Lunch At Kitima Asia Bistro

Kitima Asia Bistro is a Thai restaurant in the heart of downtown Irvine. Located at the main plaza of 2010 Main Street, Kitima is the place for the power suites in the nearby towers to go for lunch. The outdoor dining area overlooks a huge man-made water structure and bunch of big metal artwork that Sally had a fun time running through.

Kitima is a very busy place. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get a table. Most of the diners were suites from the plaza office buildings. Sit at any table and you’ll be within earshot of getting inside information on some upcoming merger or acquisition.

The service was a little slow. I’m not sure if this is normal or because the kitchen was slammed. The pace of the lunch doesn’t seem to fit the high power movers and shakers dining there. Maybe the speed of the power lunch is just slower in Southern California.

The food was extremely good and the portions were quite big. My yellow chicken curry felt like it had an entire chicken it, and the number of shrimps in the Curry shrimp dish had at least double the shrimps found in Thai restaurants back home. Before you start thinking Kitima must offer great bang for the buck, I must note that the prices are nearly double the Thai restaurants back home. The higher prices may have more to do with Kitima’s high-rent location than its portions.

Overall, I would recommend Kitima Asia Bistro. Just don’t expect to get your power lunch done in 30 minutes. You want to allow for at least an hour, which for me, is the minimum time you should take for lunch, power or no power.

BTW – All the photos were shot with the iPhone 4S.

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