Best Californian Restaurants in Seal Beach

Always a special treat to dine at The Farmhouse! Loved my burger, our table also loved the Jidori Chicken, and the mussels. The Butternut Squash Soup was reportedly meh. Desserts a bit disappointing today (not usually) — can’t recommend the berry sorbet (odd-tasting), and the Vanilla Pot de crème was a bit bland according to the friend who had the soup. Our waiter was like a warm hug, the kind of server you look forward to his check-ins!

The food was outstandingly fresh, high quality, and creatively prepared and served. The price fixe menu of many courses seemed to climb a bell curve, with the least interesting being the shrimp chip and dip starter ‘snack’ , climbing to a magnificent crescendo with the the scallop and mussel small plate, and an equally exquisite plate of the freshest sliced kampachi. Each plate was beautiful, graced with curated vegetables, flowers, and delicate sauces that completed, never overpowered. Our only complaint: we found the dessert disappointing in flavor, appearance and texture: a choux pastry ball with a heavy dull filling, sitting on top of a scatter of what resembled stale cocoa puff cereal pieces. I would have traded it for the rich creamy mascapone ice cream served earlier, sans the caviar topping. The service was outstanding: gracious, helpful, attentive, knowledgeable and well orchestrated. Overall we had a fabulous dining experience, exceeding our highest expectations. In most every way, including price, dining here is a special occasion; we could not understand how or why most diners we observed were wearing gym clothes, T-shirts and jeans, sneakers, fuzzy slippers. What’s next: dining in our underwear? How about a dress code?!

The food, the staff, the view! Everything was perfect! I love this place!

Beautiful location beach facing at Crystal Cove. Christmas tree in the sand provided a lovely setting to take photos. Did not realise about the distant parking and shuttle bus so glad we arrived 30 minutes before our reservation time. Food and drink options fantastic, thoroughly enjoyed our meal apart from no asparagus in my risotto, hubbie shared his with me! Servers helpful and refilled water regularly. Well worth the visit, one for the memory books, will recommend:))

We really enjoyed our food and the ambience. Everything was fresh and I definitely will be back soon.