Bacchus Bar and Bistro

I really want to love this place. Great wine list. Prices a bit higher than Cucina Enoteca. Food was good enough given their small kitchen. Great atmosphere for a date night or a night out with friends. Unfortunately the service we had was lacking. Had a big party and our server was rarely around. Ordered multiple bottles of wine and We had to fill our wine glasses ourselves throughout the night. Ordered different bottles of wine and was never offered to switch glasses. I understand that we were a big party but if you are a wine bar, and we are switching bottles of wine, you should at least suggest to switch glasses. Service just didn’t feel as warm as I would expect. I’ll still go back given their lack of competition but was pretty disappointed with the service.

Finally had a chance to stop in here last night… What a neat little place. The band was a 10! The Orin Swift Mercury Head a 10! Although they tack on $ 40 to the bottle here… It’s $ 120, they charge you $ 160! The flat bread looked good but was just that… Flat, no flavor and I regretted the order… the bartender fbombed JW 3xs in speaking to him — And the couch by the bar that we moved to finally because the waiter never came back to give us a table when he said it would only be 15 minutes more… The couch is peeling … It looks like it came from a frat house! But the cheese plate, although lacking in size was quite good… The Gouda didn’t have much flavor but the Manchego and white cheddar were spot on flavor wise… The olives have pits so not attractive at all for a date! All & all the visit was a success especially for JW & I … I do like this place and will give it a 2^nd chance but I will be weary and make sure I question even more before placing my order! The band, I believe was called Point Made and they sang Eagles, Tom Petty, etc. they made the experience!

Came in to visit a friend and as soon as I sat down was kicked out. Apparently you cant have a child in there so rude. We would and have been going there for a while. Never heard of a license that can’t have babies in a restaurant. Have you?

So after a trying day at work, I was talked into drinking (it was very hard to do… not). We kicked around a few places and decided on Bacchus because we were in a wine (and whine) kinda mood.
I walked in around 2pm to find Deb (owner) behind the bar. I’m pretty clueless when it comes to wines and wine tasting but I know what I like. Looking at the wines lined up against the wall, I felt a little overwhelmed and was a little stressed that I’d make a wrong choice. I threw out my unsophisticated terms (accompanied by random hand gestures), which she surprisingly understood, and she suggested a few reds to try. I settled on Taken and ordered a cheese board, pickles, glazed nuts (I loved those nuts!) and breads. YUM! My girlfriend had a glass of Hall and Robert Foley — she loved both.
Brad took over the bar area and made sure we had everything we needed. He reminded me of an ex-​boyfriend (but with better hair and beard). He’s friendly, very knowledgeable and has a good sense of humor. Ya’ll love Brad.
I added a few pictures of the venue while it was relatively empty — because, seriously, who drinks wine at 2pm on a weekday besides me?. Bacchus has such a good feel with a comfy looking lounge areas and high-​tops near wine displays.
If you’re looking to relax after work or want a little Wine 101, I highly recommend Bacchus Bar and Bistro.

I come here with my mom about once a month for girls night. She absolutely loves it. We get to hang out and listen to live music. It’s a really fun atmosphere in the evenings. During the daytime, it’s super mellow. Sometimes I’ll come in and have a glass of wine while I wait for a nail or massage appointment. It’s a good place to kill time if you have other things to do in the plaza. There *might* be one or two other parties in there if you come early in the day. Come at night if you’re looking to have an exciting experience. It does get pretty loud in here in the evenings so if you’re planning on centering your night around long conversations, this might not be the best place for you. Good luck talking/​hearing over the live music. This is a good place to go if you’re into enjoying company, atmosphere, drinks, and music.
mom’s favorites:
cakebread chardonnay
kale + broccoli salad
cheese boards
flatbreads

One of my favorite places in Irvine it’s a hidden gem so cute and romantic and everyone is amazing there.

Had a great time meeting a bunch of friends for a late night drink. Bacchus has a wide selection of wines. Our server (I forget her name) was super attentive and friendly. Great atmosphere and live music was good, too.
4 stars only because they have 2 different pricing — retail price and in-​dining pricing for wine. The in-​dining wine was super expensive (almost 2x for a bottle).

