Where do you go when you want white-jacket service and A5 Kobe beef from Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, the most exclusive beef in the world? Irvine Spectrum Center.

Where do you go when you want top-notch live music and generous cocktails? Same.
Welcome to Mastro’s Ocean Club, the newest of nearly 20 Mastro’s locations across the country.

Think 10,000 square feet of stunning design and sumptuous dining. Beyond the wine-bottle-lined entrance is a shimmering bar and lounge. The plush dining room includes one of the best walls in Irvine, a transfixing triptych of women with elaborate hats.

Stunning starters

Mastro’s restaurants have always been special-occasion favorites, and nothing says celebration like its fully customizable seafood towers – as intimate or large as you like, with myriad chilled shellfish options starting with caviar-topped oysters.

Elevated fusion sushi includes the Clear Lobster Roll, presented as a pyramid with spiny lobster tempura, mango, avocado, carrot curls and curry oil.

Despite the name Ocean Club, steaks are a main attraction. Most are 28-day, wet-aged USDA Prime, broiled at 1,500 degrees and served on a 400-degree plate. They include the New York strip and bone-in Kansas City strip, the dry-aged, bone-in rib-eye and Australian wagyu tomahawks. You can enhance them with off-menu compound butters, one featuring bone marrow. Steaks can be paired with a jumbo lobster tail or Nigerian tiger prawn. Mastro’s restaurants were the trendsetters when it came to serving elite Japanese cuts such as the transcendent A5 Kobe.

For seafood mains, consider the luxe red king crab legs; the delicate flake and herb roasting of the whole branzino; or the incredibly rich sauteed sea scallops.

Lobster mashed potatoes are the side of choice – one that can steal the show. Or go lighter with garlic truffle cauliflower.

For most guests, the warm butter cake is the sensational closer. With cinnamon, candied pecans and caramel sauce, this seasonal favorite is served through the end of the year.

A bevy of cocktails have one thing in common: There’s enough in each shaker for two, and what’s left after the pour is saved for you. Delight in reading the 32-page wine list.

Q&A: Sharing Steak Secrets

Regional vice president of Mastro’s restaurants Patrick Barrett

Who comes to Mastro’s?
A very diverse crowd. At least 50% of our reservations are for a birthday, anniversary or significant life event. We want to be, and always be, their special place for that celebration. Executives closing a deal where everything’s on the line. Social events in the private dining spaces. The bar crowd who comes in to listen to live music.

The decor at this location, notably the photography, is a striking departure.

I agree, it’s extraordinary – especially the pictures of the ladies in beautiful hats in the main dining room. Whatever the local inspiration for our upscale vibe, our design team runs with it. Here, it’s modern. And the two outdoor dining areas are very conducive to our beautiful Irvine and Southern California weather.

Is there a menu item exclusive to this Ocean Club?
A steak: WinterFrost American wagyu. Our culinary team is always seeking out cutting-edge items and discovered a Midwest wagyu that is coincidentally halal. It’s a 16-ounce boneless New York strip. The flavor is incredibly robust to begin with. We dust it with our proprietary house rub so it can’t be matched.