21 Oceanfront, Newport Beach CA

A pricy but exceptional meal at this old school restaurant, which truly added to the experience. Service was attentive and polite without being overbearing. Every dish was delicious. Personally, the swordfish was one of the best I’ve ever had. A wonderful experience.

The filet mignon and the Chilean sea bass were juicy, tender and cooked perfectly, but the recipes are the same with other places; so, the tastes aren't special.

Great experience, romantic atmosphere. They had live music (Sunday night). Food was delicious. Definitely adding this venue to my list of favorites for extravagant dinning.

Went here for valentines day, they had a rose on every table, and of course a real candle.

Waiters were attentive, courteous and useful with recommending menu items. Recommended wine pairing was fantastic. Desserts were great, good portion for a single or two people.

Atmosphere dark, inclusive, noise volume depends on the number of people/guests, but wasn't overly noisy.

Went in on the weekend with my gf and just wanted to try some appetizers, we needed up with fried calamari which was exactly what I was looking for in a calamari nice and crispy and very well cooked. Another iteam we got was the seared tuna which was absolutely wonderful great sesame and soy flavors and the tuna just melts in your mouth. Would highly recommend any of these two items. Only things that I wasn’t excited about was the sides for the calamari the marinara sauce just didn’t go well seemed more of side for cheesy mozzarella sticks then this calamari. But over all absolutely would recommend excited to try the entrees next time.

So we went here for our seventh anniversary. This was the first place we dined at when we flew into California. I could not honestly think of a better choice. This was honestly some of the most delicious cuisine I have ever tasted in my entire life. The swordfish was a buttery, lemon-caper perfection. The Australian lobster tail was massive, incredibly tender, and oh-so sweet! The filet mignon could not have been cooked more properly. It paired so well with the lobster tail. They were made for eachother? They brought us a chocolate cake for our anniversary dessert. My husband put that it was our anniversary when he made the reservation online through Open Table, and we totally forgot to mention this to our server. They remembered, and it was such great attention to detail. It was the perfect ending to the perfect meal. We will come back here for years to come!

The oysters were okay.
The crab cake was dry.
The jumbo shrimp cocktail was almost too big.
The clam chowder was the worst he's ever had (too watery).
The white truffle Mac & cheese was just super buttery Kraft Mac & Cheese.
The inside is so dated.
We won't be going back.

Elegant old style decor that matches the classic building. Good variety on the menu. Excellent service. Make reservations and use the valet service as self parking can be tight. Good ingredients that are well prepared.

We came just in time for sunset for our anniversary and it was so beautiful and romantic! All of the servers are so kind and they made our anniversary extra special. The filet was amazing and so were all the sides and appetizers! I would highly recommend and will definitely be back!

Dress up fancy for old school, five star dining on the water in Newport Beach. John Wayne's favorite table - is only one of the great tables 'with a water/boat view'. It's five star service to match!

21 Oceanfront is a beautiful decorated place with lots of very nice winchester style booths. It reminded me a little bit of being down below in an old Schooner. Just very homey and comfortable.
It has plenty of stairs (what should be considered if you have someone in your party that might have a harder time walking. BUT even if so the Staff will be helping you, they're very attentive!)
Our Table was set for 6 People, the booth was a little tight for 6 but it would've been manageable.
The Christmas Eve Dinner was a preset 3Course Menue with lots of different choices.
The food was delicious, the pork a little dry but flavor wise very good.
The whole Staff was very friendly. We love the fact that there's a Valet Service. The Valet Staff was very professional and nice. We will come again. Thank you very much!

Always the best experience in town. The food is of top quality and the atmosphere is always the best. Great staff friendly bartender. Memorable memories happen here.

Great location in front of the ocean. Decent wine selection (but I'm not a wine expert).
The service was outstanding.
I felt like I was in an Italian restaurant in Chicago! Beautiful experience.

What to expect going for a dinner to Ocean front upscale place? All the good, right? Oh, well.we expected everything, but disappointment!
Atmosphere: besides quite darkness there's a badly adjusted AC. It was blowing right in our heads and it took two tables's complains to turn it off.
Service: They honestly try, but the shift was understaffed and we literally needed to ask for the water twice.
All the above could be leveraged by a few martinis, but the food brought everything down.
Escargot Bourgogne. They supposed to serve in shells, but the chef has dicided otherwise. So we got some chewy instances covered with sauce.
Fried ginger cauliflower was soaking in acidic buffalo sauces, like uneatable chicken wings.
Filet mignon was just like "Eh.ok". A bit chewy though.
Maryland style Crab cake. For $30 a pice you expect to taste a crab, not some fishy mix.
Cioppino. It's supposed to be a soup. We got a fish stew. Not bad, but not cioppino.
Oysters. $52/dozen. For that price all the oysters must be fresh. We got one badly stunk. Hopefully my wife didn't swallow it.
Wasted $500, ruined night
Quite a shame, isn't it?

Super cool environment the food was just okay, the scallop appetizer was fishy. Presentation was beautiful but it wasn't backed by the flavor on the few dishes I had.

Came into California for the week and found this little gem on the beach. Me and my mother were treated excellently by all the staff, and our waiter Colin was especially exceptional. Food had great flavors and atmosphere was dimly lit with a perfect view of the ocean. Overall recommend 10/10.

The best food I have had a very long time! Fine dining at its best! I enjoyed the atmosphere and service - from the host stand to the server.

Lobster bisque was delicious. The wedge salad was very average. Use to have heirloom tomatoes and be full of bacon and red onions. Not so much anymore. The real fail was the lobster tail. So tuff (overcooked I guess) I couldn’t even chew it. No sweet flavor like a lobster should have. Almost tasteless. Been coming on vacation every year for over 20 years and always look forward to our night at 21. Sadly won’t be back. Way to expensive for mediocre meal.

Wow! Me and my family were visiting Newport and we came across this restaurant online. After reading the reviews I made a reservation for 9 including my 5 year old nephew, needless to say we were very happy with the experience. The restaurant did take us for surprise just because of how classy it looks, and how nice it actually is in person. We were a little underdressed (Jeans, Vans, Hoodies), next time we know to dress up a little more haha. The experience was amazing from the food to our waiter! The food was Amazing! Our dishes consisted of the Filet Mignon, Salmon, Chicken, Burger, Mashed Potatoes, and a huge plate of delicious Chicken Tenders and Fries for my nephew! Their wine selection is incredible! The Alcoholic drinks were on the strong side and they were just great! It’s definitely worth visiting here and experiencing something completely different. All of the food we got was just cooked to perfection with flavor! We will be back on our next trip to Newport!