Ratings are on a scale of 0 to 24.  The scale used to be 0 to 10, so restaurants written about before 2012 may have only had their ratings adjusted by formula and not by hand (hence all the 2s, 5s, 8s, etc.)  The scale works as follows:

An asymmetrical 0 to 24 scale may not be intuitive, I realize.  But as a rule of thumb: a double-digit score means I liked it, while a single-digit score… less so.  Also, as you might expect, scores from many years ago may not be very reliable, so do check the dates.

Orange County

In a place notorious for landslides, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that seemingly every restaurant I used to enjoy has gone downhill.

Click on the column titles to sort the entries!

Name	Cuisine	Address	Last update	Score
Campitelli Cookies	Dessert (cookies)	Santa Ana Canyon & Avenida Margarita, Anaheim	2020-01-03	11
I came here 13 years ago remembering spectacular cookies from when I grew up here in the '80s (and even from my second stint here in the late '90s), so I was disappointed when they turned out to be just okay. But now we've hit the '20s, and with that disappointment in mind, getting some cookies that were pretty darn okay was a happy surprise.
Chakra	Indian	Campus near Bridge, Irvine	2011-04-09	0
Stuck in Irvine on a business trip, I tried this place. After boggling at the prices — I'm used to places like Fremont's Shalimar, with amazing entrees for $6 and naan for $1, as opposed to the $20+ and $5 respectively that Chakra charges — I put in my order. What I received was a small dish of vegetables chopped down to the consistency of cat food and a basket of burnt naan. Then I actually tried eating my meal, and almost broke my teeth on the rock-hard, apparently uncooked lentils. When the waitress came by to ask how things were, I politely pointed out that my meal was inedible, and she asked whether I wanted something else. I said I'd have another look at the menu. When she came back, she informed me that the lentils were "supposed to be that way" and that if I wanted to order something else I'd be charged for both entrees. At this point, the idea of eating gravel with blackened bread didn't appeal, so I paid my exorbitant bill and left — but not before hearing a woman who was apparently the proprietor wandering around apologizing to several similarly disappointed diners. No apology for me, though.
Cinnamon Works	Bakery	Santa Ana Canyon & Avenida Margarita, Anaheim	2007-02-17	5
As recently as five years ago this place sold some of the best muffins I'd ever had. Now it appears that everything is oversweet and underdone. I'm sure I would have loved that when I was six.
Cream Pan	Bakery	El Camino Real & Sixth, Tustin	2024-02-22	11
I randomly happened across an article declaring that Cream Pan in Tustin was the best bakery in California… and then, a few days later, on an impromptu trip to So Cal, I just as randomly found myself driving past it.  So I stopped in and got a strawberry croissant and a strawberry banana pastry.  Strawberries are not in season in February, so the experience was not all it could have been, but sure, strawberries and bananas and pastry cream on croissant dough is bound to be a winner.  Best bakery in California, though?  That’s a negatory, cap’n.
Let It Brie	Cheese-centric	Commonwealth btw Harbor/Pomona, Fullerton	2024-08-14	12
Went here to treat my high school French teacher to a belated retirement lunch.  The place was her suggestion, and it was a winner: I had a sandwich with gouda, artichokes, and pesto, topped with a drizzle of honey, and it was aces.
Moulin	French	Orange County chain	2020-01-03	5
Here I got a pretty flavorless hot chocolate and a dessert ("The Cube") that mixed chocolate, hazelnut, and lemon with weird-tasting results.
Mr. French Crepe	French	Culver & Michelson, Irvine	2020-01-03	10
This is a little crepe stand in the front of a supermarket in the Iranian part of town. The crepe I got was pretty good (though I was sad that the basil promised on the menu had run out); the reason this place has five stars on Yelp is that the guy who runs the place is either super friendly or a heck of a schmoozer, depending on how generous you're feeling.
Nook Coffee Bar	Cafe	Bristol btw Randolph/Baker, Costa Mesa	2024-02-22	6
Here I got a strawberry lemonade, which turned out to be unexpectedly carbonated.  Somehow I’m always surprised by this.  I see it on the menu, I expect to get something like the Odwalla juice I drank gallons of in the ’90s, and instead I get a soda.  Maybe that’s what they call a lemonade in Britain, but this is California, guv’nor.
Papa Hassan's	Middle Eastern	Glassell & University, Orange	2002-01-28	14
The adaas (lentil soup with rice and pasta bits) is terrific, and the ful maddamas is great, but now that I have more than memory to use as a basis for comparison, I have to admit that the ful here is not quite in the class as that at the Kabab Cafe in Queens. Still good, though.
Qué Vida Tacos	Mexican (taqueria)	regional chain	2025-01-01	8
Here I got a calacita taco.  It was fine.  I didn’t get a vegetarian burrito because it came with “fajita veggies” and I’m allergic to bell peppers; Ellie did get it, and reported that the fajita veggies were uncooked, or at least severely undercooked.
Rockwell’s	Breakfast	Santiago & Santiago, Villa Park	2024-08-15	10
This was one of my regular haunts during my second stint in Orange County, circa 1998.  When I returned in 2007, I discovered that the spinach omelette I had been crazy about in the ’90s had gone way downhill.  Well, the place is still open, but the menu looks almost entirely different now.  By happenstance we ended up staying in a hotel right nearby, and Ellie wanted to try the breakfast burrito she saw on the online menu.  We split it, and I wound up liking it more than she did!  So, still nowhere near a return to the pantheon, but I can restore the blue rating at least.
Roma D'Italia	Italian	El Camino Real & Sixth, Tustin	2020-01-02	13
Roma D'Italia is an archetypal red-sauce place with checkered tablecloths, but very good. I've had some great meals here and some okay ones: most recently, the gnocchi were not quite up to the standard I remembered (they seemed more industrial), the spinach lasagna was skippable, and my beloved German chocolate cheesecake had disappeared from the menu. Still good enough to score a 13, though, and I have to admit that while I was initially skeptical of the "pizza bread" my date ordered, I ended up gobbling up most of it.
Sugo	Pizza	Paularino btw Bristol/Enterprise, Costa Mesa	2024-02-22	10
This is one of those Roman-style pizzerias with the looong pizzas from which you order rectangular slices.  The margherita slice I got was pretty good, but even if I still lived in OC, I doubt I’d go back, because that was the only vegetarian option.  (Pollara, a similar shop in Berkeley, had over half a dozen vegetarian slices on offer on any given visit.)
Taco Mesa	Mexican (taqueria)	county-wide chain	2024-02-22	9
Shortly before the pandemic, I wrote: “Taco Mesa was a winner when I lived here in the ’90s and it’s still going strong.”  Significantly less strong mid-decade, I’m afraid.  I wouldn’t even say that the burrito I got even qualifies as good.  “High mixed” is about as far as I’d go.
Taco Rosa	Mexican	regional chain: Newport Beach, Irvine	2015-02-13	11
This is a higher-end Mexican restaurant. I got a chile relleño that had an unusually flavorful cheese mixture inside. I missed having some beans on the side, though.
Zero Zero	Pizza	two locations	2024-08-14	11
We parked in front of a Starbucks in Huntington Beach so I could get on its wifi, and it just so happened that this pizza place was next door.  Ratings looked good, so we popped in and got a truffle and porcini slice, which was a little pricey but pretty darn good.

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