Newport Seafood Santa Ana
4411 W 1st St
Santa Ana
714-531-5146
This Newport Seafood in Santa Ana is owned by a different owner than the Newport Seafood in Rowland Heights. But they both serve great seafood. I came here with seven people and we ate family style. We all left stuffed.
Hot and sour soup, $8.95. Great for a rainy night like the night I was there. Lots of tofu, green onions, and bamboo shoots. Not too hot or sour. Nice thick brooth. I would order this again.
Lobster, 5lbs at $14 per pound. This was served Newport Special style which is baked or fried, then green onions and spices are added. The lobster is sweet, tender, cooked just right and oh sooo good. This is nice presentation. If you come to Newport Seafood you must order the lobster.
Kung Pao Chicken, $7.95. This location is known for their Kung Pao Chicken. This is pretty good with lots of breaded chicken, which are tender and flavorful. Pretty mild in terms of spiciness but a pretty good dish.
Combination sizzling plate, $13.95. This was an interesting dish. Filled with squid, shrimp, chicken, beef, and liver with assorted veggies. It does come sizzling and fresh to your table. I passed on the liver but the shrimp, chicken and beef were very good. I didn't like the gravy too much. If I ordered this again, I think I would order just the shrimp or just chicken.
Scallop Peking style, $10.95. This was my second favorite dish, next to the lobster. Their Peking style is basically "orange chicken" The outside had a very nice orange flavor, not spicy but flavorful. The scallops were huge, fresh and wonderful. A great dish and I think a steal at $10.95.
The service is very good. There were about 4-5 other large groups but we were never lacking for anything. The servers kept changing our plates, a good thing since lots of lobster shells were piling up. Water was always refilled. And the food came out quickly.
I like both locations of Newport Seafood. I would go back to either location anytime.
Update Dec 27, 2008.
I went back to Newport Seafood and got the following:
House Special Fried Rice, $7.95. This wasn't any good. The first thing I noticed was the rice wasn't hot at all. The Chinese sausage was very dry, the calamari was rubbery, the shrimp was a bit tough. I would just stay with the steamed rice.
Beef Loc Lac, $11.95 This is a dish that I see everybody ordering so I wanted to see what this is all about. This is a very good dish, lots of black pepper and a gravy over tender pieces of beef. This is suppose to come with lime and the lime juice does add a nice tangy flavor to the beef. A good dish. Maybe a bit overpriced at $11.95 but still good.
House Special Fish, $24.95. This is a very good dish. My favorite. This is striped bass, fried, then you pour the sauce over it. The sauce is a bit spicey but nothing overwhelming. The fish is nice and flakey in the inside and crispy, even with the sauce, on the outside.
Service wasn't bad that time around. I went on a Friday night and it was packed with families of eight or more. Our party of two got seated quickly but the service was spotty at best. Water wasn't refilled, they took awhile to take our order, the first guy who took our order after two items, was replaced by another guy. Why? I asked for an itemized receipt and didn't get it.
But what pissed me off the most was that the table of eight to ten people next to us, was served their food, two dishes, before we were. Even though we put in our order and was seated first. What was really bad was the damn fried rice not being hot. The other dishes were hot but the fried rice was cold.
I still will go back but when it's not so crowded.
