This was our first time here. We had high expectations due to the raving reviews of Yelp and friends. We really enjoyed our experience, but it was a bit of an anti climax. The best dish was the rib eye by FAR- huge recommend! We were really glad we tried this restaurant, and will definitely give it another try again. read more

Went here on a double date and had so much fun! great ambiance and great food. We had the bacon wrapped dates, meat paella, steak, Brussel sprouts and a few drinks. Everyone enjoyed everything! The dates were amazing and the paella really took the cake. Will definitely be returning! read more

Vaca is now my favorite restaurant. The service was exceptional! The tapas were some of my favorite since I've been to Barcelona. The first dish we ordered were the bikini sandwich, salted meats and bread, simple yet delicious. Uni egg tapa, the savoriness and richness from the egg and Uni combination on a crispy toast. These were great tapas but what really won me over was the smoked chicken cannoli with foie gras sauce. When i first read this, I had my reservations, this would be dry and tough. I was so wrong. The smoked chicken was juicy and paired beautifully with the sauce. We ordered one of these but had to order another just to enjoy it all over again. Seafood paella consisted of large shrimp, although one of them was less firm than I wanted, it was delicious. The rib eye was what we ended with. It was a little overcharred but after we finished, I did mention to the wait staff and they noted it in my reservation notes which was nice. Dessert I had the cheese cake which wasn't anything special but did make sure I went overboard on food. read more

A large group of us ate here last night (7, all family members), and it was excellent. While its focus is tapas, it does have other entree sized dishes (including some incredible sounding steaks). Because it was a tapas place and emphasizes family-style dining, all of the plates were shareable. We ordered a variety of dishes and each one was first rate. There were two kinds of tomato dishes, one with dried tuna and trout roe. The first one tasted fresh as one would want a tomato salad to taste. The second had just a touch of heat and was more nuanced in its flavors. The octopus was outstanding, perfectly cooked and not at all rubbery (as poorly prepared octopus can be). We had the restaurant's renditions of foie gras, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, each outstanding. And we ordered the carne paella, again very flavorful. The lamb meatballs were also delicious, again with a slight amount of heat. The biggest disappointment came with an item that was not on the menu, a cannelloni (doesn't sound very Spanish) with chicken in it. It had the least flavor, not that it was not good mind you, it was just not as interesting as our other selections. Finally, we ordered calamari which turned out to be a different presentation from what was stated on the menu. They were grilled and stuffed with shrimp and squid ink. One more in a long list of really good tapas. In addition to excellent food choices, the restaurant's specialty cocktails were a treat. I ordered a "Near Stout," which turned out to be a combination of tequila, Campari, coffee and a coffee liqueur. It tasted surprisingly good and almost like a stout (although with no beer in it). We also sampled the wine list ending up, with the help of our waiter, with a reasonably priced (given the list anyway) Rioja. A word about our waiter: He was extremely helpful in guiding us through the large menu and in making recommendations. The wine list looked like it was about a 3x to 4x markup. I believe I noticed that there was a corkage fee advertised, suggesting that one could bring one's own wine. I should have said we were joined late by two more who ordered merely one beer, the tomato salad and the lamb meatballs. For unhelpful reference, our total bill for this group, given all we had in the way of food, wine and cocktails, was a little over $600, including the service charge for this sized group. No one was surprised. The bottom line is that Vaca is a restaurant to which we would go back, but preferably with a large group so that we could enjoy a number of tastes. read more

Amazing drinks. They know what they're doing. Had three appetizers and the best one was the smoked chicken cannoli. Scrabbled eggs with uni were mediocre for it being uni. Needed flavor and salt. Other than that I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. read more

All around great food. Tapas are fantastic. Only critique is the waiters are in such a rush to clear your plates. We ordered the uni that clearly had plenty of meat left and 3 times, waiters tried to take our plate. Pump the brakes please. I got stepped on almost every time they came by. Waiters just need more self awareness when approaching tables. I'm rolling my eyes as I write this. read more

This place is fantastic. I lived in Spain for 6 months and this place brought me right back to when I was living there. The food is very authentic and the atmosphere is perfect. I highly recommend the Vaca Tonic as a cocktail. All in all I was extremely pleased with this restaurant. read more

The tapas are the real deal. The potato bravas, octopus and brussel sprouts were some of my favorites. The steaks are a big highlight too. I tried the filet mignon and it was incredibly tender, flavorful and I would happily order it again. Great place with so many tasty food choices. The desserts were also top notch-namely the flan, creme brulee and cardamon ice cream. Tuna tataki was another outstanding small plate. Love this place! read more

