Charlie Palmer's HH

Charlie Palmer's is a steakhouse located next to Bloomingdale's in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. The atmosphere is very upscale but also relaxed. Most people in the restaurant dress up slightly in order to go to this location. Late night happy hour is from 10pm to midnight Tues-Sat. This happy hour includes 1/2 off glasses of wine, cocktails as well as draft beers.
The Lychee Martini ($7, regularly $14) is one of the cocktails ordered by my table. Those that had it thought that it was very good in the sense that it wasn't too strong on the alcohol and tasted like something someone who doesn't like liquor would want to drink.
The beers that were ordered, included the Golden Monkey (pictured) that was $3.50 (normally $7), and the Gonzo. The Golden Monkey looks like a light wheat beer, something along the lines of Blue Moon. However, it is a misleading appearance, given that it tastes like a dark beer, similar to Guinness. The Gonzo beer is a dark beer, but looks as dark as you would expect it to.
Appetizers ordered included the lamb burger slider, kobe beef sliders and calamari. All of which were ranging from $9 to $10 and were not on happy hour special. However, the table said that the kobe and lamb sliders were enjoyable, but to pass on the calamari, which was said to have been overly dry.
Charlie Palmer's is a good choice if you just feel like having a drink in a high end atmosphere, but skip it if you want to get good deals on food.

Elephant Bar HH

Elephant Bar, located on Culver in Irvine, just implemented a late night happy hour. 9pm to close 7 days a week. On weekdays, the bar closes at 10pm. All happy hour deals are only honored if you dine in the bar area. The deals include appetizers ranging from $3 to $6. As well as drinks ranging from $2 to $6. Appetizers include the Quick Seared Ahi Tuna with Ponzu ($6), Vietnamese Shrimp Spring rolls ($5) and the Baja chicken quesadilla ($4). All of which were thought to be good by those who ordered them, however the spring rolls were thought to be a little on the plain side as far as taste quality goes.
Domestic beers are $3, but only include drafts such as Bud and Coors. For imports like Stella, there are choices of small (pint for $5) or Tall (pictured, right $6). Also martinis and margaritas are available for $6 each and well drinks are priced at $3 each. The atmosphere for Elephant Bar consists of a rounded bar area, with t.v. monitors displaying various sports programming and tall tables meant to be stood at, with only a few actual seats.
Not an amazingly out of the ordinary happy hour, but the fact that many people have to stand made this a unique and in some ways, more social happy hour than others that have seating at a large table.

Opah HH

OPAH, located in The Marketplace in Irvine, is right next door to BJ's Brewery. The name OPAH, many mistake to be of Greek origin, however this restaurant is actually named after the OPAH fish found in Hawaii. And is also Hawaiian in theme. Their happy hour is from 9pm to 11pm on Friday and Saturday night. Its one of the rare late night happy hours that you're going to find in the area for the weekend.
All appetizers are half off. Ranging from Buttermilk calamari, Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp (pictured left), and Thai BBQ Pork, Mango and Brie Spring Rolls.
The calamari are the best deal as far as the amount of food goes. For $5 you get enough food for a small meal. The Prosciutto wrapped shrimp, which are wrapped in bacon, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes are very tasty, but still expensive with the happy hour discount ($6), given that there are only 3 of them per plate. The spring rolls give your four rolls for $6, and were thought to be a good value by those that ordered them in my group.
As far as drinks go, there were $4 draft beers, $6 glasses of wine, $6 martinis and the signature Opah Moonshine drink for $6. The peach and mango martinis were ordered by our table and were thought to taste very good, without being too strong or weak on the alcohol content. The Opah Moonshine consists of Vodka, Schnapps and Grenadine (pictured left). It tastes very sweet, but is not strong enough to really be worth the price. The beers include Stella, Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Nevada tastes similar to many pale ales and is well worth the price.
If you're looking for an upscale late night happy hour on a weekend, OPAH is worth checking out.