Taleo Grill

My wife and i loved this place. I was wondering if any former employees/​chefs had any recipes for the tres leche cake or the carnitas?

Used my SpreeBird Deal on Chicken Pesto Panini & Carnitas Tamale. What can I say? My tastebuds were in hea-​ven!!! The grilled chicken was very tender not dry, the basil pesto was excellent (did not taste like grass clippings nor was I swimming in a pool of extra virgin olive oil) and the bread was perfectly toasted.
The clientele consisted business people 30 and over. The wait was a bit too long for a bar restaurant not even half full. I wouldn’t eat there on a regular base with out a deal. The food was great, but the prices were a little high.

One word: dark.
If you are ugly and are going on a blind date — this is the place to go. I mean, the ambiance is OK but the service is a bit on the slow side and I wasn’t too impressed with the happy hour menu. I would also like to state that I am a feather light weight and two sangrias didn’t even phase me. Meaning? Those were the weakest drinks in the history of mankind. I’d get more of a buzz from catching a whiff of acetone from one of the nail salons across the way (not sure if there actually are any in that general vicinity… but you know what I mean).
That’s not to say I wouldn’t go back, if anything for the lack of crowd, or if my friends make me.

As soon as we sat down the fresh tortilla chips and their yummy salsa was served. We also got a Queso Fundido
to share. It was a little different from the fundido I’ve had. Usually the cheese is gooey and stringy and you spoon them into a fresh warm tortilla. These were runny like you took velveeta and salsa and melted them in the micro. It had a good taste from the chorizo and mushrooms but it didn’t come with any warm tortilla either so I was bit disappointed in this dish.
For lunch I went with a shrimp ceviche
since I was having dinner out with a friend and wanted to keep it light. It was just OK. I’ve had better. The shrimp were cut up pieces of a shrimp that you would get when ordering sushi. Wasn’t really marinated for long. Maybe I should have ordered the carnitas tacos which is what I have ordered here in the past.
This is definitely not a Mexican restaurant. With the name having been changed to fusion you can expect a menu with various influences from other parts of the culinary world be predominately from asia.
It was a nice lunch with great friends yummy goodness!

Every time I think of Taleo’s, I think of the great atmosphere and how it houses my FAVORITE dessert of all time– the chocolate cake! I am serious. are you having a bad day? Work stressing you out? School making you a hot mess? Trust me, put that all aside, drive yourself to Taleo’s and order yourself the Chocolate Cake. All your problems will melt away as soon as you dig into that dessert! It is hands down my favorite. The chocolate cake has the right amount of fluff, it comes out hot! and has just the right amount of chocolate. Not only that but it comes with a delicious scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side– a great pairing with the hot chocolate cake. Drizzled on top is caramel. What is so delicious about it is that the caramel drizzled on top of the vanilla ice cream hardens a bit and gives you a little itty bitty crunch when you bite into the dessert– just pure heaven!
Okay okay– aside from my unnatural addiction to the chocolate cake dessert they have here, I like the atmosphere. It doesn’t get too crowded because it is in a plaza near all the Irvine business buildings. So, during evenings and weekends, it doesn’t get too crowded and is a perfect place for me to meet up my girlfriends for a nice cocktail.
If you are looking for a company/​dinner gathering spot, Taleo’s has a nice outdoor patio seating to entertain your guests.
As far as entertainment though, there is really not much else you can do in the plaza besides dine.
Tip: Taleo’s is in the same plaza as Ruth’s Chris. Cross streets are Michelson and Carlson.
HAPPY DINING!

