charming personality and delicious wine, cheers!

Sunday Brunch. Free flowing Champagne and mimosas. The Cesar salad was excellent. The lamb chops were excellent. Homemade soup was excellent. The scallops were very good. The toast bread with tomato and cheese was not good at all. And the dessert was not good. All in all I would go back again and again it’s really good.

Went here for dinner Saturday night. The food was divine. We started with a beet and goat cheese salad. It was very fresh, and the candied walnuts were a nice contrast. For our entrée, we split an 8 oz fillet. It was one of the best steaks I’ve had. The carrots, mashed potatoes, and bokchoi were a perfectly paired side. The steak was marinated in a delicious peppercorn sauce.
Only negative was the dessert did not live up to expectations. The soufflé was more of a dry lava cake.
Overall– great wine, food, and company made for a fantastic night!

Probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had plus a tip for future patrons.
First of all, the location is amazing as it sits across from the boat Harbor and you can’t beat Newport Beach at any costs.
The restaurant itself is well designed and looks brand new. Lots of modern furniture and Wood everywhere. Gives for a nice atmosphere.
The service is exceptional with the hostess greeting you after you have the free valet service park your car.
We were seated immediately and introduced to a menu that had many many options around seafood to steaks and more.
I’m going to post pictures so that you’ll see how amazing the dishes are and to what extent the chef prepares each dish and the nice portion sizes for an exceptional value.
My only suggestion is that the restaurant has live music during the afternoons on weekends and every night on the weekdays. There’s a table that for the last 6 years an older lady has requested a seat at around 5 pm to listen to music on a Sunday afternoon and we didn’t know this until the 5pm hour. At which time an older lady in a wheel chair comes by with her caretaker and informs you that your sitting at her table. Ed the manager said don’t hurry but I understand sometimes people are set in thier ways and I didn’t want a scene so me and my date kindly finished up and left.
Great meal great service just don’t sit at the table near the piano as it’s reserved at 5 pm every sunday.

I didn’t eat anything here because I was only here for a photography job which was capturing memories of a bridal shower.
The restaurant was nice and parking was easy. The bridal shower was in the darkest part of the restaurant (which was the center). Lighting was off but I did the best with what I had. I still managed to get some good shots overall.
Anyhow, it was around noon time on a Sunday. I give 4 stars for the wait staff (and –1 star because I didn’t eat anything so I can’t say anything about the food nor do I know if they even have any vegan-​friendly options.)
The wait staff was incredibly friendly. I was standing and walking around shooting the entire 2.5 hours I was there. Several servers kept coming by asking if I needed anything to drink or eat. I accepted some water (but declined food just because I’m professional when working.)
I use to be a server and I appreciate those who are attentive. Right off the bat, I could tell that the management her was competent because the wait staff reflected that.

I had a wonderfully romantic Valentine’s Day dinner here. The food was great. The service was a little slow but it was extremely busy so I’ll give it a pass. There some music being played on the piano and a woman singing by the bar. She sang so well and really kept the romantic feel in the restaurant.
Started the night with a margarita from the bar. It was ok. Nothing special about it. Good tequila though. We waiting a good 15 mins at the bar waiting to be sat.
Once we had our table, we were given menus. It was easy to choose dinner because they only offered a prix-​fix menu for Valentine’s Day. Once our order was put in the plates started coming out!
Everything I ordered was delicious! I love love loved the mushroom bruschetta. The Brie came out so melty and the jam under was sweet but complimented the cheese so well.
Next was my steak, it was cooked just how I like it. Medium! It was tender and tasted so good! The big fancy potato chip made the plate looks cool too! Lastly was the raspberry almond tart! So yummy! Crunchy and the crème on top was light and airy but perfectly sweet!
Overall I enjoyed my food but like I said it was a very busy night. I would recommend checking this restaurant out albeit not on Valentine’s Day.

