The Ultimutt list of Dog-friendly restaurants in Orange County
Here are some of the best dog-friendly restaurants in Orange County. Dogs are not just pets, they are family, so finding dog friendly restaurants is always a plus when trying to figure out where to go to eat. It can be hard trying to figure out where the dog friendly restaurants are and if you’re anything like us, you don’t want to leave your fur-baby behind! We love taking our little Nike boy to travel and eat with us; and luckily Orange County has a ton of dog friendly places to go to! Nike loves accompanying us to go eat and knows he’ll end up getting some food for himself too!
I have put together a list of a few of our top favorite dog OBSSESSED restaurants in Orange County, California. I hope you enjoy!
OEB Breakfast Co.
OEB Breakfast Co. is a dog friendly, farm-to-table restaurant serving quality meals that are visually beautiful and delicious! We ordered the Lobster Scramble and the Get Shorty Rib. The Lobster Scramble has lobster, shrimp, duck fat fried herb potatoes, shallots, green onions, American asiago cheese, and brown butter hollandaise. I could taste each ingredient with every bite and it was divine! The Get Shorty Rib came with poached eggs, duck fat fried herb potatoes, cheese curds, Philly-style beef short-rib, bell peppers, red onions, mushrooms, and brown butter hollandaise. The ingredients blended so well together and tasted amazing! We ended with the Do Not Even Go There dessert, which is a French style crepe with vanilla custard, berries, banana, fresh whipped cream, pistachios, almonds, and Vermont maple syrup. Wow just WOW. The dessert left us speechless. Not only was the food delicious, but also the hospitality, especially towards Nike was the best! They gave Nike a water bowl and some treats that he would describe as PAWfection!
Hopdoddy
Hopdoddy is the coolest bar-style restaurant. They are incredibly dog friendly; as soon as they saw Nike, they let us know they offer a dog patty (unsalted beef patty) on their menu for our fur-babies. Needless to say, we definitely got Nike his own patty, which you can choose between 3 different ounce sizes (so many options for our fur-babies). They have outstanding beer and incredibly tasting food! One of the coolest things is that you can turn any of their burgers into salads (as pictured below). I turned the Thunderbird burger into a salad and it did not disappoint! It literally has everything the burger has minus the buns and the patty is still intact, which is awesome! We also ordered the Ahi Tuna burger and the sweet potato fries, which still have our mouths watering! It’s located within Fashion Islands so you can shop before or after enjoying a scrumptious meal at Hopdoddy!
Dough & Arrow
If you and your pup have a sweet tooth then Dough and Arrow is the place to go! I love the meaning behind the name of their shop; the owner named it after her dog, Arrow, a gorgeous vizsla dog. And then of course, dough because they sell cookies. Let me tell you, their cookies are MASSIVE! They are definitely shareable, but when you try them, you won’t want to share! They are SO soft and tasty. They have such unique flavors and are baked to perfection. We tried the crème brulee, ube toasted coconut, the smookie, magonada cookie, cherries jublie, and the kitchen sink and we cannot wait to go back to try new flavors and pick up seconds of some of our favorites! What is cool about Dough and Arrow is that they rotate flavors and introduce seasonal flavors so you can always find something you’ll like! They also offer a refreshing drink menu, but the best part is you get to experience all of the goodies with your dog because they also have pooch cookies! Nike devoured them in an instant! They are also generous in size, soft and easy to break for your fur-baby to chew and enjoy!
Descanso
Descanso serves authentic modern Mexican cuisine. The moment you walk in you see a gorgeous succulent covered wall with their name on it! The food is delicious and appealing. It is bright, colorful and full of flavor! We got to try a variety of foods and its authentic Mexican food with a modern twist! One of my favorite items is their Volcano taco, which is served on a blue corn and flour tortilla then smothered in a delicious volcano and avocado torreado salsa. They have a dog friendly patio area so your fur-baby can tag along too! The patio also has a bar where you can order their amazing drinks, not to mention they have live music playing on the patio too. We had a great time here and Nike loved it; they brought him ice-cold water and gave him so much attention, which he loved!
Café Sevilla
Talk about authentic Spanish Tapas bar. The first time we tried Café Sevilla was at their San Diego location and they did not disappoint! We loved it so much that we had to try it again at their Costa Mesa location. Not only is the food a little taste of Spain, but their live music makes you want to just dance the night away with your dog – and you can! They are extremely dog friendly. Nike was welcomed with open arms and was the center of attention. We enjoyed dancing to the live music together and enjoying all of the Spanish cuisine. A must try and popular dish is their paella. WOW just WOW it blew me away! I had the seafood paella, which came with clams, shrimp, salmon, prawns, mussels, and calamari – by far my favorite dish of the night!
The Cliff
The Cliff definitely holds a special place in my heart because this was the place my boyfriend of 7 years and I became official. Being able to come back and celebrate our special day with our little Nike for years to come makes it that much more special! Love that it is so dog friendly and has an incredible view of the ocean. They also have live music at the bar and fire pits. They have a variety of foods that were incredibly tasty! From the pastas to the burgers, and the seafood options! One of our classic go- tos would definitely be the fish and chips. The fish is fried to perfection – crispy on the outside, but still soft and flaky on the inside. The fries are made with that same concept – golden crispy on the outside, but still soft on the inside. Nike sure loves snagging a fry or three for himself. The Cliff is a great place to go for a beautiful view, great food, and fun times!
The Vox Kitchen
The Vox Kitchen is a dog friendly restaurant that serves a fusion of Peruvian and Chinese cuisines. They have an amazing selection of food, you really can’t go wrong with whatever you choose! We ordered the “saltado” shaken fries, which come with steak, fries, red onions, tomatoes, aji sauce, and rice pilaf (we also added a sunny side up egg). Everything on this plate was incredible! We got corn as an appetizer along with a lychee lemonade and both were amazing! They also had dog treats that Nike loved! The highlight of our visit here was seeing Nike’s face light up when he got to take treats to go in a to-go cup – he was delighted!
Dog friendly restaurant we cannot wait to visit next: Café Sakana (Newport Beach, CA)
Another dog friendly restaurant in Orange County is Café Sakana. Café Sakana is a sushi restaurant that offers a casual dining experience with a variety of sushi rolls. While we have not yet been, we cannot wait to go as sushi is one of our favorite foods and the fact that we can enjoy our favorite meal alongside our little Nike boy is an absolute sushi lovers/dog parents dream! We cannot wait to check this place out next!
Dog friendly restaurants allow us to enjoy delicious food all while creating new memories with our fur-babies! After all, our dogs are not just pets, they are our fur-babies, and being able to bring them to our family food outings make those outings THAT much more special. Orange County has a plethora of dog-friendly restaurants and I hope you continue to follow our journey on @thelifeofnike as we continue to share more of the ultiMUTT dog friendly restaurants we find! If you are ever in the area and are visiting one of these amazing restaurants with your little fur-baby please feel free to tag us in your stories we love to see you all enjoying these places as much as we enjoy them!
Did you enjoy this article? Check out our list of dog-friendly hikes in Orange County.
Andrea Mendoza
Find Guest Blogger Andrea and her pup Nike around OC and on Instagram @thelifeofnike
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