The Ultimate Girls’ Day in Newport Beach
The best girls’ days have a loose itinerary and very specific priorities: good coffee, a long brunch, a few hours in the sun, shopping you probably didn’t need to do, and a sunset cocktail somewhere with a view.
Newport Beach makes the formula almost too easy. Add a quick Laguna Beach detour and you’ve got the kind of Saturday that starts with iced coffee and somehow ends with everyone agreeing you should do this more often.
Here’s the itinerary: coffee, brunch, beach, shopping, something sweet, an early dinner, and sunset drinks. Clear the camera roll accordingly.
9:30 AM: Coffee First at Herst Coffee Roasters
No ambitious Saturday itinerary should begin before caffeine.
Start at Herst Coffee Roasters in Newport Beach for coffee before the day properly gets going. Keep it quick or sit for a minute and establish the agenda—although everyone knows the agenda is mostly brunch and beach.
From there, you’re perfectly positioned to make your way to the main event of the morning.
11:00 AM: Brunch at SET Steak & Sushi
Next stop: SET.
For brunch in Newport Beach with the girls, the garden-inspired patio is the move. Lush greenery, plenty of California sunshine, and a setting that feels polished without turning brunch into a formal affair—it’s made for settling in rather than eating and immediately leaving.
And because SET is a modern steakhouse in Newport Beach, the food goes well beyond the standard brunch rotation. The same approach to premium ingredients that defines dinner carries into the weekend, making it especially useful when half the table wants brunch and the other half is already mentally at lunch.
See what’s on for the weekend: Explore SET’s Brunch Menu.
Get the Spritz Tower Involved
This is a girls’ day. A single Aperol Spritz was never really the assignment.
SET’s Aperol Spritz Towers are made for the table and bring a little ceremony to an already leisurely brunch. Bright, bubbly, bittersweet, and particularly good on the patio, it’s the kind of order that makes “one quick brunch” immediately less believable.
There’s also a newer pour worth knowing: the Sarti Spritz. Made with the vibrant pink Italian aperitivo Sarti Rosa, it brings tropical and citrus notes to the classic spritz format. If Aperol is the longtime summer favorite, Sarti is the new arrival entering the Newport Beach rotation.
Browse cocktails before you go: View SET’s Beverage Menu.
SET also works particularly well for group dining in Newport Beach because nobody has to order the same way. Brunch dishes, steak, seafood, drinks for the table—everyone can do their own thing without making the reservation complicated.
12:30 PM: Beach Bags Out, Laguna Bound
Brunch handled. Now earn the rest of the afternoon by doing absolutely nothing on the sand.
Drive south toward Laguna Beach and make Woods Cove your destination. The small cove is tucked beneath the cliffs along South Coast Highway and offers a more intimate Laguna setting than some of the larger beaches.
Pack light, bring sunscreen, and give yourself a couple of hours with nowhere else to be. Keep an eye on ocean and tide conditions, as smaller coves can have limited sand and changing conditions throughout the day.
For current beach information and other Laguna Beach options, check Visit Laguna Beach.
2:00 PM South Swell Ice Cream Co.
Before dinner, there’s one very reasonable detour: ice cream.
South Swell Ice Cream Co. is a local favorite known for its handcrafted ice cream bars and dipped creations. It’s casual, sweet, and exactly the sort of stop a beach-and-shopping day requires.
Consider it the afternoon reset before round two.
Check out South Swell Ice Cream for locations and flavors.
3:00 PM Back to Newport for Fashion Island
Saltwater out, shopping bags in.
Head back toward Newport Beach for an afternoon at Fashion Island. The open-air setting makes it particularly good after the beach, and the mix of luxury stores, beauty stops, boutiques, and familiar favorites means there’s enough to keep a group occupied without needing an actual shopping agenda.
This is also the point in the day when somebody says they’re “just looking.” We all know how that ends.
Browse stores and current happenings at Fashion Island.
5:00 PM: Early Dinner at Bear Flag Fish Co.
After an elevated brunch, keep dinner decidedly casual.
Bear Flag Fish Co. is a longtime local favorite for fresh fish, poke, tacos, burritos, and seafood in a relaxed setting. An early dinner here makes sense after a day at the beach—and, importantly, leaves enough time to get somewhere good before sunset.
Visit Bear Flag Fish Co. for more information.
6:30 PM: Sunset Drinks at Topside
You’ve reached the part of the itinerary that should absolutely not be rushed.
Finish the day at Topside at Lido House for rooftop drinks around sunset. With views over Newport Beach and an open-air setting, it’s an easy final stop when the goal is less “night out” and more “one last drink that may become two.”
Timing matters here. Check the day’s sunset time and aim to arrive early enough to actually settle in before the sky starts changing.
Find Topside through Lido House.
Or Take It Back to SET for Dinner
If the girls’ day is turning into a girls’ night, there’s another option: circle back to SET.
The restaurant changes after dark. The garden-inspired patio settles under twinkling lights, the interior gets dimmer and moodier, and the menu moves fully into the steak and sushi in Newport Beach experience SET is known for.
Prime cuts for the steak person. Newport Beach sushi and sashimi for the sushi person. Seafood, wine, and cocktails for everyone in between.
Explore dinner: View SET’s Dinner Menu.
The Girls’ Day Cheat Sheet
- 9:30 AM: Coffee at Herst Coffee Roasters
- 11:00 AM: Brunch, Aperol Spritz Towers, and Sarti Spritzes at SET
- 12:30 PM: Woods Cove in Laguna Beach
- 2:00 PM: Something sweet at South Swell Ice Cream
- 3:00 PM: Shopping at Fashion Island
- 5:00 PM: Early seafood dinner at Bear Flag Fish Co.
- 6:30 PM: Sunset drinks at Topside
A Very Newport Beach Kind of Saturday
What makes this itinerary work is the contrast. You get an elevated brunch in Newport Beach, a few hours barefoot at the beach, a little retail therapy, casual local food, and cocktails overlooking the coast—all without spending half the day driving across Orange County.
And SET fits right into the middle of it. It brings everything you want from a steakhouse in Newport Beach—premium ingredients, thoughtful service, cocktails, and a polished setting—but brunch on the garden patio keeps things appropriately Saturday.
For anyone searching for the best restaurant in Newport Beach to anchor a girls’ day, the answer should be somewhere that sets the tone without taking over the whole itinerary.
Start with coffee. Order the spritz tower. Wear the swimsuit under the outfit.
The group chat can take it from here.