The Spaghetti Bender

If you want a friendly, casual Italian place with very good food and lots of it, go to the Spaghetti Bender. We’ve been here multiple times and always leave with a good experience and full stomachs. the first courses, soup and salad are great, Italian wedding soup and a form of chopped salad are both plentiful and great. their garlic bread is top notch. Spaghetti and meatballs, meat sauce, chick parm and fettuccine are all very good and large portions, You’ll leave with a doggy bag as most people do.
Very good food, good portions, friendly service and reasonable prices. What more do you need?

This place is absolutely amazing. Adam was our server and let me tell you, his attention to detail was like nothing I have ever seen. This is a family oriented restaurant and has been my favorite Italian restaurant in Orange County for over 10 years. Again, ask for Adam and you will not be disappointed.

My family and I came here last Saturday night after not having been for some years. The salad no longer comes with your meal and the garlic break was hard and not fresh. The pasta dishes themselves were alright, but nothing to write home about. My review is more about what happened after our meal though. The restaurant allows a man who, when we spoke to him about an incident that occurred because he parked his motorcycle behind my car and not in a space, smelled of alcohol, and said he goes there all the time and always parks there… in the middle of the parking lot where there is no actual parking space right behind cars so they can’t get out. While we were talking, the car that was parked next to mine started backing out and would’ve hit the bike had we not guided it out. Ridiculous! Long story short, I wouldn’t go back there just based on the fact that the restaurant allows this man to park wherever he wants in the parking lot regardless of it being legal or not and causing other patrons to have an even more difficult time getting out of their lot and sustaining damage to their car because this man feels entitled to do whatever he wants.

Delicious food, amazing price. One entrée plus an appetizer and a side was dinner for 2 with enough leftover to make dinner again tomorrow! Plus a half carafe of house wine. All for $ 44!

Slow slow slow. Took forever and was very mediocre. Lasagne seemed heated up not fresh. We were seated at a table with no silverware or napkins. We had to steal it from the table next to us.

The price is right, the ambience is good. The portions are good and it’s kid friendly. Unfortunately the service was horrible. We were there an hour and a half before we got our food. My kids were almost asleep. We could barely even get our water filled. We all tried to spaghetti and sausage or meatballs. I found the sauce bland. It was just missing something. And why not have fresh Parmesan cheese? The stuff in the shaker has no taste.

This is a really good Italian restaurant. Salad is always fresh. I would get the special Italian dressing rather than the standard house dressing, which in my opinion tastes like flavored mayo. I highly recommend the spaghetti and meatballs.

My wife and I came here on Saturday night after a failed attempt at another restaurant where the service was terrible. When we walked in about 7:00pm the restaurant was pretty busy and the host said that there was a 15 minute wait. Right when we were about to sit and wait another host said that since there was only two of us they had a table ready right then.
I have passed by this place a million times and never thought much about it. This was my first visit and it was great. A total throw back to an old Italian kitchen where you think there is a little old lady in the back slapping people with a spoon when they try to taste the sauce. The wallpaper is gaudy, the crowd is older and the ambiance has this tucked away old school romantic feel. It almost seems like the kind of place where the Godfather would take a meeting.
We started with the tureen of minestrone soup and salad. Both were fantastic and huge portions. Once they brought out the delicious garlic bread I really didn’t even need the entrée I ordered but of course I had to dig in a little. I got the veal parmigiana and it was excellent. The portions are large and the staff was very attentive and nice.
There were a couple of families with small children and they seemed to be so into the food that I almost didn’t even know kids were in the same room. The staff seemed to know how to keep the kids happy which makes everyone able to enjoy their time there.
The Spaghetti Bender is now probably going to be the spot my wife and I sneak off to for a quick date night. The food was great and reasonably priced, the staff was awesome and the overall experience was one that turned our night around after we left the first restaurant. We also have two small children and would not hesitate bringing them here for dinner. I highly recommend this place.

I wish I could write a good review tonight on Spaghetti Bender, but I never actually had the chance to order food. After being told by the Hostess that I could sit outside on the patio, I sat down and waited… and waited… and waited.
10 minutes went by before the same hostess came out to check on me and at that point, no server had yet to check on me. Suffice it to say, I called in a take-​out order from a different restaurant (from the patio) and left.
Memo to management: watch how Mama D’s gushes over their patrons and take note. The servers at Mama D’s would never allow a guest to sit unattended for that long.
Very disappointed tonight. I’ll think twice before I come back.

Cute old style interior, service was polite and efficient but my chicken piccata was extremely disappointing. The piccata was more of a thick gravy, and the Alfredo tasted like a powder mix and lacking that rich flavor. I will attest to the damn delicious house salad, that was outstanding!

Been going here as long as I can remeber. Great family style Italian food. Their homemade soup (pot placed on your table) and salad is amazing. This place is never a let down.

Brutal. The garlic bread is in perfectly toasted costco-​like slices you can get at Safeway. This is the stuff you buy in those aluminum bags at the grocery store. Come on guys, authentic Italian my ass!
The spaghetti meat sauce? Mediocre at best and way too sweet. Good lord how much sugar do they add to the base?
Nice service however and great music. Cool ambiance at night. If you can get drunk enough before eating the food is just OK.

We had dinner there Friday night and were impressed with the Food and service. The hostess greeted us and was very friendly and the food was good. I liked the fried cheese sticks!

