NEP Cafe - Irvine

Came during happy hour. The happy hr start from 2pm to 5pm. I've ordered Seafood ceviche, it was ok. Chicken wings (6 pcs) chicken was tendered, skin was crispy, drizzle with camelized fish sauce. It was delicious! Beef belly bánh mì chao came with bread, personally I think it's too fattening but it was good. Garlic shrimp pasta was great. All staff are friendly, fast and efficient. Great customer service. Good place to hang out with friends and family. Definitely recommend to everyone.

Nep offers a fantastic contemporary take on Vietnamese cuisine. The dishes were excellent and very well-executed. I was also really impressed by their selection of flavored Vietnamese coffees—they are unique and delicious! The only downside was our waiter, who wasn't very friendly or welcoming. Great food, but the service could definitely use some improvement

10/10 experience here at NEP Cafe! We got the Crème brûlée Vietnamese coffee (elite) and the egg coffee (also delicious)! James, our waiter, was incredibly kind and helpful in navigating the menu and we ended up getting 3 incredible apps. The seafood ceviche, shrimp salad, and crab toast. All 3 were phenomenal but the shrimp salad was truly special. I wouldn’t have gone for it if it weren’t for James’ suggestion, 10/10 would recommend! It’s so refreshing, light, and flavorful and pairs really well with the butteriness of the crab toast. We were celebrating my partners birthday as well and James took care of us well. Thank you NEP & James for a wonderful birthday experience!

Our party of 7 made a reservation on a Friday night and I highly recommend making a one regardless of your party size. Located in a plaza that shares a parking lot with many other establishments. Even though there seemed to have a lot of spots, it was completely packed. Our server was attentive. She gave us the option to either stagger the dishes or bring them all out at once. We did family style for food and we were all stuffed by the end of the meal with no leftovers. I was very impressed with every single dish! Each one was unique and I would definitely get all of these again. I recommend doing family style so you can try out several dishes. -Beef Carpaccio ($16): thinly sliced American wagyu; I enjoyed the flavor of the beef along with the herbs and peanuts -Squid and Mango Salad ($17): served with large sesame rice crackers -Crispy Calamari ($17) -Chicken Wings ($16): came with 7-8 pieces -Whole Branzino ($49): served with another plate filled with about 4-5 wrap set and perfectly cut vermicelli; loved this dish! -Vietnamese Shaking Beef ($26): tender and flavorful meat served with rice -Beef Tongue Fried Rice ($21) -Bun Bo Hue Dry Noodles ($19) -Seafood Tom Kha Pasta ($22): needed to try this dish since it was a new dish. Enjoyed the shrimp and squid. Loved the spiciness! -Garlic Noodle with Charred Shrimp ($20) Overall: Great, unique dishes— order several dishes for family style. Make a reservation! Would love to come back again.

We visited during a weekend day for brunch. The food is okay but service is horrendous. We ordered: - garlic noodles with shrimp - chicken wings - Bah mi Chao with filet mignon - crab toast - pumpkin pie coffee - egg coffee We also ordered desert: banana bread pudding and mango sticky rice, despite waiting for 50+min, every other table around us finished and left, and our desert were never served. The shrimp does not taste fresh, my silverware was dirty before I even used them. Simply ridiculous dining experience. I would not recommend to anyone.

Quarter roasted chicken leg with sticky rice & veggies for garnish (& eating, dont waste) all for $19 at lunch time!!! Their food is truly unique, tasty, the presentation is an art. 5 stars. The chicken was so juicy & flavorful. I love coming here😍😍😍😍😍

Can’t say enough good things about the food at Nep! We started with spicy wontons, perfectly light and crispy calamari, and a shrimp salad with fish sauce dressing. All absolutely outstanding. The pork tomahawk with nuoc cham was cooked to perfection, and the garlic noodles are the best I’ve had since Crustacean. To top it off, the bread pudding is the best I’ve tasted outside of New Orleans (and I’m from New Orleans!). We can’t wait to return.

We were visiting our friends in Newport Beach and were craving some Vietnamese food. Our friends suggested this cafe in Irvine, only 7 miles from Newport Beach . This was an amzing experience, all the dishes were great , loved the Calamari very tender . Service was also very attentive . The place is a little loud, only drawback as hard to carry out a conversation. Would definitely go again .

I was recommended this place by family, and it didn't disappoint. We ordered the garlic noodles, filet mignon, and the coconut ice cream to finish. The garlic noodle had so much flavor (although a tad bit oily) and the fish had a light batter. Filet mignon was tender enough to eat without a knife. The bread that came with it was also super soft and not rock hard. The coconut ice cream was perfect with the salty sticky rice, mangoes a little sour and peanut topping was a great touch. Service was pretty good, we had our waters refilled pretty timely. The only questionable thing was our waiter at first tried to seat us at the bar for a table for 2, until I requested to sit at the dining room. Loved the modern decor in the restaurant, it felt fresh and clean.

