Cafe Chiarini

Owner was very nice! Their turkey sandwich was awesome! Sourdough bread is homemade and delicious.

I literally came across this location by mere accident. I had training in the area and was advised to go to a local eatery but got lost and ended up here.
I had the half sandwich and salad, simply the BEST sandwich and dressing for my salad. This place was soo awesome that we went back the next day and took a crowd of people from training with us.
I recently had training again in the area and was beyond excited because I was going to get to eat here again but to my disappointment the place was closed down (even though the sign we are open was still up). When asked local people they stated the place was closed indefinite.
Awww, I really hope they didn’t close down. There aren’t too many options in the area and trust me when I say this one was the BEST.

For all of those who are trying to be faithful to your carb-​conscious diet, beware! There is a seductress who resides on 3^rd St. in Santa Ana… her name? House Baked Sourdough!
She lives in a quaint little brick house that’s decked out in European décor with a sweet, cozy, and romantical setup, outside in the patio area. One visit here will leave you daydreaming of all the wonderful dates you’d like to have here!
This hottie’s got quite a few scrumptious outfits too. My particular fave? The taragon chicken salad ensemble, complete with the freshest heirloom tomato! She spices up the outfit by ditching the plain jane lettuce leaves and drapes on some peppery-​with-​a-​hint-​of-​mustardy arugula! This girl’s fresh to def and has got depth of flavor for dayssssss…*Drools* She’s a dime piece compared to those other fast, on-​the-​go, thrown-​together hussies like those at Subway or Togo’s. You really feel the TLC with this gem.
The crust on this baby is nice and chewy. Baked enough to give you some crunch and texture when you take a bite, but not too crusty where you’re raking the roof of your mouth with it. Quite the gentle, loving one she is :) Inside, she’s warm and soft, with a perfect hint of sourness, which gives her a pop of personality and a delectable signature taste. Trust me, you haven’t met a Sourdough like this one!
It’s a shame that she closes her doors on the weekends and after 4pm on weekdays, bcs I would LOVE a date night rendezvous with her!
She’s a special one, people… a true diamond in the roughs of Santa Ana. You’re gonna find yourself wanting to visit her often, spend some quality time chillaxing at her pad, and savoring each and every morsel of her tasty self.
You won’t even blink twice about the fact that you’re dropping a few extra dollars on her. Take my word for it, she’s worth it! She’ll tempt you into wanting to take an extra long lunch, drive that extra mile out to DT Santa Ana to come get a piece of her, make you forget you ever were avoiding carbs. You’re gonna leave saying, «diet who?»
I’m guilty as charged on all counts of an adulterous relationship with Café Chiarni’s sourdough sammies against my diet. For her, you might as well lock me up and throw away the key. She is THAT good! Sorry Diet… you know I want to be faithful, but how can I resist when a beautiful carb is shakin’ its yummy goodness in my face?
So for the faithful, carb-​conscious people out there, I say steer clear before you fall under her spell! However, if you want to live on the edge, take a delicious risk, and aren’t a slave to the ball and chain named Diet, then pay this temptress a visit! I assure she will make it worth your while and you won’t leave unsatisfied ;p

Oh Em Gee for their bread. It definitely leaves you wanting more… and more and more…
I stumbled upon this place from Unilocal and took a little finding since it’s located on an unsuspecting corner. Upon walking in, its super bare and you wonder if it in fact does serve food. They do.
I tried to order a half soup half sandwich lunch combo but they didn’t have any soup that day. Judging by the «kitchen» space I highly doubt they ever do. They have a menu in the corner that is small and difficult to see but if you step up close, you’ll notice they have a small menu with a very limited selection of foods.
I got a caprese sandwich. The BF got a Garden Salad with chicken. My Caprese salad was great. The Mozarella was generous and the olive oil and balsamic that was used tasted AWESOME! The bread? Was AMAZE-​BALLS. I kept wanting more. I could that bread for days.
The BF’s garden salad was disappointing. It’s the cheap Ice Burg salad that you can get from Costco, the 5 lbs. bag that costs like $ 1.97. Don’t get it. Get anything with bread. It’s a must try!

