Cheesetella
In Buena Park and Irvine, one of three chains offering Japanese-style cheesecakes and castellas
Cheesetella is one of the most unusually compelling dessert shops we’ve ever come across, but also one that has never rated above “okay” in our book. Competing with the better-known Uncle Tetsu’s Japanese Cheesecake chain and its smaller, Dubai-based clone Uncle Fluffy, Cheesetella offers some of the nicest-looking and largest Japanese cheesecakes you’ll find in Orange County, but unfortunately, not the best tasting ones.
The basic concept behind this Korean bakery is to riff on a novel style of cheesecakes and castella cakes (egg/honey cakes) popularized in Japan – impossibly fluffy, sometimes brightly or deeply colored sponge cakes that contain cheese but are not dense or packed with any decidedly cheesy flavor. You can order a plain castella ($12.50), the eponymous cheese castella ($13.50), chocolate ($13.50), cream ($14.75), green tea and cream ($16), or cheesecakes in regular or ube versions ($17). For quite some time, the Irvine location also advertised a blueberry cream filling that was never available, and was eventually covered over on signage. These days, the “Greenteatella” cream version is only available on weekends.
We’ve tried multiple variants, most visually arresting in their own ways, and the purple ube cakes are especially memorable looking. That said, the cakes tend to be mildly flavored and designed for those without a strong sweet tooth. If you order them without cream fillings, you’ll find them about as intensely flavored as regular sponge cakes – except for the Chocotella, which tastes more like cocoa powder than milk chocolate. Chocolate chips were eventually added to the top of this version, improving the flavor and texture a bit.
At some point prior to our most recent (February 2026) visit, “Coffeetella” drinks – including cold brew coffee and tea options with lots of milk and optional thick cream toppings, plus dairy-free yuzu sparkling “ade” – were added to the small cake menu, ranging from $4.75 to $6.50. Once they were mixed with a straw, the Dubai chocolate mocha coffee and cream-topped double matcha tea we tried were both made with and tasted more substantially of milk than their other ingredients. Like the cakes, we’d put these drinks in the “fine” rather than “good” or “great” category, though those preferring less strong coffee, chocolate, and tea flavors might be more enthusiastic than we were.
Admittedly, we hadn’t visited Cheesetella in roughly four years, as ordering at the Irvine location had become almost comical on our second and last prior visit: We attempted to order anything with their blueberry cream filling (unavailable), then a chocotella (unavailable), then a roll cake (unavailable), so we wound up settling for something we hadn’t really wanted. Cheesetella’s only other Orange County location, a small corner shop on the ground floor of Buena Park’s shopping, dining, and entertainment center The Source, has similarly struggled with product availability and sometimes staffing. As a result, our Japanese cheesecake dollars have largely gone to Uncle Tetsu, though the larger size of Cheesetella’s sliced sheet cake pieces – and cream options, particularly green tea when available – may each appeal to some people more than Tetsu’s smaller, circular, and creamless cheesecakes.
Stats
Price: $-$$
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2017 (OC)
Addresses
17655 Harvard Ave.
Irvine, CA 92614
949.998.1188
6950 Beach Blvd. E-111
Buena Park, CA 90621
714.724.7714
Instagram: @cheesetellaoc