Chart House

Seriously… how stupid are people to write negative comments about a really good restaurant (that is open on Christmas day)…Idiots…stupid idiots… Maybe next time stay home with your family and watch some football and play some games, maybe open some presents! How rude to complain about servers working on Christmas! Chart House is and always will be a GREAT restaurant!

Would give negative stars if i could. This place was the worst. I thought this would be a good place to have a nice Christmas dinner with family. Well i was wrong. Sat and hour after our reservation, waiter came back tree times to tell me they were out of what i ordered (should have known), waited over an hour for our food while watching others who came in after eating, sat with empty glasses as the waiter could not be found. sons burger was cold, on a soggy bun with no cheese with cold french fries, in laws Romano chicken was burnt on the out side and dry inside, brought wrong sides, and re ordered scampi was like rubber.
They did take care of the bill but still my sin, in laws, and I all had a terrible Christmas dinner.

I had very fond memories of dining at the Chart House and thought it would be a good choice to take my Mother here for a pre– Mother’s Day dinner on Saturday night. I had only been to the Mammoth Lakes and Marina Del Rey locations and all my experiences at both were very pleasant. So this saddens me to say that I am only giving the Newport Beach location 3 stars. That still seems a little generous to me but 2 stars would be too harsh.
Where to start? Well, I made reservations in advance and I usually request booth seating or tables by the window. I didn’t this time and I don’t even know if that would’ve made a difference. The set-​up inside was very crowded; a lot of tables were TOO close together. Perhaps I should’ve known better as I am quite aware restaurants that like to do this around holiday occasions and cram in as many reservations/​diners as possible. Our table was alright, but there were multiple incidents of people bumping into the back of mine or my SO’s chair. Not to mention the server carrying large trays over our heads — once false move and the restaurant might’ve found themselves vulnerable to litigious diners.
Our meals were all decent enough. We had oysters, calamari, fried coconut shrimp, prime rib, crab-​stuffed shrimp, NY strip steak, and we shared the chocolate lava cake. While everything tasted fine, no complaints, there was really nothing that was memorable about it, though. Just run of the mill.
As far as the service… it was painfully slow. Our server was very sweet and nice so it was difficult to want to appear irate when she DID make an appearance. Drinks took forever to get to us, second round took even longer, and she barely checked on us and we damn near had to tackle her to get the check. It seems that they were maybe short-​staffed? Although the place seemed full to capacity, it looked like there were plenty of servers milling around?
With the appetizers, entrees, one dessert, and four cocktails, the total came to just under $ 240, including tax and 20% tip. Valet parking is not complimentary, so be prepared to have $ 6 for that and a tip. With all the restaurants that OC has to offer, never mind in just Newport Beach alone, I might leave Chart House alone for a while so as to not taint my happy memories of them.

Great place!!! I have been eating here over the last 10 years. I have taken my fiancé there and my family have had close to a dozen gatherings here. Every time we go it has been enjoyable. The manager walks around and checks in on the guests and very helpful. The entry staff are kind and friendly. Staff can be a tad slow and only check on you once and awhile. I like the space, but sometimes we just wanted to get our order in. We have tried a lot of the food there and never really disappointed. I usually always got the Ahi Tuna and Filet Mignon. Always delicious and flavorful. Honestly I have been to this Chart House at least 2 – 3 dozen times. The salad bar is great and by far the famous Lava Cake is best desert around. Cheesecake is always great too. We always are seated quickly and they handle our group of 5 – 10 very well. Keep it up!

Well we have not been here for at least ten years. The last time was not a great experience and this time was not as well.
Made a reservation and arrived ten minutes early, was told it would be a few minutes after our time to get the table. Went to the bar and waited thirty minutes.
Finally was seated and started our meal. Waitress was nice. Ordered the food and drinks. The Scampi and a Ahi Tuna dish. The Tuna was OK but the Scampi had no flavor. Totally lacking in the garlic required to make it a true Scampi…
Overall a mediocre meal. With so many choices in OC for good fish it will be a long time before we return…
Was hoping for a better meal.