The Good: Saw this place in the Westways magazine and realized that this place was pretty close to my work. I went around noon and there was a pretty big line, I was almost at the door, but it moved fast enough for me to still grab my food and make it back to my office in my allotted time: D The sandwich was huge, I got the tri tip sandwich, they make their own sourdough bread and it’s huge. I bought a loaf, $ 10, and honestly it’s the biggest loaf of bread I’ve ever bought. With chips and a drink I think it came out to around $ 11. Not bad for a ton of food and good quality at that.
The Bad: $ 8.49 for just a sandwich is a bit pricey. Not a deal breaker but not a place that I would go to very often. Not many places to sit.
The Ben: Great food, great service, okay prices.

4.5 stars
Food is fresh and delicious. Prices are reasonable. Ambiance is bright and relaxing. Café Chiarini transports you as if you were in Europe. The décor is beautiful. There are seats inside and a beautiful patio on the side of the building. Parking is street parking only. Care Chiarini can be difficult to find (Red brick building). It across from a park/​soccer field and the OC Sheriffs Department. There are plenty of police and court employees that come during lunch. I had the chicken tarragon salad on their HOMEMADE sourdough bread with a cup of cream of mushroom soup. Everything was so delicious and perfect. They are no open on the weekends. Great lunch spot. I find it to be a little hidden gem of Santa Ana.

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful — Mae West
Add only wonderful people to your life, and wonderful things happen — Sidney S.
Quoting myself is narcissistic… but today’s lunch is certainly an example of one of my favorite sayings. First, it starts with an attempt to find a good place other than Anepalcos Café because I was meeting a friend for lunch in Santa Ana/​Orange but right smack in the middle of the lunch hour and Anepalcos Café would have been too busy. So I texted my beautiful, creative, and yes wonderful Unilocal friend Thao V. (who works nearby) for confirmation that Café Chiarini (In Italian that translates to Café GhiaPet or Café Chai Tea, depends on the Italian dialect) is all the Unilocal reviews say it is. She gave an enthusiastic yes (even though none of my current Unilocal friends have yet to review the café including Thao) and off I go to pick up my lunch companion.
And of course my lunch companion was the (also) beautiful, creative, talented… and wonderful… former co-​worker Tina K. I picked her up, and as is my habit, off we go on Mr Toad’s Wild Ride to find Chiarini. A few wrong turns here, a few misguided turns there… we finally arrive at our destination (seriously, this place is not hard to find but in between talking and laughing in the car I overshot where I was supposed to be going).
As others mentioned the Café is located in a Santa Ana neighborhood across from the parking garage of the Sheriff’s HQ off of Flower. The building is this quaint, narrow brick building that I have seen on previous trips to the area and I think was an old, local fire station. There is an energy when you enter the place that is unmistakable… the buzz of the employees, people in line… the lovely owner moving to and fro… at one point, the owner was downstairs taking orders, we moved upstairs and immediately the owner popped up to say the seating there was reserved today. How did she do that? Fly up through a chute in the kitchen?
Ordering is from the counter… you get items in to-​go containers even if eating there. Seating is all over the place including outside which is where we sat. Artwork adorns the walls of the café but nothing truly interesting on this visit (or at least as interesting as the brick building was to me).
I ordered half pulled pork sandwich with soup of the day which was split pea (and came with extra slice of bread). My friend ordered ½ tuna with soup as well. For drink I had Diet Dr Pepper, she had tea. Total bill was $ 19+ tip (Pricey for sandwich shop but portions are nice sized and quality was worth it). Sandwiches were very good… my friend enjoyed her tuna and I thought my pulled pork was almost as good as Harry’s Deli PP sandwich but in a slightly more feminine way; with fresher bread, smokier sauce but not as much meat. I’m not a split pea fan but this was a better version. Desserts and cookies in case looked, ahem, wonderful and I’ll get some next time.
Our fun conversation cut too short, we left only to find we parked in the next door apartments parking lot (we thought it was for the Café). Luckily my car wasn’t towed so please do not do this like I did. Park on the street :)
A very cool, artsy, sandwich place that should blow up big on Unilocal just like Harry’s and Delilicious did.
Add only wonderful people to your life, and indeed, truly wonderful experiences will result :)