The food is excellent. I got the 2lbs dry aged ribeye with the Brussels sprouts and was still hungry afterwards, but it was worth it. Ox tail was amazing and the bone marrow was amazing. The next table over got the Kobe Beef and looked like he was in heaven. I saw go with a big appetite, make sure your bills are paid so you can splurge and enjoy whatever sounds good. read more

Found this place by a reference from a friend, it was amazing! The food was amazing and the service was excellent! I went with three of my friends Thursday night, great time to go btw! We were at the bar with a bartender named Sarah or something like that but she was very beautiful, friendly and helpful. She even made sure, I was hand delivered an amazing chicken tortilla soup even after the kitchen was closed, just so I didn't leave disappointed. The price of sushi / drinks was more than normal but this is what you expect from a very high scale restaurant like Vaca. I will recommend this place to my friends and can't wait to come back for a drink! Thanks again for the food/drinks! See you soon! Btw Valet service was very cool, as well. read more

A fan of Broadway and was excited to try Vaca. Started out with tapas-nothing too special. Followed by Game Hen that was overcooked and dry. El Pollo Loco serves better tasting chicken. Steak was mediocre-ordered medium and half the steak was medium and other half rare. $1 per person for "filtered" tap water. Did NOT meet expectations. Overpriced for quality, portion and flavor of food. Disappointing dining experience. Will not go back. read more

Good food but portions could be bigger for the price. Also, I still have a problem with charging people for water. I know it's only $1 and it's "triple" filtered, but man, when you spend over $100 for 2 and you get charged for tap water... come on! Won't repeat read more

Excellent all the way around: drinks and food. Great vibe and decor. Service was excellent. Definitely go ack

The best example of Spanish food I've encountered in Southern California. Delicious tapas, great creative cocktails, Fino and Manzanilla. Lively atmosphere. You will be tempted to order more and more as each dish arrives. read more

Best seafood paella EVER. I still think about it even after 6 months. it's great because the layer of rice is thin, so the flavors are rich and not lost in a pile of starch. There's also a garlic aoli of some sorts in several corners of the dish which ads another layer of velvety delight! I stopped short of 5 stars because the Uni scrambled eggs served in a Uni shell was a bit disappointing. The ratio of Uni to eggs was off, thus leaving me with a mouthful of runny scrambled eggs..which I don't mind. However, I'm paying for Uni so I expect to taste more Uni. The Bikini Sandwich is CRACK...you have to get it. The manchego and truffle aroma explodes in your mouth as you inhale the first bite. Definitely worth another trip. read more

I follow Top Chef since the very first season and have gone to various restaurants of these "cheftestants" in LA, San Diego, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York. I regret to say that my dining experience at Vaca was not as positive as the other reviewers. We went to Vaca for dinner last night and sat at the bar as the main dining room was fully booked. Although the bartender and the servers were polite, the service was too slow as it took quite a while for our entrées to come out, especially when two other couples who came later than us got their food first. I can only assume it was due to their orders being all tapas. My husband and I ordered a couple of tapas to share, which came out fast but when it came to our entrées (steak and seafood paella), it was then when the agony of waiting started. But another observation I had was the couple sitting next to us (they were there before us and were already eating). They must have gone through 4 different tapas while we were still waiting for our entrées. Then they added an order of the seafood paella, which to my dismay, theirs got served first before ours. As far as the food goes, the paella was very disappointing considering all the great reviews I've read about this dish being a must have. It was extremely salty, mushy therefore missing soccarat (the brown, crisp layer of rice that forms on the bottom of the pan). I felt like I was eating a very salty seafood risotto dish and had to drink so much water to wash down the saltiness lingering in my mouth. The steak was good but not good enough for us to return as we've had many great steaks in other places. An unforgettable dining experience to me is all about the food. It doesn't matter if it's an expensive or a cheap restaurant. I was all hype for dining at Vaca and needless to say, the food did not meet our expectations. read more

The service was not good. The food very mediocre. I won't go again.? We order huevos estrellados, the potatoes were very dry and the chorizo was not very tasty. The fidegua was not good either. We left a good amount on the paella pan. read more

I love vaca! I've been a couple times with my fiancé. The place itself is small but the food is amazing! The location is perfect. Across the street from south coast plaza, next to the segrestrom, right around the corner from mastros and the watergrill read more

