Best Sarmale in LA! Atmosphere is a little drab but the food more than makes up for it. I love this place. This is still one of my favorite places. The food is so tasty we drive over an hour to eat here. I want to try some more things on the menu, but I can't get enough of the cabbage rolls. I also enjoy the skinless sausages, the Dunarea Feast and eggplant salad appetizers. read more

Dunarea Restaurant - Modern European Near Me - Anaheim, California

Great food and service! We got the beef tripe ciorbă, pork șnițel and mici. All were super tasty and authentic.

First time here... Delicious food and pleasant atmosphere in the company of delightful traditional Romanian music mixed with a wide variety of International repertoire. Dan Niculescu is quite the attentive host who knows how to put it altogether. From running the kitchen service to coming around the tables, made sure all patrons are taken care of, I was totally impressed with the hospitality. Cristina from the East Coast read more

Dunarea Restaurant - At Restaurant Dunarea in the company of great people, food and music! - Modern European Near Me - Anaheim, California

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Great food and great hospitality! I left with not only a full stomach of yummy food but also new knowledge of Romanian food! Went with a Romanian friend who vouched for the food being very authentic. Very yummy read more

I went for lunch today. We had the grilled sausage appetizer followed by beef soup and mici with vegetables. I'm on a keto diet, so glad I am able to eat delicious foods from my culture and keep within my diet! Some foods take too much work to make at home so it's nice to go and get homemade food... ca la mama acasa ... plus my mom is too far to get homemade goodies ... highly recommend. Delicious food and service ! read more

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The chef smokes and doesn't wash his hands and goes strait to preparing your meals the owner also has a nasty attitude about explaining his menu and don't get me started on his utensils. They till had crud from the last dish they where used for went thru 3 different set of utensils even offered to wash them my self to make sure they where cleaned and just had a nasty attitude about it read more

It was after a concert at the Honda Center that we found this wonderful place with tons of Old World charm. Great Eastern European food with totally amazing twists....don't be put off by the "corn meal mush" that appears on the.menu- it is actually a much lightet version of polenta and the dumplings made from this are to die for. Unusual and delicious desserts, everything freshly prepared. The nicest thing is that though the web showed a closing time of 2am, they actually close at midnight and even though it was about 10 minutes before that when we arrived, they treated us with the greatest hospitality and friendliness Well worth the drive. read more

Authentic Romanian food. Savory mici - romanian juicey, tasty kebabs. Mamaliga - yummy polenta. Variety of pork dishes. Delicious vegetarian appetizers: zacuscza made out of red bell peppers, vinete made out of eggplant. The best stuffed cabbage rolls, remind me of my moms cooking. & you have to get dessert, my favorite papanasi - just try it, you won't regret it. read more

I've been there once. They took my order in a minute, but it took for them about 45 minutes to bring food. In many other restaurants it takes much less amount of time to cook and bring food. The food tasted good. read more

Not sure how you can rate this place low. Best Romanian food in the area hands down. You can't get authentic Romanian food like this anywhere else in California. They serve the BEST soups, appetizers, stuffed cabbage, entrees and even dessert. Whether you are Romanian or even have never experienced the delicious cuisine, I recommend you go and try it. I wish I took photos of my food but I devoured everything. Side note: i visit Romania every summer but live in LA, so when I'm missing the food, I come running to this restaurant. Staff is great, service is nice, and they even host musical events and parties if you ever want to experience some Romanian fun. Pofta buna! read more

You need to try this restaurant! When you park in the back it seems like you're walking into a hole in the wall but once you're inside it's beautiful! The free bread and dips were an incredible way to start. The dishes came out hot and full of flavor, we had stuffed cabbage and pork feast - - both were a perfect 10! Reasonably priced for a authentic Romanian hardy meal -- very sweet and courteous service! A must try in the heart of OC!!! read more

Customer service was a bit rude. I personally was ill after eating but no one with me was so I cannot say for certain it was the food. A friend of mine came a day before and also felt sick after. As a Romanian, I felt like the food was just okay. Pretty bland but I understand not everyone cooks these dishes the same way. read more