My first review will go to Café Chiarini for their wonderful food and service.
I wanted a nice place for breakfast to meet up with an old high school friend of mine to catch up. Saw this place on Unilocal and saw that it had pretty stellar reviews so I decided to try it out.
Parking can be difficult as it’s in a neighborhood area with no real public parking area. Also, the sign is small so you may miss the café (just look for a cute red bricked building). I passed the place accidentally while on the look out for parking (which was hard to find).
Food was delicious.
I had class later so I wanted something light. I also happen to love tomatoes so I ordered the Caprese Sandwich. It was delightful! the tomatoes were fresh & juicy and they gave me thick slices of it. The mozzarella was also fresh and creamy and the whole thing was perfectly seasoned with the basil aioli and balsamic vinegar. Just thinking about it again makes my mouth water. I also ordered the fresh orange juice and that was great as well.
Service and setting was also wonderful.
My friend and I were adventuring around the place looking for a place to sit and ended up at the lone table on the upstairs balcony. The owner founds us and immediately wiped the table. She started chatting with us in her beautiful (I want to say Greek) accent and made us feel right at home. You can tell that she really loves what she does and she had a lot of knowledge about food.
I can go on forever about this place and the setting, but I think it’s already been talked about in other Unilocal.All-​in-​all the place is a great place to go to hang out with friends or with a date. Price is very fair. Seems expensive for a sandwich ($ 8 – 9) but they’re giving you quantity and quality. Would definitely recommend it to all of my friends for brunch!
They also make their breads for the sandwiches fresh from the oven =] !

My review will strictly be on what I ordered:
½ Smoked Tri-​Tip Sandwich ½ Small Earth Salad: REALLY good if you like the combination of super sweet caramelized onions w/​thinly sliced med/​med-​rare try tip. The basil aioli really freshens & lightens up the sandwich along with the peppery arugula. The ½ salad was a HUGE portion.
½ Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich ½ Butternut Squash Soup: This sandwich definitely makes me want to come back and get it again. The tarragon chicken mixed with the basil aioli gave the sandwich that punch of freshness. Their use of arugula in the sandwiches are a nice touch instead of just plain ol’ iceberg lettuce. The soup was TO DIE FOR if you’re a fan of butternut squash. However, a friend of mine who has never had butternut squash anything tried my soup & wanted to dip her bread it in over and over. It was a soup of the day type of thing, & surprisingly went well with my chicken sandwich.
Side note: The sourdough bread… the reason why people keep talking about is because it IS good. What makes it so good is that it is FRESH, has a nice and TENDER CRUMB, & a well-​developed crust on the outside which gives it that nice CRUNCH (since they don’t toast their bread)
OVERALL: If you love those café’s that offer up a good variety of fresh & hearty sandwiches then this is the place to go.
Like I always say, YOU WON’T KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY IT FOR YOURSELF!

Their bread. is amazing. That was the most memorable thing about my sandwich! The slice of sourdough was thick and dense. Great crust too! I had the tri tip sandwich that day and felt that the tri tip was bland. The basil aioli really did up the flavor by a lot though.
Overall a great lunch place. A little pricey for sandwiches, but you get a LOT of filling. They’re busy during lunch and the owner lady looked like she knew a lot of the regulars.

One day i’m just going to bring a bottle of wine and pop it open! On second thought i’ll just bring a flask instead. I need something that can be easily hidden. This place is swarming with cops at all times (hellooo it’s right next to jail!) Besides the fact that sweat trickles down my forehead from my guilty conscious i adore this place.
The décor is lovely almost makes me feel as if I teleported somewhere in Europe. The food is magnificent and yes that includes their pastries. But BEWARE breakfast stops being served early in the AM but have no fear the lunch is equally amazing. The chicken salad sandwich never disappoints and the option of doing half a sandwich and a soup is always available.
It saddens me that this place shuts its doors by 4pm and also keeps them closed on the weekends. I do however applaud the owner of the restaurant for taking a break from all the hard work she does.
OH and PS. they bake constantly throughout the day so it’d be a sin to leave without trying their pastries. I can almost guarantee a warm cookie will put a smile on anyones face.

