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| Restaurant Reviews | Din Din at the Bamboo Terrace |
Address: 1773 Newport Blvd. Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Cross Street: 18th Street
Phone: (949) 645-5550
Hours of Operation: lunch tues-fri - 11:30 am - 2:00 pm dinner tues - thurs. 5pm - 10:00 pm dinner fri - sat - 5 pm - 11 pm
Type of Cuisine: Chinese
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Type of Review:
Price Range: Inexpensive: $7 and under
Food Rating:
Service Rating:
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Restrooms were: Clean
Parking was: Adequate
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Entertainment: Live music every weekend. call for details
View: beautiful Newport Blvd. in downtown Costa Mesa.
Date of Your Last Visit: 6/4/99
Time of Your Last Visit: 7:30 pm
Your Favorite Dish:
Your Review: This is, without a doubt, my favorite Chinese restaurant!!! The food is awesome, the service is friendly and the decor is enticing. It is designed to resemble an Asian beer house, and the dining room features beautiful wood floors, dark wood paneling and is decorated with black and white photos of the owners' ancestors and other Asian art. The Chef, Dennis Young, has cooked in restaurants he was a young child; his mother owned Fay Ling restaurant in San Francisco's Japantown, a bustling place which featured hour-long waits on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, as noted by Herb Caen, Pulitzer prizewinning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. The food here is fresh - the chef and his helpers browse the surronding markets for fresh produce and fish, and the beef is U.S.D.A. choice flank steak and the chicken is Zacky farms breast meat. All of the meat is marinated overnight in the chef's secret sauces, and every bite is a tender, tasty treat. What's also neat about this place is that it has a full bar, with 6 premium draft beers, a full wine list and a host of specialty drinks including the dreaded "Volcano," a tropical concoction served in a Volcano bowl with flaming 151. There is live music every weekend, and when bands aren't playing, the background music includes swing, retro and other upbeat music from several local bands. The coolest part of it all is the story behind the place. The restaurant's been open since 1971, moved to its present location because of eminent domain in 1983, and is run by the Young family of Newport Beach. Two years ago, the Young's daughter, Deborah, and her husband, Chris Ayayo, left their lives as corporate attorneys in San Francisco (they met at Hastings and practiced in the Bay Area for 3 years) to remodel and update the restaurant. What was a dying, sterotypical Chinese restaurant, turned into a hip and happening place with a lot of energy. Although Chris practices law out of his own office during the day, he tends bar and manages the place at night. Deborah spends all of her time at the restaurant booking bands, catering events and experimenting with new dishes alongside her father. Din Din is definitely a hidden treasure in Orange County's sea of unremarkable restaurants.
Reviewed By: Tom Mackey
Your City:
E-Mail Address: tmackey@gdclaw.com