Haven't had authentic Romanian food since I was a child. Dunarea's food is exactly how I remembered and bought back a lot of memories. Can't wait to sample the rest of the menu and maybe hear some music. read more

We went for a party last Saturday and the food was excellent! The service was great and the servers were very attentive and professional. The wine is amazing and the food is so authentic! Will definitely come back. read more

I been here many times. Customer service is excellent. There very accommodating. Everything I have tried is very delicious and good. No matter what ethnicity you are. They make you feel welcomed. read more

My buddy suggested coming to this restaurant for dinner because he is Romanian and wanted to have authentic Romanian comfort food. How can anyone say no to such a great idea?! So we piled into his wife's Volkswagen and off to Anaheim we went. A glance of their wine list tells me it's cheaper to get a bottle of wine than 4 individual glasses so we ordered the casillero del diablo, a Spanish wine for $30. They didn't have any Romanian reds on the menu. We ordered more than a few dishes: Beef tripe soup, Meatball soup, Chicken liver filet mignon, garlic infused pork cutlet with couscous and these were the ones I remember. We had leftovers for sure. The food was delicious. The only dish I really didn't care for was the chicken liver filet mignon and that is because I think chicken liver, oh crap, all liver dishes are disgusting. Yuck. Service was great. And, there was live music. The evening's entertainment was provided by a gentleman singing classic Latin ballads. read more

Love this place !!! The food is amazing And the staff is so polite And friendly. Even the prices are great ! So I would highly recommend this place ! read more

Great food for good prices! Especially if you are looking for a taste of Romanian food.

Great food great service. Nicely surprised with this place. Highly recommend all the Romanian traditional authentic foods.

I first dined at Dunarea Restaurant in 2011 and have been going back since. The mici (caseless sausages, made of ground beef meat mixed with spices, garlic, and beef broth) are of excellent quality and go well with the French fries. The staff is polite and professional. The food is reasonably priced. The live entertainment is fun to watch. I recommend Durarea for lunch or dinner if you are in the Orange County area or want to get a flavor of Romanian cuisine. Friday nights are probably the best times to go for dinner and live entertainment. A well deserved 5 stars. read more

LOl @ people giving 1 star reviews. Yes, being Romanian does help. There's a certain atmosphere that you don't understand otherwise. Granted, I grew up in OC but I know the culture. The Asian couple who got butthurt was my favorite. Have you seen the service at a Chinese food joint? My other favorite was the dude who said "there were fights between Romanian nationals"....fucking LOL. That's not fighting, that's just a normal meal between Romanians. It's what we do. On a serious note pentru cei Romini. Am venit aici fara pretenti. Sunt obijnuit cu mincarea lu mama si orice altceva este dubios. Am fost surprins ca mincara chiar a fost buna. Si mai impresionat ca lu tata ia placut mincare....aste este un miracol precum inviera lu Cristos. Loc misto si mi a placut. Pina si prietena ma sa distract care este mai alba si blonda decit laptele...adica nici un pic Rominca. MUIE STEAUA! read more

I'm Romanian, so this review is probably a bit biased, especially considering the fact that there are like zero Romanian restaurants around, so this place is a bit of a gem for me. Many people might not understand the appeal of a big plate of polenta with sour cream and feta cheese, but I guess it's just one of those things you had to have grown up with to understand. Anyways, all-in-all I think this is a well run good restaurant. I don't think it'll blow anyone's socks off, but there are definitely a lot of good things to try. The eggplant, bell pepper spreads are a great way to start off the meal, and you can't go wrong with the cabbage rolls (sarmale) and mici (pork sausages). The meatball soup is also a very safe choice that you can never go wrong with. If you're feeling a bit adventurous, I would say try the tripe soup. As for beverages, you gotta go with the Ursu Beer. I really appreciate the fact that they offer this beer here. Really makes you feel like you're back in the old country. I haven't really tried any of the desserts yet, but I hear some good things, and they do have quite a few classic Romanian treats to satisfy your sweet tooth. The place itself is fairly roomy and pretty typically Romanian looking. It can go from completely dead to extremely lively on some nights, with live music and traditional Romanian folk music playing on the big screen. The staff has always been really nice too, even when they didn't know I was Romanian. They seem fairly willing and excited to help you with your order and to make recommendations. I've been here a few times, and am really happy I have atleast one good Romanian restaurant to go to. So ya, if you're looking to try something new, you really can't go too wrong here. There are plenty of safe and tasty options and a few things for the more adventurous minded also. read more

