GG’s Bistro

We were looking for a nice outdoor table with good food for our quick get away to Laguna Beach. We had a wonderful dinner at GG’s — sitting outside on the patio with a gentle breeze and light Samba music playing in the background as the sun went down. The food was fantastic, the service wonderful and the ambiance perfect for a nice night out. The prices are reasonable and the food fresh and delicious. This is now our «go to» spot for a great, relaxing dinner when we are in Laguna.

My male friend and I were very impressed by this local restaurant. The menu is very full and the food is delicious. I loved the Mediterranean salad with both salmon and shrimp and a perfect dressing. We went there on a very very hot day and yet it was beautifully shaded by some small trees surrounding the patio and superbly placed umbrellas. I’ve eaten other salads and have loved them all. Although known for their Mediterranean dishes, they have so much more — including tasty burgers and pastas. All of this comes with a view of Laguna Beach downtown. Gracious service too.

Wow! Best kebabs in Cali! Also try Mediterranean salad, and their great burgers. They have patio with an ocean view is you can drink wine just like famous writers.
That’s a family restaurant and the owners are very nice. You will better do reservation on weekends, because it’s getting more busy that time.
Absolutely in Iove with that place

The service was not as great, our waitress took awhile to get our order as she was too busy socializing with people. I ordered the gyro plate. The beef itself was really dry and lacked flavor, it felt like they just microwave the beef and put it on a plate. I honestly, did not enjoy my food it was like eating rubber. I felt like I was forcing myself to eat it, even though the portion was still small. I wouldn’t recommend this place, I tried other Mediterranean food that was way over the top for under 10 bucks. You’re basically paying $ 20+, since it’s in Laguna Beach.

Food is disgusting. They cant even cook a simple chicken finger. It was as hard as a rock! Tooo pricey for the crappy food!

Let me start by saying GG’s has the best sangria ever; homemade with the best fruit! Great place to wind down and have tasty appetizers and dinner. I really enjoyed the calm and quiet environment and old classic music. Borek was lovely and the gyro plate was scrumptious. Will definitely be back!

To start off… our table was outside the art gallery. We almost felt like we were not at the restaurant… food was super bland. Ordered the gyro plate and it was lacking flavor. The olive hummus was decent. I wouldn’t go back there again. Service was decent.

Being a local, I thought I would try something new, and this spot was nothing special. Over priced, quality is average, and there are much better places. Go to Nick’s down the street, it’s worth the wait.

Great place has a good happy hour. Try the calamari it’s really good and the burgers are perfect size. Thought it was worth it.

Service was amazing, and the drinks fantastic. However, the lamb chops were not very good, my partner ordered lab kabob and two chunks were inedible grissel. Will deff be back for drinks

We were told there was about an hour or more wait at dining spots on the Pacific side, so we wandered and found GG’s Bistro across the street, almost empty. Boy, were folks missing a fine opportunity. Good food, service, and an overall great experience. Wake up, Laguna Diners!

Very yummy! Located on the main street, it is still rather quite. I sat on the porch and it was nice and warm.
I started with the hummus (you can ask for a single serving, although just the trio is on the menu. Very good (coming from an Israeli!). The asana kabab was also tasty, though too flat and therefore not moist enough to my taste. With white rice. A little boarding, but overall tasty.
The tzatziki is yummy and garlicy!
Oh! And there’re no restrooms! Had to take a key to a different place in the building. Odd…