I couldn’t resist. I went back! tee hee~
This time I went back for lunch, brought a nice book to read.
Went in ordered a Tuna Sandwich and Coffee…
now this coffee is…
– background story –
so my roommate is an international student from Italy and she is obsessed with Italian coffee, she has her parents ship over bags and bags of coffee grounds. Every morning I wake up to the smell of coffee she makes from her little percolator she brought from Italy.
This coffee i bought smelled like it the coffee my roommate makes! Oh and it tasted like it too! –insert coffee high–
Anyways food! The portions were nice and hefty, the prices were a bit high BUT it was worth it with the ingredients they use.
I sat outside upstairs (if that make sense) they have this «secret» balcony outside where you can watch people (im sorry if that sounded super creepy). Pretty view with the greens they have growing on the property.
Also while I was exploring upstairs i had the chance to peak into their kitchen upstairs. fresh baked bread –drools–
Last thing, I had the same cashier (the daughter?) and seriously another great conversation you don’t get from Starbucks or other «cafes».
yup yup
i need another reason to drive an hour out there.

Holy wow! This was a nice little find during a break from a meeting in the area. One of the guys said there was a «healthy little sandwich place around the corner». My first thought was «yea, this will suck». I like healthy and all but give me some Yin with my Yang baby! Yin, the dark side… the fat on my steak, the «too much dressing» on my salad, the dark meat over the white. Yep, I like it dark sometimes. /​evil grin\
So I walk in and it’s almost like walking into a patio/​lounge area with some Italian looking facades adorning this fine establishment. I think the owner stopped and welcomed me with some sort of Southern European accent, couldn’t quite place it but it wasn’t quite Italian. Could have been Northern Italian I guess. She was kind of sexy… and dark… and got my A.D.D. goin’.
So anyway, welcome to freshest bread, tenderest meats and freshest garnish to propagate your happy mouth. Wow, was this ever the bestest roast beasty I’ve eaten and with the freshest bread. Mouthgasm over a darn sandwich. Who knew? So, if you’re ever locked up in the OC Jail and you get out hungry, head over here because it’s right near the court house. Try and avoid the annoying lawyers that talk real loud to let everyone know who they are and what they do.

This place is great!
Food is about 8 $ but it is worth more. The food is very fresh. The staff is wonderful and when there’s time very personable. Favorite lunch/​brunch spot. The environment is cozy and relaxing.

Went with some coworkers who read a review in the newspaper about this place being converted into a sandwich shop.
We all went on a field trip and had a great expedition through Santa Ana to find this mysterious location. The reason being is because it looks like a building from the old days. You wouldn’t be able to find it without real good directions and tips on what or how the place looks. Parking seems to be hard to find, too!
When you do find the building you enter through a big door and find your self waiting in a decent line to order. I didn’t see any tables or place to eat, but then I realized everyone was taking their food towards the back side of the place where you come across a patio to sit and eat.
Their menu has that «fresh» feeling. Everything is apparently made from scratch. One bad thing about this place is their lack of judgment. Everything I wanted to order was either sold out or not ready yet…
After ordering a sandwich (chicken) with a half soup, we went to find a place to sit. This experience was kind of interesting… Here is how it becomes interesting: You are surrounded by grape vines, trees and BBQ’s. It seems that they really do make the food from scratch and cook the food to order? With the environment comes the flies and lots of them!
Truly a unique experience, but I don’t really mind if the food is fantastic. Our group wasn’t big (only four of us), so we didn’t expect to wait that long. 20 minutes goes by and the owner tells us that everything is completely out and that the never experienced a busy day like this (Monday).
She was kind enough and asked us what she could do to make things right, we all answered, «Bring our food, please!» We were hooked up with some side bread, which seemed to come right out of the oven and was very light and crisp. We tried it and boy was it awesome! My chicken sandwich was great (I believe the bread makes it taste awesome). Also, they do have a juice and sweets menu separately, which consists of teas, lemonades and other juices (hand squeezed?). I really enjoyed the lemonade, which was not too sour and didn’t leave that bad after taste.
I’ll have to retry this place soon because the sandwiches I wanted (tuna and tri-​tip) are beckoning my call to eat them!

