I was just thinking about how lucky I have been to try so many different restaurants throughout my hometown in Orange County as well as different areas in California & different places of the world.  This post is going to give a big “Likes” to some of the places we have frequented with group coupons that we thoroughly enjoyed. Some of these deals we even purchased twice when they came up again and some we have purchased to use in the future.:)

A place we have frequented for wine tastings, as well as monthly tasting parties is The Laguna Canyon Winery We love this place. Lately we go with the groupon deal which is usually $39 for two wine tastings, & two bottles of wine, but don’t be fooled, it is the Laguna Canyon Wineries choice of the wines you get on the groupon.  

A little secret at this place is that if you buy a bottle of wine you can get a tasting for free, so lately we have just bought the 2 bottles we want and got our free tastings because we do not need to own anymore wine glasses in our home…lol  There is both a tasting room that is new located on PCH in Laguna Beach and there is the main tasting/barrel room on Laguna Canyon Road.  We used to regularly go to the monthly tasting parties on Laguna Canyon Road, but since the prices went up and the wine pours went down, we discontinued going. It used to be quite a fun event though. We even saw one of the ladies from The Real Housewives of Orange County there once.

If the pours get back up to par, we would definitely go back to this event because the wines are delicious.  As I mentioned in the posting about Mozambique above, there are several other restaurants in the Laguna Beach area that have no corkage fees when you bring Laguna Canyon Winery wines to the restaurant.  The people who work in the winery are more than happy to give you a list of the restaurants that have no corkage with their wines. It is a great place to visit before dinner. My favorite wine selections there are the Wyland Cabernet Sauvignon, Super Tuscan Tre Vini, & the 2007 Chalk Hill Sangiovese…thinking of that Sangiovese makes me want a lil  baguette, parm cheese and a glass of that wine right here right now…

A place that I would give a thumbs up to is Mozambique Steakhouse in Laguna Beach. The ambiance here was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with our friends at this restaurant. Our friends that we went with had recommended it and they had been there several times prior, not only to enjoy the food, but the yummy drinks and live music.

We had purchased a Groupon for $25 that was worth $50 worth of food and drink & we also came in with a bottle of wine from the Laguna Canyon Winery because Mozambique is one of the restaurants on the list that does free corkage for bottles of wine from Laguna Canyon Winery.  Seriously you cannot go wrong with a discount of $25 & bringing in your own bottle of wine with no corkage fee.  The food was phoenomenal.  We had chicken, lamb, & filet mignon steak dishes.  The only qualm I have was that we left after dinner. Next time I would definitely like to stay for the live music!

Another fabulous place we visited two different times with group coupon deals, and one time for the red carpet grand reopening event of the new happy hour menu was the Cottage (now closed), another restaurant that is located in

Laguna Beach as well.  I cannot remember the group coupon deals I purchased for this restaurant since I purchase from so many different sites regularly, but both times I spent $15 and got $30 worth of food.  I must say, I love their Monte Cristo – Triple decker sandwich filled with turkey, ham and swiss cheese on grilled french toast and dusted with powdered sugar. It is served with Cottage fries or potato salad.

This is a great little place and we attended the release of the happy hour red carpet event as well.  All of the food for happy hour is fabulous.  Some of our favorite happy hour items included:

Crostini – Brie & Almonds drizzled with honey or Fig jam, goat cheese and prosciutto dusted with fresh basil.  Both served on crusty french bread. $3.50 at happy hour &  regularly $7.00

Filet Mignon sliders – Two grilled filet mignons with grilled onions and horseradish cream $3.00  at happy hour & regularly $6.00

Another great choice of restaurant we picked from my group coupon deals was Mama D’s  in Newport Beach.  Mama D’s had one of the most welcoming atmospheres with most friendly staff.  The moment you walk into this restaurant, you feel like you are entering a family member’s home.

The staff in this place does their best to make you feel welcome, even joining to sit with you at your table or talk about your day. Never have I seen such exceptional service. This place had fabulous homemade pasta with delicious pink sauce that blends alfredo & tomato sauce and they also had a delish blue cheese sauce I had on my tortellini. My husband and I were here on a date night prior to doing some barhopping in Newport Beach at the Class of 47 (they have no website…true divebar..check out yelp reviews…loves it) & the Balboa Saloon (both fabulous locals bars that are fun and you can dress casual in jeans and tank top…my fave kind of places)  This place was great for a date and it would also be fabulous for a large group of friends.  Just thinking of it makes my mouth water!

 The last place I would like to discuss in this post is Spike’s Fish House.  Spike’s Fish House has two locations, one in Rancho Santa Margarita & one in Laguna Niguel. We went to the RSM location and while it looked like a small restaurant just like any other where you walk up to the counter and order and they bring the food to your table, it pleasantly surprised me. All of the food we tried in this restaurant was fabulous. We even have an upcoming four course meal deal to use from Travelzoo coming up to use as well.  I must say my favorite item at this restaurant was the Hawaiian Poke. I am very hard to please when it comes to ahi poke. My favorite ahi poke ever was at Da Poke House(no website..best reviews on yelp and urban spoon) on the big island of Hawaii and my other favorite was the one at The Royal Hawaiian that recently closed down earlier this year in Laguna Beach.  Spike’s Fish House used all fresh ingredients and everyone that worked there had thorough knowledge of the their product and they had some yummy wines..of course this was a plus for me.

In the future I will review more fabulous restaurants as they arise from my group coupon madness, but these are my selections for the day. Keep your eyes open for if these deals come out again..They are well worth the purchase! 🙂

Halibut Fish Sticks

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