Moved to Irvine recently and got a $ 20 GC in the mail to try this place.
I finally went today for lunch around 1pm. It was pretty dead. Maybe 3 – 4 tables with people. Took about 5 – 7 minutes and some dirty looks to finally get a waitress to come over. I ask her for some water and I place my order. I ordered the shrimp ceviche and the shrimp tacos (a la carte).
It takes another 5 or so mins for her to bring the water. Really? A few minutes later she brought the chips and salsa. At that point she apologized for the wait and said that there’s only 2 of them here today and everyone’s getting crazy.
I was kinda hungry and getting pretty impatient… but I kept my cool and refrained from blasting her.
The food came out pretty quick (as it should since there were only like 10 people in there)
The ceviche came first and it was THE WORST CEVICHE EVER. It was dry and lacking any flavor… not even salt.
The shrimp tacos came out next and were SUPER YUMMY! I loved everything about them. (flour tortilla, chipotle aioli, pico de gallo, lettuce & jack cheese). The chipotle aioli was the perfect added touch. Also, for some reason, I was expecting breaded and fried shrimp, but they were grilled. EVEN BETTER! They entrée comes with beans and rice and is $ 15. A la carte, the tacos are $ 4 each. A really good deal!
Now… what to do with the ceviche?! I like my ceviche really WET and dripping with the acidic juices they marinate with… so I asked for a bunch of limes and a container to take home. I added all the lime and some salt to the ceviche and had it later today for dinner. It was pretty good after my adjustments. I wouldnt order it again, thats for sure.
I would go back for the shrimp tacos.
Not bad for a free $ 20 meal…

I gotta say, the food was absolutely delicious! I was surprised at how good it was. I had the chicken tacos for lunch the other day with lime rice and black beans. The only thing that was kind of a bummer was the fact that the tortilla holding all the chicken and condiments got really soggy. I don’t like holding soggy food so I just ate everything seperately.
I don’t understand how this retaurant is a asian/​mexican blend. I only really saw Mexican.
The service needs major improvement. When we sat down there were no utensils for anyone and we had to ask for them. Then the waiter said she would give us «water all around» which apparently means only the people who ordered alcohol? I got a little thirsty waiting for a refill.
I would recommend this place for lunch!

Popped in for Taco Tuesday and boy was it a strange scene.
The crowd: my mother’s age, full of drunken divorcees trying to grab anything and everything that walked by.
The food:
Is sushi/​sashimi really Mexican inspired if you just put tortilla strips next to it? Odd.
But the pork sliders– came on Hawaiian rolls. Small, sweet, weird. Definitely not Latin inspired in any way.
Quesadilla with carnitas– tasty
Halibut carpaccio– an Italian dish at a Latin restaurant too? Tasty with the ponzu sauce and pepper flakes but not Latin.
This place doesn’t seem to have figured out its identity. But some of the food was tasty. Their margaritas are a little lacking though. They need some extra flavors beyond the normal lime.

Same great taste but there was a change of ownership.
What did it mean for me?
Slightly smaller portions because of the plates and they didn’t accept my
gift certificate. I was disappointed when I couldn’t use it because that meant I had to pay full price for something I didn’t intend to.
Just know this is just regular mexican food with nicer smaller plates with friendly service and nice atmosphere.

This place is great!
Came here on a Tuesday for Taco Tuesday, it turns out they don’t have Taco Tuesday promotions, but nevertheless ordered some tacos.
First thing that came out was the free hot chips and salsa. The chips were nice and warm, tasted super fresh! Be careful of the house salsa, it is pretty spicy. You can ask for the pico de gallo salsa if you’re not into the spicy foods.
I’m really surprised that they serve fresh oysters here! Each order comes with two Fanny Bay oysters and boy are they awesome! Definitely comparable with Wildfish in Newport Beach, but different because Taleo’s oysters are seasoned! Really good!
I ordered the Chicken and Carne Asada tacos. They came out fresh, hot, and utterly drool worthy when you add in some of their hot salsa! It was served with my favorite sides, black beans and rice.
Service was great, attentive waitresses and waiters, smiles, good food :)
Can’t go wrong, great place!

Taleo Grill is in the same plaza as Houston’s, CPK, and Mother’s Market on Michelson and Jamboree. For some reason, I always seemed to overlook this place until my friend suggested it for lunch.
This place seems to be popular with the business lunch crowd, and for some happy hour after work. For upscale Americanized Mexican food, this place is alright. I like La Sirena Grill and Javier’s a lot more.
They start you off with free tortilla chips and salsa. This was quite good. The tortilla chips were light and crunchy without the grease, and the salsa had a really good kick to it.
My friend and I shared the beef tamales and a chipotle chicken dish. The portions were generous and we each took home leftovers.
Service was okay, but for a place like this I expect more.