The foods wasn't bad but time not enough kinda little bit rushing. My favorite food is crab toast and banh mi chao

everything about nep cafe is pure perfection. the garlic shrimp noodles are phenomenal!!!! taste like a carbonara went to study abroad in vietnam. so delicious the pork tomahawk is so good. bo né and all the drinks are so delicious. keep it up!!!! i will drive from san diego just to eat here

Came here twice this past year and loved it here. Hubby and I were initially resistant to "elevated" Vietnamese food, since we are used to the more hole in the wall type of places back in Westminster. However, we decided to give Nep a try on our special occasion. We made reservations both times and were seated promptly upon arrival. Ambiance here is good. The restaurant is beautiful and spacious. Only complaint we have is the noise and the loud EDM. It's hard to talk over it during both meals. As for the food, the banh mi chao, brussel sprouts, fries, popcorn chicken, and beef tongue fried rice are the winning dishes! These dishes have the best flavor and tastes SO good. Our least favorite dish is the Vietnamese chicken salad (goi ga). The creamy mayo dressing threw us off, since we're used to ginger fish sauce in our traditional Vietnamese chicken salad. The coffees from here are our favorite. Their egg coffee is the BEST. The Tiramisu coffee comes in a close second. We each got a 2nd cup of egg coffee togo because its just that good. Overall great time here at Nep. We love this location and definitely see ourselves coming back. Parking here sucks on the weekends, so be prepared to park far and walk over!

Had A Reservation, we didn't wait long a all. Got greeted very quickly and our serve came to our table in minutes. Now mind you this establishment was super busy at 12:45 on a Sunday. We order a few things To start Tea . Our serve ugh I didn't get her name ,but I got the name.of her tattoo artist. Was very approachable,pleasant and knowledgeable about the food. She was very attentive. Everything we had a I recommend. I'll be back..

I was so excited to finally dine-in at Nep! Although this isn't the first location, there was a last minute reservation at 7 pm on a Thursday evening and was able to book it same day via Open Table. Food/Drinks Chicken Wings - $15.00 (4/5) The Vietnamese coated marinade chicken wings were sweet, crunchy, and had a nice glaze. Shrimp Garlic Noodle - $19.00 (3/5) The dish was served with 4 large grilled shrimp and garlic noodles. The noodles were al dente and not super oily. Beef Tongue Fried Rice - $21.00 (3/5) The beef tongue was juicy and had nice chunks embedded in the dish. The fried rice was a bit too mushy for my preference. Sadly, it reminded me of cauliflower fried rice. Boneless Ribeye - $65.00 (4/5) Juicy, thick, and medium-well pieces of ribeye accompanied with a side of chimichurri sauce. Sea Salt Vietnamese Coffee - $7.00 (4/5) The sea salt foam layer topped off on this drink helped dilute the Vietnamese coffee flavor - in a good way. I was nervous that the coffee would overshadow the sea salt foam and it didn't. It gave nice boost of caffeine energy. Coconut Matcha - $7.00 (5/5) Our server recommended ordering this and decided to give it a go! Wow, even though this drink is made with a water base and topped with matcha powder and coconut meat slices - it was so refreshing! It's definitely a unique drink and the matcha wasn't bitter or overwhelming. Highly recommend and I'd order this drink again. Banana Bread Pudding - $10.00 (3/5) The presentation was of the plate looked to appetizing. It came with a caramelized banana slice, Frosted Flakes, scoop of vanilla ice cream, and banana bread pudding. Customer Service Jamie A. was my server and she was very attentive during the whole dining experience - thank you! She was very customer service-oriented, gave recommendations, and frequently checked-in with my party. Ambiance Dimly lit and modern interior. This place is a good spot for any occasion - casual or formal attire. There is a bar, booths, tables, and an open concept kitchen to see all of the cooking activities. Location / Parking It is located in a shared plaza with our businesses. During peak hours, it's tricky to find parking. I had to circle around a few times and park further away from the restaurant. There are multiple electric vehicle chargers (mostly occupied by Teslas) that took up a good portion of the primary parking lot in front of Nep.

I LOVE KEI CONCEPTS! I'd like to extend my thanks to their expertise and dedication, and to my boyfriend for always treating me out :3 Food: Ok now that I have gotten that obvious fact out of the way, on to my food reviews. Everything I ordered here was pure magic. Crab toast was amazing mixed with soft milky scrambled eggs. Seafood ceviche was so fresh and the sauce had a slight spicy kick to it. Juicy tender filet mignon sizzling skillet combined with their warm pillowy bread, ugh absolute perfection, I realized it doesn't take too much to keep me happy. I enjoyed their tropical sangria, but I will likely try something else next time. Price: How do they consistently make fantastic food at this affordable pricing?! Appetizers ranged $9-16, rice and noodles ranged $14-19, sizzling plate ranged $16-24. This is why the wait is so long haha. Service: Great without any issues, our waitress Yuki was very welcoming and made good recommendations, which we ended up enjoying very much. Ambiance: Interior was very nicely decorated, big bar area to the right, lots of seating all around. Very clean, and fitting for a nice brunch or dinner date, also saw many families as well as friends hanging out over delicious food. Parking: large parking lot associated with the restaurant, may need to park slightly farther away if the place is busy, but we had no issues finding an available spot.

Absolutely DELICIOUS! I've had Nep Cafe for brunch, and Kin Izakaya for dinner, but now this Irvine location serves Nep Cafe's dinner menu! Spacious, clean and minimalistic - it's perfect for both small or large group dining and the servers are very friendly and accommodating. As with all Kei Concepts restaurants, the food quality is exceptional, and the dishes are so unique and delicious. Whole Branzino - the herbs, veggies, fish sauce and vermicelli noodles all paired so nicely with the soft and tender Branzino. Kind of like a deconstructed vermicelli bowl, making the Branzino wraps was so fun - light yet hearty! Garlic noodles - the shrimp was SO plump and the garlic butter wasn't overly greasy. A good dish to share, since the noodles can be on the heavier side. Drinks - opted for a non-alcoholic calamansi white peach drink and it was so fruity, refreshing and perfect to pair with the "saucier" dishes.

