Whitestone Restaurant & Bar

Wonderful experience. Creative menu, great service!

We had the Duck Pot Pie, Chicken Sous Vide and the Yellow Curry Cauliflower. The cauliflower was very tasty, the chicken was very good but the pot pie left something to be desired. I struggled to find the meat within the pie and the crust was hard and overcooked.

The biggest disappointment was the cost of the "house" chardonnay, $19! Outrageous.

Also be prepared to be surprised by a 3% surcharge for "Employee Health Benefits". If the restaurant really provides these benefits that's great, just include it in the price of the food and don't sneak it in on the check.

The Staff was nice and had great service. I thought a little overpriced for what you get

Not enough waiters. Kitchen help and hostess appeared to be helping take orders and deliver food. Restaurant wasn't even crowded, so this lack of staffing is puzzling. However, more alarming was the food, which was spiced with a heavy hand. The BBQ shrimp are not what you think: shrimp with barbeque sauce. They are instead, heavy peppered with a Cajun blackened approach. Way to spicy for my taste. Moreover, the pork belly fried rice was way too salty. Could barely get a bite down. And the story continues. Literally everything we tried was spiced way too heavily. The chef may be so accustomed to heavy layers of spices that he or she has lost the ability to taste natural food. I conclude this because no chef in their right mind would send out food with such an overhanded approach to spicing foods. Bottom line: the level of spice at this restaurant doesn't enhance flavor, it overpowers it.

This was a very pleasant experience. The food was fabulous and the service was excellent. The hostess, waiter and other help were friendly and attentive. The bar is charming and the live music was pleasurable. We look forward to going back with friends!

New Years Eve!

New Years Eve at the bar. Once again the bar tenders are super friendly and fun!!

New Years Eve

Early New Years Eve dinner with grandkids. Menu not kid friendly. Tried a few dishes but quality not as good as prior visit. Fried rice was salty. Ordered a fillet for kids that never showed up until dessert. Comped the steak and champagne but disappointed with the evening.

We asked for a quiet spot when we arrived. We were seated and then the music started. It was more like heavy metal screaming. We asked our server to please turn it down. Request denied. We ate our appetizer and asked for the mains to be boxed up. We will never return.

Fabulous meal. Sat at the bar and the bartenders were so friendly. Such a fun night.

It is a bit loud if you are looking for quiet conversation.
Service was outstanding and chef was very accommodating
We will go back preferably when music is not playing.

What a delightful evening. Slow progress through a progressive menu oriented to sharing with a date or partner. We took advantage of that fact to encourage our waiter to divide portions for us. Chandler was his name and he was a terrific waiter who we thoroughly enjoyed. Jokes all around and a fun atmosphere. We had scallops and popcorn (good) and the duck pot pie (fantastic). Interesting and different chef-oriented fusion dishes which were a delight and full of surprises.

We were looking forward to trying this restaurant, extremely disappointed. Felt like we wasted our money. We can't say one good thing about the food. Chef and Sous Chef were walking around the restaurant, wished they were in the kitchen supervising the food going out. Service was good. We really wished it had been much better. Would not waste your time or money on this restaurant.

Takeover of another restaurant in DP that does not care about their customers dining experience. Seafood was not good, nor fresh. Very disappointed! Could have been lovely in this atmosphere, but the food did not measure up to a good dining experience.

We loved the food but the hostess first sat us outside and the. Moved us because she said another reservation had that table. No one showed up while we were there. Then we received our bill before we were finished. We cancelled our main course and left. I called to speak with our waiter to ask him to put aside the main course and I would
Pay for it and pick it up later. The hostess kept
Me waiting for 10 minutes and then hung up on me. I hope that the fine restaurant works on these little glitches

Great food but a bit pricey. Would definitely go back. Our waiter , Brian, was fantastic.

This is a must go to restaurant! We had a wonderful dining experience! The food is excellent and I would rarely take the time to rate a restaurant, but south Orange County needs dining destinations like this one! This was our 2nd time at Whitestone for dinner on a Saturday night. Our meal started with the Caesar salad, a fantastic interpretation and big enough for 2. We also shared the mushroom dish which was amazing and just so fun to eat! The Vietnamese fish stew was wonderful and the beef cheeks with farro also very yummy and a big portion. Oh, and the shrimp was also very tasty. All the dishes really emphasize flavor and texture a nice change from so many other places. The dessert, a brownie of sorts with candied walnuts was also a big hit! This will be our go to dinner spot from now on!

