Andrea

I truly wish for this restaurant that Unilocal had a zero star. My wife and I stayed at Pelican Hill for our anniversary. When we checked in we asked where we should eat? Now we are from Newport so we go to all the local spots and wanted to tray a property restaurant. We were told that Andrea’s is a very nice and a quiet restaurant on the property, if you do not want a sports bar feel like the other restaurant that they offer. So we went to Andrea and to our surprise it was not busy at all. We walked and were seated right way. (Great) Well next thought was why? Then it hit, the place was empty and took for ever to get a drink. Then when they do take your drink order they are truly rude. We ended up ordering the tasting menu two orders so we could try everything. The food was terrible. We tried a bite of each and then told the waiter that we did not want anymore. He asked why and I told him the food was very nice to look at but tasted horrible. So he ran and told the Chief and the Chief came out and was very supprised and with a smerk said, let me bring something else. Wow the food got worse. So the service was bad then it got worse along with the food. after everthing was said and done I got a free desert. Wahoo! LOL! I do not recomand anybody trying this place. Go up the street to Mastroes I wish we would have stuck to our norm.

The view is to die for. The whole entire place is beautifully designed, from the trees to the tile in the restrooms. I enjoyed the food (see my pics) the presentation and customer service is top shelf quality! I would highly recommend Andreas to anyone who enjoys finer dining experiences.

So I took my family here a while back, and we weren’t that hungry, so we ordered coffee, and desserts, and I was the only one who ordered a dinner entrée.
YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON THE WAITER’S FACE…
The waiter was SHOCKED that we were not all ordering entrees. It was outrageously unprofessional and he seemed angry and insulted. I wanted to tell him to watch his attitude, shut up, and be happy that we were even eating there at all.
NEVER AGAIN !!
The food portions were small, and I literally have never experienced something like this at any other restaurant in my entire life. The waiter asked me «…so nobody else wants an entrée?» with a nasty face. It was SO BLATANTLY obvious that he was pissed that we were not going to order a load of entrees. He asked like THREE TIMES.
THIS IS WHY I DON’T LIKE TO SPEND MY MONEY IN ORANGE COUNTY AND I ONLY GO TO BEVERLY HILLS. Because I have experienced nothing but classy professional behavior in Beverly Hills, but NOT in Orange County. I HATE Orange County.
Pelican Hill pales in comparison to Terranea in Palos Verdes.
I will not be coming back here again. I have no reason to come back here when Beverly Hills & Palos Verdes exist.
GOOD BYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE.

I was looking forward to dining at Andrea, but was a bit disappointed. The restaurant and view were beautiful. The service was just ‘fine’ in comparison to the other Pelican Hill restaurants. I asked for dressing on the side of my salad and received a heavily salted salad with dressing on it. I could have ignored the dressing, but the salt was overpowering. The pasta and salmon were both very good. Our waiter rarely came by to check on us. The manager, Clancey, was very helpful.

This is the definition of fine dining. Truffles is the word that comes to mind when I think of this restaurant. They truly have ingredients that are unique. The sunset view is breathtaking and the service was wonderful. I don’t think I’ve ever met a happier waiter. At the end the tower of desserts was the cherry on top of a wonderful experience. Bravo

Came here for lunch and ordered the egg drop soup, hand-​made angel hair pasta with seafood and tiramisu for dessert. I love their pasta, its perfectly made and cooked, its close to what authentic Italian pasta in Italy tastes like. I would definitely come back.

Whenever my husband asks me where I want to go in Orange County for a special occasion, the first restaurant that comes to mind is Andrea at Pelican Hill. We’ve been there a couple times and each time we’ve truly enjoyed our meal and the service has been top notch.
There is a lovely outdoor seating area where you can watch the sun set or you can sit indoors in an upscale and tastefully decorated dining room.
One of our favorite dishes is the risotto and it is worth every penny. They bring out a giant wheel of Parmesan on a trolley and place your risotto inside. Then they stir the risotto around in the wheel of cheese to create a luscious, tender cheesy risotto. It’s especially good when truffles are available!
We’ll be back, Andrea!

Nice place to sit down relax but charge for everything. Hate the fact that they offer mineral water first rather than water and charge $ 10 a bottle. What would be a Moet Chandon imperial rose bottle for $ 50 at a very nice steak house (Duane’s @ Mission Inn Riverside) is $ 150 here. Ordered their off the menu risotto and asked for shrimp on top and they came up with fast food shrimp you would normally order from panda express. Will I be back? Maybe for a cocktail to enjoy the setting and not the food.