We celebrated Mother's Day for my mama and cousin. We arrived past 10ish and were seated quickly. My cousin and I looked at the menu before so we had a good idea what we wanted to order. Food: - Crab Toast (lump crab, soft scrambled egg, cajun seasoning and toast $20): There's actual crab meat in thee dish and the soft scrambled egg was amazing. - Crispy Brussels Sprouts (lap xuong, sweet soy, crispy onion, peanut, and lime $12): My cousin and I enjoyed this as a side of veggies. I didn't have high expections for this dish but I'm glad we ordered it. -Fried Chicken (crispy chicken thigh, spicy mayo and five spice $10): It's basically popcorn chicken. The chicken pieces were juicy and also had the right amount of spice. - Fried Rice (beef tongue, green onion, egg, soy, and aji sauce $21): One of our favorites! The beef tongue was tender and everything paired well. - Shrimp Garlic noodles ($19): One of favorites! If you love garlic, you must get this dish! Everyone enjoyed this dish. The shrimps were huge and had a nice char to it. - Filet Mignon Banh Mi Chao (black peppercorn sauce, eggs, cha lua, pate, onion, tomato and banh mi $24): My mom really enjoyed this dish! She liked assembling her banh mi and it had a burst of flavor. Drinks: - Coconut Matcha (coconut water, young coconut meat, matcha cheese foam $7): This drink was refreshing. I need to try and remake it at home. - Coconut ube coffee (Vietnamese milk coffee, coconut cream, and ube cream $6.5): I took a sip and I liked it! My cousin enjoyed her drink as well. - Creme Brulee Coffee (creme brulee, Vietnamese milk coffee and egg foam $7): My mom loved her drink! It wasn't too sweet just the way she likes her drinks. Overall, we enjoyed out time in the restaurant. The ambiance wasn't too loud and there was plenty of room. Can't wait to come back and try the other dishes they have to offer.

Had such a great Friday brunch experience here! It was busy but not packed and my party of 3 was able to be seated immediately. All their food was amazing! We got: 1) Coconut Coffee & Egg Coffee 2) Kids Meal Box (SUPER CUTE AND SUPER WORTH - HIGHLY RECOMMEND) 3) Crab Toast (Generous portion of crab - highly recommend) 4) Xoi Man (I loved the marinated quail eggs and pate) 5) Shrimp Garlic Noodles (noodles were delicious and the shrimps were AMAZING) 6) Seafood Ceviche (as delicious aland refreshing as it was aesthetic) Will definitely be coming back more often!

Nep Cafe is one of our favorite places to eat at when visiting LA for their Vietnamese brunch. We usually make a reservation, and service is always quick and attentive. They have a variety of unique and fun coffees/cocktails to start off the meal. Our favorites are the egg coffee and coconut ube coffee. They are known for their banh mi chao, which comes on a sizzling place with eggs, choice protein (beef belly, filet mignon, beef stew, or fish). We also loved their bone marrow, beef tongue fried rice, and garlic noodles. They now have a location in Irvine, worth checking out if the wait time in Fountain Valley is too long. Cant wait to come here on our next SoCal trip!

We came in for an early dinner but it was still brunch time. Decided to just sit at the bar and try a few drinks, Ube colada was a very tasty tropical drink. Coconut matcha was so delicious. Hubby's grey goose martini was a good pour. We liked the garlic noodles with shrimps. Snack food and drinks were great but the brunch items were too limited for us to order something else. We will have to come back for dinner sometime! Service was friendly but place was a bit too loud for me! Ps. They don't carry any bottled sparkling waters, but why?!

Very nice atmosphere, spacious, unlike the other location I have never had to wait long to be seated here and I can actually walk up without a reservation. Very different menu for Brunch than Dinner. For brunch I like the egg coffee, Ban Mi Chao, Xoi Man, Fried Chicken. For dinner, I LOVE the Pork Tomahawk(incredible) w/ the wrap set. They shouldn't even sell it without the wrap set I feel, game changer. I also like the Ube Horchata cocktail.

RSVP if you can but the venue is big enough to get people seated at a reasonable time. We were there for Sunday brunch and it was already getting busy at 10:30am Anyways the bold and flavorful coffee drinks here and their cocktails always gives me Asian flush even though it's so light and refreshing. the food is delicious , service was fast, and great atmosphere I would come back!!!!!

The food, the decor, and the service is top notch. I've come here a number of times and every visit has been enjoyable. Today, my girlfriend and I stopped by for lunch. Paul Nguyen was our server, and he went above and beyond with respect to service. He was knowledgeable, gave great recommendations, and was genuinely kind. Management and Kei Concepts board members, take note: Paul sets the bar high and leads by example when it comes to bringing the H in hospitality at this location. Client service is big for me, and he has "it". (I've already sent my comments to a friend and kei concepts board member, but I think management at this location needs to be informed too- gotta mention it on Yelp just to make sure) That being said, We ordered... the dumplings (my favorite) The matcha drink The crème brûlée coffee Fried chicken Garlic noodles with shrimp And the spicy noodles with chicken. Everything came out beautifully and the dishes we ordered were perfectly balanced flavor wise and the presentation was lovely. Anyhow, I Highly recommend this spot, and will be returning soon! Thank you :)

