INI Ristorante by Kei Concepts

Teddy the Bartender was amazing, he had some really great idea cocktails and honestly made my night! the corn cake dessert was definitely a favorite

food: let me start off by saying this is by far one of the best happy hours we've had! Kei Concepts does not miss! their pizzas, pastas, and garlic parmesan bread was incredible. I will say that the chicken alfredo wasn't my favorite & wouldn't order it again. EVERYTHING else was delicious & definitely worth going back. service: service was friendly and attentive. we went during a weekday for their happy hour specials and it was not busy at all. although I will say i'd recommend making a reservation in advance if you plan on visiting during the weekend. this restaurant tends to get busy with long wait times. I also appreciate that they asked if we had any allergies beforehand. ambiance: such a nice ambiance for a casual date or a special dinner. restaurant has plenty of seating which is a plus. overall rating 4/5

I've been here many times because it is that GOOD! I love all the Kei Concepts restaurants and this is a top contender. The service is amazing, the staff here is very attentive and checked up on us frequently. The vibe in the restaurant set up so beautifully with its trees and dimmed lights. The items we ordered- Chicken Caesar Salad- Miso carbonara- Beef carpaccio- Seafood Mafaldine- Margarita pizzaAll items were amazing! The Seafood Mafaldine stood out to me as I was hesitant on this since i'm not a big crab person - it was good. I love the blend of crab, spicy tomato sauce and cheese. It's not too seafoody if you know what I mean. The Margarita pizza is always a must - I love the sweet tomato sauce paired with the saltiness of prosciutto.

We came here on a weekday at around 2 o clock pm. We were able to get seated with no reservations, which was great. There is a big parking lot and parking is free. There are other business in the area that this restaurant shares with. The interior of this place is well designed with a lot of light coming in from the outside. Very modern! Great place to go for brunch and for large parties. The waiter here was super nice and very accommodating. I would recommend trying the calamari & truffle fries. Their veal bolognese pasta taste sweet and isn't a traditional bolognese pasta.

Absolutely world-class food (in my uneducated opinion).Ini Restaurante is a Kei-concept restaurant, famous for its bold attempts at Asian fusion. Ini Restaurante combines traditional Italian dishes with a Japanese twist. I've been here two times and am flabbergasted by how amazing this food really tastes.If you explore my other Yelp reviews, you'd know I'm a pizza guy. And Ini does pizza exceptionally well. I've had the Mentaiko Pizza twice and have tried the Margherita Pizza as well. I highly recommend the Mentaiko; the pizza is Tokyo-style Neapolitan pizza, meaning the dough has a chewy interior similar to mochi, and a crispy and fluffy crust. The ingredients are fresh, with the mentaiko cream (Japanese caviar) as its base, accompanied by nori (seaweed), and chunks of octopus meat and bonito fish. The Margherita Pizza is delicious as well, but it's more of what you'd expect from a tomato-heavy and minimal-topping pizza.The side dishes of garlic parmesan fries and truffle cheese bread are to die for. The bread literally melts in your mouth, and the fries have amazing crispiness and generous amounts of parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. I wanted to be a little adventurous and used sriracha instead of ketchup.Lastly, the desserts and drinks are incredible as well. The Yuzu Cheesecake cocktail is an alcoholic beverage disguised as a milkshake. The creamy scoop of popcorn ice cream is vanilla with corn flakes thrown in. Additionally, the servers and bartenders I've interacted with are extremely friendly. Service is fast and inefficient and the interior is beautifully designed and lit.Ini Restaurante is my favorite restaurant in Orange County, hands down. It combines Italian and Japanese cuisine in a fusion that works perfectly. It is genuinely one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten at. As far as I'm concerned, there are three reasons to visit Orange County--Disneyland, beaches, and Ini Restaurante.

