About Broadway by Amar Santana
Amar Santana arrived in Laguna Beach via the kitchens of Charlie Trotter's, Charlie Palmer's Aureole, and a runner-up finish on Top Chef Season 13. His Glenneyre Street flagship opened to immediate critical notice and has since become Orange County's most seriously reviewed restaurant — a kitchen that operates on genuine ambition rather than the beach-town premium that drives many of its neighbours.
The format is seasonal American small plates, designed for sharing — two to four plates per person across two to three rounds, with the kitchen sending the most intriguing dishes first. Blue crab crudo arrives with yuzu kosho and cucumber water; braised beef cheek mole carries the depth of a preparation that spent days on the stove; pan-seared branzino in browned butter lands with the timing of a kitchen paying attention. The menu rotates with the seasons and California's extraordinary ingredient calendar, which means a return visit three months later produces an almost entirely different experience.
The room is theatrical in the best sense: exposed brick, a buzzing open kitchen framed by pendant lights, and a bar that handles solo dining without condescension. The wine list focuses on California and France with genuine curation — not the usual coast-to-coast sweep, but a considered selection that the sommelier can discuss with authority. Service is knowledgeable, warm, and timed with the kind of precision that comes from a well-managed kitchen firing on all cylinders.
Rated 4.6 stars across over 1,300 OpenTable diners, Broadway by Amar Santana is the restaurant that Laguna Beach had quietly been waiting for: one that takes food seriously without taking itself too seriously, in a room that suits both a first date and a gathering of serious eaters celebrating something worth celebrating.
Best for First Dates
Broadway by Amar Santana is a near-perfect first date restaurant. The shared small plates format creates natural interaction — choosing dishes together, passing plates, noticing what your companion orders and avoids. The room is lively enough to absorb silence without feeling empty, intimate enough to feel like the choice was intentional. The food gives you something genuine to discuss: these dishes have opinions and provoke reactions. The price point is serious without being alarming. The net effect is an evening where the restaurant does a meaningful share of the conversational work and asks only that you show up interested.