Ruby’s in Costa Mesa returns to full service
A quick-service experiment at a revamped Ruby’s Diner location in Costa Mesa was recently scrapped and returned to a traditional full-service restaurant.
The diner, on the East 17th Street Promenade, was renamed Ruby’s Dinette in August 2014. It offered fast-casual food and had a remodeled interior that remained retro, but with a more psychedelic 1960s flavor instead of the 1940s feel of the traditional Ruby’s Diner chain.
Ruby’s Dinette also added an ice cream counter and beers on tap. The ice cream came from Santa Cruz-based Marianne’s, which has locations throughout the Bay Area.
The Costa Mesa site, while returning to the full Ruby’s menu, is retaining the name Ruby’s Dinette. It is also retaining the beer and ice cream and the psychedelic motif.
This week, Ruby’s Dinette had signs outside saying “welcome back” to customers who were accustomed to the Irvine-based chain’s full service and menu.
The interior was still very much 1960s, with Ruby’s traditional white and red color scheme replaced with a groovier black, yellow and red. Andy Warhol’s iconic multicolor prints of Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe hung on the walls across from 1960s posters for Sonny & Cher appearing in concert and the Beatles appearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
“The Jetsons” played on an oversized television screen.
Ruby’s Diner owner Doug Cavanaugh told the Orange County Register that many longtime fans, particularly seniors and families with young children, disliked waiting in line to order food.
“Our mistake there was not really anticipating what the feeling would be from people who enjoyed the full service for 15 years,” Cavanaugh told the Register.
Cavanaugh said Ruby’s still plans to try its fast-casual restaurants elsewhere, but only at new locations and not by converting existing ones. The new restaurants, at least three of which may open in Orange County, will also be 1960s themed, with limited beer and wine service, the Register reported.
Ruby’s Diner opened its first location on the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach in 1982.