Hosting my Mom, Aunt and Uncle, all born in Romania, and who only converse in Romanian to each other, I knew we'd be stopping here on the way to Los Angeles. Having been to Romania, including a Romanian wedding or two - I knew what food to expect. This hit the spot. While the main food didn't blow me away, the salads did...and it's the only full service Romanian restaurant in socal. Props. Sarmale - cabbage rolls Mititei - skinless sausage Mamaligia - corn meal- a staple in Romania all Good Ciorba de vacuta - Beef Soup Zacusca - Eggplant, tomatoes, red bell peppers, onions spread Salata De Vinete - Eggplant spread all GREAT btw, Zacusca is not easy to make, nor make it right. The ingredients must be fresh - that they were here. While my Uncle doesn't speak fluent English, after a filling lunch here the words, "Bravo, Joel, Bravo", said with a smile, were all I needed to hear. Pofta Buna (Good Eats) read more

Excellent romanian food. Generous portions of perfectly cooked meals that remind me of home. Dont tell my mum. Outstanding. The staff will have you coming back again. Thank you Dan Simona Monica and the tomahawk magician laurentiu. Thank you. read more

Thay open late at 630 and stay open very late till 1am and later. We came in before 7 and we had the whole place for ourselves for almost an hour! Service was great and food was exactly like my grandma used to cook those dishes! If you are here you are Romanian or a friend got you here and they already recommended something you might like. Everything is good if you like Romanian food, so it's just a matter of what you want to try if this is your first time here. Cabbage rolls with polenta are a good start, "mititei" - not so much for a first time customer, you might need some time to get used to the taste and the "afterburn"! Wines are sweeter than what you might be used to, but if you are here you like to try new stuff, so go ahead! They have live music late on Saturday nights. read more

Dunarea (Romanian for the "Danube" river) is one of the few Romanian restaurants around this area, so I was more than eager to give it a try with Chris S. and a splinter group from the Sushi UYEs one day. The restaurant is on the Euclid exit just south of the 91 freeway in a dank strip mall. I waltzed in late due to terrible traffic on the 91 and a prior engagement with coworkers on Friday, but I was pleased to hear that orders were already made and several alcoholic beverages were already laid out on the table. Chris was a pretty gracious host to a first-timer to Romanian cuisine. I took my seat and promptly ordered a Romanian beer of my own. I had some of the appetizer items, including the eggplant spread, the potato salad and the cornbread with sour cream, there was also a peppery red spread which was to be used on dinner rolls. Each was unique, and I can't quite compare it to other things I've had before. I was pleased with the items, nonetheless. I then had a meatball soup item, which members in my table said was too salty. I, however, felt it was a good contrast to the earlier first course. I added the sour cream to the soup (per the recommendation of Chris) and it actually ended up being a bit thicker and more hearty. The main entrees came out with some chicken kabobs, fried pork cubes (which reminded me of adobo), lamb sausages, beef...all of which were on the seasoned side, which was very cool. I enjoyed the food and downed it all with a glass of red wine. To top off the evening, a couple of gentlemen got up on stage and began to perform some Romanian folk songs. I actually like live performances, so they're being there was refreshing and enhanced the value of the price we paid. I will definitely keep this place in mind if I ever need to impress any Romanian friends who long for Romanian food...and can put up with Romanian music videos playing in the background. read more

Got the pui snitel (chicken schnitzel) and sarnale (pork stuffed cabbage). Don't forget the Timisoreana (Romanian beer)! Homely feel and authentic as can be. Great food and great service! Merci! read more