This was the truest fine dining experience!
Lucky to be taken here for a work function and could not speak more highly about the service or all we sampled from the menu!
Started w Martinis in the bar and then enjoyed everything we put in our mouth in the grand dining room with overly soft booth cushions…
But the absolute standout of the night (and maybe of my year) was the white truffle that was shaved into the Funghi Risotto we each tried a portion of!
Holy $h1t!!!
There is only one flavor in the world that tastes like that and having the Chef himself, come out from the kitchen to mix our Risotto in a giant wheel of Grana Parmigiana was a very special touch!!!
I opted for the Salmon for my entrée which was delicious and my Man had the Wagyu Beef which he enjoyed but the 3 orders of Quail at the table looked drool worthy as well!
Would highly recommend this place for a celebration dinner, especially (hopefully) one of my own!

One of the best dining experiences in Newport. The appetizers were scrumptious, the steak was tender, the risotto was flavorful, and the desserts were beautiful to look at.
During the winter, request to be seated indoors, as it can get cold. But during the summer months, claim a table in the patio when you can watch the sun set on the beach. It is a gorgeous view that only adds to the ambiance of the entire restaurant.

Nothing compares to Pelican Hill Resort and the Andrea restaurant is the crown jewel restaurant. I’ve been to all of the Pelican Hill restaurants and they are all solid. Andrea is the fine dining restaurant and I’ve had our family holiday dinners there for the past 3 years. I recently went there with my family and friend and the food was delicious. All their pastas are home made and you can tell the quality of their ingredients is very high. They usually finish you off with a complementary dessert tower of small bite size sweets. Love this restaurant for special events.

One of the best meals I have had in a long time. The service was excellent — our waiter, William, was the best waiter I’ve had in years. He was polite, knowledgable, and was very quick to get orders completed. I started with the grilled octopus — amazing food. The meat was so tender and flavorful. I then had the romaine salad with white anchovies and duck egg dressing — delicious again! My entrée was the gnocchi. Probably the best gnocchi I have ever eaten. They were like soft pillows with a beautiful meat sauce over them. Wow. The gelato was amazing and so was the after dinner candy display. Decadence in all forms! What a wonderful anniversary dinner! We will be back again soon.

Delicious food, awesome atmosphere and quality service.
Definitely order the table side risotto! It’s delicious! I could eat it only for dinner!
Loved the live entertainment. The atmosphere was first class!

Came here for a friend’s birthday dinner. It’s a nice restaurant, but for having a more expensive menu than the Coliseum, the décor is very outdated. I expected it to look much nicer. Anyways on to the food…
Bread basket (³⁄₅): I loved the rosemary bread, except it was served cold which was a little strange. The other breads were just okay.
Octopus (³⁄₅): good, but a little on the burnt side, octopus was more mushy than chewy.
Risotto (³⁄₅): it was cool to watch them prepare it tableside, but the risotto was pretty heavy.
Braised short rib caramelle (³⁄₅): nice and tender wagyu beef in a ravioli type pasta, good but nothing special.
Braised veal cheek (3.5÷5): this was tasty for the first couple of bites, but quickly got overwhelming because of the fattiness. Presentation was nice, but wish they just put the mashed potatoes on the side because I didn’t like having the potatoes stuck to my meat for every bite.
Our waiter was good for the most part, but a little pushy with trying to make us order more food than we needed. Overall this is not somewhere I would come back if I had to pay. Overpriced, small portioned, and average tasting food.

We had dinner here this week and it was extremely delicious! Here’s the food breakdown:
— Scallop Appetizer — awesome.
— Peach and Ricotta with Pancetta — awesome.
— Lobster Ravioli — when I ordered this I was extremely nervous about what a squash blossom would taste like. The answer — amazing! This was really good.
— Gnocchi Bolognese — awesome.
— Banana Pastry Dessert — awesome.
Overall as you can see the food was awesome. Service was also great. Definitely recommend!

Phenomenal dinner here on saturday night! Heath was an excellent server as well as Tim, his busser. Paid an arm and a leg for freshly shaved truffles from Italy on our lobster risotto. Well worth it! Olive oil pumpkin sponge cake was also amazing!

Really excellent service here. We had service in the bar also, which was excellent. The great room just off the bar and restaurant also has their own menu and sometimes special events (there was an art exhibition the date we were there), and a DJ.
Very strong drinks and great food, and all of our servers were really great at making sure that everything for a large group was taken care of. Highly recommended. Can’t wait to go back!