Ini is the perfect restaurant for every occasion: breakfast, brunch, lunch, happy hour, dinner, drinks, dessert. They really know how to do it all. Their service is always amazing, but they generally have a very long wait time on weekends, so I would recommend going on a week day or happy hour or make reservations in advance.- Truffle Cheese Bread ($16): 9.3/10. This dish is amazing. The bread comes fresh out of the oven on a hot skillet with a crispy exterior and a soft and fluffy interior. It is topped with cheese and dollops of truffle cream and comes with a side of honey to drizzle. So delicious. Definitely GET THIS!!!- Short Rib Gnocchi ($32): 8.7/10. I unexpectedly really enjoyed this dish. I generally do not like the texture or flavor of gnocchi but they prepared the gnocchi in a way where the outside was a little crispy/crunchy and the inside was soft, pillowy, and chewy. The short rib was soft and the mushrooms complimented the dish nicely. There were also chunks of a sweet squash (pumpkin) in this dish, but I am not entirely convinced that they belonged there.- Truffle Funghi Pizza ($21): 9.1/10. One of my favorite pizzas of all time! Mushrooms, truffle, and arugula. Such unique and delicious flavors.- Mentaiko Pizza ($24): 9.1/10. Honestly, I would not be able to choose between this and the truffle funghi pizza. This one is definitely more unique, but they are both so delicious it's hard to choose! Both have a sweet and salty flavor profile which I love.- Spicy Miso Carbonara ($23): 6.6/10. This pasta is very mediocre in my opinion, especially amongst all of their other dishes. It think it has been over hyped on tik tok and other social medias and you could definitely make this one at home on your own. Wasn't anything special.HAPPY HOUR MENU- Garlic Parmesan Fries ($8): 8.6/10. Strong garlic and parmesan flavor. Definitely above average fries. Thick cut fries with crispy exterior and soft interior. These were surprisingly better than I expected! Good appetizer and very kid-friendly.- Chicken Alfredo ($12): 7.1/10. Not a big fan of chicken alfredo and this one wasn't too special to me. They do provide a good portion of chicken and the noodles in this alfredo are unique/squiggly which is fun.- Veal Bolognese ($12): 8.8/10. My go-to happy hour item! I did not expect to like this dish as much as I did. They are very generous with the sauce, and it is so delicious, I always scrape my plate clean. Also, such a good price for a pasta dish. So under-rated.

Went here over the weekend with friends! Had a 4pm reservation. Restaurant was very cute inside with lots of lighting. For appetizers, we ordered Parmesan garlic fries and beef carpaccio. I thought the fries could have had more seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Beef carpaccio was really good! I loved the arugula salad on top! I ordered the spicy miso carbonara. This was very flavorful and spicy! I loved the chunks of real bacon inside! My husband enjoyed the pineapple and bacon pizza. The dragonfruit lemon was a little too sweet. We would definitely come back! We just thought everything was very pricy for the portion size.

Been here a couple times now and I thought it was time to write a review!The food-- delicious with good portions. Service-- efficient and fast!Ambiance-- clean, spacious, and aesthetically pleasing.INI Ristorante is one of my default restaurants when I don't know where to eat because I know it will be good every time I go. Definitely give this place a try, it's worth it.

Interior has a lot of natural lighting and is quite cute for either an outing with friends or even a date. We came around 4 pm on a Friday and were seated immediately with our reservation. I want to give a special shout-out to our server, Anthony, who took care of us really well throughout the evening! He carefully explained every item on the menu, made recommendations for wine pairings, and overall just had a great attitude and amazing service! Beef Carpaccio (4.5/5): Honestly, i'm not a huge fan or raw beef and this was my first time trying Beef Carpaccio. It was actually quite good! Flavors were complemented well with the arugula salad on top. Calamari (5/5): Crispy and the batter was well seasoned. Calamari itself was tender and not too chewy, highly recommend this dish! Truffle Cheese Bread (4/5): I really liked the texture of the bread and the garlicky sauce that was slathered on top was good, it was a bit dry though and the cheese all stuck together in one layer some of the bread was just completely dry. Dragonfruit Lemonade (4/5): Delicious and refreshing, a little bit too sweet though and could use more of a dragonfruit flavor. Spicy Miso Carbonara (5/5): Actually quite spicy but so good, super creamy and flavorful! The bacon in it is more similar to the texture of pork belly. Miso flavorful was not too overwhelming and it was a nice savory dish. Udon noodles were al dente, perfectly cooked! Cavatelli Ala Norcina (5/5): I was quite surprised but how much I liked this dish. It has a very buttery and rich flavor and pairs nicely with the sausage. I would get this or the carbonara if I were to come back. Honey Corn Cake (5/5): This dessert was BOMB! The cake was moist and not too sweet, similar to corn bread but not quite. It comes with a popcorn ice cream, which I found interesting. It doesn't really taste like popcorn but I was kinda glad for that, it was sweet and a little salty and went well with the cake itself. Also the honey toffee was a great addition because of the crunch element.I would definitely come back! Their dishes all seemed really well thought out and intentional. Everything was delicious and service was awesome, thanks Anthony for taking care of us again!

The interior was rly cute with the lunar new year decorations, the staff were super kind and the food!!! Got the uni pasta and the hanger steak and both tasted amazing, I loved the subtle hints of uni flavor