Devilishly Delicious: Top 3 restaurants around Saddleback College

After a long day after class, you’re probably hungry and wondering what are the best places around campus to eat. Here we list three top places around Saddleback College, that are all mouth watering, tasty, and uniquely different while also getting exclusive interviews with each restaurant owner.

 Surfin’ Souvlaki

Photo By: Katie Groat

Owner: Nick Drakos

Food: Greek

Background: “They’re all my mother’s recipes, and some of them come from her father and mother, from the 1940s,” said owner Nick Drakos.

Fun Fact: “When we first opened we needed to put something on the menu that would go along better with students because Greek food is naturally pricey, so we put a burrito on the menu to put our Gyro meat, and one day we had a football player in here and he didn’t eat pork, so we couldn’t put bacon on there,” said Drakos.

After putting steak in the student’s burrito, Drakos said that later on, “The kid brought back 2000 people, and we ended up naming the burrito after him.”

Discount: Buy Saddleback’s student book and you’ll get a coupon that gets you a free drink, fries, salad or soup with your purchase of a sandwich.

Most Popular Dish: Gyro Sandwich.

Store Hours: Mon-Fri 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Sat 10 a.m.-9 p.m.

Sun 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

In Case You Didn’t Know: Surfin’ Souvlaki has been named best Greek food five out of their six years in the Orange County.

 Rockfire Grill

Photo By: Katie Groat

Owner: Sarita Syal

Food: Flatbread Burgers

Background: Executive Chef trained in Germany specializing in European foods (French, Italian).

Fun Fact: “Rockfire actually was founded by my husband who is the executive chef who came up with the name, which means oven to table,” said owner Sarita Syal. “You have to see and taste it! And once you taste it, you’ll be so addicted to it.”

Everything is made in a clay oven, a new fresh concept, which they pride themselves in, being one of the first to really bring this concept to Orange County. All their burgers are made with 100 percent angus beef. They aren’t stingy with their portions as well, making sure to stack your burger with double the angus beef. In addition to their freshly made burgers, they also have homemade salsa to dip your fries in: Thousand, Garlic Aioli and Fire & Spice.

Discount: There aren’t any, but they have a fairly priced menu.

Most Popular Dish: Texas BBQ & Bacon Cheeseburger.

Store Hours: Mon-Sun 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

In Case You Didn’t Know: Rockfire is one of the top three selected that will compete in Dana Point’s Annual The Fast Casual Executive Summit Oct. 11.

 F.I.N.S

Photo By: Katie Groat

Owner: Peter Cho

Food: Hawaiian Seafood Poke

Background: “My brother and I were in the sushi industry for about eight years, and it really wasn’t working out, so we transitioned to poke, where we used a lot of the same sauces, the most popular. Fast-forward a year later and you have F.I.N.S,” said owner Peter Cho.

Fun Fact: F.I.N.S is the first Poke restaurant in the nation to have its own drive thru. That particular drive thru is at their Fullerton location.

“Our real estate broker came to us with a location in downtown Fullerton, and it was a stand alone unit, that had drive thru capabilities, and we took advantage of it immediately,” said Cho. The new drive thru location has been open for about two-weeks and has been a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, Cho commented.

Discount: Present your Saddleback School ID and take advantage of their promotional discount.

Most Popular: The Works (crab, spicy tuna, seaweed salad, and mix of sauce).

Store Hours: Mon-Sat 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Sun 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

In Case You Didn’t Know: Poke stands for cubed fish, where it is topped with rice. The raw fish is embedded with flavors and sauces, creating that Umami flavor.

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