I came here with my best friend to enjoy the Valentine’s day brunch special and it started off on a good note and then slightly went downhill from there.
Ill start with the service. Our waitress was an absolute delight! If only she was there more often. She was very friendly throughout the entire meal but was absent when we needed her most, her coworkers didn’t seem to care too much to help her in her section either. However, it was Valentine’s day and I do understand that it was crowded.
The location itself was beautiful, nice décor, and even live music!
As for the food, the appetizers were great! the ahi tuna tartare, the lobster sliders, and griddle crab cake was delish! It was fresh, packed with zesty flavor, and plated nicely. So it all was going great until we had to wait about 40 min for our main course, and when we received our main course it was sub-​par. The seafood risotto was so hard, I’m not sure if that’s how risotto is cooked but I’ve had others much more tender. However, the chorizo saved the dish, it gave the dish great flavor that had me eating more regardless of the hard risotto. The tagliatelle pasta was the exact opposite, it was cooked perfect but so bland in flavor. It was extremely rich and there was a lot of sauce but the sauce had no flavor at all. As for the dessert, the raspberry almond tart and dark chocolate cake was sweet but not too sweet which is how my best friend and I liked our desserts.
So we had a great start, a prolonged rough middle, and a pleasant end. Would I come back? Maybe on a less busy day.

5 stars for the service, ambiance, and location. Attentive servers and bussers. Live classical piano playing on the background. Fancy dimly lit lighting. Spacious parking + free valet.
3.5 stars for the food. My favorite part was probably the lamb and the crème brûlée desert. Everything else was good and well presented but not amazing.

Yesterday my boyfriend and I came for the Valentine’s Day brunch. I’m quite surprised reading others reviews as they didn’t really enjoy it. We really throughly enjoyed it, the bottomless mimosas was quite a plus in my book. I thought the food was flavorful as well.
First Courses: tuna tartar and romaine salad
I’m not a seafood eater so I did not try the tartar but my boyfriend said it was great. I loved my salad though, the dressing was a parmesan dressing that was so perfect for the lettuce and heirloom tomatoes
Main Course: steak and beef stroganoff
Both dishes had unique and excellent flavor. The beef was extremely tender.
Dessert: we had the Oreo cake and Bavarian cream dessert. The Oreo cake was a little dry but my dessert was very light and refreshing.
Our waitress was really great and attentive too! I believe her name was Martina!

Free valet. Great service. Unlimited mimosas for Sunday bunch.
Came here to celebrate a gfs Bday for brunch. There was about 20 of us, so we got our own private area. It was a 3-​course prix fixed menu, but there was a lot of options to choose from. For $ 40 the portions were extremely generous and executed well. I had the bayside open-​faced steak sandwich and was so surprised just how big it was. It was on a toasted brioche, arugula pesto, avocado, bacon and was just perfection! The servers never failed to stop pouring the champagne and water for us.
I would love to come back and try more from their brunch menu :)

Wow! The food was amazing here. It’s so delicious and gourmet. I decided I was going to have a classy dinner on a Friday night with a friend. I did the 3 course dinner for $ 59.75 a good deal. I had the Maine lobster salad, Chilean sea bass for dinner and a chocolate soufflé with hazelnut ice cream for dessert. The mayonnaise they put on the Maine lobster really made it taste so good that I was savoring each bite that I wish it was a bigger portion. The Chilean sea bass was ok. Maybe the steak or filet migon would have been a better choice. The dessert was very rich in chocolate. I think they should have put a little less liquor and chocolate then it would have tasted better. The hazelnut ice cream was good too.
2 days later I decided to come to enjoy the Orange County’s Best’s Champagne Brunch with the 2 course meal with the bottomless mimosas with orange juice on my own for some fine dinning again. The sparkling champagne was really bubbly more than a soda when they poured it out. It tasted so refreshing drinking it just the way it is before pouring orange juice to make it a mimosas. I had the house made yogurt it was ok. I prefer the Bayside Benedict with the smoked salmon, poached egg, citrus hollandaise and asparagus. Good suggestion for those who love salmon. I had a berry sorbet for desert just $ 4 more. I didn’t really like the banana sorbet it tasted more flavorful than the actual banana fruit. The kiwi and the berry sorbet was better tasting. It was $ 36 for breakfast not as much as the 3 course dinner.
The ambiance is beautiful with the view of the bay it just makes it classy and romantic at any time of the day. They got a musician playing music in the bar area which is nice for those who want to dine classy alone. Service was very attentive when they kept coming around asking if the food was tasting good and if I needed anything. I rate service 5 stars. Food is very fresh. This is a good place for a romantic date or to celebrate a special occasion. I definitely will be dinning here very soon again.