Dunarea Restaurant - Modern European Near Me - Anaheim, California

Very friendly staff, and we also had great entertainment. I took my husband for the first time to try a Romanian restaurant. He is familiar with the food, but this was a great experience to try excellent authentic Romanian food. I was very happy that they had beer from Timisoara. read more

words can't describe how good the food is here. everything is hand made from scratch to order and you can taste it. I'm not even going to try to describe how juicy and flavorful everything is. our waitress was very nice and intelligent. the chef is respectful, has class and cared if we liked the food. the environment is fun, friendly, the food is unique and beyond belief. read more

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Husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary here! Dinner was delish! I tried the stuffed cabbage and husband ate mititei, a skinless sausage. Amazing dinner, and Christina is such a friendly, knowledgeable and delightful person. So glad she is our server! We will be coming back to enjoy their beef stroganoff next week. I'm Looking forward to it! Their homemade chocolate is yummy! read more

Dunarea Restaurant - Wanted to lick the plate the homemade chocolate was sooo good! - Modern European Near Me - Anaheim, California

My Romanian friend who isn't in touch with her culture suggested we all check out this Romanian/European restaurant. We let my friend do the ordering and she even got to bust out with her native to tongue. I had a great stuffed grape leafs entree that was tasty. We also tried a glass of Romaian red wine which was good for the price. They had at least three or four varieties of both red and white Romanian wines. There is a DJ and spinning Romanian tunes and dancing on weekend nights. Who knew there was a Romanian community in OC! read more

3.5 stars. Very good service. The server was a sweet Romanian girl who seemed excited non-Romanians were there in the restaurant and curious to try their cuisine. She gave us her recommendations and we were on our way! The eggplant and tomato dip was delicious. I really loved that. Too bad it came with store-bought, cold, dry dinner rolls. :/ The polenta with sour cream and feta cheese sounded way better than it actually was. Five lumps of extra thick polenta sitting next to giant heaps of sour cream and feta. It just wasn't good. :( My friend ordered the cabbage rolls and polenta. He said the cabbage rolls were tasty, but also agreed the polenta wasn't his thing. Maybe if the polenta was softer and creamier vs. large lumps it would have been better. For dessert we tried their traditional cottage cheese donut covered in sour cream sauce, chocolate, and strawberry jam. That was very good! The server mentioned Saturday night's had live music. So if you go, go with a crowd, all try different things to share (minus the polenta), and dance with the Romanians! Sounds like a fun time. :) read more

The sign reads "Restaurant Dunarea European Cuisine". Sounds so general. That is because they have a dish that represents the more well-known European countries, Kazakhastan excluded. Ambience: The inside looks much nicer than you would expect from the outside. Located inside a strip mall w/ an acupuncture office, a birrieria, and a donut shop. Impressionist-like paintings of European cities decorate the walls. Romanian karaoke music playing in the background. Service: True to European form, the Slavik waitress, whom I shall refer to as Svetlana, asked us if we wanted our water to be regular or mineral. Better yet, gas or no gas. No gas, please. Also true to European form, Svetlana waited until we had completely finished w/ our meal before ASKING us if she could bring us the check. Food: The bread was not warm. Waste of precious stomach real estate. When I tasted the broth of the meatball soup, I thought it was a bit watery. Then I bit into the meatball....mmm...no wonder it was called meatball soup and not the other way around. My husband ordered the Hungarian Goulash, which by itself deserves 5 stars. It was very flavorful and the beef was so tender that you could use a butter knife to cut it. Wowwow wee wow! I wanted to sop everything up w/ that sauce. I had the stuffed cabbage rolls, which was like a sauerkraut leaf stuffed w/ the meatballs w/ a side of cornmeal dumplings. The rolls paled in comparison to the goulash, so I used the dumplings to wipe up the goulash plate. Dessert : *Sigh* What a pity. We ordered the profiteroles w/ ice cream and the tiramisu. There were a whopping 2! profiteroles amidst the 3 scoops of ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, but the profiteroles left a lot more to be desired. I have had better cream puffs from Trader Joe's, Costco, and Austrian Airlines. The tiramisu was a bit dry and pretty much unremarkable. Price: Not cheap Overall we still enjoyed this place (we were the only ones there, so in a way it was kind of romantic having the place all to ourselves). We will definitely come back to try the other dishes (kebabs, schnitzels, chicken paprika). I look forward to it. I am hoping that maybe then, I will be able to add another star. read more

The service was very friendly, you do feel like you were in eating in a restaurant in Bucharest or Iasi. Loved the beef soup for starters, then the Sarmale in Via was INCREDIBLE!! Fresh and tasty. Finally the Mititei with mustard and mamăliga were the cherry on top. Looking forward to come back again! Multumesc!! read more

The food here is fantastic. If you've never tried Romanian food, trust you will love it! Staff is also very nice!

