Aqua Restaurant & Lounge

This place is the hidden gem in Orange County. The ambiance is right, price is where it needs to be, but the most important thing about the place is the bartender «Dani” — she is one of the best bartenders I have come across after a long time and knows to make a good cocktail and very creative about making your own choice of drink too. Worth the drive to lake forest for a low key, quiet drink.
Recommendation — TRY THE PUMPKIN SPICE MARTINI

Everything is frozen and reheated.
For the amount you pay, you’re getting Denny’s or Sizzler’s food.
My group came on a Thursday and got the following:
Philly West with Filet Mignon
Lobster Mac & Cheese
Sampler Appetizer (Mozzerrella sticks, poppers, wings)
and some other entrée item that was also not memorable.
All items came out at the same time about 5 minutes after ordering.
Everything was subpar but priced like it was a nice establishment.
It’s not the the food was necessarily bad (it was all edible), but we should have paid no more than $ 30, not $ 60+.
THIS IS NOT WORTH THE GROUPON.
TV’s also didn’t work either.
And on Thursday there is a group of old people that do kareoke. My wife enjoyed that, she’s weird.

A love letter to our waitress, Dani…
Aqua is located in the Holiday Inn and feels like a well kept secret. Quiet enough to have a conversation with the person sitting across from you, delicious (seriously delicious!) food, and amazing cocktails. And if you’re lucky enough to get Dani as your server — you’re in for one of the best dinners to be had in Lake Forest.
With it’s surprisingly upscale feel, Aqua is a great place for date night :) We’ll definitely be back!

I ate here twice with a
certificate. First time with wife was over a year ago. We had pub food (sliders, Philly cheese-​steak, etc…) and I recall it was good and we were both happy. I decided to try again by myself when wife was out of town. I had to spend $ 35 so I ordered the New York steak with garlic mash and asparagus and a lava cake for dessert.
It was karaōke night which was unfortunate for me but the locals seemed to be enjoying themselves.
My steak was horrible, gristly, overseasoned and overcooked, with a brown sauce that was 50% salt. I got 5 – 6 bites from it. My meal was obviously not cooked to order from fresh ingredients. I’m guessing they don’t sell many steaks so they’re pre-​cooked and pre-​seasoned to preserve them.
My recommendation is to stick with the sandwiches and pub fare.

Bartender very prompt and courteous. Good food and prices, especially for hotel. Very nice hotel in great location. Ready to come back next week.

My husband and I came here on a Friday evening after a very long, exhausting week. Aqua was absolutely perfect. We were the only ones in the restaurant so it was very quiet. Our server/​bartender, Chelsea, was great, and the overall service was quick as well.
We started with the lobster mac & cheese, which was everything I had hoped it would be after reading such fantastic reviews! We both ordered the filet mignon philly cheesesteak for our entrees. It was delicious– tons of tender meat and perfectly sauteed onions and mushrooms, and plenty of melted cheese. I have to admit I’ve had better bread (I would have preferred for it to have a crispy/​lightly toasted outside), but I was very happy with what I picked and would order it again. It came with steak fries, which were very good as well.
At first it seemed a little odd that the restaurant was so out in the open, practically in the lobby, but once we sat down it actually didn’t deter from the relaxing atmosphere at all.

Came here with the family. Relaxed ambiance, fantastic service and excellent food. I would highly recommend.
Everything we ordered was fantastic. We got the top sirloin with garlic butter lobster, pan seared salmon, sampler platter (generous portion), spinach artichoke dip, sliders, chicken Caesar salad, and lobster mac and cheese (a must try).
5 stars for the food. 5 stars for the service. I will definitely be back.

Found this little place on groupon! Decided we needed an inexpensive night out so the hubby and I snagged a deal for $ 10 and got up to $ 30 of food.
Pros:
Great food! I had the lobster mac and cheese and my husband got the buffalo chicken wrap. Both delicious!
Amazing service! Our waitress, Dani, took great care of us! She was sweet and helpful. She even gave us a beer on the house because we are «just the cutest». Hell yeah we are!
Cons:
Slower service (dinner took a little over an hour) but well worth the weight!
definitely would recommend this place and dani especially!