Kei Concepts never miss. Nep Cafe was amazing in Fountain Valley, it's amazing in Irvine. Whether you come for lunch or dinner, you're in for a treat. Make a reservation if you can cause the line can get long despite the spacious interior and ambiance and all that. Okay, drinks: Sangria is new on the menu but oof, it's a great sangria. Tastes amazing and sweet The creme brûlée Vietnamese iced coffee was a fantastic caffeine hit to start the day. It was just the right amount of sweetness that I just ended up drinking it all without sharing to my girlfriend, ooops. Food: we opted for 2 appetizers and a main dish cause frankly, the brunch appetizers looked better. The crab toast is a must try cause that mixture of crab and egg with the toast is just pure bliss. It's crunchy, then crabby, then fluffy with the egg. The cerviche was also fantastic. The seafood is generous and fresh and well, the sauce got a nice subtle kick to it. The Banh Mi Chao filet mignon looks unassuming but it's a banger. The sauce is as umami as umami gets, the meat is tender beyond words, and the bread was so crunchy outside and soft inside. Anyway, this dish surprised us pleasantly. All in all though, this is a huge welcome addition to Irvine, so all you brunch peeps have another place to savor.

Friday dinner, made a reservation and we were seated immediately. Ordered chicken wings, Tom kha hotpot and shaking beef. The chicken wings were crispy and sticky. Great flavors subtle fish sauce taste but not over the top. Tom kha had great rich flavors with shrimp and seafood inside. Comes with a side of rice noodle. Shaking beef, large chunks of beef with either rich butter soy sauce. A nice fresh salad on the side. A great balanced dish. Food came out quick and service is attentive. I think we were in and out in a little over an hour. Overall a nice casual place.

Nep Cafe's new location in Irvine is definitely worth a visit. We tried the beef tongue fried rice, which could have used a bit more spice and flavor, but it was still enjoyable. The real star, though, is the banh mi chao. It's always a hit with so much flavor and is hands down the best banh mi chao I've had. Their drinks are also great! If you like smashed avocado, I highly recommend the avocado coffee. If you're into refreshing coconut with a kick of caffeine, the matcha coconut may be your go to! The coconut juice is so fresh and sweet! If you're looking for a flavorful and satisfying meal, Nep Cafe won't disappoint! The meal was so good we had to order Xoi to go to try at home. Also, the service was spot on with our server constantly checking up on us if we needed anything. The ambiance is great if you like the hustle and bustle of a popular brunch spot!

Every Kei Concepts restaurant that we've had the pleasure of dining at has been an absolute pleasure. Their staff is beyond gracious, their specialty cocktails are unique and delicious, and of course, the food is perfection every single time. Thank you for always making our dining experience a memorable one!

Another tasty location by Kei Concepts! I recently had a chance to visit this Irvine location during happy hour, which recently started up. This is located in the Heritage Plaza off Culver Drive, between Walnut Avenue and Scottsdale Drive (the street before the 5 freeway; the plaza between Scottsdale and the freeway is apparently called Heritage Square). My friend and I came here on a Tuesday around 3:15p? Their happy hour is 3:00~5:00p. Being a mid-day weekday, it was still pretty empty. There were a few people in line waiting to be checked in at the host stand, but we saw the sign for happy hour in the bar area and walk that way. The bartender said that we can sit anywhere at the counter, but if we wanted one of the tables in the bar area, then we needed to go back to the host stand. We sat at the counter. We each started with a mimosa ($7), my friend got the traditional orange, and I got the pineapple (there's also cranberry). We ordered the fried chicken ($6), the "Dao" ($7), Vietnamese pate mousse ($7), Shanghai dumpling ($8) and Vietnamese chicken salad ($8). I love pineapple in general, but the pineapple mimosa didn't have a strong pineapple taste. The orange mimosa actually tasted better. The food was goooood though. The fried chicken was piping hot, crispy and juicy. It came with a spicy mayo dip, but I didn't need it. The "Dao" was interesting. Foamy potato with a poached egg under it. Tasted really good with the toasted baguette slices, but probably should've dug the spoon deeper to mix the egg with the potato. I'm not one to eat paté, but I tried it since my friend ordered it. It was actually tasty, but I still couldn't eat too much of it (paté in general is not my favorite). The dumpling was good with a slight kick, and the salad was nice refresher. I guess they use their brunch menu if wanting to order from the regular menu during happy hour. Dinner menu starts at 5:00p. Our server and bartender were nice, but another bartender(?) told us about the menu like we should've known that.

I did not know that Kin Izakaya no longer exists after this location during the dinner time. And I decided to try out Nep's dinner menu as the FV location only has Gem Dining at their Nep location. As I scanned the menu, I wasn't very impressed with the options as they all seemed like repeat dishes from their different Kei Concepts locations like Vox and Gem combined. However, the pork tomahawk stood out to me as an entree. And we also ordered the white fish garlic noodle. It was my friends birthday, and the waiter kindly offered a complementary dessert to end the meal with. Pork tomahawk + wrap set: I would highly highly recommend adding on the wrap set so you have a fresh plate of veggies to wrap the savory fatty pork with kind of like bossam. The pork was so tender and juicy, definitely the highlight of the night. White fish garlic noodle: Honestly, nothing else stood out to us on the menu so we defaulted to garlic noodles and fish as protein. I have never had fish with garlic noodles before, but it just tasted like fried tilapia to me. Nothing special here Overall, the option and variety of dishes here is not really anything new and exciting compared to the other Kei concept locations so I was a little bit letdown. But the pork tomahawk definitely saved the night.