Bacchus is clearly all about the wine. The selection is excellent. I selected something I had never tried before, and they brought me a sample before bringing a glass, which I appreciated.
I was somewhat disappointed by the food, however. I ordered the wedge salad, fondue, and pot de crème. I liked the interpretation of the wedge salad with romaine rather than the typical iceberg. The fondue and pot de crème tasted good, but the texture was all wrong. The fondue seemed like it had been previously prepared and reheated because it had started to separate. The pot de crème was not smooth, but grainy.

Hidden gem in Irvine, the décor is upscale and inviting. A great place for a date-​night or a visit with friends at lunch. They have a great selection of wine and beer. You may want to add a dish or customize a cheese/​meat board with olive bread and fig jam «so delightful!» The people behind the bar are always kind and ready to take care of you.

A quite place to come during lunch. I came with a small group of friends and the place was quite empty. It was just our group during lunch. The place might be more of an evening place to be.
I didn’t complain since we were seated right away and our orders were taken right away. There is a huge selection of wines here, and a normal size selection of beers on tap including seasonal ones. When i came they had a pumpkin beer in stock since it was around October.
Food wise, i thought the sandwich i had was delicious. It was a beef sandwich. At the time they were out of a few things off the menu, so our options were limited. Food is also made to order, so you need to take that into consideration if you come during your lunch break.

Highlights
+ Live Music
+ Cool Staff
+ Cool Environment
— Pricier
— Fairly Loud
The interior of the bar is really nice with the center piece being the live band they usually have. The staff look like they are enjoying themselves and are very agreeable. Their cheapest bottle is $ 30-​$ 40 and their cheese platters are delicious. They also sell cigars which you can smoke on their patio.

This is a cool, plushy wine bar nestled in the corner of a big plaza. The interior is medium-​sized and quite plush with wines lining walls. A group of around 4 should be just fine for a table.
There’s a bar on one side and there are also little tables where you can order drinks and food. There are many varieties of wines, from California wineries to overseas brands. There are several flight wine-​tastings, usually around 3 – 4 glasses that range somewhere around $ 25 or so. If you want a full bottle, many of the bottles are around $ 40 or more.
The snacks and appetizers you can get range from burgers, cheeses, shrimp, and tacos. The wines are pricey but it’s pretty good, and the service is friendly. The food doesn’t quite live up to the wine, however – rather pricey, too.
If you are curious about wine and like wine-​tasting, this place certainly has a good atmosphere for it. There is plenty of parking as it is located in a big plaza.

I came here twice recently after a long hiatus. I first came here about a month ago for wine with some friends and saw that they had a menu in place. I asked about that and found that they got a chef several years ago. I remembered back years before they didn’t have any food but customers were able to order food from surrounding restaurants.
Then I came back last week for lunch. I was quite impressed by what this place is offering — and all that without a full kitchen. I always look at stuff like that because people complain about stuff, but don’t realize that this ISN’T a restaurant. It’s a wine bar that offers its customers food to accompany their wine with. It’s crazy to diss on food when it is not a restaurant. If people would understand that offering food at a wine bar is a service they provide you with, that’s not their primary objective! The number one priority is the wine!
I used to not want to come here because I don’t like drinking without food. Now, with this great addition, I’m much happier coming here.
We had a lot of food. The kale and farro salad was very nice — would have liked more farro, but it had a nice balsamic glaze and cranberries to add a little sweetness.
The Brussels sprouts was very good. I liked the addition of Chinese sausage (lap cheong) and the garlic sesame ponzu was salty and tart — perfectly suited for my palate. We agreed this was absolutely delicious — different from what other chefs are doing with their Brussels sprouts.
The Rioja braised lamb quesadilla is more like a flat panini using tortillas instead of bread and I really liked the texture — crispy on the outside and not greasy.
The Beef and brie sandwich is a tad greasy but then again, there was roast beef and gorgonzola cheese so yes, it’s a little heavier but very flavorful.
I’m looking forward to meeting friends here for a drink again soon. If you’re planning on coming Friday or Saturday evenings, I highly suggest making a reservation. I’ve been here on a Friday night and they are packed! A totally stellar wine bar!

$ 25. For 5 Wine tastings. It was promoted as Rombauer wine. It was actually 3 Rombauer wines and 2 Talleys. 5 tastings with «short pours»
I doubt I even had a glass of wne. I doubt I will return.