The food was good. View is beautiful! Very nice!
I’d agree with all the other reviews, service is a tad slow.

We hadn’t eaten here in many years, so when we stopped by here the other day it was really on a whim. I’m really glad we did, because my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the food and service here!
We came here for an early dinner and were seated right away. We were immediately served their bread, and it was delicious.
We also ordered the Crab Stuffed Mushroom appetizer. Yum! These stuffed mushrooms were some of the best we’d had in a while. The mushrooms were covered in a wonderful cream sauce and were seasoned to perfection.
We also decided to split a Caesar Salad,
and it was fresh and delicious as well. I ordered the Macadamia Crusted Mahi.
The Mahi was served with a warm peanut sauce and was topped with a mango relish and a soy glaze. I really thought this dish was wonderful. My husband ordered the Stuffed Tilapia.
His meal came with mashed potatoes and a nice lemon butter sauce on the side. Although the menu said the Tilapia was «filled with jumbo lump crab», he said he didn’t taste much crab. In spite of this, he still said the meal was «incredible». This is high praise coming from my husband.
We also thought the service was really great here as well. Our meals came out quickly, and we thought the wait staff was friendly and helpful. They also seated in a great spot near the window so we could watch the sunset while eating our dinner. We thought this was especially nice.
We’ll definitely be coming back to this Chart House location. We thought the food, service, and that view were great here!

For this year’s restaurant week, I wanted to try someplace new. So my friend and I packed up and went to Chart House. They had a big tasting menu that looked pretty yummy.
Service was kinda’ slow, but attentive. The food is ok but not great, kinda more towards meh, in my opinion. We both ordered different items but I had bites of things including:
lobster spring rolls– very bland, very light on any lobster, mostly fried with little substance
hummus– bland
chopped salad– cheapo ice berg lettuce, including the butts, meh dressing
shrimp– meh. even covered in macadamia nuts, it lacked a lot of flavor
short ribs– dry but ok.
lava cake– awesome.
cheesecake– average.
All in all, I was disappointed by the food, but the views were lovely. If I return, it’d probably be to drink at the bar instead of eating here.

It was that time of the year again when the boat parade was coming around and my family needed a place with a view! At the recommendation of a waitress at another restaurant (where I had originally made reservations but was informed that the Chart House had better views) I made reservations for a window table for a group of 7.
For starters, we sat at the bar while waiting for our table and the service was slow and inattentive. There were not too many people without drinks, so I am unsure why it took twenty minutes for someone to even ask what we would like. After we did get our wine, we ordered the hummus appetizer and the hummus itself was bland and grainy.
Once our table was ready, it took probably thirty minutes to get wine glasses and another twenty for the wine to even be poured. Meanwhile, my poor dad was still waiting at the bar to close out of bill there. Once our orders were placed, we waited about an hour to get our food. One of my dining companions joked around and asked our waitress if they were out in the bay catching our fish before they cooked it, she apologized and said we were the next table to be served. Well that went a long way, because we were still waiting for our food thirty minutes later. Once the food did arrive, it was flavorless. Oh and their famed salad bar? I’d rather eat the salad bar at the Soup Plantation up the coast, it would be cheaper too! I told my parents that it had the quality of Applebee’s with a Newport price.
Our waitress was apologetic and offered to comp dessert, but at that point the boat parade was long gone and we were worried that we would have to wait another two hours to get some mediocre dessert. The only saving grace to this experience was that I was distracted by the company I was with, but I would never return or recommend this location to anyone I know. The service is god awful slow, the staff dull and the food staggeringly overpriced.

