Old School Offerings in Orange at the Tartan Room

 Tartan Room Restaurant

2652 North Tustin Street

Orange, CA 92865

I don't want to get too personal here, but recently, I've been making more of an effort to see my parents. Time is racing by at an alarming rate, and I don't want to have regrets later on down the line. When we visit, I ask them about their childhoods, relatives, family traditions, and general thoughts on life. I've learned a lot, and of course, we usually hold these conversations at a restaurant that I have wanted to try. On this particular Wednesday afternoon, that restaurant was the Tartan Room in Orange. 

In a city with many beloved places, the Tartan Room is definitely among them in Orange. People here really love this place. I posted about my visit on Instagram and got many comments from my followers sharing their fandom for this restaurant. It shocked me because this place is indeed hidden, and you really have to look for it to find it. 

The Tartan Room has existed for 65 years, which is eons in the restaurant business. They were initially located near where Main Place Mall stands now, and I am unsure when they moved to their present location in the Nohl Plaza, which is anchored by Vons on the corner of Lincoln and Tustin. Finding them might be easier if you look for Villa Ford, as they are neighbors separated by a fence. 

If you visit here on a sunny afternoon like we did, be prepared that this restaurant is dark and will take a few minutes for your eyes to adjust. As you enter, the bar will be to your right. When we visited, the bartender also played the role of hostess, as she was the one who sat us in the dining room. The booths here are very comfortable and bring to mind the old-school steakhouses you used to be able to find in Las Vegas. 

The Tartan Room serves lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, while dinner starts at 5 p.m. seven days a week. While the dinner menu features hefty entree options, the lunch menu is a little more diverse, with plenty of sandwiches, burgers, and melts available. They offer eight more substantial plates for people like me who like a bigger midday meal with soup or salad and a side item. Only the bigger plates exceed the $20 mark, with the most pricey of them, the shrimp and filet, setting you back $26. Now that our eyes were adjusted to the darkness of the Tartan Room, we made our selections and waited for our food to appear, which did not take too long.  

Online reviews for the Fried Zucchini ($14) were glowing, so I had to try it. Good fried zucchini has become a lost art lately, but the Tartan Room makes a very good one. The breading is not overpowering but flavorful and allows the zucchini to shine. The slight dusting of parmesan is a nice touch, and the provided ranch dressing coats each piece wonderfully. I'm usually partial to round zucchini pieces, but these were uniformly cut and easy to manage. 

Lunch entrees here come with your choice of soup or salad, and as it was a warmer day when we visited, I selected the House Salad. This is a traditional steak house salad with sliced beet, lettuce blend, two red onion rings, and croutons. The blue cheese dressing was challenged in the blue cheese department, but it clung to everything well. The provided fresh ground pepper woke up this salad a bit. 

When most people think of the Tartan Room, Mexican food is probably not front and center in their minds. On Wednesdays during lunch, however, they feature a Mexican plate inspired by their chef's whim. On the Wednesday we were here, the special was a Cheese Enchilada and Hard-Shelled Taco Plate ($15). My mom is a very light eater and really just wanted the cheese enchilada, but we urged her to get the meal as it came and take the taco home for lunch the next day. She finally saw this advantage and immediately boxed up the taco, so I guess I won't be reviewing that, I thought to myself. She enjoyed the rather sizeable cheesy enchilada but left most of the rice and beans untouched. I tried a bite of each and thought they were pretty good, considering this is not a Mexican restaurant.  

If you see a Monte Cristo ($16) on a restaurant menu, that restaurant is geared towards an older clientele, or they want to convey the vibe that they have been around forever. This is not the case with the Tartan Room, which has been around for 65 years. For the younger people who are unaware, the Monte Cristo is a ham and cheese sandwich that is battered and fried, then dusted with powdered sugar and served with strawberry preserves. Think of it as French toast with ham and cheese in the middle. This hefty and rich sandwich instantly calls for a nap after consuming one. My dad has lost weight lately but took this down quickly and allowed me a bite. It was terrific, with a good ham and cheese-to-bread ratio. The onion rings might not look like much, but they had a crunchy outer portion and stayed with the onion inside. If you have been looking for this cult classic sandwich, head to the Tartan Room to get your Monte Cristo fix. 

Prime Rib ($22) was my go-to steak as a kid. I liked to order it when we went out for my birthday or when my aunt was paying for dinner. It made me feel grown and fancy, like JR Ewing on Dallas, eating at the Cattleman's Club while working on a backstabbing deal. Okay, I'm definitely showing my age, but my point is that I've kind of grown out of prime rib since my early days. This one at the Tartan room was cooked to my desired medium rare, but except for the outer edge of this, it lacked any real flavor. Truthfully, though, I can count on one hand all the memorable prime ribs I've had in the last 40 years. The creamed horseradish and au jus helped out a bit to bring this eight-ounce slab of beef to life. I got the Twice Baked Potato for my side item, which was a little on the small side but was fine. 

Like many restaurants in Orange, they get their cakes from Rockwell's Bakery, located in nearby Villa Park. They had three cake options, but I zeroed in on the Carrot Cake ($10). This was a very dense cake with a sturdy cream cheese frosting. It came to the table very cold, making it seem slightly less fresh than if it had been served at room temperature. 

The Tartan Room was a good choice for lunch with my parents. They appreciated the varied selections on the lunch menu and the relatively modest prices. Everything we had here was okay but not mind-blowing. I'd like to revisit again for dinner to get the whole Tartan Room experience—a crooner in the corner belting out some Sinatra, a New York steak, and maybe even a martini. That's the Tartan Room I can envision people flocking to. We experienced very professional service this afternoon and would not hesitate to return for more of the old-time vibes this joint offers. 

Out of five kilts (because most of these knee-length skirts feature a tartan pattern, some representing the wearer's family), five being best to zero being worst, the Tartan Room gets 3 kilts. 

For more information about the Tartan Room, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.thetartanroom.com/