Aura Bar and Grill

The Hilton on-​site restaurant for the Irvine /​Orange Country Airport location. You can see the sign from the lobby at the very rear past the registration desk. I can only offer insight as far as the breakfast and what I read on the in-​room dining guide. In a nutshell: the usual outrageously high price list you can expect at just about any Hilton in the country. I’ve read the menu at LAX, BOS, IAD and DCA Hiltons recently … it’s all the same. Save yourself the shopping excursions. It’s all very very bad and you will save very few pennies.
That being said, the breakfast vouchers for Hilton Honors members depending on your «level» become very important. It will save you over $ 19 for a breakfast that shouldn’t cost you more than $ 6 for up to two mornings. Granted, the scrambled eggs are real (and fluffy) and they do offer egg whites for the waist-​discerning, cholesterol-​thrifty types in the same heated service platter alongside potatoes, sausages, bacon, and oatmeal. Just have a seat and they will bring you coffee or tea (it’s not self-​service). I saw no less than 6 red-​eyed caffeine junkies try and grab a carafe from the cart behind me for the hour I occupied my table by the kitchen. The polite and efficient wait staff always stopped and mollified them back to their tables. Or you can request a small or large coffee /​tea to go for $ 2 /​$ 3. Everything was fine. Eggs, bread, potatoes. Just fine and after only one serving for me, not worth $ 27 including tax and tip.
As mentioned in my related Hilton review, the SNA hotel row is somewhat isolated. If you’re not picky, go Chevron a block a way. Otherwise, you’ll need a car to take you to cheaper restaurant salvation.

This review may be biased, but I will try to be fair. We started our morning at 3am, caught a 5:40am flight to orange county, dropped our suitcases st the hotel and grabbed a cab to my daughter’s graduation award ceremony.
Once that was done, both deb and I looked at each other and agreed lunch was needed soon followed CV by a nap.
The Hilton at orange county airport has a bar and grill adjoining the lobby, so it made it very convenient.
I was hoping for a burger called” The big frickin burger”, but I settled on the steak burger.
This had to rank as one of the best Burgers I have ever devoured.
We were so famished, sometimes you just will goggle a mediocre meal. This was not the case.
The burger was cooked to perfection and was char broiled for more taste. The regular toppings accompanied the burger, tomatoes, lettuce, onion and cheddar cheese.
The frosting on the cake was the bun. It was a brioche bun cooked to a golden bun. The bun was pillow soft and did not fall apart.
The burger came with fries which were good.
We definitely will be back if in area.

This is located inside one of my favorite hotels in the OC. Also one of my favorites spots to get a quick bite to eat. I highly recommend their salads… always add grilled shrimp! Its phenomenal! The shrimp is grilled to a perfection, its sweet and talk about huge! Bring an appetite, because their salads are plentiful.

Service staff was friendly but not very attentive. Nice hotel-​bar type atmosphere. $ 7.50 for a beer but I think that’s normal for the OC area.
I was so disappointed in the food here I refused to pay for the 2^nd meal. For lunch I ordered fish tacos. They came so overstuffed I could only eat them with a fork & knife, I needed the knife to cut the tortilla shell it was so rubbery. They tasted like old fish and onions and tomato. I ate them both but later regretted it when the tacos had a fight with my stomach.
For dinner I ordered the grilled cheese. I ate a few pieces of fruit that were on the side but the rest were hard and not ripe. The menu says «cheddar, gouda, and jack» cheeses. Sounded good but the combination has a weird taste like goat cheese, or like the cheese had gone bad. It was pretty awful. The server offered me another meal but I had already decided I wouldn’t eat any more of their food. Not sure why he didn’t offer to get a manager or comp the meal. I didn’t want to cause a scene so I signed the bill and then went to the hotel front desk, where they promptly removed the charges from dinner. April 2014)
This post was edited because I gave the restaurant another try (October 2014). The service was better but the grilled cheese was still terrible.