The Recess Room

18380 Brookhurst St, Fountain Valley
(714) 377-0398

Recent Reviews

Cassidy Eden

Came by to check it out but it’s closed. Hopefully someone updates the hours to save other people from making the trip. Looks delicious I hope they figure it

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

David Garcia

Interesting menu great drinks and service.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Jennie Pham

Cute spot with your friends. There is even happy hour here, so pretty fun with co-workers to come out and have a few drinks here.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Old Fashioned Cocktail

Thomas French

A little on the pricey side but good food and drink options overall. My family and I have been here several times and have never had a bad experience.

Charles Botte Gunadi

Fun place to hang out with friends & family, the pork so Crispy & delicious ?

Mayra Retano

The food was barely warm and over priced. Not at all worth the money. It literally felt like they stuck the food in the microwave and then brought it out.The service was okay. There was a large party there so we didn't get enough attention.Definitely never going back.

Collin Lee

Came with a party of 18 and had the private room reserved because it was a friend's birthday. They told us that they gave their private room to another party. They spent 20 minutes setting up a long string of tables in the main room rather than giving us the room that we reserved. They took 30+ minutes to take our order. They had missed my drink order, which I had waited for 15 minutes after the rest of my table got their drinks. They took an hour and a half to make most of the food but missed 3 of our meals. We thought they were running behind, but turns out the waiter never put the order in for those 3 meals (but did everyone else's?). Multiple orders were not done to correctly(being given rare burgers versus medium or medium-rare). When we asked for the missing dinners, they let us know that one of them was actually out of stock but put the other 2 in(even though we placed it an hour ago). After 15-20 minutes, only one of the 2 came out... Turns out they didn't even make one of them when we asked about it a 3rd time. They provided no real compensation for the room being taken and the missed meals besides some free dessert. They barely apologized and said that there was no manager to approve anything more. Here's the kicker though, when we got the check, they placed 2 orders of the out of stock dinner even though we never got a single one! Like what in the world would make you put meals into a receipt after saying that you were out of stock(it was the salmon entree fyi). The waiter kept saying that he was the only waiter that day and he did look like a wreck to be honest. He and the presumably assistant manager constantly avoided taking care of us and we had to flash them down for various things like 4 missing table settings(they brought over 1 after I asked for 4 explicitly), missing condiments(Only 1 of 3 burgers had ketchup), and missing drinks and meals. Honestly I'm not sure if they didn't bother cause they were getting gratuity cause of the size of our party, because I think they knew that we wouldn't have tipped very much based on such a poor excuse for dinner and a restaurant. It was a disappointment all across the board, and I would never recommend this place to anyone.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Sur I.

Food is just okay but service is lacking. A large party was taking place at the same time our group was having dinner. It seemed like all resources were dedicated to the party and the rest of the dining area was left to any available server within walking range. Half our table's food came out and were finished eating before the other half was served, one entree we were told was 'plated' but brought out only after we inquired about it, staff looked genuinely confused when they brought us food that was (and was not) ours, and we consistently had to ask for water. This place is likely great if you plan on hosting large parties of 20+, but otherwise, skip.

Ernesto G.

We had tried this restaurant during COVID and were extremely disappointed with their limited menu. Half of their items where sold out and stuck with two options. We understood the need to carry limited items durning that time, so we just enjoyed our time out in the sun. After reading the reviews on Yelp and looking at some of the owner posted pictures, we thought we'd give it another try. Let me just say, the pictures are not only deceiving, most of the items are NOT on the menu. We got our apps first and my daughter got her birria tacos before we got our first drinks. We had to get up to ask for water. The food was bland, the chips that came with the salmon tartar were so dark from being over done and the tartar itself was cooked...? We didn't trust ordering anything that we didn't think was safe bet, so we ordered the truffle burgers. How could they mess up a burger? The patties were very over done and not sure why they would call it a truffle burger, so it would sound good? We didn't even get any kind of sauce to go with the fries. Again, had to get up and ask. I really could go on but I would suggest looking elsewhere for a night out. For this being a "whisky" establishment, you would have thought they'd get that right.

Mi P.

We tried this place a few times and we're disappointed one of the times. So not sure if the food quality is inconsistent. But we just went recently and it was quite good this time around. We ordered a couple rounds of drinks. Great craft cocktail list (although small). I ordered the Reconstructed Destination twice! For food: We ordered the Truffle Burger (the Truffle really showed through and the meat was very juicy and flavorful). Salon Tartare was amazing, loved the brightness and the unami component with the tobiko (black roe) on top. The creme fraiche was a great acidic addition. And lastly, we ordered the Salmon Almandine. Let me tell you that I normally don't order salmon because it's usually overcooked. This was perfectly cooked, medium rare and juicy inside. The skin was crispy. The almonds were fried crispy and had a good season to it. Very satisfied. The waitress was also very friendly and available--she made sure to check up on us every so often. We also noticed the bar is a good vibe/social bar. The several times we were there, the bar was filled with people wanting to have a good drink and good time. The bartenders were also very thrilled to make drinks off the menu if you asked. There's also a semi-private room great for hosting parties/events. Sometimes this place is super busy and others you can just walk in. I still recommend making a reservation just in case! Vibe: Dark industrial modern.

Blaine B.

OK, so we tried to give this place a second chance but it just did not deliver. Im a pretty seasoned foodie with a pretty exceptional palate ( was even suggested to get my palate certified by a master somm in an upscale winery/restaurant in napa valley). Firstly, we waited 10 mins for the server to seat us, once we were seated, we waited another 10 minutes for our order to be taken. We ordered the salmon "tartare", the ginger gambas (shrimp), "Truffle" burgers, and the birria tacos. The tartare was COOKED (by definition that's not a tartare), the shrimp was not de-veined (that's lazy cooking) and was bathing in oil, the birria was just straight oil and the accompanying taco was extremely oily; You were literally able to squeeze the oil from the taco, the truffle burger was dry and you did not taste any truffle, we had to put ketchup on it just to be able to eat it. Not to mention, we waited 30 mins for the burger to come out AFTER the birria was already at the table. Everything we had was severely under seasoned, I mean not even a sprinkle of salt anywhere in any of the dishes. Last but certainly not least, the old fashions were NOT balanced. We're avid whiskey and old fashioned drinkers, so we know a good one when we taste it. There was more alcohol than anything. You didn't get any of the aromatics from the bitters or the citrus. I don't like leaving bad reviews, but as legitimate foodies who have dined at various restaurants, from Michelin star rated restaurants, James Beard awarded chefs restaurants, to tasty hole in the wall restaurants, I felt people needed to know that, unfortunately, the pictures are deceiving. Hope this helps someone or at least this establishment takes their service, food preparation, and food presentation more seriously. Oh and my napkin had a hole in it smh.

Josh R.

Food is not that great staffing seems like they are new. They have no timing on bringing out apps verse main course. Super small menu and way over priced for what you get! This seems like a restaurant that cant figure out what it wants to be.

Athena H.

Delicious food, great service, awesome drinks. What more can one ask for! Love the chill atmosphere.

Laura S.

Check your receipts!! My friend ordered the Vieux Carre cocktail which should have been $16 but they added a charge for "Deez Nuts" making the drink $80??? I'm glad we checked the receipt before paying because this could have been easily missed, especially if we split the bill amongst all our cards. On top of the drinks just being ok (wine tasted watered down), this was not cool. Will not be returning to this restaurant.

Danielle A.

Stopped here for a quick night cap. They gave really good drinks and probably some of the best truffle fries. I also tried the birria taco which was also really good.

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