We made a reservation a week in advance to celebrate my niece's college graduation at Nep Cafe by Kei Concepts. As soon as we entered, the service was great, and we didn't wait long to be seated. Our server Paul and the entire team were amazing from start to finish. We ordered all the appetizers on the menu so we could try everything. Here's what we had: **Appetizers:** 1. **Seafood Ceviche** - Fresh and delicious (4.6/5). 2. **Vietnamese Pate Mousse** - Really good if you like pate (4.7/5). 3. **Crab Toast** - Yummy crab on toast (4.6/5). 4. **Shanghai Dumplings** - Delicious with a little kick (4.5/5). 5. **Chili Crisp Avocado Toast** - Very nice and creamy (4.5/5). 6. **Fried Chicken** - Crispy and well-rounded (4.5/5). 7. **Crispy Brussel Sprouts** - Cooked well with great flavor (4.4/5). 8. **Vietnamese Shrimp Salad** - Refreshing with fresh shrimp (4.5/5). 9. **Vietnamese Chicken Salad** - Similar to the shrimp salad but with chicken pieces (4.5/5). **Main Dishes:** 1. **Beef Tongue Fried Rice** - Tasty fried rice with tender pieces of beef tongue (4.6/5). 2. **Banh Mi Chao (Sizzling Plate) with Medium Rare Filet Mignon** - Delicious and the most popular order (7 orders) (4.7/5). 3. **Banh Mi Chao (Sizzling Plate) with Beef Tongue** - Equally delicious more tender than Filet Mignon (4.6/5). 4. **Szechuan Spicy Noodles** - Just the right amount of spice (4.5/5). 5. **Shrimp Garlic Noodles** - Lots of garlic and perfectly cooked shrimp (4.6/5). 6. **Spicy Noodles Dumplings** - Delicious pork and shrimp dumplings in a slightly spicy sauce (4.6/5). We tasted everything and shared the food family-style. The coffee drinks were spectacular as well, with my favorite being the Creme Brulee Coffee. The restaurant is very spacious and clean, with separate restrooms for men and women. Parking is plentiful as it is located in a large strip mall. I definitely recommend this place and will return again. My Personal Rating : 4.62 Food 4.6/5 Service 5/5 Price 4.2/5 Ambiance 4.5/5 Cleanliness 4.8/5

Vietnamese cuisine that is refined and reimagined! It's always a culinary journey walking into any Kei Concepts restaurant, and I expected nothing less at Nếp. You will find this modern eatery in Heritage Plaza. Just a stone's throw away from their sister concept Súp Noodle Bar. Plenty of parking, but finding a close spot was tough during dinnertime. Reservations recommended but not required. We didn't have one and were told the wait would be 40 minutes, but they managed to quickly get us seated in 15. The atmosphere is upbeat audibly and vibrant visually. Parts of the dining area feel more dim than others, those tables have mini lamps for extra lighting. Their dinner menu is short and concise. Like maybe eight rice/noodle dishes, four entrees, eight apps, and five desserts give or take. Their beverage selections are more extensive, with almost forty different teas, cocktails, beers, sake, wine, coffee and more. Fried Chicken - each thigh piece was crisp and well seasoned. Dipped in the spicy mayo sauce... excellent! Shrimp Garlic Noodle - Garlic was subtle but it was very buttery. The grilled prawns at their sister concept Vox Kitchen tasted better from what I remember and were easier to peel. But still a comforting dish. Boneless Ribeye - Juicy slices of medium well steak with a healthy serving of pickled cucumbers, fresh herbs, scallions, and crisp garlic. Accompanying tamarind sauce adds depth and complexity. I always hear great things about their brunch, so I'll have to come back again!

I had a chance to finally visit Nep after so many years of wanting to try it! I went with the family on Mother's Day for our 8:45 pm reservations but got there at 8:30 and we were able to be seated right away. The design/ambiance is very fresh and modern. It gave me very zen vibes. Food ordered: Seafood Tom Kha Hot Pot $29 (spicy coconut broth, scallop, calamari, shrimp, cabbage, rice noodle) | Delicious flavors all around! very creamy, sweet and a little kick from the spice. We split it between 4 ppl but we each didn't get too too much in our bowls except maybe my mom since she wanted all the contents. If you're hungry and know you can eat, then it could probably be split between 2 ppl or maybe 3. Garlic Noodle w/ White Fish $19 (fried white fish, garlic butter fish sauce) | noodles cooked perfectly, yummy flavor with the garlic butter, nice presentation. I do wish that the fish was fried a little more with a crunch to it but it was soft. I split this with just my mom and finished all of it. Spicy Noodles $18 (pork & shrimp dumplings, oriental linguine, yu choy, spicy sauce) | my sister and her bf split this and said it was pretty spicy. Good flavor but she wasn't able to keep eating it bc of how spicy it was. It did look delicious though. Drinks: Little Saigon $16 (vodka, pandan, jackfruit, macadamia orgeat, pineapple, lemon) - my sister said this tasted soo good and just like pandan. I had never seen an alcoholic drink that had pandan and jackfruit flavors. Will have to try this another time! Calamansi White Peach ($7) - this was yummy like a sweet drink, but unfortunately I came specifically for those two flavors and it did not taste like either. They said they use syrup and I also didn't know it was bubbly so I was surprised when I drank it lol only because I'm not a fan of bubbly drinks. It just tasted like a sweet soda type of drink. I was expecting a lil punch of calamansi flavor! Our waitress was super sweet as well! We finished every single thing on the table. I can't wait to come back and try other things on the menu.