As much as I hate to rescind their justly earned one-​star review; I must say I have been back since with a
gift certificate and the food is as good as ever. Especially enjoy the Chipolte ribs, carnitas and salmon. They even gave me free corkage on my last visit (paired the meal with a very nice 2008 Alexa Oregon Pinot).
On a future visit… I may even bump them up to four star, the food is that good. Service was better then before as well. Okay Taleo, you may be back in my good graces…

Nice upscale Mexican Cuisine.
We ordered:
Soup of the day — chicken + rice; was really salty. The waiter gave us a new one which was less salty but still too salty for our liking.
Ceviche — fresh halibut. Fresh ingredients but again a bit heavy on the salt.
Spinach & Mushroom enchilada — really good flavor. I liked the cilantro lime rice that comes with this dish.
Carnitas — LOTS of tender tender meat! There was a nice crust on the outside of this dish and once you cut into the meat it was oh sooooo tender and juicy.
Flan — best flan. ever. Rich, dense and smooth. we love love loved it. Flan alone could bring us back.
Overall the food was good and portions were huge. So come hungry!

I like Taleo Grill… I wish I would remember to eat here more often. The food is good and the staff is polite. There only enemy is there location. I think because of where they are they do not get a lot of foot traffic. I drive by all the time and just think of California Pizza kitchen and Houston’s.
Then a friend recently mention how about Taleo? And a light bulb turns in my head on like «oh yea Taleo!
The margaritas were good in fact so good, I had to have two. One with fresh strawberry and another one with a new tequila called Avion. Very good. (i guess this is the tequila was in the show «Entourage.» They have a fairly big bar and would would probably be able to have big events and great for birthdays. here, etc.
The food is traditional but good nothing fancy but satisfying. I had the tuna ahi salad and the chicken enchilada two ways one was with mole sauce and the other was tomato. For Saturday night out we had a great time food and drinks.
Check ti out. This could be a poppin place for youngster in Irvine
Taleo is good… just a little to calm, let’s get some young blood in there ;) hehe! Great food and service.
*corkage free — one bottle only.

Taleo Grill is not an easy place to review. On a positive note the food is good, the service is good, and the restaurant itself has a nice modern feel. On the down side the food is about 25−30% overpriced in my estimation, probably due to the high rent in its corporate park location.
One saving grace for savvy diners at Taleo is that they offer discounted gift cards on
and you can usually get 1,000 Opentable points if you make a reservation on
. By using these promotions you can get the price tag down to a reasonable level.
Last night my wife and I went (after making an opentable reservation of course) and had a nice dinner. We ordered…
Guacamole — $ 10
Chicken Enchiladas with Mole, rice, and nopales — $ 15
Carnitas with rice, beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, and tortillas — $ 21
1 Draft Dos Equis Amber — $ 5
The bill with tax came out to $ 55.46. After a $ 10 tip, a not so frugal diner would be $ 65.46 lighter in the pockets. Luckily for us we were able to cash in an Opentable check for a discount. Everything was good. Nothing was amazing, but nothing was bad. I think it is a bit pretentious that the carnitas sells for $ 21 and the guacamole for $ 10. If money was no object this place would get 3.5 to 4 stars. However, it is an object for this Unilocaler, and the high prices knock Taleo down a star since I would not dine here and pay full price.

This place is a good value if you do the following:
— Book your reservation at OpenTable
— Purchase a gift certificate from
— Have most of your margaritas during Happy Hour.
I know, this probably makes me a super annoying customer, but I can’t justify paying top prices for food that is «pretty good.» This is definitely a step above your El Torito/​Acapulco joint, but you do pay a premium for it.
Without the 3 bonuses above, this would have been a 3-​star experience for me.