Very eclectic menu, there’s something for everyone to love. Love that it is more of a shared plate or family style. Definitely great for a group of friends, or families. Absolutely love the Vietnamese fish stew and the wild boar ragu. The big surprise was the barbecued mushrooms, I don’t really care for mushrooms typically, however those were phenomenal

Loved sitting at the bar with the friendly bartenders. The Caesar salad was by far the best I’ve ever had.

Beautiful place to have a top notch dinner! The food was so creative and uniquely presented. Especially loved the lamb chops, caesar salad and BBQ shrimp. The flavors were delectable! Thank you Whitestone for bringing this upscale dining experience to Dana Point. Looking forward to coming back soon!

Great concept!
There is something on the menu for everyone.
Great service and great atmosphere. Definitely will dine there again.

Nice restaurant. A little expensive for a basic out to dinner occasion.

This is the second time we’ve been to Whitestone. Both times we’ve tried something different. Both times the food was unique and delicious. We’re planning on coming back until we’ve tasted the whole menu.

The food was extraordinary. Every item was beautifully presented, uniquely prepared and wonderfully flavored. The service was impeccable. We loved the concept of family style to share and will definitely be back often!

great food and service!
will definitely come again!

Loved this place! Delicious food and friendly staff! The chef even came and chatted for a few! Def a repeater!!❤️🙏🏻👏

This is our second time dining at Whitestone and love the family style presentation of different foods that can be shared and enjoyed.

Great new restaurant! The music was a bit loud, but other than that, the food, wine and ambience was super! Good price point, too. We will definitely be back.

The menu is really unusual, so that was fun to try some new, creative dishes. Most of the items we really liked. Our server was nice and knowledgeable about the dishes, but we waited quite some time to find him to place our order. He had a heavy accent, which was challenging to understand. Worth a try!

Not for us. Pretentious concept. Sharing but regular portions not family style. It’s an excuse to serve food not together so that some folks eat while others watch. My scallops and coffee came out cold. No substitutions on sides. All in all very annoying. Much much better when it was two left forks. We will not be going back.

Food quite good. $16.00 martini in a very small glass was a ripoff. I complained to the bartender when we left. He said it was 8oz, which I doubt.

This was our 1st time to the restaurant. We were not familiar with their type of service. This was a small plate type of restaurant. The idea is to share the food that comes to the table. We are not opposed to this type of dinning, similar to sushi and other types of small plates. The issue we found was the size of the portions vs the pricing.

We ordered a Chartuterie and Cheese plate. It was $38.00 for the plate. There were four of us. Sorry to say that there was enough food for maybe 2 small bites each. Although everything tasted good it was a lot of money for 2 bites. We also had their BBQ Mushrooms. This was a fantastic tasty treat. The issue again was it was a taste. We each got about a serving spoon of the Mushrooms, a small portion.

We then ordered the Caesar, this was a generous portion there was plenty of romaine, however, the crispy prosciutto was limited. There was plenty of salad for the four of us. We then had the Crispy Forbidden Rice. This came in as a hockey puck size portion sitting on a luscious sauce. Again the portion was just enough to taste not to satiate once appetite. Finally there was the protein. We had the Jidori Chicken Breast. This too was delicious, however, it was one small chicken breast for 4 people. In the end the dinner was about $200 including 4 glasses of wine. We all walked out disappointed in the cost for the amount of food that was presented.

In all of our opinions we felt if you want to sit at the bar and drink and eat one or two items it makes sense, but to expect to have a dinner this is not the place.

We loved the food. Unique and tasty menu made fresh from scratch with flavors you’ve never had before. Service was great and drinks were perfect.

Well we waited exactly 20 minutes before anyone greeted us at the table with blame being put on hostess for seating us in no-man’s land. Was brought the wrong drink but they did correct it. Do not care for concept of plates coming out at different times ( just personal preference). Music was loud and seemed more geared to a nightclub. Prices quite high. Aside from that the food was good. Especially loved beef cheek. Curry cauliflower was good. We aren’t planning to return. Sad because we were looking forward to a new restaurant in town. Our waitress was very sweet and wanted to make things better for us. Just too many things..

So many choices that sounded great. Very creative menu. I can’t wait to go back and try new things!!

Finally a menu that offers unique dishes that aren’t on every other restaurants menus! Between the 4 of us we tried 6 different items and loved them all!

The menu is wonderful and full of plates to share. The shrimp and the cedar salad were amazing. I can’t wait dine again. Ask for Gabriel. His service was outstanding.

Gabriel was excellent.

One of the best restaurants in Orange County!! So impressed with the unique menu.