Lawry’s Carvery
I’ve been a busy bee since the holidays have been over. Busy with work, busy getting sick and busy with a project I’ll talk a little more about in another post which has required me to be in Orange County for quite a few weekends this last month.
All the trips to Orange County have given me a chance to re-visit favorite restaurants and try ones for the first time that have been on my to-do list for far too long, like Lawry’s. We’ve dined at the fancier Lawry’s in Beverly Hills quite a few times, but this was our first visit to the more casual carvery located inside the super upscale South Coast Plaza.
I have a lot of fond memories of Lawry’s. They serve high quality prime rib, they introduced me to a love for creamed corn. It’s one of the first fine dining restaurants I ever dined at and I remember visibly gulping when I saw the prices.
This location offers the famed prime rib, but also offers a more casual menu of steak sandwiches, salads, which are also much cheaper too, so you can dine at Lawry’s without serious damage to your wallet. You can also view the menu online.
8 oz prime rib plate, with coleslaw and creamed corn
For the prime rib plates, it comes with their signature coleslaw and a side of your choice. My favorite side has always been the creamed corn, which I’ve made a few times following their recipe, but it never tastes quite the same.
The prime rib was as good as I remember, though I still feel it’s a bit overpriced. It’s thick-cut, good quality, cooked a medium rare ensuring the meat is tender, juicy and not too dry or chewy.
I wasn’t a fan of the coleslaw salad, mainly because of the addition of peanuts.
The creamed corn was actually not as good as I remembered. Perhaps I’ve over-glorified it in my mind after all these years. It was a little on the watery side and more peppery than I remember.
We saw quite a few people chowing down on prime rib sandwiches, but we didn’t get a chance to try it on this quick visit as we had places to go still!
While there isn’t the fancy presentation, or the waiting room with free meatball appetizers, I enjoyed this casual Lawry’s location. Sometimes I just want to eat the food from a nice restaurant without having to go through the whole experience, sort of like doing take-out. And that’s basically what Lawry’s Carvery lets you do. You can have your prime rib and creamed corn without needing a reservation, getting dressed up, etc. We’ll definitely be back to explore some more of the menu.
While we were there, we did a little bit of exploring of South Coast Plaza. I’ve been here many times and told DH about how grand it is and how every luxury name brand you can think of has a store here. It was his first time inside, so we did a little bit of exploring.
Expensive shops…
Macy’s Signature Cafe which features some acclaimed chefs. I’m a little surprised that the menu is so boring though (burgers, bbq and sandwiches), considering the chefs endorsing it. The space was also a lot smaller than I imagined.
South Coast Plaza does offer many other nice food spots too which we’ll eventually hopefully try. But we’ll definitely be back to Lawry’s soon.
Lawry’s Carvery (Inside South Coast Plaza)
3333 Bristol St
Ste 2601
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
https://www.lawryscarvery.com
You should try the milkshakes at Marc Burger. I’d stop by the mall just to get that. It has a really nice consistency and is so good.
I love milkshakes! Thanks for the suggestion.
S and I have window-shopped at South Coast Plaza before.. sort of as a reminder to ourselves to work hard and make money (haha jkjk). I’ve heard so many good things about Lawry’s – I think they have locations in Taiwan, too, and some of my friends swear by it.
Oh really? I didn’t know they had a location in Taiwan. You should try it out sometime!
I love shopping at South Coast Plaza! I have had the prime rib sandwich at Lawrys Carvery, but haven’t tried the prime rib plate, which looks really good. Maybe the creamed corn is better at the full-service restaurant (it better be!).
I think maybe the creamed corn is better at the full service one because it’s still in the heated cart when they dish it out. I want to get the sandwich next time, but the plate is really good too!
We’re going the Lawry’s BH tonight for the first time for dineLA! I’m excited… prime rib nom nom nom…
I’ve only been to SC Plaza once but man… my wallet hurt just window shopping.
Ooh fun. Yeah, it’s mainly window shopping for me. It’s fun to be there though.
Bert and I had our anniversary dessert at Bon Marche a few years ago. I’d like to have lunch or dinner there one of these days. I think you guys would like it.
I’ve only been to South Coast Plaza a few times, mainly to gawk, I mean window shop. Such a fancy mall. A lot of those brands are too high end/unaffordable for me.
Now why would this carvery place put peanuts in their coleslaw? That just seems wrong.
Bon Marche has been on my list. I’ve heard good things about it. You know it’s weird about the cole slaw. I never had anyone who put peanuts in it and then a few weeks ago I was eating somewhere and they had a peanut version. Then we went to Lawry’s and it was the same thing.