We all decided to eat at Taleo Grill and had everything set up in advance. Everyone brought a bottle of wine and it turned out there were 17 of us. In the past there were never any issues with corkage fees and it had always been waived as they have a no corkage policy. On this night the manager (I hope this guy still has a job) decided that any bottles of wine over 10 were subject to a $ 20 corkage fee. We talked it over and decided that we would take our business elsewhere. The restaurant was completely dead and gave up a $ 700 tab that we spent elsewhere. With today’s economy it must be great to pick and choose the people that you want to eat in the restaurant and the way u do business on a slow Wednesday night.
I know that other people have had issues with this restaurant, so their actions don’t surprise me. I won’t be returning to Taleo Grill any time in the near future, as will many of my collegues.

Dear Taleo: thanks for the nice evening. It was swell. I am a fan! Love: Mik.
As my husband and I were seated, the hostess said, «Your server will be with you shortly.» Ok, thanks. As the table next to us was seated five minutes later, the hostess said, «Your server tonight will be Marcy, you are in GREAT hands!» Ummm… shoot, wish we were going to be served by Marcy! About 10 minutes later, our server arrived (after Marcy’s table next to us had already received drinks, chips, and salsa). He was nice enough, but I agree with other reviewers that have commented on the less than spectacular service. We visited with a
certificate, which automatically caused an 18% gratuity to be added. I have no problem tipping servers well, but I do believe that a server should have to earn a great tip, and I wasn’t so sure the 18% was warranted.
To start, we tried the tortilla soup. It was wonderful! I am surprised that I didn’t read any reviews about it here. The shredded chicken was tender and tasty, and the broth was outstanding.
For dinner, I talked my husband into getting the carnitas, because I wanted to try them. Oh… yes please. So good. Fantastic. Superb. My fork found its way to his plate more times than he appreciated.
I couldn’t decide between the tacos al carbon and the chicken enchiladas suizas. Our server mentioned that I could have one of each. Sold! I was impressed by the flavor and quality of the chicken in the enchilada. The sauce was really rich for my taste, and I don’t think I would have been able to eat two. The filet mignon in the taco had a great smoky flavor. Both were excellent.
It was difficult to tear myself away from my food to save some room for dessert, but I tried. We went ahead and ordered the tres leches cake. Once again… yes please!
Overall I would recommend this place. Wait, let me rephrase. I would recommend this place if you go armed with a certificate from
. I loved the food, but I didn’t love it enough to pay $ 20 per plate or more. Luckily, I won’t ever have to. Thanks
!!
PS Taleo: feel free to lower your prices so that I can come without a coupon and tip my server according to the service I receive. Thanks!

PLEASE order their HOUSE-​MADE TAMALES.
it is to die for. one bite just melts in your mouth .im dead serious.
their pork was so so so so so so so tender!!! (i dont even like pork that much)
made with fresh masa!!!
tres leches. was ok.
also, check out
. taleo grill is on there and purchase a 25 dollar gift certificate for 10 bucks. actually, type in SUPPER as the code and get those discounts! get a $ 25 gift certificate for only 5 bucks!

One of my friends was having a birthday celebration at this place. So, a bunch of us came to celebrate with her. On a Saturday evening, this place wasn’t busy at all. Of course, I had a hard time finding it. Apparently, there was a big a$$ tree blocking the sign so I missed the turn completely and went all the way to Houston. I didn’t see the sign until I made a U back. So, if you were coming here for the first time, just make a right at stop sign after you’ve made a turn into Carlson.
The décor feels homey to me. Like I said, it wasn’t busy at all. We had made reservation so that probably helped a bit. Service was great! With the
discount, we bought a $ 50 GC for $ 6 to subsidize the bill.
Overall, the food was delicious. Not very authentic Mexican taste. I got the carnita. The way they caramelized it made it very tasty. I love the fact that they serve it as huge chunks so I could shred it myself and whatever amount of carnitas I want to put into my tortilla. Pretty good overall but when I asked for additional tortilla, they charged me $ 2 for the three additional tortillas. Of course they didn’t tell me until we saw the bill.
This is definitely not a cheap place. As one pointed out, the guacamole is $ 10. So, make sure you check the menu before saying «yes» to guacamole. For better deal, I suggest you pick up those GC from
. It really cuts down the cost.