The only reason this has two stars is due to the quality of the food that finally made its way out.
So, my coworkers and I unexpectedly had a two hour lunch because of the terrible service at this place.
We went here for OC Restaurant Week and they claimed that they «weren’t ready.» It seems that the kitchen ran out of supplies halfway through lunch service because the GM walked in with grocery bags from Albertsons. I think my lamb quesadilla turned into a carne asada quesadilla.
The poor server had to apologize for the absentee GM who didn’t apologize, offer something for the wait and had a piss poor attitude. We waited 45 minutes to get an appetizer and another 45 minutes for our entrees even after we notified them we had to return to work.
If we didn’t ask them to wrap up our dessert we’d still be there, two hours and a half later! There were five tables that were sat at different intervals after us, all of them got food before we even got appetizers and 4 of the tables had their entire meal before we even got our entrees.
It’s such a shame that a place with such a cute interior and good food sucks on service due to their poor management. So not worth the discounted price of $ 15 for restaurant week.

Shredded Beef Tacos work well with the pickled red onion and spicy jalapeño flavor. The beef needs to be seasoned a bit more to bring out the natural beef flavor. Rating: 2.8÷5
Carnitas Tacos have a great flavor with porky goodness shining through. The cojita cheese matches well with a salty cheese flavor. Rating: 4.3÷5
Fish Tacos has a generous portion of fish. Spicy and sweet flavors are balanced and match with the fish. Rating: 3.8÷5
Warm Roasted Brussels Sprouts served with Chinese sausage (lap xiong), shishito peppers, fried garlic, and sesame ponzu. The brussels sprouts are roasted to sweet perfection. The lap xiong adds a sweet porky flavor. Along with the ponzu and shishito peppers, the flavor profile is very Asian. For presentation, it would be nice to have the shishito peppers raw for a contrasting bright green color as the brussels sprouts lose their color due to the roasting process. Rating: 4.3÷5
Glazed Pork Belly Tacos are glazed with a sweet soy reduction and topped with kimchi salsa and cabbage. Unfortunately, the glaze and kimchi salsa overpowers the pork flavor. The tortilla, on the other hand, has a hearty roasted corn flavor. Braising the pork belly with non-​sweet soy marinade would push the flavor forward plus make for more tender pieces of pork. It would balance out with the spicy and somewhat sweet kimchi. Rating: 2.1÷5
Lamb Burger topped with goat cheese, roasted tomato, pickled red onions, cucumber, and lemon tahini yogurt atop an egg bun. The presentation is very interesting. It looks like a giant lamb meatball inside a huge brioche bun. It would be better with a smaller bun for a tall burger or making the burger patty flatter to fit the brioche bun. Also, lamb needs to be seasoned a bit to bring out the true natural lamb flavor. Rating: ³⁄₅
Chocolate Bread Pudding topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The bread pudding has a firm texture and chocolate aroma. You can see the chocolate chips/​chunks inside but the chocolate flavor seems to be muted. The chocolate drizzle is nice but a chocolate ganache would be better. Also, vanilla bean ice cream would be better than whipped cream as it would create a natural crème anglais sauce as it melts on the warm bread pudding. Rating: ³⁄₅

What better way to survive the mid-​week slump then having Wine Wednesday with coworkers. With our small group of three, we headed to a local wine bar nearby. Bacchus is a hidden watering hole located off the 405 freeway inside the Quail Hill Plaza. They’ve got a pretty good selection of bottles (wine and craft beers) and about 4 – 6 beer selections on tap.
The staff are supremely knowledgeable and helpful in narrowing down options if you are indecisive like we were. Some bottles are available for tasting, so ask if you can try before you buy. We settled on a bottle of Saldo, a robust, fruity red Zinfandel.
And then there’s cheese. Cheeseboard offerings are three for $ 11 or five for $ 16, which is a pretty sweet deal if you ask me! Comes with one choice of bread or crackers. I had a couple in mind, but asked our server for recommendations, in which she mentioned a cheese that was off menu.
So, we took her word and went with the following selections: Corazon de Rondo Manchego (sheep, Spain), Chevre with Rose Preserves (goat, France), Barely Buzzed with espresso grounds and lavender (recommended) and French bread. The board came with a side of grapes and quince paste. The Chevre was paired with honey and a bit of honeycomb. Absolute perfection!
As soon as we sat down, a couple things caught our eye that we had to order. Luckily, a Unilocal check-​in will get you 25% off a bistro item with a purchase of a glass of wine. So yes, we were all in for food. Plus, we needed some food to fill our bellies.
One of the items my coworkers were excited for was the Lobster Grilled Cheese. You heard right. Lobster, brie, cheddar and mayo on sourdough. The crust was crisp, it was cheesy and it was delicious.
I love pork belly, so this immediately caught my attention — Glazed Pork Belly Tacos. It was GLORIOUS! Three corn tortillas packed with pork belly, spicy/​sweet soy reduction, kimchi salsa, cabbage and cilantro. I really dig the kimchi salsa, the pork belly was well marinated and the reduction was like icing on a cake. I highly recommend them!
The evening was so enjoyable, we thought it would be cool to make this a weekly or bi-​weekly gathering. Until next time, another adventure awaits!

