Santa Ana Restaurants and Dining

(Santa Ana, California - CA, USA)

There is certainly a great deal of choice when it comes to dining out in the city of Santa Ana. Many of the city's most popular restaurants are located along prominent thoroughfares within the downtown district, such as West 1st Street and intersecting South Main Street.

Typical Californian cuisine really does consist of far more than hamburgers and fries. Many restaurants in Santa Ana choose to specialise in fusion dishes with contemporary elements and a strong attention to all aspects of presentation. Seafood regularly makes an appearance on local dining menus, including fish tacos, salmon, lobsters and Dungeness crab, while some local eateries have been influenced by their colonial Spanish and Mexican roots (Fresh Mex).

California-style pizzas are not hard to come by in Santa Ana and are highly suitable for families looking for an inexpensive bite to eat. Pizzerias in Santa Ana often like to focus on different kinds of toppings, such as barbecued meats and fresh local produce. Standing on South Main Street and within the Westfield MainPlace shopping complex is the California Pizza Kitchen, where toppings include avocados, barbecue chicken, black bean salsa, peanut sauce and wild mushrooms.

Where to Eat

Edged by Broadway and Spurgeon Street, the Artist's Village comes with an appealing combination of shops, art galleries and dining venues. Situated just down the street from the Grand Central Art Center is the Gypsy Den Restaurant, which is extremely popular with the younger crowd and serves up hearty breakfasts, pasta salads, homemade corn chips (Nachos), and vegetarian chillies and stews.

For quality fast-food dining in Santa Ana, make a point to eat out at the In-N-Out Burger Restaurant on South Bristol Street, which constantly garners rave reviews for its pure beef patties and vanilla shakes. For something a little more inventive, the equally impressive Playground Restaurant on East 4th Street is a reliable choice for the more adventurous foodie, with its buffalo grilled quail, fried Brussels sprouts, kurobuta pork shoulder, roasted bone marrow with cherries, roasted local pink grouper and Shigoku oysters.

Dining with a definite Cajun and Creole vibe is on offer at the Boiling Crab on the West MacArthur Boulevard, which ranks as one of the top restaurants in the whole of Santa Ana and features a real assortment of spicy seafood, ranging from lobsters and shrimp, to crabs and crawfish. However, the popularity of the Boiling Crab does mean that you may well need to wait for a table to become available.

Other recommendations for Santa Ana restaurants include the Baja Fish Tacos on South Bristol Street, the Tangata on North Main Street (at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art), and the Antonello Ristorante and Enoteca Lounge on South Plaza Drive. At the Antonello, gourmet Italian-style dishes range from Caribbean shrimp and gnocchi ricotta dumplings, to lobster broth, prime filet steak with gorgonzola and rib-eye medallions with herbs.