I think this could have easily been a 4-​star experience, but a couple things that I found difficult to overlook have brought the review down to a 2. I was drawn here via a recommendation and also the fact that their small plates/​bar menu lasted from 4:30-closing!
Upon entering last Friday evening, my friend and I noticed that it was quite crowded. The hostess (who was very sweet) told us to wait a few minutes while she tried to find available seating (we informed her we were specifically looking to eat off the small plates menu). When she finally found us a table, I was pleasantly surprised that it was at a regular table and not the bar.
When our waiter handed us the regular menu, we requested the bar menu and he seemed surprised. and quite begrudgingly went to retrieve the bar menu. It was awkward and insulting because he was so openly unhappy. Maybe the hostess had made a special exception and had seated us at an area that traditionally does not seat people interested in the bar menu, but that’s not an excuse for patronizing service. Not to mention that we did not seat ourselves there!
The entire first half of our experience was poor. Even when my friend ordered alcohol, our waiter seemed really disinterested and cold. It wasn’t until I ordered the seafood paella (which was one of the most expensive things on the menu) that service became a lot more attentive and warm. Seriously? That’s just embarrassing.
Onto the food. My friend ended up ordering a drink and two things off the bar menu (fries and crab cake), while I had the paella. The drink was strong, fries were standard, and crab cake wasn’t bad. I thought the paella, although on the expensive side, was solid. It wasn’t as saffron-​flavored as I would have liked, but the seafood was all very fresh (two giant prawns, 2 big scallops, 2 pieces of halibut, few mussels) and the risotto was very moist. I did find that 2 of my 5 mussels were severely undercooked (to the point where I actually couldn’t remove the flesh from the shell), but I still enjoyed it overall.
Overall, food was 3.5 stars, and with good service I would’ve easily bumped it up to a 4. However, service was really poor and to feel that we were looked down upon as customers until I ordered something expensive from the regular menu is just downright wrong.

A waterfront restaurant and lounge in Newport beach, such a beautiful and classy property! It looked so much fun in bar and lounge area with live piano playing and singing. The other side of the restaurant was so cozy, especially the love seat booth we got seated in, intimate and comfy!
Started off with sparkling water and a dozen of Fanny bay raw oysters, they were very fresh and tasty, the housemade Mignonette and cocktail sauce were so good, hubby and I couldn’t get enough of the oysters!
I went for two appetizers instead of an entrée cause I wasn’t that hungry, had compressed Maine lobster salad and griddle crab cake. The lobster and crab meat were very fresh and tender, the flavors were light, just what I preferred that evening. Hubby had 8oz filet mignon, rare plus was cooked to perfection, he loved the risotto with bacon bits, said it was one of the best risotto he has ever had! The flavors were rich and flavorful enough for him.
I thought this was a small plates place, but the food portions were huge! My 2 appetizers were a lot of food for me, but I tried to finish it all cause it was so delicious! I had a Goose vodka lemon drop, it was very tasty and strong, and a 20 yr Tawny to finish the meal. Hubby had glass of red and a shot of espresso. Our meal and drinks were perfectly balanced!
The service was very friendly and attentive, our waitress was a lot of fun too, made our dinner date so pleasant and relaxing. I have to say I was surprised at how good this restaurant was! Surely we will be back soon for brunch!
Ps. Complimentary valet!

Excellent place, outstanding service and yes thank you Fran you are the best and you took extra good care of us. We will be back!
Chef Paul hast auch schoen gut gekocht Du.
By the way happy hour all night outside on the patio