Reviews for Little Sister in Irvine, CA

Not what I expected from a Vietnamese restaurant. I expected a restaurant with traditional Southeast Asian flare. This is a... modern place with a bar and contemporary, though limited menu. Ordered salmon in a clay pot (not your traditional heavy soysauce with sugar) but a wonderful grilled fish with modern Vietnamese flavor The papaya salad is delightful. The green papayais soft from the sauce, abbot too sweet. The stir fry eggplant is delicious. The eggplant is well cooked and soft. The saucehas a SE Asian taste, not your Sichuan style. The restaurant is beaming with people and a bit loud for a date. Read more

Food - delicious! Do yourself a favor and get the pork chop rice dish. It was hands down our table?s favorite. I would go back... and order 1 pork chop for myself and not share. The grilled pork flavors were on point, cooked perfectly because not one singlepiece was dry, and who would say no to chicken fat rice with an egg?! Papaya salad was very flavorful, we all enjoyed it, greattextures, the prawns are a nice touch. The chicken wings are must, they were crispy and had that great sweet tangy spicy flavorI was expecting. The raw beef dish was good but not great. The toasted bread that came with it though, yum! We ended up usingthe limes from the wings dish to squeeze onto the beef, it needed more acid, definitely made it better. The lobster rice dishhad a great presentation but would I order it again.. no. The rice itself was really good. The lobster had all the seasoning onthe shell and I honestly don?t think we got the entire lobster we paid for. The other shellfish on there were overcooked. Bothdesserts, although small, were very good. Nothing mind blowing on either one, but they both had qualities of desserts everyoneliked. $5 for an extra scoop of ice cream is insane though. And I really don?t understand green garnishes on desserts when theyadd no value to the dessert. They?re literally picked off and thrown to the side. Stop wasting your microgreens. All in all, Iwould absolutely go back, get the pork chop again and try other dishes as well! Ambiance - the restaurant is pretty, verymodern and chic. Everything felt clean. Bathrooms were clean. Loved the music! Service was great. Our server (I want to say hername was Stephanie?) was great! She explained everything so well, she answered all our questions and she gave honestsuggestions. We ended up sitting inside because the table we were sitting at outside had mosquitoes swarming. Parking -restaurant is in the Irvine Spectrum, so it all free Spectrum parking. Read more

Beautifully designed Vietnamese restaurant. The food was very good and fresh. The service was slow but we actually liked that... because it was nice to have a long meal with good conversation. Only mistake was, I ordered the beef pho and requested just rawbeef and not the other meats for my child, but they ignored my request and just kept everything the same. Read more

Little Sister is a Vietnamese restaurant recently opened in Irvine Spectrum. We got one appetizer and one main course. Of course... this was my first Vietnamese food experience, so my experience on Little Sister food may not be accurate. The appetizer was alittle bit cold and the beef did not meet expectations of having a juicy meat rolled in a rice roll. The sauce and the sidevegetables were tasty, though. About the main course, it was a delicious, juicy, and nutritious meal, and I totally recommendtheir pork chop! I am not giving a five-star review only because of the moment when we checked out and I saw the check wherethey automatically charged everyone 20% for the service as their tip. If it was up to me, I would have changed and decreased thetip amount because of our waitress?s misbehavior when she brought an extra food we did not order and she seemed angry with usbecause of that! Also, I would expect a quicker service from them since I had my food earliest than my friends, and when I wasdone with my food, ten minutes later, they brought the other people?s food. I would have tipped them with smaller amount becauseof their lower than normal service. Read more

This is the only restaurant in Spectrum center that I have visited many times. They serve Vietnamese style food. Good for a... meal during the day and a pub feel at night. The rice noodles here are the best around here. Tartare also nice! Read more

Stopped by for a weekday Monday lunch. They were out of all the favorite dishes. Kind of a bummer but tried out new ones. Server... was nice, food was delicious, decor was cool. I liked the indoor and outdoor vibe. Read more

Food and presentation was great! We came here for lunch and got the most popular items since it was our first time. Black rice,... pho rolls, papaya salad. Everything was unique and had a lot of flavor. The ambiance inside was very nice as well. Portions werejust right but remember these are share plates. A little on the pricey side but this is Irvine and you?re paying for quality. Read more

First time going on Christmas Eve and it was so good! Everything had so much flavor. The portions and quality are very good for... the cost. Definitely worth it! The pork chops were a little rich but the meat was great. We really enjoyed the vermicellinoodles with beef, lemongrass wings and pecan dessert. Everything was so good I forgot to take photos until dessert. Read more