Avanti Café is a vegetarian restaurant located on 17th and Westminster Street in Costa Mesa. It can be easy to miss as there are not many large signs that draw attention to this small eatery. My first impression walking in is the appearance isn’t what I would expect of a “café.”
The tables were primarily located inside and it felt more as if I were in a small Mom & Pop style deli with shelves of different food items ready to purchase, a case of prepared food that you can choose to either take home or eat there as well as many shelves of tea.
My friend, Debbie, and I ended up standing around for a few minutes pondering the menus. The tea menu was separate from the food menu because there was a large variety of a tea. All of the teas ranged from $3.45-$4.75 per pot. The cashier who helped us was extremely friendly and more than willing to give advice on her preference of teas. She also helped us decide kinds of food.
Something I found particularly awesome is you can order a desert sampler for $10.75 which includes 3 deserts of your choice excluding fruit tarts.Our cashier was extremely patient as Debbie and I mulled over our options.
Ultimately, we ordered two different types of tea. I had the white green tea. While I’m not tea connoisseur, the tea I had was pretty excellent. The cashier served us our tea in small individual pots. The tea was the perfect way to warm up to our dinner as we were waiting for it to be served.
Debbie ordered the Avanti Bolognese pizza which was available specifically that evening for their pizza-and-beer pairing. The thin-crusted pizza had olives, artichokes capers and real cheese as Deb opted for the vegetarian rather than vegan style. The pizza itself was pretty well portioned and could have been shared by two people or be one large meal for one person.
I had the Ciabatta Scrambler with avocado. The Ciabatta Scrambler had scrambled organic eggs with greens, swiss cheese, smokey fennel black beans, toasted coriander galangal mustard, and lettuce. I don’t typically eat vegetarian food, but I do enjoy it from time to time. To be completely honest, I didn’t care much for the sandwich. It came with a side of delicious homemade chips which were extremely tasty but the sandwich itself tasted a bit grainy and wasn’t a fan of its particular sauce’s earthy flavor.
Lastly, we decided to have our way with the trio of deserts. The deserts all looked amazing and one of the employees was extremely eager to give his much-needed advice. We chose the vegan brownie, the bread pudding (made from day-old muffins and cookies) and a Ginger cookie.
The vegan brownie tasted like a brownie-flavored protein bar which wasn’t that appealing to me but I think I’m just not used to the taste of vegan foods. For being healthy, it was definitely a great treat. Then we had the bread pudding. Debbie really enjoyed it, and I thought it was alright. She’s a vegetarian though so she’s probably more used to these kinds of tastes. The ginger cookie had a strong ginger taste which reminded me a lot of the cinnamon scent of Christmas. My favorite was the Ginger cookie while Debbie most preferred the bread pudding
While the sandwich was disappointing for me, I’m curious to see if a vegetarian would disagree as I’m not a vegetarian so I may not have the acquired taste for vegetarian food. I did think Debbie’s pizza was really tasty and it also seemed healthy.
I hate to say anything negative about the food because the service was fantastic. All of the employees make their customers feel welcome and they’re very understanding of people who haven’t tried their food before.
The fantastic service alone makes me want to go back to try other foods to prove my initial opinion from my sandwich incorrect. I definitely would recommend eating at Avanti for the pizza, tea, cookies and people.
