Cucina Alessá
| Address: | 6700 West Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92663, USA |
| Phone: | +1 949-645-2148 |
| Site: | cucinaalessanewportbeach.com |
| Rating: | 4.5 |
| Working: | 10AM–10PM 10AM–10PM 10AM–10PM 10AM–10PM 10AM–11PM 9AM–11PM 9AM–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
ES
Esther Kim
My friend NP told me about this place and how much she enjoyed having dinner here, so when CC and I visited her for lunch we decided to try this place out for ourselves. They have a small parking lot but we were able to easily find parking when we came. There was plenty of seating inside--the restaurant is made up of several rooms so we were able to choose where we wanted to sit. We ended up sitting in the far room so we werent checked up on as much as we might have been if we chose a closer table, but we were fine for the most part. The lunch got off to a slightly rocky start because CC and NP had both requested hot water. I had requested ice water and it tasted fine, but the hot water apparently had a weird taste to it. Our server told us it is because the hot water came from the coffee machine o.O Weird... We ordered the following: (SHARED) Zucca: Homemade organic butternut squash ricotta ravioli, brown butter sage sauce -- This is why I came here! I love butternut squash ravioli and the one here was delicious. Yum! (CC) Bowl of Granola, Yogurt, Strawberry and Banana - except with no granola or yogurt, consequently substituted with Toasts and Preserves and a Side of Potatoes -- Her stomach was not feeling great so she wanted something light. Unfortunately they were out of granola/yogurt, but she was able to substitute it with toast/preserves and she added a side of potatoes to the dish since our server said the potatoes here are really good. Her plate looked a bit sad compared to our dishes (which is why I did not take a picture of it) but she liked it. (EK) Eggs Benedict: Two poached eggs served on an Italian muffin, sliced pancetta, topped with Hollandaise sauce. Served with roasted potatoes and peperonata -- I love eggs benedict! This was pretty good, and I enjoyed the roasted potatoes. (NP) Famous French Toast: Thick slices of French bread dipped in vanilla cinammon, egg batter, grilled and topped with bananas, strawberries, mascarpone cheese and toasted almonds -- I didnt try any of this because of the toasted almonds, but it looked good and NP said it was exactly what she wanted. Apart from the hot water weirdness, we all had a great time here. We liked our server, who was quite friendly and helpful, and we enjoyed the food. I would not mind coming back here, especially for the butternut squash ravioli, the next time I am in the area.
FL
Fluffy Purin
The food was okay but my dining experience went down the hill when we were asked to leave our table and be relocated to the bar area towards the end of our meal. This gentlemen said there were tons of people waiting for our table. We werent even there for 2 hours. Ive never been asked to leave at a restaurant. Its a very unpleasant experience. This place is too small to hold the amount of traffic that comes through. So they are reduced to asking people to leave in order to turn tables. No matter what, I still think its wrong to ask guests to leave when they are still enjoying dinner and with company. Later, I called the restaurant to ask to speak to a manager. And to my surprised, it was the gentlemen that asked us to leave . I recognized his voice. He said his name was Louise. But he pretended he didnt know anything about it and said that said he was sorry that I had this bad experience and he was going to find out what happened and get back to me by phone within a few minutes. Maybe that was a way for him to try to get off the phone. Well, he never called back so i called back after an hour. This time, his attitude changed and he said he found out who did and and it was the other manager. He said he talked to the owner and said that their restaurant didnt do anything wrong and will not offer an apology. He was defending the fact that there was nothing wrong that we were asked to leave and said its customary for their restaurant to do so after guests has been at a table for 2 hours. But truthfully, we were not even there for 2 hours. He said I was not being understanding and that theyre a small restaurant, etc. making all these excuses. Cant believe even after complaining, he was unwilling to make it right by doing anything. This shows the level of the professionalism, which is completely lacking. Ive never heard of such a rule, the 2 hour, times up, get out rule. Even at the snootiest restaurants in Beverly Hills, Ive never experienced such things. Only once at Matsuhisa were we told that our reservation only had an allotted time of 1 1/2 hours. But at least they were upfront about it at the time of reservation. But during the actual dinner, we got to enjoy staying as long as we wanted. We werent ask to leave or had any hints our time was up.
MI
Minyoung Hong
Despite the popular reviews, my small party of three waited in the front of the restaurant with no service for at least five minutes. I know that doesnt sound like much time. However, when there are approximately ten people in the entire two-story establishment and four employees look you in the eyes just to walk by without seating you, five minutes seems like a waste of time. Once an employee who was obviously leaving after his shift noticed us just standing there, we were seated and were ready to brush off the beginning of our night. Unfortunately, one of the servers who overlooked us before continued to use a belittling tone while taking our drink orders, and it was at that point my party just left. Im sure Cucina Alessá serves tastey food. Its just too bad that a potentially lovely dinner was spoiled by unprofessional service.
RI
Richard Auld
I live in AZ and I keep searching for directions for this place any time I come into the area. Not that its hard to find. A couple friends and I were on a trip, CA and back home in 2 days. Left our hotel early and starving we start looking for somewhere to eat and we stumble upon this place. We all got something different and were all sampling off of each others plates. Everything was absolutely amazing. I had the Tortellini Di Carne which was incredible, we also had the Chicken Parmesan and my god was it good. The Chicken Fettuccine was great but the lowest ranked of our dishes and my girlfriend had the Penne Norma... I have no words, everything is great. Highly recommend, itll be worth the trip.
LA
Lang Collins
Fluffy Purin- your an idiot! Who hijacks a table at a place like this for 2 hours!? If you were a large table ,that spent a lot of $.. I get it maybe. This place is outstanding in all three phases. Ive stumbled into this place and could not have more pleased !!! Fluffy , go back to Lubys cafeteria or wherever you like to sit so long and eat poor quality food. You clearly came to the wrong place. Anyone else? , come here first whenever you visit Newport beach CA. I came from Texas!
PA
Patrick Stratford
We do not miss Cucina Alessa when we are in town. On our latest visit we ordered takeout (although I highly recommend dining in) and walked out with what I thought was all of our food. A minute after walking into our place around the corner and down the street, the man who had helped us in the restaurant had chased us down and delivered our last bag of food. That is customer service worthy of a 5 star rating! Oh yeah, and they serve some of the best Italian food Ive ever eaten.
