My free breakfast at Mimi's Cafe - Irvine

4030 Barranca Parkway
Irvine, CA 92604
949-559-8840

140 Restaurants in 20 states (Owned by Bob Evans)

www.mimiscafe.com

Mimi's is currently offering a free breakfast if you sign up for their free E-club. (Click here to get your coupon. I'm not sure how long this offer will last.) I signed up for the E-club, printed out my coupon and headed down there for breakfast today. I can't remember the last time I had breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. After today though, I think I'll keep Mimi's on my list of approved breakfast places.

I looked over the menu and tried to decide what to order. I noticed that most of the breakfasts here came with fresh squeezed orange or grapefruit juice. I thought this was a very nice touch since most restaurants charge $3-$4 a glass for fresh squeezed orange juice. The prices on the menu also seemed very reasonable. The most expensive item on their breakfast menu is $12.99 for a 10-oz flat iron steak with eggs, potatoes, a muffin and fresh squeezed juice. Every other meal is less than $10 with many meals for only $5.99. I asked the waitress if the corned beef hash ($8.49) or the eggs benedict ($8.99) were more popular. She said the hash was, so that is what I ordered.

My corned beef hash meal was served with 2 eggs, breakfast potatoes, juice and my choice of toast or muffin. They had many muffins to choose from. I chose the coffee cake muffin. My food came out a few minutes later. It looked and smelled really good. The hash had a lot of fresh herbs in it. It was pretty good, but not the best corned beef hash I have ever had. I wish it would have been grilled up crispier. I would consider ordering it again though. The breakfast potatoes were nice and crispy and my eggs were poached perfectly. I was surprised with the large amount of food I got. I actually filled up on the hash, eggs and potatoes so I never got to try my muffin. I brought it home and will have to try it later.

Overall, I was really impressed with the value, selection and service at Mimi's Cafe. Sign up for their E-Club and get your free breakfast coupon while you can. So many of the things on their breakfast menu looked good. If you order something different for your free meal, let me know how it was.

Anepalco's Cafe - Orange

415 S. Main Street
Orange, CA 92868
714-771-2333

www.anepalcoscafe.com

I read some good things about Anepalco's Cafe in Orange, so I decided to go down there for lunch one day to check it out. Anepalco's cafe is supposed to be a simple place that specializes in French and Mexican food. The restaurant is near CHOC and St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, so most of the people in the restaurant were wearing scrubs. The parking lot is tiny, so be prepared to park off-site somewhere if there are no spots up front.

I walked into Anepalco's with R. The restaurant is very small and only has about 6-8 tables. There is a large menu board on the back wall behind the cash register. We looked over the menu and saw a wide selection of crepes, sandwiches and Mexican food. I looked around the restaurant and saw that some of the sandwiches were gigantic. I wasn't that hungry so I decided to order the Enchilada Trio ($7.49). I ordered my trio with one chicken and two cochinita pibil enchiladas (marinated pork). R decided to get a Dejeuner crepe ($6.99).

We placed our order and found an empty table. It was about a 10-15 minute wait before out food arrived. The food arrived at our table and it looked wonderful. The presentation was better than expected for an inexpensive meal.

My enchilada trio wasn't very good. I was surprised that I actually liked the chicken enchilada better than the pork. Neither was very good though. The dish lacked any kind of flavor.

I also thought that the enchiladas came with plenty of red enchilada sauce. When I looked closer though, I realized that the enchiladas were just swimming in a pool of bright orange grease. I ended up leaving this place with a pretty bad stomach ache.

(The bright orange pool of grease)
R's crepe contained ham, bacon, egg and swiss cheese. It was then covered with Béarnaise sauce. R said his crepe was pretty bad. He described it as flavorless and really, really dry. He seemed to be struggling to eat it.

We were both really disappointed with our food. We were surprised since others had written good things about this place. I'm not sure if I would ever return to Anepalco's again. If I do, I will probably try one of their big sandwiches. They looked pretty good. I just hope they taste as good as they look, because the food we tried didn't.

Quick announcement

I would like to apologize for the lack of posts recently. I have been working hard on launching my new career. In launching my new career, I have also launched a new website. GriffinSellsOC.com I am now a practicing real estate agent with First Team Real Estate in Irvine. I would love to help all of you out there buy or sell some real estate. I think the market has found it's bottom so now it is time to buy, buy, buy!!! If you're thinking of buying a new home, I'd like to offer you a free buyer's consultation. If you're looking to sell your home, I'd love the opportunity to show you how I can sell your house faster and for more money. If you owe more than your house is worth, I would be happy to review your options with you. One option may be to do a short sale that costs you nothing!

OK....plug over.....let's get back to the reviews!

Oh, by the way. If you see any of my open signs out there, make sure to stop in and say hi!