Reviews for Knife Pleat in Costa Mesa, CA
I've gone to knife pleat on several occasions to try the lunch, dinner, and tasting menu. Service is as you would expect for a... Michelin starred location and amazing. In general, I think they excel at vegetable dishes but fall short in terms of meats andseafood. Their mushroom risotto was phenomenal as was their butternut soup. Their cocktails are also quite splendid. I don'trecommend their inhouse sourdough bread or the meat tasting menus. One of our dishes was ham served three ways and it was veryunderwhelming. I've also ordered their seasonal fish, which at the time I believe was halibut, and wasn't impressed. I wentback again for a full vegetarian tasting menu and was super impressed, however I think it's a bit overpriced compared to thenormal tasting menus. Overall a good place when you're craving fine dining and quality vegetables but expect to pay a lot.Likely won't be returning any time soon but I did want to try their afternoon tea. Read more
Incredible meal and service. I was invited to lunch and everything was fantastic. We had salad, a meal and dessert. Even... the latte and tea was delicious. The have a wonderful outside dining area as well. Read more
How do I put this as I want to be fair. The service is very good. The ambiance is very pleasant but the food is only better... then average . We had lunch here today and the best thing on the entire menu was the macaroons. Everything else was eitherunder seasoned like the lobster Ceaser or just a good version of the classic (the duck confit). Maybe dinner is different hereand mind blowing but I think the Michelin guide got it very wrong here. There are better restraints that deserve a star. Maybeit’s because the food is above average and the service is good and ambiance is pretty it got an overall honor but itshouldn’t have. Lastly for the price your better off going to juen wet Jolie In carlsbad )far more inspiring modern Frenchplace with a Michelin star and only $110 for four courses and amuse bouche, hidden bread course and after desert treat). Wespent abou $170 per person for just above average food on 3 courses per person. Read more
Overall it's a delightful experience. Food and staffs are amazing. The only down side I would say is their tea selection is... quite limited. I love their sandwiches and scones. Read more
We went for afternoon tea ($95/person) on a Saturday around lunchtime. The service offers an assortment of sweet and savory... items: mini madeleines, macaron, tarts, and various finger sandwiches. When the food arrived, I thought I might still be hungryafterwards but I was pleasantly surprised at how filling it all was. The food was flavorful and tasted great. Some favoriteswere the passion fruit coconut item, pistachio macaron, and the colorful salmon finger sandwich. The tea was also very nice: Ichose the oolong (pleasant but not super remarkable) and my friend went with the white ambrosia (stronger flavor, v pleasantlyfragrant). Was it all worth $95/person? Probably not. But the ambience was lovely and service was pleasant and attentive. WhenI asked for a scone to be wrapped to-go, our server asked if I wanted any jam to go with it and sent me with a nice apricot one(which wasn’t served with our original meal). Overall it was a pleasant, albeit pricy, experience that would be a nice treatto enjoy occasionally. Read more
The Emporer's New Clothes fairy tale may describe the experience at this restaurant; a big deal made over something that does... not really exist. The service and staff are terrific but the meal was much ado about nothing: Bizarre combinations simplefoods that have little to no connection to French cuisine. And I left hungry due to portion size, while shocked at the cost.Perhaps I am simply not their audience of focus. Regardless, it was very sweet of my sweetheart to take me there. Read more
When I go to a fancy restaurant, I expect to make some memories. Knife Pleat definitely left me with some memories. While I do... have quite a few criticisms of the food, I thought that the experience was well worth the price. I think I paid about $490because I added to the already included tip. The service was nothing short of ideal. I was even blessed to get a tour of thekitchen. Not that anyone was expecting anything less but it was squeaky clean. It was wonderful to see all of the differentstations where the food was being prepared. It really brings an appreciate for the food and labor that went into it. Food: 1.My appetizer was a little bit lacking. It tasted mostly of pastry, with a little bit of mushroom. 2. The lobster dish kind ofconfused me because none of the components really went together and the lobster itself wasn't seasoned well, if at all. 3. The14 independent cooked vegetables dish was the first dish that impressed me. It's such a simple concept but executed so well. Itwas beautiful, it was delicious, and it was a joy to slowly eat. 4. The beet risotto seemed a little bit undercooked for me. Iunderstand that there are different ways of preparing it, but when the two forms of beets already provided texture, I didn'tthink the risotto also needed to. 5. The scallops were cooked well and paired well with the parsnip puree and apple. The onlyfault I had was that there was a little bit of sand on one scallop. 6. Unsurprisingly, the quail was my favorite dish. Thecombination of warm flavors was incredible. There's not much to say beyond how great this dish was. 7. The quince dessert wasalso outstanding. There were so many flavors going on and all of them were amazing both independently and especially together.There was a perfect amount of crunch to elevate the creaminess of the sorbet and quince gelee. 8. The three dessert snacks atthe end were also incredible. My apologies about not capturing a photo of the prettiest one. It was a chocolate t Read more
Pricey, but you get what you pay for. The food was very good and service at the bar was excellent. The bartender made a killer... cocktail! Read more