At first glace, the menu, the photos on their website and on yelp all seemed very appealing; how could you not choose to come here after being exposed to all that? I was able to easily booked reservations with Mastro's OC the same day (on a Sunday) through yelp/open table.\n\nAfter sealing the deal on this place, I had somewhat high expectations of what my experience and food was going to be like. Mastro's is located on the second floor of City Center and is surrounded by the endless amount of high end stores (Prada, Gucci, Jimmy Choo etc. etc.) so these visual cues added to my high expectations. My date and I were comfortably seated along their edge where we were able to gaze out into the nicely, holiday decorated city center as well as watch 90% of the people window shop...guess it's too expensive and not the right time of year to treat yourself to these classy brands?\n\nAnyway, to get down to it, I was cool with the service and location but the food was OK; it wasn't to my liking and it wasn't to my disliking either.\n\nMy date ordered the bone in ribeye medium rare and it came to our table sizzling hot, at the right temperature (or so we thought) until he got down to the middle. It was not warm but not cold either...just this weird temperature that didn't seem right. At least we were able to get that replaced ASAP. \n\nI decided to go with 2 lobster tails--I had one regularly prepared and one vanilla battered. I should have just had it reguarly prepared because the battered one wasn't really anything special; I didn't even taste the vanilla...or perhaps there might have been a hint of it that my taste buds were unable to pick up on. \n\nAnd the sides...geez, it was expensive and nothing extraordinary! I felt like I could have chosen the potatoes and mushrooms out myself and made the garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms myself. Actually, I think I could actually do Mastro's up in these items (not saying I'm some kind of professional chef or anything like that, just emphasizing that these items were nothing impressive). \n\nSo after 2 ice teas, the 2 entrees and 2 sides the bill came up to about $160 without tip. I can't say the price and food quality ratio was appropriate, though again, the service was top notch. Oh and their artisan breads were delicious as well. I will also say I appreciated the follow up call they did with me the next day; I never had that happen and I thought that was nice of them to do. I guess I might come back here again but purchase something else that might tickle my fancy.
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