We LOVE a good HAPPY HOUR Nep Cafe in Irvine has a new happy hour & literally nothing they serve EVER disappoints. From 3-5pm on Monday-Friday in the bar area they'll have their special happy hour menu! We did order some from regular because you can't do brunch here and not get that crab toast‍ We ordered: 1. Coffee-tini *Vodka, Vietnamese Coffee, Thai tea, Vanilla 2. Sea Salt Cream Black Milk Tea 3. Seafood Ceviche *Scallops, Shrimp, Calamari, Coconut, Thai Chili, Mango 4. Crab Toast * Lump Crab, soft scramble egg, tobiko, Cajun seasoning, toast 5. Bo Kho (Viet Beef Stew) *Beef tongue, tomatoes, Thai basil, cilantro, banh mi Nep Cafe 14346 Culver Dr, Irvine, CA 92604 #asianfusion#vietnamesefood#vietfood#brunch#asianbrunch#happyhourtime#irvinefoodies#asianbreakfast#vietnamesecuisine #asianbrunch #modernasiancuisine #cocktails #banhmi #bokho #seafood #scrambledeggs #avocadotoast #milktealover #coffeecorner #espressomartini#nep#nepcafe #nepcafeandbrunch#ocbrunch #ocfoodies #ocrestaurants

This place has been on my list forever and Im so excited to have finally tried it. We tried the ube and creme brulee latte and they were both so good. The ube had real ube flavoring to it whilst the creme brulee was not too sweet and I enjoyed the crispy sugar. I love love love bo ne and it was the primary reason for my visit. Each component, from the pate to the eggs were perfect and complimented each other so well. I would argue the banh mi is the most important part of the dish and the banh mi was so crispy, warm and fluffy on the inside. We also tried the crab toast on a whim AND I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT! I love cooking at home and tried to think of way I could copy it but its just so good and I honestly would come back just for this. We scarfed the dish in like 5 minutes. I loved how the xoi chien was kept authentic and simple but nonetheless a solid dish to enjoy. Even though the rice was soaked in the sauce, it still managed to keep its crispy exterior. Overall, we enjoyed our time here, we enjoyed sitting at the bar section as it had a lot of natural lighting. But the rest of the restaurant looked beautiful as well. Our server was friendly, prompt and personable! Highly recommend this place!

Dinner at Nep Cafe was fantastic from the food to the ambiance, Kei Concepts really perfected the modern cozy dinner experience. The staff was great with answering our questions and offering suggestions. Everything we ordered was 5 out of 5 stars. Little Saigon - vodka based cocktail with jackfruit, pandan, and pineapple Ube Horchata - we were able to order this without alcohol and it was still very delicious with its strong ube flavor Vietnamese Pate Mousse - if your favorite part of a Banh mi is the pate, then this is the #1 thing you need to order. The pate was so good we ordered more baguette to enjoy it with. Vietnamese Chicken Salad - refreshing salad packed with flavors and texture. Beef Tongue Fried Rice - delicious and comforting fried rice with tender pieces of beef tongue Garlic Noodles w/ Charred Shrimp - flavor bomb of garlicky butter thick noodles and perfectly grilled shrimp

Absolutely loved it! It may even be better than the other location. The service was good. Unfortunately, I can't recall our server's name, but he was attending the bar as well. Our server was super friendly and sweet. He gave really great recommendations as well! The interior is very nice, the bar is extensive and clean. Although I do prefer the interior of the other location, this was nice too. Lots of windows, super bright inside. The drinks were great. My coffee was extremely strong, as Vietnamese coffee usually is. The Soda Chanh was great too! The Crab Toast was a surprise. It's not that flavorful, but if you like butter on your toast, then you should get this! Toast was perfectly crisp as well. For the entrees, the Shrimp Garlic Noodles was good. Really good. It can be overwhelmingly after a few bites as it has a butter sauce to it, but wow was it good. The shrimp was perfectly cooked, with a nice char to it. The shrimp had a nice bounce to it when you bit in and as an added bonus, they were a good size! The Beef Tongue fried rice here is 10x better than the one at Fountain Valley for some reason. The rice had the perfect texture, and it was evenly cooked. The sauce though really played an important part. Highly recommend coming here! Also, I don't know why, but Yelp recently took down my review. I'm here to put it back up.

Waited less than 5 minutes for sunday dinner I guess since this place is known for their brunch. 5/5 beef tongue fried rice- beef tongue just melts into your mouth and the fried egg on top always a plus 4/5 fried chicken was very moist, slight crisp on the outside and the orange sauce adds to the whole experience 2/5 vietnamese shaking beef- disappointing dish for being the most expensive at $26. The beef flavor was nothing special and it was also dry. Flavor is nothing compared to a typical vietnamese restaurant's beef and pork which is what I was hoping for. Salad dressing was good and it comes with a bowl of rice. We ordered the xoi chien but they ran out so we replaced it with the shaking beef. Overall, portions were definitely smaller than what we were expecting but my party of 3 were all not super hungry so we still had a small bit of leftovers at the end. Interior decor is really nice for a place that can be casual or a little more upscale depending on how you make the experience. Service was good and server was able to provide multiple reccs and clearly knew the menu well. When I have the chance, would like to come back for brunch to try other things on the menu including the famous egg coffee.