Summary: Great ambience, wine selection and good food
Ambience: Great vibe with live music and walls of wines to look at. A nice bar with a TV with sports on.
Service: great service that is pretty timely.
Food: we had the grilled vegetable stack which was more like a lasagna — delicious. We also had a cheese plate that you could select almost like a sushi checklist. You can also order your own type of bread (fig bread and French baguette were the two that we got). We also got Brussels sprouts.
Overall: great place overall for an easy relaxed atmosphere

Girls Night Out! My friends and I live very close to this place and sometimes there just isn’t that many places to go in Irvine. When that happens, we usually find ourselves here for some drinking and whatever live music is playing that night. Their wine selection is very large and they have nice chairs and couches for you to sit on. They also serve food and desserts so it’s a good place to hang out with your friends. The live music is usually way too loud though especially if you happen to get seated near them. They need to tone down the volume a little bit.
First of all, it’s expensive here. So don’t come expecting to eat a full meal because that will cost you a pretty penny. We usually eat dinner elsewhere and then come here just for a couple of drinks and a cheese plate. We lean towards beer rather than wine because they have some interesting beer and wine gets to be pricey unless you’re splitting bottles with a lot of people. The cheese plate is also on the smaller side for the price. They run out of cheeses too which is not good. Last time we were there, we wanted some brie and salami but they were out of both. We ended up getting a Saint Andre Triple Crème, Gouda, and Cheddar with Monchego which was fine but not our first choice. In addition, they could really be less stingy with the crackers and grapes.
Service is very slow and a little rude depending on who you get. They’re a little more brisk than I would like and it takes forever to wave someone down. But I believe most people are there for a couple of hours just passing time so unless you’re in a hurry, it’s not too bad. ³⁄₅

Meehhhh this place was alright. It wasn’t impressive enough to make me wanna come back. I only decided to give it a try because I had a 20% off coupon.
FOOD
–Lobster and Spanish Chorizo Fondue ($ 10): This was absolutely delicious. We were off to a great start here. I LOVE cheese so much and this was so tasty. It also came out on a sizzling platter so everything was kept warm.
–Lobster Grilled Cheese ($ 12): Something in here tasted really really funky. Back in college, my friends and I once made sriracha fried rice in the dorms and we forgot about it in the oven for over a week. Eventually, the rotten smell reminded us about the food. The smell is exactly what I smelled in the lobster grilled cheese. AHHH. I felt really nauseous. I usually love lobster grilled cheese sandwiches!
–Bacchus Burger ($ 12): Not bad, but we’ve definitely had many burgers way more delicious than this. It tasted very average.
–Pumpkin Cheesecake ($ 6): Small amount of cheesecake in a mason jar. Cute presentation. I have a fat sweet tooth so I basically love all desserts. This was delicious and so were the pumpkin seeds on the side!
–Alcohol: They have lots of beer and wine options. They also offer beer flights and wine flights.
AMBIANCE
–They had live music on a Thursday night and cute little strung lights across the ceiling. They were going for a really cute vibe. However, I didn’t feel very comfortable in there for some reason. Maybe it was the seating? Idk. The lights got dimmed during dinner as well. The live music was a little bit too loud that I found myself shouting in order to have a conversation.
SERVICE
–Not bad but I did find myself waiting for lots of stuff. The girls were pretty nice but didn’t seem to come around at the right times when we needed them. It’s ok! I don’t expect them to be psychic. I just wish they were more efficient or there were more servers.