Very trendy restaurant with nothing else of value. I'm a HUGE fan of Chef Amar Santana's Broadway restaurant and the biggest lover of Spanish cuisine but with this one, just had two awful experiences with below average food and lacking service. The first time I went was a few weeks ago for my mom's birthday. She's been wanting to try this place out for some time so we made OpenTable reservations for 4 and were excited for what we expected to be a stellar Spanish tapas meal. I've spent a lot of time in Spain, in all the major cities and I was pumped for this meal. The restaurant was semi-full and service was almost nonexistent until we flagged down a random guy who turned out to be our server. I could barely hear him and he was not at all charismatic or excited about the food suggestions. We ordered: 1) Rabo de Toro - Braised oxtail. Meat was surprisingly dry and no flavor. 2) Pan con tamate - I actually ate all of it, basic but definitely the best thing we ordered 3) Pulpo a la Gallega - Octopus that was fishy and with rubbery texture. Couldn't even eat more than one piece. 4) Croquetas de Pollo - Good but nothing special 5) Tortilla Española - Spanish omelette - This one was ok but reminded me too much of eating breakfast for dinner 6) Paella de Mariscos - If you're getting paella, do NOT get this one unless we just had a horrible chef for the night. The fish had zero flavor and the paella was extremely oily. 7) Skirt Steak - My mom did the skirt steak which they highly praise but the meat was in no way flavorful. 8) Tres Leches cake for dessert - The worst tres leeches cake I've ever had in my life. I feel like they took a pound cake and drizzled with condensed milk instead of soaking it which made it feel like I was eating a boring normal cake. The absolute kicker of an insult came when they brought my mom's birthday dessert. It was a scoop of bland vanilla ice cream. That's it. Understandably many people come in and tell the restaurant it's their birthday when it's not, but to give a scoop of vanilla ice cream to mark a special day is a bit disrespectful (thankfully we had a special cake for her party the next day). Step up your birthday game, Vaca! Make it a night to remember! I came back to Vaca a few weeks later with some friends and received similar service. We ordered a Paella de Carne which was much better than the Mariscos one I had before although I still wouldn't recommend the paella if you're comparing it to most other Spanish restaurants. I don't give two stars unless restaurants deserve it and this is definitely one that does to me because the experience of dining there is just not memorable, or if it is, it's not in a good way. Definitely go if you are curious about the place but I don't recommend if you want an ultimate Spanish meal and have high expectations. read more

Great place to have fun with friends or have a date. The patio is a great spot on a summer night

Very Yummy and eclectic - recommend it for tapas and smaller groups unless you are near the entrance.

We ordered paella de mariscos was so good and their prime skirt steak was so tasty as well...Emily was great.

The best thing here is the churros with chocolate!!! Please order them. I will come back here just for the churros.

Came here with the husband because we wanted good quality meat. Indeed we found it! We ordered the rib steak and shared. The cool part of the dining experience is you get to choose your own piece of meat! I was bummed they ran out of their chimichurri sauce as I heard great things about it. We also ordered the uni scrambler egg and WOW! that was something different but yet so good! My husband loved it so much he literally scarped the wall of the uni shell to get every last bite he could! Also, they are very generous with getting you extra bread upon request. The roasted bone marrow was delicious as well and it went will with the toasted bread. Our server was very kind and attentive. Overall, best dining experience we've had and definitely will be back and this time, hope they don't run out of the chimichurri sauce! read more

We went yesterday night. we had the house gin special. It was really good. The tapas are also good. the bikini sandwich, the octopus and the morcilla were amazing. Good salsa music. The server Javier was amazing. It was good experience read more

Vaca - Tapas/Small Plates Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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Went to lunch on a whim and loved the food! It's not a full 5 star for me because the tables are just way too close to each other. Also, the chips served with sandwiches/burgers are just way too vinegary - I love vinegar chips but it was too much on those chips. Otherwise, the lunch pre-fix was amazing and so was the burger. Must come back for dinner! read more

First, do yourself a favor and self park in the structure across the street. Valet is $7 and they left my steering wheel as well as shifter covered with some kind of sticky slime. Pretty gross. Also they revved the shit out of my car that everyone on the patio looked over. We started with the bone marrow which was good, but when is it bad? Next was the oxtail which was excellent probably best dish of the night. Deviled eggs were next and they were good. The calamari was definitely not to my liking. It was a under cooked egg over smallish pieces of calamari with what tasted like tapio on top. We decided to also spilt entrees and had the "aged" reef rib eye. Why AGED in quotes? I've had aged steaks before and this was not aged so definitely not worth the price. Good steak. But they charred the shit out of the outside of it, so you couldn't tell if it was aged. But the concentration of flavor and bite of an aged steak was not there. We also got the veggie paella. I usually enjoy a seafood version of this when I order it but we had a vegetarian in our group, so it just wasn't the same for me. Opinion says the mixed cocktails are good. Pours on their whiskey neat are Tiny and not worth the price. Also check your bill before paying they add and optional 3% to the bill. Hahahah WTF? read more

Drinks to the food to the service was impeccable! Had a few apps, paella, and skirt steak and all were absolutely delicious. Gin and tonics are a must try! read more