Came here Saturday night thinking that it was going to be busy, and yes it was. We were able to get a seat rather quickly because it was in the bar area. Just so you know, this restaurant is very loud. Don't come if you are expecting to have an intimate time. The bartender took our order, and the server brought our food - rather quickly. Since it was so busy, I thought it would be a long wait. Unfortunately, no one came to check up on us - but that was ok, we did not have any needs, but it's nice for them to see how we are doing and if we needed something. We ordered the Shanghai dumplings- amazing, we should have got another order! Seafood Tom Kha Hot pot - it was ok, a side of charred shrimp- yummy! and the Vietnamese salad- it was fresh and very flavorful. We will definitely be coming back- just earlier and try to beat their dinner crowd.

Came back for the new dinner menu at Nep, and I was blown away by the culinary execution, innovation and dedication to Vietnamese traditional dishes and flavors. I loved how the dinner menu had a wider variety of traditional dishes in comparison to the brunch menu, and I hope they're able to expand their menu even more! We ordered the branzino (which also came with lettuce wraps and rice noodles), shaking beef, Vietnamese salad, lemongrass tofu, seafood ceviche, garlic noodles and Vietnamese pâté mousse, and every dish was exquisitely presented and cooked, impressing even Asian parent standards. Service was a bit slow today despite not having a busy crowd, resulting in a bit of a wait for our cocktails and dessert, but the dishes we ordered came out rapidly. Can't wait to be back again to try more of their dinner menu, and highly recommend this spot for their unique Vietnamese fusion dishes, exceptionally attentive service, and beautiful ambiance!

Decided to come here for lunch during the week to celebrate my fiancé's birthday. We were seated promptly and they even gave us a small card for him wishing a happy birthday! Service was good and i appreciated that we didn't feel rush to order our food as we weren't quite sure what we had wanted yet. The inside feels roomy and modern. My friends and I used to come here for another restaurant before Nep took over. We ended up ordering their shrimp garlic noodles and their filet banh mi chao. Both were great to share. I do appreciate that their bread for the banh mi chao dish was nice and soft, but wished it was warm when it came out. Otherwise, the dish was great! Beef was seasoned well - add some the pate and egg on the bread and it's a perfect bite. I really liked their matcha cheese cream with fresh coconut water. Super refreshing! The cream is a bit thick, but mixing the drink together works well. Overall, this is a solid place for lunch. There's something for everyone here!

After so many make overs. NEP dinner is finally here! Glad this joint opened up and Kei concept team sure did not disappoint. Always executing the most delicious meals!!! I have to say as a Gem dining fan this has stole my palate. All the entrees were so yummy and portion size was more generous than gem. The service is top notch Overall highly recommend!!

Happy hour review: Another Kei concept restaurant that meets its great expectations! Their full/dinner menu might be a bit much but happy hour is definitely where it's at. Monday at 4pm was quite empty and super easy to get a table Pate Mousse: Get!! You NEED to get this if you come here. It's such a creamy and rich meat spread that compliments the buttery toast so well. Make sure to order an extra side of bread for a dollar because there's SO much meat butter. It's also only 7 dollars during happy hour (8 with extra bead) and it'll fill ya up if you're not sharing. The Dao: Skip It's hard to follow up the pate mousse with this... it's a lot more lackluster and bland. It could be enjoyable on its own but its no match for the above Espresso Martini: Get One of the better drinks you can get, it's got the fun notes of vanilla and thai tea to give it a fun spin. Service: Meh Our waters were never refilled the entire time. We ordered extra toast and it took 20+ minutes and a check in with the server a couple times until it finally arrived AFTER dessert. Food: 8/10 Atmosphere: 8/10 Service: 5/10 Value: 7/10

The Kei Concepts restaurants never disappoint! It's always the perfect ambiance with the right amount of dim light. We had no wait for a party of 3 on a weekday evening. The menu from dinner differs from brunch. I'd come back another time because there are so many dishes from the brunch menu I want to try. We got the shrimp garlic noodles, chicken wings, beef tongue fried rice, and banana bread pudding. FYI the chicken wings are made of fish sauce and very strong. I washed my hands after and they still smelled like fish sauce loll. The banana bread pudding dessert was my fave.

Loving the new happy hour menu at Nep Cafe! We visited Thursday afternoon, sat ourselves at the bar, and enjoyed the following happy hour menu items: Fried Chicken: the breading was tasty with delightful five spice flavors, and the spicy mayo was savory and decadent with a nice kick to it! Brussel Sprouts: tasty greens with sweet lap xuong sausage. Vietnamese chicken salad: obsessed with this salad! The dressing is so refreshing and tasty. I like the chicken version as well as the shrimp version. Vietnamese Pate Mousse: if you're a pate fan, you should definitely try this version! They give a generous portion of pate mousse, and for a dollar more you can get some more crostinis so that you can enjoy more of the pate mousse! Coffee-tini: a rich and sweet cocktail due to its vodka, Vietnamese coffee, and Thai tea! Kumquat Mojito: refreshing kumquat and lime flavors, on the sweeter side. Our bartender Brendon took great care of us! Atmosphere at the bar was casual and fun. Looking forward to visiting again and trying more happy hour menu items. Such great value especially for Irvine - with tax and tip, it was still less than $30 / person for happy hour and we left very full and satisfied. Thank you for these awesome happy hour options!

Excellent food and excellent service. Nice interior and good amount of seating. They do use Opentable for reservations so use that if you can.