Beautiful location, great service, food was okay.
Location: 5 stars. Ocean views, elegantly decorated, not too loud. It’s inside of the hotel so you have to go into the lobby and to the right. We had a reservation for 6:15 and were not seated until 6:45. I understand this happens but I was a little annoyed. At least we could sit in the bar and enjoy a drink while we waited.
Service: Really great service. Our server was attentive and came over to check on us plenty of times. She recommended two great bottles of wine: a chardonnay and a champagne for dessert. 5 star service for sure.
Food: We each did the tasting menu which was awesome because I couldn’t make up my mind on the menu. I was pretty disappointed with the food. Everything seemed bland to me and very small portioned. (I understand it’s not supposed to be massively portioned or inexpensive, but I had one scallop… one as an appetizer). For my entrée, I had the roasted branzino. I was expecting a lot more than what was served. It wasn’t the best quality, you could REALLY taste the fish, and it was super tiny. For dessert I had the tiramisu which was decent. I’ve had better but I wasn’t too disappointed in this selection. At the conclusion of our meal, the server brought out this cute cage-​looking-​tray that had a bunch of different dessert samples on it. We got to try a bunch of different ones so that was fun! Thank you :)
If I’m looking for a fine-​dining experience, I probably will choose to go elsewhere just based on the food. It really was not worth the money we spent, although the views and service were spectacular. Maybe we came on an off-​night, but I probably will not be back.
Note: Valet is free!
I was confused because some people were dressed in sweatpants and oversized shirts, like they just rolled out of bed and came down to eat dinner. Others were dressed to the nines and had on lavish fur coats, etc.

I really do not have any idea where the reviews about their service being bad come from. This is, up to this point the best service me and my girlfriend has ever had. Here’s the explanation:
The server already had my name memorized before I got seated. I’ll think of him as my personal server. It kind of makes me think there is a mic on the table somewhere because he know’s what we are looking or talking about on the menu. He comes by many times saying he «over heard» us talking about a particular dish and proceed to tell us about it. Each time I wonder how he does this when he has to help out other guest. I swear I saw him at another table lol. He also was extremely knowledgeable about the entire menu as if he’s the one doing the cooking. There is a lot to say about the servers but I just wanted to do them some Justice.
Appetizer: Pan Seared Scallops
This was really really good! It had a great crisp taste to it and was nicely seared. I wouldn’t say if paying mid 20s for 2 scallops would be worth it though.
Main: Braised Veal Cheeks and Caramelle Pasta.
The Braised Veal cheeks were absolutely amazing! The portion size was okay for the price but the sheer brilliance of flavor made up for it. If anything this was the highlight besides the gelato (I’ll get to that later). The pasta wasn’t too bad, not something I would die to order again. They did use some exquisite ingredients like the aged cheese and truffle shavings. It’s not bad, If i did come again I would like to try something else.
Wine: I’m not really sure: My server picked it out but it was really good. Flavorful but smooth. Even my girlfriend liked it and dislikes alcohol.
Dessert. We had the sampler for $ 18. It consisted of a tiramisu, Orange tart, chocolate cake, and white coffee gelato. I really like the tiramisu for not being an overload of sweetness. It was just right with flavor. I also really liked the gelato. I’m a freak with coffee and I did enjoy this.
Some of the items would really not match the pricing, but really this was an unforgettable dining experience. I would really recommend this place or come back.
BTW: They offer Remy Martin Cognac Louis XIII for $ 360 as a 1.5 ounce shot. Would definitely like to try that one day… SOON :)

Beautiful and romantic setting. Very posh restaurant in the magnificent resort of Pelican Hill. The service is impeccable. The presentation of every dish is amazing.
And ALL of the above should be complementing a great meal… which unfortunately was not. Alegria salad (Caesar salad modified) was good but added beets were bitter and seemed not fresh. Scallops appetizer was beautifully presented but the taste was nothing to brag about 2 scallops for $ 22.00 let it be expensive but it has to be fabulous for this price! And now for the main dish the night special pasta with crab meat was so salty that for the first time I had to return it. I don’t like to offend the chefs and usually just pick the food I don’t like and tell the staff I’m too full but this time it was just unacceptable! It’s either the head chef was out for the night or the sous chef forgot that he already added the salt to this dish at least 3 – 4 times. They did remake the dish for me and it was done just right the second time. Good taste… Was it worth $ 38 ??? Not sure, after its being spoiled the first time around. Now for the lamb chop… Once again it was good but not fantastic and it looked slightly grey outside instead of that nice caramel brown color outside like it should be in the great restaurants of this caliber.
The presentation of petits fours for desert was very pretty and a nice touch after dinner but the taste was not to die for. Sorry for the bad review but I say like it is, perhaps it was an off night at the kitchen.