Best Restaurants for Special Occasions in Aliso Viejo / Laguna Niguel

We’ve loved The Tea House on Los Rios for so many years now. Celebrated birthdays and just being with loved ones here. The food is great, the teas are AMAZING, the service is always wonderful and the whole experience leaves us happy and cared for and always anticipating our next visit. Highly recommend them.

We were so excited to visit Splashes since the remodel and we were pleasantly impressed! We started with a cocktail in the new lobby lounge that overlooks the ocean. What an outstanding use of this location that use to be hotel suites. Next it was on to Splashes where we were met by Julian (from Paris) who found us a marvelous table overlooking the picturesque sunset. Julian is a great ambassador for the hotel and Splashes. Our Waiter was Patrick from Buenos Aires, Patrick and his server Jose have been with the hotel for years and were very attentive, friendly and knowledgeable. We started with the lobster bisque, this is a must have when visiting Splashes, it was outstanding! Our dinner was beautifully presented and delicious. I had the sea bass special for the evening, it was tender and buttery and it melted in my mouth. My wife had the halibut which was also outstanding. We ended the evening with a shared Baked Alaska, it was the perfect sweet treat to complete this great evening. We can’t say enough about how much we enjoyed our experience at Surf and Sands Splashes. We will be back very soon!

Overall this place is always a grand slam. As people who live out of town and frequent the restaurant it is always a good experience. We made reservations to dine for Valentine’s which did not disappoint. My only gripe if you will came down to the daily specials, we asked our waiter what the daily specials were knowing they are usually amazing. When asking for the items, we also inquired about price of course as that ultimately lies on the decision whether to venture off the normal menu if the value is there. The special was a filet and lobster tail.. we asked the price, our waiter said he believed it was $82. Seemed fair considering the ribeye on the menu was $62. Upon receiving our bill, we were shocked to find the special was actually $115. Considering the smaller steak paired with the lobster tale the value just didn’t match the pricing and had our waiter been consistent with the pricing when ordering it would have changed the outcome of my bill. Overall a little disappointed in the value, but definitely not the food itself or the ambience.

We enjoyed a wonderful Valentine’s Day lunch of freshly made guacamole and chips along with ribs for appetizers. The main course was a delicious grilled chicken plate featuring fingerling potatoes with an amazing cream dressing! Our server was very attentive and helpful, providing us with all the modifications requested of our meal. The ambiance was great, the view spectacular, and overall feel of warmth in all of the staff we encountered! A perfect place to celebrate the occasion, and we will definitely return in the future!

The Drake has live music so it will not be quiet but we sat in the bar so we could enjoy the music but could still have conversation. We enjoyed both of our meals, the halibut and the venison. The art deco decor enhanced the experience as well.