{"id":496071,"date":"2026-10-14T18:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496071\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T18:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T18:26:11","slug":"6-very-very-good-spots-for-pasta-in-orange-county-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496071\/","title":{"rendered":"6 very, very good spots for pasta in Orange County \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pasta remains \u2014 for me, for many \u2014 one of the kitchen\u2019s best offerings. The universe\u2019s way of saying, hey, everything just might be OK. And Orange County offers plenty of ways to enjoy the Italian mainstay, from cavatelli at a longtime San Clemente red-sauce joint to Japanese-Italian noodles in Fountain Valley. Here are six great spots for your next bowl of pasta.<\/p>\n

Hungry? Sign up for The Eat Index, our weekly food newsletter, and find out where to eat and get the latest restaurant happenings in Orange County. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sonny\u2019s Pizza & Pasta\u00a0<\/p>\n

429 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente; 949-498 2540 or sonnys.com<\/a><\/p>\n

For more than four decades, Sonny\u2019s has been feeding San Clemente with a comfort-forward menu that\u2019s big on putting pasta, sauce and cheese in the oven together. The jumbo shells hold a filling of beef, spinach and ricotta enrobed in marinara. Meat lasagna follows suit with a classic formula of beef, marinara and ricotta, while the cheese-filled gnocchi (yes, technically dumplings) can be baked with pesto or tomato cream. Outside the oven, excellent dishes include a cavatelli with broccolini, olive oil, garlic, shaved sheets of Parmigiano and a healthy dousing of lemon.<\/p>\n

\"LasagnaLasagna classica at Oliver\u2019s Osteria and Oliver\u2019s Trattoria in Laguna Beach and Irvine, respectively. (Photo by Brock Keeling, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Oliver\u2019s Trattoria<\/p>\n

6511 Quail Hill Parkway, Irvine; 949-418-8107 or olivers-trattoria.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The lasagna at chef Erik De Marchi\u2019s Quail Hill merits immediate attention: Instead of the tomato-based meat sauce with dollops of ricotta found at many red-sauce joints, the one here layers creamy b\u00e9chemel with bolognese for a traditional Emilia-Romagna interpretation of the dish. Phenomenal. As a finishing touch, crisped spinach gets scattered around the lasagna, which makes for fun plucking post-hoovering of the lasagna. The extensive pasta selection also includes chitarra pomodoro with roasted cherry tomato sauce. And the cacio e pepe remains one of Orange County\u2019s finest.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: 6 LA County restaurants that will take you to Italy during National Pasta Month<\/a><\/p>\n

\"TaglioliniTagliolini with lemon cream sauce at Ciao Pasta in San Juan Capistrano. (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Ciao Pasta<\/p>\n

31661 Camino Capistrano, Suite 205, San Juan Capistrano; 949-496-5002 or ciaopasta.net<\/a><\/p>\n

A city fixture since 1995, Ciao Pasta draws on the cooking of Puglia in southern Italy. Its pasta selection features such standouts as lemon-infused tagliolini dressed with lemon, cream and Parmigiano, and the trofie with pesto and stracciatella. Seafood enthusiasts should investigate the strozzapreti featuring shrimp, calamari, mussels and clams in a light red broth.<\/p>\n

\"InIn the foreground is Bloom\u2019s most popular pasta dish, the rigatoni. In the back ground is its carbonara with house-made gemelli. (Photo courtesy of Bloom)<\/p>\n

bl00m<\/p>\n

220 E. Fourth St., Suite 105, Santa Ana; 714-257-5417 or eatbl00m.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Stylized \u201cbl00m\u201d with two zeros nodding to the 00 flour used in its pasta dough, this downtown pasta and wine bar newbie is one of Orange County\u2019s best new restaurants this year. All of its pasta is made in-house. The fall menu includes rigatoni with morita tomato sauce and house-made ricotta, plus mafaldine with pumpkin puree, brown butter, sage and roasted pepitas. There\u2019s also gemelli with the kitchen\u2019s carbonara sauce, cream and bacon. Don\u2019t miss out on the beef lasagna with tomato sauce and b\u00e9chemel sauce.<\/p>\n

\"IniIni Ristorante\u2019s squid ink pasta. (Courtesy of Kei Concepts)<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: 6 pasta restaurants to try in the Inland Empire<\/a><\/p>\n

Ini Ristorante<\/p>\n

16129 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley; 714-277-4046 or keiconcepts.info\/brands\/ini<\/a><\/p>\n

Kei Concepts\u2019 Japanese-Italian eatery (stylized \u201cINI Ristorante\u201d) takes a broad view of what belongs in a menu\u2019s pasta section. Its spicy miso carbonara uses udon with bacon, shiitake and parmigiano crowned with an egg yolk. (Adding an egg yolk to pasta dishes isn\u2019t uncommon; stirring it in helps emulsify the sauce and give it a velvety texture.) The onyx-hued squid ink pasta heads further out to sea by pairing squid ink ramen with briny Santa Barbara uni, uni cream and tobiko. Those wanting house-made Italian pasta can check out the seafood mafaldine, which combines scallops, crab, shrimp and sausage in a piquant tomato cream sauce.<\/p>\n

Also see: Best of Orange County 2026: Best Italian restaurant<\/a><\/p>\n

il Girasole<\/p>\n

3321 Hyland Ave., Suite E, Costa Mesa, 657-218-9439 or il-girasole.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Chef Antonio Bevacqua gives familiar Italian dishes some elaborate touches at his Costa Mesa spot. The gnocchi al pesto comes stuffed with a garlic-basil emulsion, then served with Parmigiano foam and toasted pine nuts. His ossobuco \u201clasagna\u201d brings together braised veal shank, saffron (are you noticing a lasagna preference?) b\u00e9chemel, gremolata sauce and bone marrow. Even the sea urchin taglierini gets a caviar sauce upgrade. For those seeking a simpler order, fettuccine pomodoro comes with basil, Parmigiano and stracciatella.<\/p>\n

Other choice pasta places\u2019 menus to peruse:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pasta remains \u2014 for me, for many \u2014 one of the kitchen\u2019s best offerings. The universe\u2019s way of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,3372,6735,2462,611,412,580,10808,6736,338,420,136],"class_list":["post-496071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-costa-mesa","tag-fountain-valley","tag-irvine","tag-orange-county","tag-restaurants","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-san-clemente","tag-san-juan-capistrano","tag-santa-ana","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}