Pizzeria Irene

I drive 30nin 3x a month to eat here. The pizza is delicious, dough is gooey and soft. Burrata is a slam dunk for appetizers. I always sit at the bar. Julian is always a gentleman to all the guests, with prompt and polite service. Only complaint is they are open only a few hours a day, no lunch, Wednesday to Sunday.

Had been hearing some hype around Pizzeria Irene and its Michelin star chef so naturally, made the 1.5 hr Saturday night dinner wait to give it a try.The interior drew me in immediately with its intimate swanky feel and the huge wood fire oven with tiles that spelled Irene.Started with a burrata for the table and went with the pepperoni pizza to share for the main. The burrata was good and the kicker was the roasted bulb of garlic. The pizza came out looking delicious; overall, it was a bit soggy for my liking. Not sure if the toppings made the crust soft or the oven wasn't doing its job, but the slice was floppy and not crispy. Unfortunate but such is life sometimes.The highlight was the bottled real deal Mexican coke and addictive ice. The ice was so good I'm still thinking about it. Glad to have tried this spot but not entirely sure I'll be back.

Looking for quality Neapolitan style pizza in the OC? You must try pizzeria Irene. Crust is soo airy, fluffy and tasty. You can tell they take their time and use quality ingredients.Had a salad which was good but a bit too salty for my liking. Service was wonderful Ambiance super tiny with a romantic vibe.A new family favorite for sure.

Fantastic pizza place with great staff and great food. The inside is very small, like a coffee shop turned into a pizza kitchen. I was there at 3:50 pm on a Sunday and there was already a line. Unfortunately, I didn't make the cut before they filled up but I was able to be added to the waitlist for an hour later. Pizzas were fresh and flavorful. Great smoky crust and savory ingredients. Butternut squash was my favorite as it was sweet and savory. The roasted garlic on the burrata was buttery smooth which was cool. Definitely recommend as it wasn't too filling so perfect appetizer size between 4 people. It was near the orange circle parking structure so it's convenient or street neighborhood parking.Definitely recommend as I actually have been to Italy and it tasted exactly like what I had over there.

Wow, just wow. We were absolutely blown away by the quality of the meal we had last night at Irene's. We had the pleasure of meeting owner and wine sommelier, Rick, as he poured us a 2011 bottle of red: the domaine du Pesquier Gigondas. Give it a minute to breath and it's uniquely tasty. We were quite pleased to be enjoying a bottle of red that was sealed before we were even old enough to drink with a surprising only $50 a pop. Now for the stars of the show. I couldn't decide what I was more looking forward to trying: the burrata appetizer or the pizza. The burrata is served with warm bread, a whole bulb of garlic confit, and decadent burrata soaked in delicious olive oil and a few easy spices. It certainly lived up to its expectation, and then some, just as the pizza did as well. The pizza was perfect. The soft spongy crust was everything you would ever imagine in an ideal neapolitan pizza. I really appreciate the quality of every ingredient that is used, you can really taste it in every bite and see it in the minimalist curated menu. This was probably the most authentic italian pizza I've ever had, right here in the heart of orange. A fantastic new addition to the circle, we are so happy to have you! P.S. We learned Rick named the restaurant after his grandmother, whom he says he is reminded of with the wood-fired Italian oven. P.S.S. the playlist they got going in there is everything.

They don't take reservations.We waited about 30 minutes on a Wednesday night. No alcohol for now, they are waiting for approval. Small place, high ceilings, open kitchen concept with a beautiful brick oven.Cesar salad was very good, had a hint of citrus and very well dressed. If you prefer light dressing, make sure to ask for it. The pizzas were just what you expected but nothing extraordinary. I really liked the dough but the Calabrese pizza was a little too wet for my liking. Kitchen was slow. This was the most disappointing part of it all. As everyone around us were getting their meals, we only got our salad and waited almost 30 additional minutes for our pizzas. Even the table that sat after us left before us. Regardless, maybe it was a bad night. We are more than willing to come back and try a couple different pizzas.

Our favorite pizza in Orange County, probably in America hands down. A dough baked to perfection that takes me right back to Naples. We remembered to save room for their small batch ice cream this time and it does not disappoint. Everything on this simple menu is packed with unforgettable taste. Thanks to the staff (Grace the hostess) and our server (Juanita) we were able to quickly be seated and enjoy a dinner where you just feel part of the family.

We finally made it to Pizzeria Irene this evening. We showed up just before 6pm on was able to get seats at the bar. First thing, the barstools are terrible. They're uncomfortably small and hard to slide forward.We ordered a caesar salad and each had our own magherita pizza.The person who took our order was very nice and provided a lot of info about the drink options and the menu. The restaurant is much smaller than I had anticipated. Overall, all of the servers were very friendly.The caesar salad took about 15 minutes to come out. I wouldn't call it a caesar. It looked really good but there was wayyyyyyy too much dressing on it. Further, the dressing was very, very tart. Very lemony. I've had all kinds of caesar salads and can say that this tasted nothing like one. I would have been fine with that if the dressing wasn't so sour. The lettuce leaves were soaked in dressing. The pizzas took an additional 35 minutes from the time we finished our salad. It doesn't make much sense since a fire baked pizza should take 90 seconds and it's a small restaurant. There was only one table ahead of us. Our pizzas came out and one was severely burnt but the other was fine. How can the consistency be so off between the two? How can they possibly grab two pizzas that are supposed to be the same but don't look anything like one another and be okay with serving it? I've had plenty of authentic Neapolitan pizzas so I can accept a little bit of char on my pizza but this was excessive. The other head scratcher about the burnt pizza is how half of the cheese was missing. How was the pizza? Aside from the burnt parts... nothing great. If you like Neapolitan pizza then you're better off going to Pietrini or Fuoco.

This place is crazy busy even during their soft opening. They only can seat 30 people at a time and they aren't taking reservations. They say they will have an official opening when they can serve beer and wine.Clearly some people are not familiar with the wood fired pizza that Napoli is famous for. Complaining that the edges had burnt spots just displays your ignorance in this regard. The pizza is the style: the center is wet and the edges are bubbly and burnt. It has the right doughy chewiness. We were sad when Pizzeria Ortica closed and are happy to have this place in our backyard.We tried the classic Margherita and the mushroom pizza which features the salsa verde from the late great Taco Maria. Several of the employees here worked at Taco Maria. The Margherita reminded us of the pizzas we had in Naples. The mushroom pizza was packed with flavor.For dessert we both had the coffee ice cream which was like Mexican coffee with some obvious cinnamon in the mix.Come early and plan to wait. We grabbed a beer at 1886 to kill the time. But most importantly, know what kind of pizza to expect.

Wow!! This place is located in the orange circle, with plenty of parking in the nearby structure. We were seated immediately and attended to right away. We started our meal off with two appetizers, the burrata and the caesar salad. The burrata was seasoned perfectly, came with a side of roasted garlic, and had two different types of bread. This was amazing, the roasted garlic was phenomenal with the seasoned burrata. chefs kiss The caesar salad is a must try! It was so refreshing and zesty, a perfect side before some pizza.We ordered the fungi, butternut squash, and calabrese pizzas. Everything was so good! The butternut squash had a pesto sauce that tied the slice together. The calabrese was yum too! The fungi was mouthwatering and topped with so many delicious mushrooms. My favorites were definitely the butternut squash and the fungi. The star of the meal was definitely the amazing crust on all the pizzas. Tip for garlic lovers -- put some of the roasted garlic on the pizza Grace was such an attentive server and provided the best service throughout our meal! Thank you for the wonderful experience.