Wow… this is now my FAVE place near my work. I mean it too.
I’ve been wanting to come here for weeks, my friends have been nagging me to go. I finally had time today to visit. They opened their doors just 10 weeks ago. I called ahead to make sure it wasn’t crowded, I spoke to Nicole who my friends said was super nice. I got there around 11:45 am and asked for her. She came out… I HUGGED her. This is just an example how friendly they are. LOVE it here. I was so darn excited that I ran out of my office and didn’t bring a camera to capture the food, the place or the décor. A few words to describe it… AMAZING, QUAINT AND DELISH. Don’t’ worry, I’m going back there next week to really do them some justice. I’m going to snap away next week. Let me share with you about the FOOD now.
01. ½ Sammie/​Soup ($ 7.49) — 5 Stars
Smoked Tri-​Tip Sandwich (Provolone, Caramelized Onions, Arugula, Basil Aioli, Vine Ripe Tomato, House baked Sourdough)
— The Tri-​Tip is so tender and perfectly smoked. You can taste the difference. The onions melted in your mouth with the flavors of the beef and Arugula & Basil Aioli. What a great combo together.
A cup of their house made soup (Vegetable Beef Barley — Made from scratch daily)
— The soup was YUMMO to my TUMMO. Geez. can they make anything NOT SUPERB? Please try them out for yourself and let me know what you think.
02. ½ Sammie/​Earth Salad ($ 7.49) — 5 Stars
Albacore Five Herb Tuna Salad (Cheddar Cheese, Arugula, Vine Ripe Tomato, Basil Aioli, House baked Sourdough.
— This sammie wasn’t mine but I wanted it so bad. The Five herbs played so well with the tuna. It was hearty and thick and you can tell it wasn’t any can tuna! Def FRESH and juicy. It was not so MAYO-​E. Such a SOLID piece of heaven.
Earth Salad — Garden Greens, Cucumbers, Heirloom Tomato, Mushrooms, Veggies, Mozzarella Cheese, Sunflower Seeds
— Wow… for a ½ portion, we couldn’t believe our eyes on how generous they give you, even tho it’s just a salad, it was beautiful in texture, colors and taste! All of their dressing are house made (BTW).
03. Giant Cookie ($ 2.50) — 4.5 Stars
— The Chocolate Chip cookie was GIANORMOUS alright! They bake them there so it was so warm with the melted pieces of chocolate chips. I shared the cookie with the COOKIE MONSTER, we inhaled this monster in a few seconds. Easily shared with 3 people too. So good but it was a bit too soft for me so I didn’t give it 5 Stars… but this isn’t their fault… I just prefer a crispy on the outside, soft on the inside kinda cookie. Sorry, it was all me!
04. House made Lemonade ($ 1.85) — 5 Stars
— This tasted like Darn Good Southern Lemonade. It had the perfect combo of tartness and sweetness.
MEMORABLE NOTES:
PORTION — OMG… becuz I don’t have a pix to show you my sammie, I’ll just tell you right now… a ½ sammie is PERFECT, they are HUGE. I watched every single table that ordered the full sammie, take the half to go.
BREAD — Their amazing house baked bread is FABO. It really is SUPERB bread, I can’t even remember having bread this amazing anywhere in OC. I’m serious too! It’s THICK, CRUSTY and so SOFT in the inside… you would die for more. They bake it upstairs. How super cool is that!
PARKING — Where they are located, it’s basically a residential street. Park on the street (1 Hour free parking) or in the parking structure right ACROSS from them.
BUILDING — Does NOT have a sign or their name anywhere on the building so you will def miss it if you try to look for a sign.
ORDERING — Go thru the front (Heavy) door and order first, then go back out the front door and go left to their patio area. Very nice, can’t miss it. They will deliver your food to you once you are seated.
I really love love this place and can’t wait to visit them next week if not later this week. Nicole is so nice, I can’t wait to say hi to her again. Thanks for all of your help Nicole. See you soon Café Chiarini.

