Oak Coal - Costa Mesa

Came here for my birthday dinner. The staff was awesome and super sweet. The food is tapas style and the portions are small. It is definitely a higher price point spot. Ended up spending about $50 per person, drinks not included, and we left still a bit hungry but still satisfied.

Service: Dine-in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $20–30 Recommended dishes: Wild Seafood Garlic Noodles

The ambience is nice and modern, with a huge open fire grill but the food is somehow not as good as expected for grilled meat. We had lamb chops, pork sausage, wagyu beef, chicken and scallion, uni with crispy rice and tuna don. For Wagyu, the meat was kind of tough and the sauce is not necessary for high end meat but maybe it's not wagyu. Pork and chicken was also bit tough. Overall it is more of a fusion style vs traditional Yakitori. The sake is cloudy and very sweet.

We've visited this restaurant multiple times since it opened—sometimes just with family on weeknights and other times with friends on weekends. We really enjoy the food, the service, and the relaxed atmosphere. It can be a bit pricey, so we don’t go as often as we’d like, but we always look forward to our next visit.

We discovered this restaurant on Yelp and were excited to try their shareable appetizers. Oak Coal did not disappoint! We kicked off our meal with the spicy yellowtail and salmon hand rolls, which were both creamy and delicious. Next, we moved on to the salmon crudo, which we absolutely loved. We complemented our dishes with a bowl of steamed rice on the side. The seafood garlic noodles were fantastic; we enjoyed them so much that we could have kept eating more. To conclude our meal, we indulged in the Ube Banana Pudding—OMG! This dessert was extraordinary! As for the drinks, while they were quite pricey for the portion sizes, they were still very tasty. We will definitely be coming back!