Came here on a Thursday night, didn't make a reservation, the dining area was full, but got a few spots at the bar. Food was amazing!! My favorite is the sea urchin with eggs. Drinks there are okay, the Arc/Pie Society has more crafty/better cocktails. Would definitely come back and try the rest of their tapas! read more

Just an amazing meal of great flavor. The drinks we had before our meal were exactly what we expected, sherry cobbler and La Jacaranda, in that they had flavors that we could pick out from the ingredients. The food was amazing. The marrow, the uni eggs, the steak, the etc. nothing we ate was nothing less than fantastic. I can't say enough about how good Amar is and his food. We have ate at both his restaurants and they are nothing short of spectacular. He is for sure a Top Chef. read more

Very nice place. Cocktail program is spot on actually had my mind working with ideas for my restaurants. Tried almost all of the tapas. Oxtail delicious and gelatinous. Jamon manchego was the wife's fave can't go wrong with a buttery grilled cheese. Bone marrow was seasoned well, Hard to screw up marrow. Uni&scrambled eggs was delicious. Charred squid can be nice Dont char it so hard takes away from the nice romesco i think it was a romesco. I even squeezed every oz of lemon over it to bring it life but char was to over powering. Canneloni was nice can't go wrong with foie and truffle sauce its classic together nice and savory. Lamb meatball was OK, I think it could have been nice with some salt. Pulpo with potatoes pulpo was cooked perfect would have been one of my faves It was seasoned. Potato balls could be nice with a different sauce Scratch the siracha dot, use a nice aji for heat and flavor or something . just my opinion. Foie was nice. Charcuterie was nice. Tried a few more things but can't remember. Overall nice place keep up the good work. Just make sure to season everything and cut back on the truffle oil. Just my opinion. I deal with the same issues on a daily in my kitchens . read more

New favorite restaurant. Vaca tonic is delish and the tapas are so fun. I love tapas and getting to try tastes of different foods. We also had the carne paella which was amazing (except blood sausage is not my jam, easy to eat around.) We had a wonderful anniversary dinner and can not wait to go back. read more

Javier was amazing!!!! We love this place so much! All the food was so amazing and easy to share. I recommend the calamares , alitas de pollo, cream catalana!! read more

So I really love the paella. However, they try to put a sneak 3 per cent surcharge on the bill to cover the back of the house staff. They will remove it but you have to ask -- very shady. The prices are already really high. The waiter tried to talk our guests in to purchasing an $1800, yes eighteen hundred, bottle of wine. So I call bullshit. These two things kind of took away from the otherwise pricey but enjoyable food. $1800 REALLY! read more

Bf and i only came for some drinks and small bites at the bar. I really enjoyed the drinks and food, except for the service which kinda sucked. Our bartender was very serious, he seemed busy but only talked to us when he took the order. My bf loves talking to the bartenders and this time was kinda disappointing. I don't remember his name, But he had a web tattoo on his elbow and other tattoos. The bar back person with stud earrings was more friendly and approachable. I would suggest the bartender to be more social and engage with its customers. I know it can be busy and hectic at times but being able to engage in conversations with your bar customers is what makes a strong bartender and people to come back for drinks and talk to you. Sometimes the drinks can suck but having great customer service is what makes people come back. I would give this place another try and hopefully I encounter another bartender, or the same bartender in a better mood read more

wow, that was amazing. I have to say I love this place. Went with a big group for lunch. For starters the host and sever were both very nice and the server was helpful with ordering. The atmosphere is also very nice and pleasant. Items were tired were-bacon wrapped dates, la balo, potatoes, potatoes with eggs, a rib eye, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, oxtail, pork belly and churros. Everything was amazing. I am not really sure which one I liked best. This place is a must try. I can't wait to go back read more

OMG OMG OMG is that enough?!? They have done an amazing job with the décor, it is very cozy and warm. You have to make a reservation though cause it gets packed quick. Every single item that we tried on the menu was absolutely to die for. Great cocktail collection as well and very tasty. It reminds me of the hip restaurants in San Fran, I cannot wait to go back and try more dishes. read more

Awesome food im going back every week for more... Try the cheesecake its amazingg. 9.7/10. Almost perfect.

The food is amazing, service was rushed. We checked in with the hostess and was told we need to be done with our table by 6:30 p.m. Waiter came to our table holding a note and immediately said "I understand you need to be gone by 6:30 p.m. so I would recommend that you only order tapas" Clearly the restaurant could care less about their customers enjoying their dinner and are more concerned with money. So much for a leisurely meal enjoying friends and family. This is the second time I have been to the restaurant and was told the exact same thing the first time we went. Hostess made it clear what time we needed to be done with our meal. We will not go back. read more

Great place to share plates Tapas style with a great meat menu as well. Great to mix and match and share delicious Spainish items. Super bar, they make their own sweet vermouth! Expensive but real fun. read more