E un restaurant super cu o atmosfer bun, cu o mâncare foarte delicioas! Went there with three of my mates, one of whom is Romanian. The atmosphere was nice, the food great, and the staff very welcoming. I had the Tournedo Rosigni, which was great! The others had the Romanian Pork Feast, Parisian Sniel, and the Lamb Pastrami. I would definitely recommend this place and I will be dining there again very soon. We'll get the sarmale next time~! read more

Came here for lunch with my fiance and her co-workers who brought her here for an early birthday luncheon. First impression was nice ambiance, cute little stage area, background music was pleasant. Now if we would only rate this place based on the soup, salad, water, bread, eggplant spread, and fried egg, this place would probably get three to four stars from me. However, I tasted a couple other's entrees as well as my own, which was the Dobrogeana, a stir fry of chicken n pork. Wow, this was some of the driest meats I have ever tasted. One of my fiance's co-workers had this steak that was dry... another had these kabobs which were still dry but not super nuclear power cremated dry like how my meat was. I literally poked a piece of pork, it split in half like I had just chiseled a rock. I poked it again and it split in half again. The chicken was some of the driest I have ever had. My veggies even were cremated. My brocolli was as soft as butter. I doubt I will ever try this place again, not one person came in during the hour we were there as well, right in the middle of the lunch hour. Must be a telling sign. Everything was decent except the main entrees and when it's done this bad, I am sorry but I can only give something like this one star. I ate 1 piece of chicken, a few cremated vegetables, and wasted the rest, very sad indeed. 7 - Ambiance (Layout and setting was very nice, dimly lit, music playing) 7 - Service (Very attentive, refilled water and breads) 4 - Price (Little on the high side but not bad) 5 - Portions (For the price, portions were average) 1 - Quality (If you like dry jerky beef, chicken and pork, by all means) Lunch: Thu. Aug 4, 2011 read more

few Romanian restaurants around this area and this one of them,and I like to try new cuisines The restaurant is very clean. The service is fast and very good. Food is Okay The main entrees came out with some chicken kabobs I had, The eggplant and tomato dip as appit, was delicious read more

F- With a big fat minus. why?.... well, I never actually got to eat here, because I didn't have a reservation (or a penis), but actually, I don't think that it would have mattered if I DID have a reservation because the Romanian girl in the front (who was not busy at all) intentionally ignored me - (I was waiting there for like 5 minutes AND I was the only one in the whole resataurant!!) So, I'm the only person in the room, waiting for her to look at me, and this chick decides to to walk past me and help the 2 Middle-Eastern looking men who just walked in. Despite the food I never tasted (which is too damn bad cuz had a few adventurous friends that night that woulda brought good business and tips to 'em), this place auto gets an F- just because you cannot run a restaurant if you refuse to acknowledge a person for no apprent reason. You just can't. Unless you're only serving people like yourself, and that just makes it sad because you'll never find new and interesting customers. For those that are open-minded despite my review (good for you, BTW)- make sure you look like a man or show 'em your penis. You suck, Dunarea. And you always sounded like Diarrhea to me, anyway. read more

This place was actually really nice. I was a little weary on trying the food, considering I am a very picky eater. To start the night off, our waitress brought us out a very lovely basket of very very delicious bread! I couldn't eat enough of it! I ordered something called chicken paprika, and considering I am a very picky eater, I only ate the chicken that came on my plate full of food. The chicken was very good, I will admit. I took some bites off of my boyfriends plate, and I really wish I ordered what he ordered. It was DELICIOUS! I would recommend someone going here. read more