The view is amazing here.
I usually stop by for the happy hour & dessert.
Recommendations:
The Nachos (forgot the name)
Steamed Mussels
Lava Cake

Some of these reviews seem a bit harsh, but hey, that’s just me. I’ve been here around three times and I’ve never had any issues. Service is nice. Atmosphere and ambience are upscale and classy. We had the clam chowder (always amazing, the perfect consistency, generous with the clams), crab cake (good but they give you way too little for the price), prime rib (I didn’t have it but my friend who did claimed it was tender), scallops (juicy, flavorful), and the coconut shrimp (my personal favorite but I wish they gave a few more shrimp).
If I do come back, I would really like to sit out in that patio area they have. Seems like a fun place for hangout during the warmer seasons.
All in all, good dining experience but I do prefer the one in Malibu.

Really debated between 2 stars and 3 stars on this one.
My sister made reservations here so we could watch the boat parade. We had great window seats and had a good view of all the cool boats going by. Good thing we had some entertainment because it felt like we were here FOREVER.
Service was atrocious. Some of the worst I have ever had. I know its the Friday before Christmas but this was unacceptable. We first were seated late for our 7pm reservations. We didn’t even get wine glasses put on the table for the wine we had brought until 7pm40. No one looked at us, past by our table, offered water, or gave us bread. I barely saw our waitress. Everyone was so hungry and so irritated that we didn’t order appetizers or fancy drinks, for fear of never getting them.
After we had our soup/​salad course (the lobster bisque was pretty good) around 8pm, we weren’t served our entrée until 9pm. For a while I forgot if we even ordered. It was absolutely ridiculous. No one ordered dessert because by the time we were done it was almost ten and we had been there for 3 hours.
I will not go back to the chart house restaurants, especially this one. Worst service I’ve had in years!

Christmas Dinner. They were one of the few places open, and we had never been before, so why not give them a shot? I used to be in the industry, so I know that holdaisy can be trying for serving and ktichen staff. The hostesses were great — very attentive and kept a great attitude even when they were bombarded by non-​stop famies, older couples, druken Newport douchebags… the usual.
The bartenders were holding up pretty well too. We had a drink while we waited to be seated — we had a 6pm reservation and were seated around 6:20, not bad. It took a while for our server (Adam?) to come by but he was very pleasant.
the food took a loooongt ime to come out for each course and honestly is wasn’t all that great. They butterflied the steak, which is ok, I guess, but I expected a little more from this restaurant. They food was warm at best, The crab stuffed mushrooms had bits of shell in them. The wines offered by the glass were poor.
They are lucky they are the one place open becasue had there been another choice (A’s? Villa Nova? Applebee’s?) we would probably have gone elsewhere. I think if you’re going to be open, add a couple of busboys and really make it happen. One table next to us was terribly upset with the service and quality of their food — at least we had entertainment.
My husband also suffered digestion issues following the meal… Merry Christmas!
No desire to come back. If anything else in that block is open — go there.

Went here for family dinner and had the yellow fin tuna and prime rib.
The yellow fin tuna was amazing, the «quality» of the tuna was probably the best I’ve had in CA so far. I was particularly impressed with the wasabi dressing that tied the dish together without letting the root over power the taste of the fish. Based on the fish alone, 5 stars.
The mashed potato was good, but as good as any mom could probably make it so there was no wow factor there. 3 stars.
Prime rib on the other hand was really juicy, but for a medium rare prime rib, it was a little too rare for my taste (even when I normally like my meat bloody!!!) 3 stars.
the chocolate lava cake/​soufflé was a little too dry, it did not have the wow effect that you expect when you see commercials of fudge oozing out of a betty crocker microwavable chocolate cake, so that was a let down. 3 stars.
Chart House on its face seems to be a really good place to go on a date, considering the harbor view, however, the salad bar in the middle of the restaurant and the lack of volume control only gives this place a 3 star at best for a family dinner.
BUT, I did see that they have great happy hour prices, so I may hit Chart House up again and rewrite a review.