Such a great dinner experience here at Nep Cafe! How can every single dish we ordered taste this good? [ Parking ] Restaurant is inside a plaza with a lots of parking, so no worries there. [ Service ] Top notch service here and our server had a great personality! She was very attentive and extremely helpful in answering our questions. My friend was curious whether mango is in season since we LOVE mango sticky rice and the server ended up giving us pieces of mango so we could taste test before deciding. Our water cups were constantly refilled and empty plates were taken away fairly quickly. [ Food ] We ordered the Shrimp Garlic Noodle, Fried Chicken, Pork Tomahawk + Lettuce wrap set, and their Mango Sticky Rice. I honestly can't even rank the dishes as they were all extremely good. If you decide to order the Pork Tomahawk, you MUST order the Lettuce wrap set as well. Highly recommend!! I wasn't able to try their drinks this time, but I am returning for sure!

I've been to Nep Cafe a few times and the food is usually great here. This time the food was good, but I feel like I've had better in the past. Still, this is a solid food spot for dining. Our server was nice and attentive which made for a good experience. The Dao 4/5 - This was a potato foam and egg dip served with bread. Very interesting taste. Seafood Ceviche 5/5 - This was very good. The different ingredients and the seafood (shrimp, squid, scallop) added different flavors to the dish. The shrimp chips served on the side was yummy. Banh Mi Chao - Filet Mignon 4/5 - This was a good dish and my usual go-to. The filet mignon wasn't as tender as I wanted it to be that day. Shanghai Dumpling 4/5 - The dumplings were not bad. The sauce was pretty spicy. The skin was too thick for my liking. Wildberry Matcha Latte 4/5 - This was an interesting blend of matcha and berry flavors. It was good though a bit sour due to the berry. I wish they have an ube matcha latte. That would taste really good.

4.5 stars The breakfast dishes are super creative and look great... making it challenging to decide what to order. We had the banh mi chao with filet mignon and the fried rice with chicken and fried egg. Both were excellent. They offer various Vietnamese coffee hot or iced. I opted for the hot Vietnamese egg coffee and it was as good as the best I've had in Vietnam. Service was excellent and the staff was super friendly.

Service was excellent. Our server was attentive and very nice. They even stored my cake in their fridge for us. Food was very delicious. Only negative is that the portions are a bit small for the price. But super flavorful and cooked well. Whole Branzino - fish was tender and full of flavor. Ribeye - good solid plate but flavor was nothing extra. Need to dip in the green sauce Garlic shrimp noodle - large pieces of shrimp and good noodles Crispy calamari - cooked well. Crispy and light Fried chicken- surprising hit. Chicken was soooo soft and juicy. Beef tongue fried rice - didn't really taste like beef tongue but meat was tender and rice was delicious Mango sticky rice - this was okay. Something was missing but not sure what. I'd pass on this dessert.

AMAZING FOOD!!! You NEED to try to crab toast and mango sticky rice. I am absolutely amazed by this restaurant. We also got an iced egg coffee, garlic noodles, and filet mignon banh mi. Everything was 10/10.

I only have positive things to say about this restaurant. The food was impeccable, the service was friendly and did not rush us, and the ambiance was perfect for a date night or a get together with friends and family. We got the shrimp salad and beef carpaccio to start. The shrimp was cooked to perfection and there was plenty in the salad which was nice! The beef carpaccio was impeccable; so tender and the herb pairings were like nothing I'd ever had with beef carpaccio. The fish with garlic noodles with fish was amazing. The breading was light and slightly sweet. And the noodles I liked even more as leftovers. The mango sticky rice was good, but I don't think I would feel so inclined to get it again. I realized I prefer my mango sticky rice without black sesame; however, I appreciated trying a new twist on it. It's definitely worth a try, especially if you like your mango sticky rice to be less sweet.

Finally I could visit Nep cafe I wanted try This Vietnamese fusion restaurant for a while and it was tasty and good service ! I will be back soon

We used to go here when it was emc. We are glad they still have the chicken wings and garlic noodles. Both were a little more buttery than what im used to. But we downed it with sake so it was okay. The service was attentive and friendly. The interior was remodeled and with good ambiance. Price is a little steep. I would be back.

Ambiance is super nice! Service was also attentive and good. The coconut ube coffee and egg coffee were both super delicious but also strongly caffeinated! The Brussels sprouts were solid. I didn't quite like the Bo kho sauce. But the filet mignon was yummy! The crab toast was solid but kind of a small portion. The star though is their bread . The banh mi which you can order separately is fluffy and pillowy in the center and perfectly crusty on the outside. Chefs kiss!

Hands down amazing and delicious. A must try experience. I am pretty disappointed they stopped serving bone marrow though. They have authentic vietnamese food and eggs. I love their fresh raw sea food and eggs coffee.

Met some friends here for a quick drink. Chill vibes but felt a little dead. They forgot about my Dao so I had to ask for it. Pretty friendly service but left because I was bored if their Happy Hour options. Too limited.

We knew it can get crowded here, so we came a little after 5 on a Saturday and it was wide open. We were able to sit in a nice booth. We got the Shaking Beef filet )so much meat and delicious), the dumplings and the fried chicken. Everything was so good. Our server was very helpful and nice, and we also liked how they set up the decor. We'll be back to try other items as well!

Hate to say it but this location was no whereas good as the original fountain valley one. We came by for a birthday lunch and ordered a few dishes to share but nothing really stood out to us. The filet mignon cast iron sauce was a little too sweet for us and so was the pate in the dish. When I had this at the original location the tomatoes were roasted. This time it was just straight cherry tomatoes, hm quality control? The crab toast was overly toasted, almost too burnt and nothing special about the crab dipping/sauce. The only thing left me satisfied was the avocado coffee which I thought was really good but food wise everything tasted pretty damn sweet. I do like the interior and outdoor seating option but pretty disappointed with the food. Service was good but nothing over the top.