Upon arriving you would not realize this location is a restaurant, it looks like former Jiffy Lube that has been restored into a restaurant and quite frankly I really enjoyed the location and ambiance. The restaurant itself is small, and even smaller is their parking lot so make sure arrive early or parking can be an issue, if not Concierge is always available to take our clients here =). They offer a full bar here with an array of cocktails, the menu isn’t large so that they are able to focus on the quality of the items that they offer. There isn’t much indoor dining compared to outdoors and they could probably seat maybe two larger groups if that. Workers are extremely friendly and inviting, as they are very helpful and eager to  explain to you their menu and specials.

We started off with the freshly made fries, served with their ketchup bbq, and garlic aioli. The only thing I thought was a bit strange was that I was charged condiment sauces with the garlic fries. The fries are delicious however sauces should be complimentary to an extent. The fries were cooked to a perfect crisp and tossed in garlic and parmesan, a very nice crunch. The sriracha mustard had no spice but it was very acidic, the ketchup bbq had a very nice balance and the garlic aioli was smooth, just needed a little more garlic kick to it.

The next dish was their rigatoni in a blue cheese sauce topped with sage and mushrooms. If you’re a lover of blue cheese than you will most definitely enjoy this dish, I thought the balance of flavors were  nice, and the pasta was cooked very well at al dente. For my friends who don’t enjoy blue cheese, don’t bother attempting as the blue cheese is prominent. I also saw they had a marinated hanger steak “sandwich” so I was interested in this, I did notice they didn’t ask me how I wanted the steak prepared but it did arrive medium rare as how I prefer, looks like it was sous vide as well since the steak was not bloody, cooked perfectly and topped with maldon. This was served with a side of arugula but the lemon was overly dressed and the sourness of the lemon took over.

This was also served with their pizza bread baked perfectly light and airey. Deconstructed sandwich, or build it yourself served with a garlic aioli and another sauce that was not memorable. The pizza bread was so light, crisp, airey, yet you still had your pizza dough. Whoever is making their dough is doing a fantastic job. Last but not least we went with the Pancetta & Egg Pizza, as well as the Spicy Sausage Pizza.

Out of the two I would have to say the Spicy Sausage was my favorite, however this may be biased as I’m not a huge fan of heavy cream sauces and I prefer a tomato base and I love anything spicy. Once again the pizza was cooked perfectly, topped with a spicy Pomodoro sauce, fresh mozzarella, chilis, green olives, and generous amounts of spicy sausage.

Last but not least was the Pancetta and Egg pizza, a nice balance of flavors and I love the saltiness of the pancetta, I’m a little biased once again because I’m not a fan of one noted cream sauces, my friend however devoured this so if you like cream sauces than you will definitely enjoy this, if you like red sauces like me than I would go with the spicy sausage. I hope you all enjoy!

Restaurant – 2145 Pizza

Location – 2145 Placentia Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92627

Contact – 949.873.5853

Cuisine – Pizza, New American, Japanese