Delicious food, good service, view is so-​so.
I came here today for my brothers birthday! They didn’t do anything special for him (kinda sad! But oh well…) He ordered the lobster tail (delicious) and I got the shrimp and artichoke linguini (kinda rich). He also ordered the salad bar (which contained caviar!!! Thanks for sneaking me some, brother: D). For appetizers, we had the crab cakes (very rich and full of flavor) and the calamari (very tender and not super chewy!)
Our waiter was attentive and brought my brother about 6 – 8 ice teas that night. Too bad the view of the harbor was blocked by the yachts! … Though we did get a good view of some random guys trying to do a bit of fishing :|
Overall, though it was a good experience, there was no «wow» factor, thus the 3 star rating.

I don’t know why, but whenever we have special occassions, or want to go to a nice dinner, we come here. The ambience is great, it’s just the meals are just so-​so to me.
Came here for an anniversary, and started with the caeser salad and clam chowder. The caeser salad was decent, the clam chowder was pretty darn tasty.
For my entrée, I decided to go with the macadamia crusted sea bass. One of my favorite fishes, with my favorite type of nut! It was presented nicely, but all the sauces (sweet sauce and peanut sauce) kind of took all the flavors out of the fish. It probably didn’t help that it as coated with macadamia nuts either. I wasn’t a fan, it sounded so much better than what it was.
However, service here is great, and it’s nice for a romantic dinner or celebration.
They also have a salad bar which is great, but I feel it takes out the exclusiveness of the restaurant a little bit.

The interior is less fancier than the Dana Point Chart House, but it’s right next to the harbor, so there’s a close-​up view of the water. besides all the yachts and boats blocking the view. The service is just as good though.
My friend special ordered this Oyster appetizer that used to be on the menu. It was sooooooo good!!! The best Oysters I’ve ever had!!! We ordered ½ dozen of oysters on the half shell, baked with lemon butter, and topped with bacon bits. Soooo good!
Then, my friend ordered the Clam Chowder & I ordered the Lobster Bisque.
My main dish: Macadmia Crusted Mahi with warm peanut sauce with a hint of Frangelico, mango relish, soy glaze drizzle. I substituted the Asian green beans for Asparagus.
The fish was really good! I loved the peanut sauce and it tasted a bit like a Vietnamese dish. I didn’t care for the mango relish with the fish, but I liked it separately. It was really good by itself. I wish I had a side of rice or fried rice with my fish. The fish didn’t’ have a fishy taste and it was well-​cooked!
And of course, dessert: Hot Chocolate Lava Cake. It was sooo good, moist, and actually I could tolerate the sweetness. I didn’t think that I could handle all that chocolate but I almost ate all of it myself!

I am generally not very picky, but our group had a terrible experience here. Not only did it take an hour and a half to get our food but they also forgot one of our dishes!
While they said they were very busy, the restaurant did not seem very full and the staff was not knowledgeable about their own products. Everyone in our group ordered an alcoholic beverage ($ 10), coffee ($ 5), dessert ($ 5), and dinner ($ 30-​$ 40), which easily made the dinner about $ 50-​$ 60 a person. When I pay that much for dinner I expect the wait staff to be courteous and efficient, the food to come out in a timely manner, and the order to be correct.
It is a disappointment to say we received none of the above last night.

I’ve never been here for a proper dinner, but a recent wedding allowed me to get drinks and appetizers on the patio. Service was good, oysters were fresh, and the view and people + boat watching is good.
Prices? About what you should expect for waterfront property in Newport.

I think the last time I was here was when I was really youg, so this felt like my first time there. The hostess needs to learn to smile, but that’s probably the only negative thing I have to say about this place… oh well actually their mojito’s were not amazing… ok and that’s it.
Our server’s name was Eric and he did an excellent job explaining the menu, he was really welcoming and did a grea job checking on us.
As an appetizer we got the artichoke, which came with two dipping sauces, it was really flavorful. My main course was my favorite part of the meal, I got the mahi mahi that came with macademia nuts and a mango sauce. It was one of the best fish dishes’ I have ever had.
Macademia nuts, and mango are two of my favorite things, so they can make anything taste like heaven.
I’d come back just to have this dish again!!! oh, and the view of the ocea was pretty legit too.