Il Girasole

Review summary

1. A

   Anita

   VIP

   Los Angeles

   2 reviews

   3.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   Dish sizes are extremely small. Set menu restaurant which is not my type. Limited selections.
   

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2. A

   Alex

   Orange County

   3 reviews

   1.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 1

   The worst restaurant experience of my life. Changed the menu to a 3 ($75 per person) or 5 course($145 per person) menu just days before Valentine’s Day. Zero of the items we wanted to try were on the menu anymore. Staff and kitchen were entirely unprepared for this. After an hour and fifteen minutes after we were sat, we still hadn’t received our first course. All of the tables around us didn’t have food on their table at all either. Servers were non existent, management and owners were in shell shocked (multiple guests stated there were hard shells in their crab dish) and guests were starved. We decided to cut our loses at 9:45 on Valentine’s Day with no food being served to us yet and go next door to Arc. Thank god they were able to fit us in because Il girasole was an absolute nightmare fever dream of a restaurant.
   

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3. OT

   OpenTable Diner

   Orange County

   1 review

   1.0

   1 review

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 1
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 2

   Super slow with food coming out. Had a 2 1/2 dinner
   

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4. J

   Jessica

   Orange County

   3 reviews

   3.0

   3 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 4

   I’ll start off by saying the food was delicious! Every dish we had was great and delicious. We did order our steaks medium and one definitely came out on more medium rare but it was still good. However, the service and wait was a little ridiculous. First of all, the hostesses were not very welcoming. We got seated just before 6:30pm, and we didn’t get our first appetizer for over an hour. I get that it was a busy day (Valentines Day), but I’d expect the restaurant to be prepared especially considering it was a prefixed menu. Another hour passed, and we didn’t get our entries until AFTER 8:30pm, over 2 hours after we sat. It was at that point we asked for our dessert to be brought out to shorten our wait and thankfully we did because it came out right after we finished our entrees. We did not leave the restaurant until 9pm, and saw many parties outside waiting to be seated. We brought up our concerns to our waiter and he just said a quick sorry and said “you know the kitchens backed up.” Didnt really seem sincere at all. Again, I understand it was a busy day but this was something that could’ve been prepared for in advanced. It was a prefixed menu and they knew all their reservations were booked up. After complaining at the end, our waiter didn’t offer any sort of compensation or even apologies for how excruciatingly long that dinner was. Overall food was great but I would never come on a busy day again.
   

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5. K

   Kory

   VIP

   San Diego

   2 reviews

   5.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Despite the kitchen running slightly behind from the packed house, the staff more than made up with it by going out of their way to make sure our Valentine’s Day experience was superb.
   

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6. L

   Laura

   VIP

   Orange County

   2 reviews

   2.0

   2 reviews

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 2
   2. Food 1
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   The restaurant ran out of dishes. The steak was overcooked. Salad was tasteless. Sauce on the fish stew was underwhelming. The service was great though. This was our second visit. The first time was amazing so was really disappointed this visit. Lasagna didn’t taste the same as it did when we came the first time.
   

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7. D

   DAVID

   Orange County

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined on 9 February 2025

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 2

   Dining was on the patio. Music was a bit loud and distracting (louder inside). Service was very uneven - staff would disappear for long periods, at least for us. Example - ordered an appetizer, waited for a long stretch, staff inquired, appetizer finally appears followed within 2-3 minutes by main course, so little time to enjoy appetizer. Meanwhile, the table next to ours was seated after us but received their orders before ours. And the patio heaters blew their circuit (overload per the staff). Food quality was good. Again, long stretches of feeling forgotten - never asked if we wanted a refill on the wine. Maybe there is a staff shortage? Overall, I am unsure about returning.
   

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8. D

   Daniel

   VIP

   Orange County

   23 reviews

   5.0

   23 reviews

   Dined on 8 February 2025

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Every dish we tried was outstanding. The dry-aged beef was exceptionally tender and well-prepared. The lasagne is h like any other we’ve tried. The service was impeccable.
   

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9. l

   lina

   Orange County

   22 reviews

   4.0

   22 reviews

   Dined on 6 February 2025

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   Food was little slow to come out considering we were the only 8 people party table & another 2 party table .
   

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10. S

    Shia

    New York City

    38 reviews

    2.0

    38 reviews

    Dined on 6 February 2025

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 5

    From the beginning, the server was very gruff, he did not introduce himself or welcome us but rather started off by saying “before you guys get into the menu, let me tell you what we don’t have.” He did not offer to assist us with the menu or ask us if we had any questions. After placing the order, we received a palate cleanser as well as an amouse bouche both of which were pleasant. One of the food runners placed another party’s food on our table, we immediately told him that the food was not ours, he then took that same food to the correct party’s table. It is inappropriate to serve a party food when it has already been placed in front of another party for food safety reasons. We ordered, the duck breast as well as the pasta amatriciana. Both stellar dishes. Midway through our meal, the gruff server decided to reach across my dining partner’s plate almost grazing her nose to retrieve an empty wine glass that had been there the entire time. And this was despite her protesting midway, to which the server shrugged it off and left. Absolutely unacceptable. TLDR: amazing food marred by poor food safety standards and a server with subpar etiquette.
    

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