Eatery opens in Fashion Island and offers comfort food cafeteria style

Lemonade made its sweet arrival at Fashion Island this week, offering up a robust menu of flavors and options, and my friends and I were among the first in line.

If you aren’t familiar with Lemonade, which has several outlets in L.A., it is a fast-casual modern cafeteria-style eatery that serves up Southern California comfort food.

With my diverse group of friends, we naturally went in all different directions on the menu.

For my taste buds and waistline, there is nothing more comforting than mac ‘n cheese, and boy did I dive right in.

I went with the white truffle mac ‘n cheese, and it was outrageously good.

And while I warmed up my soul with the cheesy goodness, my friends went for a variety of other specialties.

My pal Mark dove in on an herb grilled chicken, mozzarella, basil pesto and arugula sandwich on a ciabatta roll.

I wanted to rip it out of his hands, and dunk it into my remaining white truffle cheese sauce at the bottom of my bowl.

Brianna had a two-portion plate with soba noodles, kimchi marinated vegetables, and peanuts alongside a mixture of avocado, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, and lime.

Erin went for a wrap that was stuffed to the gills with Tandoori chicken. That rested on a bed of farro, asparagus, garbanzo beans, and harissa.

And how do you visit a place called Lemonade without trying the lemonade?

Well we did, and all it led us to was arguing which lemonade was best. Among the choices we swallowed up this trip were the old fashioned, cucumber mint, and watermelon rosemary varieties.

I already have an idea as to what I want to try the next time I’m there. I’ll likely be eyeballing the southwest chicken club sandwich with blue cheese, avocado, and a chipotle chili-bacon mayo.

You better believe I’ll be adding a side of chicken chili in the mix as well, as I must try everything chili anywhere that I go.

If I’m feeling like a meal on the lighter side, I’ll probably set my sights on one of their soups, or their occidental Asian salad.

The dessert looks delicious too!

I had no room for it whatsoever, but next time I want to try the cupcakes, macaroons or that lemon meringue pie!

We all loved it, and the experience was a satisfying one. Lemonade is definitely a great spot to eat at Fashion Island, and we are happy to have it as the newest restaurant in Newport Beach.

The wait was minimal, and the service was very friendly.