Excellent!
Had lunch here today for the first time and you’d have no idea such a cool little place existed in the middle of downtown Santa Ana. The old brick building is from the 1900s and the décor is full of really cool Greek-​themed art. The line was already out the door at noon, so I’d recommend coming a little earlier to get a decent table outside (no real indoor seating). I got a wonderful caprese salad with bread and passion fruit iced tea and my friend had a very well-​portioned sandwich. The bread is homemade and very, very good. The salad was super fresh too. Added bonus — they had sugar syrup for the iced tea — which I LOVE.
The owner was a charismatic Greek woman who introduced herself while we were in line. Her husband did much of the marble work inside of the café. The outdoor seating area had lovely fountains and plants — a real oasis in the middle of Santa Ana. The seating was very crowded, but a really nice couple invited us to join their table, so we had a great lunch with two very fun people.
I only wish I had room for the lemon bars I saw, but I will definitely return. You definitely feel like you’re a million miles away from downtown. A lovely place.

This place would’ve gotten 5 stars — if not for the faily service. I know they tried their best, but there was quite a bit of ineptness running rampant around the facilities and the staff weren’t nearly as efficient as they could have been.
Still, the sandwiches were made with thick, crusty bread (my favorite) and all of the fillings were so fresh, it was almost scary. You also get a bag of chips with your sandwich, but you’d have to be pretty much starving to be able to eat the chips and the entire sandwich. Warning: portions are HUGE.
The other thing I love about this place is the art that’s on display and the outdoor garden where you can sit and eat. Beautiful! I’d definitely come back just to be able to check things out and take in all the sights…

I had jury duty today and was happy that I was close enough to walk to this café! Otherwise I’d never get a chance to eat here with their M-​F lunch hours since I work in Irvine. :(
Finding this place wasn’t too bad, as I just followed the flock of people to a charming building. I don’t believe there is a name out front though so keep that in mind if you’re driving here.
The inside looked like a lobby of a fancy house with lots of marble and artwork around. It had a very cool and upscale feel for a café!
I ordered the Trip-​Tip Sandwich ($ 7.50) to go and was happy to see that they had Dirty Chips that came with the food. Yum Maui Onion!
Total came out to be $ 8.08 after tax and the portion was huge! I finished half and was full. And I didn’t even finish my chips either. o. o
2 people can definitely share a sandwich and add on a soup for a very hearty meal. Their Butternut Squash looked good :0
Everyone talks about their homemade bread, and they’re right. It’s FLUFFY, it’s CRISPY at the right spots, and SOO GOOD. Even with the 15 min walk back to the courthouse, a regular sandwich would’ve been kinda soggy by then with the meat juices, but the thick sourdough slice was barely juiced when I opened up the box.
Tender trip-​tip, fresh, and overall very good: D
WHY AREN’T YOU OPEN ON WEEKENDS? I want to take my bf here!

Café Chiarini is all kinds of awesome. (BTW, the main picture is a little deceiving since it shows the tri-​tip sandwich with about a fourth of the carved meat that they actually serve you. You think about that – go ahead and mentally stuff more meat into that picture. Looks good now, doesn’t it?)
First of all, it is hard to beat the ambiance here. It looks a little like an Anthropologie catalog, what with the hoisted sails blocking out the Santa Ana sun and little grape vines sprouting from giant clay pots. Add to that a merry little fountain and a substantial wood fired oven they’ll be using for pizzas soon (one of the owners told me) and it makes for a serene little getaway smack in the middle of Santana.
The food is VERY, VERY fresh and it is utterly delicious. The bread alone makes it worth coming here. In addition to cutting it thick for the sandwiches, they also serve it with soup and I actually put that piece away in my tote bag and was picking away at it for dinner. The sourdough is super crusty with fluffy, tangy «innards.» I’m not a big bread person but I’m prone to getting addicted to Chiarini’s.
The chicken salad sandwich looks like the one from Barefoot Contessa – plenty of tarragon and «good mayo.» The tri tip sandwich, with the caramelized onions, is a winner for sure. I saw one of Santa Ana’s finest throwing big thumbs up for the pulled pork sandwich to his buddies and the owner was excited to tell him they finally perfected the recipe. You better believe it that’s what I’m getting next week.
I am super thrilled with this charming little café. And others are right, it is a little disorganized in the main room and it’s awkward to get from inside the house to the patio but I am more than positive that these little kinks will soon be worked out. At any rate, I’ll be by in a few days to find out :)