For a hotel lounge, this place is surprisingly good. Large number of business people hanging out while traveling, but tasty original food, and much higher quality then you would expect.
Their happy hour isn’t spectacular, but the menu is a little pricey, so I guess you do save some moola.
Also fwiw, although the menu is a little pricey the food is worth it. From selections like lobster mac & cheese, to tri-​tip sliders, the food is american bistro and very tasty.
The only reason I list it at 4 stars, is it definitely doesn’t feel like a restaurant. It’s on the bottom floor of the hotel, and the check in desk is right behind it. Not really a place I could see someone taking a date. But if you want good food while traveling, or staying in the hotel it’s hard to beat.
Also every server I’ve run into has been extremely pleasant and helpful. If you’re staying in the area I would highly recommend dropping in.

4 words:
— Lobster Mac and Cheese —
I love this appetizer so much, I want to break the rules my English teachers taught me and over use exclamation points!!!
Get a Groupon, grab a seat at a table with a built in TV, and prepare to have your waistline expand.
My server was the bartender, and he was fantastic. Sometimes the service can be a little slow, because there’s usually only one server… but who cares, there’s a TV with your own remote at your table.

I purchased a Groupon deal for The Aqua Restaurant and Lounge awhile back and had been sitting on it until today. The Groupon deal was set to expire and thus we made our way to Lake Forest to seek this place out. The Aqua Restaurant and Lounge is located within the Holiday Inn in Lake Forest and can be found just to the right of the front lobby.
The décor of the restaurant is beautiful, plush and very modern. You can tell how much detail and thought went into the design and layout of the restaurant. I was very surprised to see that each of the booths (3 – 4 total) had a small flat screen television embedded into the woodwork against the wall and the remote was placed at the edge of each table. This worked out nicely as me and my wife were able to turn on the NFL playoffs while we enjoyed our meal which was very cool.
Being as we arrived just as the restaurant was opening we had our choice of any of the tables of our choosing and quickly slid into the first available booth. Our waiter for the evening was very friendly and never hesitated to give us his suggestions and opinions on each of the items we ordered. I decided to go with the O.C. Chicken which consisted of panko breaded chicken over a bed of linguini noodles mixed with three blend bell peppers, onions and just a touch of garlic. Although this was a gray marked item on the menu (popular dishes) the waiter told us it may be underwhelming to some but I honestly found it quite delicious. The portion as a whole was a bit small but my appetite for the evening was not what it usually is and I ended up only eating half.
The restaurant has plenty of parking being located within the hotel and both me and my wife really seemed to enjoy our meals. I would highly recommend anyone to purchase a Groupon or
deal and give this place a try. Being a restaurant as well as a lounge also means that the place has a full open bar area which had several guests also enjoying the game on television while also enjoying their drinks. We are not big drinkers so we did not utilize this area but seemed to have a very open and inviting aura about it as well.
Be forewarned that The Aqua Restaurant is only open for breakfast and dinner and is not available for lunch service. They seem to do a great deal of Groupon business on weekends as well due to the hours and we were asked if we were using this deal upon entering. Overall this was a very pleasant dining experience in a beautiful environment that really looks like a top class five star restaurant. It may be awhile due to the proximity to home but I am almost positive we will be back again somewhere down the line.

Came here using a groupon deal on a Friday night. I had read the reviews that it was inside a Holiday Inn and BAM as soon as you walk in its right next to you, no doors to walk through or anything. Just open seating so you can pretty much see the hotel lobby the whole time. There are about 3 booths with tiny tvs which was awesome. Had directv channels too with the remote at your table so you can watch anything you want. I thought that was pretty cool. Got seated after about 5 minutes but that was only because we wanted to wait for a booth.
Food was pretty good but it’s generic american food. Nothing too unique or special that I would be craving again but it was yummy. Ordered the top sirloin and pan seared salmon with garlic butter sauce. The garlic butter sauce is always good. Both came with potatoes and veggies. I had originally wanted to get the pork chop but the waitress said it had been such a popular choice that they ran out. Maybe next time. It’s definately a step up from other generic american chain places like chilis or applebees which was where we originally thought of going but groupon convinced me to give this place a chance.
For dessert we got the apple blossom with vanilla ice cream which is kind of like the ones you can find at costco. Of course its good but I was expecting something a little fancier.
Overall good deal with groupon and good food but nothing amazingly special that I cant get elsewhere. Service was great. Our waitress was really friendly and pretty quick.