What great food and of course that magical salad dressing!
If nothing else go here and order the minestrone soup and salad. The dressing has avocado and other buttery yummy ingredients.
It’s so popular they sell pints of the dressing alone!
A little bar off to the side for drinks if that’s your thing before dinner then a meal with fast service and fair prices.
We have three go-​to Italian places in OC
Spaghetti Bender, A-​Roma in La Palma and the old Villa Nova in Newport (now closed)
Family dinner with the kids. The old Spaghetti Factory but on date night it’s gotta be one of the two above–
Watch the parking — there’s few spaces so get there early.

We came here last night per my daughter’s request.
Love the ambience, low lighting, romantic atmosphere.
Food was very good. They serve traditional Italian food.
Excellent service.
We plan on coming back.

The Bender has had its ups and downs but this is the first time I have experienced rudeness. Tried to call 4 times for a pick up order and no one answers and placed in a voice mail loop with a long sales pitch .So we drive down to order and pick up. I tell the hostess I called FOUR times and instead of an Im sorry I get well we are too busy to pick up the phone. I would have left but I have people waiting at home for food.
They have also raised their prices.
To be fair I really like the garlic bread. These businesses need to train their staff.

Stopped here for dinner upon recommendation from a local who has eaten here many times. I would return for another meal when I visit Newport Beach again.
The ambiance is similar to sitting in grandma’s kitchen. We arrived on a Monday with few people sitting down for dinner so there were only two other tables occupied inside a few others on the patio.
We had been advised to share an entrée because of the large servings which we did. The cost for an extra plate is $ 5 but well worth it.
For our entrée we split spaghetti with meat sauce, included sides are vegetable soup and house salad. The soup comes in a tureen that you ladle yourself, it was delicious. The salad was ordinary with a creamy house dressing. On the table there is a recipe for the dressing that I think you can also purchase it by the jar. There was more than enough spaghetti for two plus a little leftover by me. There was a bit too much sauce for my taste but I just spooned it over to the side while i ate the pasta. There was toasted garlic bread provided prior to the start of our meal. Extra garlic that I needed to brush my teeth in the middle of the night after the meal.
Our server was attentive and very pleasant. Their restroom was clean.

I bought groupon awhile back and took my boyfriend here for a date. first off… parking can be a bitch. Its superrr cramp and small. The park lots is share with another restaurant.
I liked the decoration here, it actually feel and look like Italy. The rooms are separated but from walking in you can tell it is a big restaurant. They have outdoor seating also.
Service was excellent! My server was fast and clean. He always made sure our water was fill, and trash and empty plates were taken away.
Ok. on to the food
Milestone soup was delicious! first time having this soup and I enjoyed it very much. Even my boyfriend enjoyed it (which is a big surprise). It’s a pretty healthy and full of vegetables! The portion for the soup is huge. You can get about 3 bowl of soup from it.
I didn’t like that you’re not allow to share. if you did it would be an extra fee… but me and my boyfriend was sneaky with it: D
Boyfriend got the spaghetti A la carte — wasn’t a fan. he did liked the mushroom in it though.
I got the rigationi primo dinner– I thought the flavor was kind of light and I got sick of eating it very fast.
INFO:
–DINNER COMES WITH SALAD AND SOUP !!
— A LA CARTE IS JUST THE DISH ITSELF
I forgot how much I paid, but overall if it wasn’t for groupon I don’t think I have gone here. Probably won’t be back here again.

Eww.
Service was good and that’s it– thus the 2 stars.
FYI $ 5 split service charge, just a heads up if you are planning to share.
If you like Texas frozen toast and chef boy r d then you will be ecstatic. Poor man’s Italian.
Soup tasted like it was heated and then re-​heated about a million times.
My family and I are scared we might get food poisoning. I’ll keep you updated

Homemade? Maybe. Authentic Italian? Don’t think so. To me, this place was a 3.5. Nothing really to complain about and service was very friendly but nothing outstanding to bring me back either.
We got a groupon and decided to give it a try. The restaurant looks like a cozy grandma’s house. I read about the waiting list and crowds so made a reservation for an early dinner on Sunday at 5pm. We were the only other table then but by 6pm, it started getting crowded.
The garlic bread was a bit too oily for me. We also ordered the bruschetta and the tomatoes on top were a bit soggy, not sure if they were sitting out for a while or they were just soaked with the olive oil but I know usually my hubby and I fight for it and this time we didn’t want the third piece.
For entrees, I got the Chicken Picatta with alfredo pasta, dinner option (a few bucks more than the a la carte option but comes with soup and salad), my husband ordered the rigatoni with sausage and my friend the Chicken with fungi. To order one dinner option was really worth it. They bring a small pot of soup so I was able refill my bowl of minestrone like 2 or 3 times! The salad was also pretty large and I was even able to share some. It had chick peas just like the soup and they mix it in front of you. It came with like a creamy italian dressing, a lil too much if you ask me.
My chicken alone was bland, so I made sure to dip it in a lot of sauce for some taste. My alfredo pasta was oily and needed some salt.
Our waitress was very friendly. Portions were big, and that may be the reason why they may skip seasoning their food and instead covering it with lots of sauce/​dressing, etc.
Good for trying. Don’t think I’ll come back though.