Oak Coal - Costa Mesa

Lots of friends recommended this place but my first visit. Nick helped us try all the best items. We loved it and are coming back. Don't miss this gem.

Came here on a whim with moderately high expectations for a special evening out and this place blew us away! Our first dish we received was the New York strip skewer (pic attch?d . I can say without a doubt it was the best beef skewer I?ve ever had. The meat was super tender and full of flavor. We got 3 skewers with about 7 pieces of New York on each for $17. This dish is a must try, (unless they have the Wagyu in stock!! . Our second dish was the Mixed Chicken skewers which again, left us longing for more. They use some sort of plum sauce that just enhances the whole experience. If you have some room left, this is another great grab. We finished up with the Fluffy Cheesecake which I can confidently say is now my favorite desert in Costa Mesa. The side of green tea ice cream was equally as satisfying and was the perfect finish to our night. I?ll be coming back here extremely soon to show off this great place to my friends.

The idea feels so simple: grill food. The depth of flavor of the food at Oak and Coal is beyond simple. Everything we had was so bold and savory. The drinks were fantastic, and the staff was exceptionally friendly and generous. I absolutely loved everything that I had: garlic, eel, scallops, spicy chicken wings, corn. You can't go wrong. Also: the menu is broken up into rounds. They planned this!

Delicious but tiny portions. It's a variety of Japanese style kebab meats, seafood, and veggies. Each skewer comes with 4 pieces. Each piece is bite sized. So that means each skewer is 4 bites. Pieces range from $4-$7 per skewer. That's right, $1-$2 per bite of food. There's no corkage fee as long as you buy it from next door (and they check), so buy your own bottle of wine. Otherwise you'll be paying $10 per glass of wine. The dumplings are amazing. The sweet sausages are great. Warning the jumbo shrimp comes shell on. The hot Soba noodle soup is great.

The Mai Tai was delightful, but the dining experience was somewhat unusual. The unagi crispy rice was quite mediocre; the rice wasn't crispy enough. The Cunning noodles were overcooked, resulting in a soggy texture. The Huhn Karaage had a strong hot and sour flavor.