Its OC restaurant week this week & what better time to try new restaurants at great prices! Laguna beach is always a good idea & a pretty place to kick off restaurant week in OC. And after all these years of restaurant hopping in laguna i’m always glad to find new small places to try out. GG’s stood out & Turkish food sounded like a great idea, so I decided to drag my entire family & some extra peeps to GGs for Sunday dinner. The restaurant was located conveniently on the side of PCH in a small multi level shopping complex with a few other art galleries and restaurants. I was surprised by how small it was, but soon got over it after they seated our large party of ten with no prob. The ambiance I felt could be a bit more authentic feeling, but besides that everything else was great. Right away the service was fabulous. The hostess (maybe server as well…) was very attentive, and took our order without any issues (Which almost never happen with this group of people ordering @ restaurants).
While we waited for the food we munched on freshly baked bread dipped in some great seasoned olive oil. The food came relatively fast and it was all presented well! I ordered the restaurant week special with olive hummus appetizer, chicken kebab plate and tiramisu for dessert. I thought the humus was great, i don’t usually like olives but this wasn’t over powering and tasted fresh. My chicken kebab dish was alright, cooked well, but it felt a bit bland. There were several orders of chicken kebab on the table, along with lamb kebab, grilled Salmon with mushrooms & spinach, the seafood pasta, and a few orders of the Ali Nazik. Everyone with a chicken dish felt the kebabs could use a bit more flavor, but the lamb kebab on the other hand was well seasoned and tasty. My dad really enjoyed it! Heard the seafood pasta was well seasoned and delicious as well! However, the Salmon was definitely the best thing on the table. The fish was full of flavor, cooked to perfection and was complimented well by the bed of spinach w/​mushrooms & side of potatoes. I did not try the Ali Nazik myself, but heard it was decent but «nothing special». Everyone felt the food was really fresh and prepared /​presented well, agreed that the chicken and the beef could have used more seasoning. Next, we got to dessert which definitely made up for the chicken for me. The Tiramisu with berries omg yes! and the Vanilla pudding with the spices was an instant hit. Next time i come i’m saving more room for dessert here.
Overall experience was good at GG’s! The food was fresh, light, and tasty. The service was great and the location is Laguna Beach! Can’t go wrong.

Great food, great location and great service! Came here with a few friends unfortunately we didn’t get to sit at the restaurant but took our food to go and took it to the beach (bad idea) right when we sat down to eat birds kept attacking us and I had to give half my food away because they just wouldn’t leave us alone! I got the chicken kabob sandwich and it comes with a side of fries or salad! Portion sizes are great and most importantly the food was moist and full of flavor! I have always loved coming to Laguna but have never tried this place out and I’m so glad I did! Love it!

I found this restaurant while looking for a lunch spot. I went there with three of my friends. When we arrived we checked in and were seated right away at patio area (as we requested)
We all ordered Ali Nazik for lunch and It was very delicious. The portion was great (I couldn’t finish mine but my friends finished all theirs) and the price was very reasonable. After, we ordered tea and baclava: and the tea was served in a traditional turkey teapot which was cute and the baclava was so fresh and tasteful.
The service was great, the waiter (which I assumed might be the owner) was very warm and welcoming, he frequently checked with us to see if we are doing ok.
Overall, my friends and I were very happy with our experience and I highly recommend this place to everyone.

It was around 6PM and we had just spent hours walking around Laguna Beach, so we were starving. We walked by the very popular Las Brisas, but it just screamed «tourist trap» to me, so instead, we decided to try GG’s Bistro. The couple sitting next to us had the lobster ravioli and raved about it. However, we were in the mood for Turkish, so went with the very helpful server’s recommendations and ordered the mezza and Turkish kafta kabob.
The food was excellent, service great, and we didn’t wait long for a table. No complaints whatsoever.

Wonderful time with Fiona tonight. As we shared our stories about abroad, being at GG’s bistro made feel as if we were already abroad.
The service is like you are their long lost friend and the food is so yummy!

I’m Loving It! No it’s not Mc D’s, it’s GG’s! A cozy little spot in Laguna Beach on the second floor, with both indoor and outdoor patio dining. Located directly on PCH, if you choose to sit and dine on the patio, there is some good people watching to be done :)
Order Up: Hummus Trio with Pita Bread, Iced Tea, Lemonade, Mediterranean Salad & Koftes Platter. Tell me this doesn’t look tasty:
It lived up to expectations. I liked the red pepper hummus and hubby liked the olive hummus and we both felt the pita bread came out fresh, soft and warm. Both entrees were really good and extra points for hubby’s Koftes, delicious. Another huge standout was the tatzaki sauce, possibly the BEST I’ve ever had.
The only real disappointment was service, which was spotty, a bit slow and call me bizarre, but I like my iced tea cold.
Extras & Tidbits: GG’s has a good $ 5 happy hour with some good food selections and select wines and cocktails. Breakfast on Sundays only, with prices varying from $ 10 to $ 15. Delivery available thru Rest. on the Run and they also cater and can have smaller, more intimate parties or events. GG’s Bistro is billed as an Italian & Mediterranean Café, but I can’t speak for the Italian food.
Great vibe, great food and a very worthy spot. Thank you we will be back.

We went to Laguna Beach to eat at Nicks, it was an hour wait. We couldn’t wait because the family was hungry. We stopped over at GG’s as it was right there! Man, was that a mistake.
First off, started out alright. no wait, food wasn’t that great, very plain for the price. Our waiter looked like he lost his head, didnt know what was left or right. No menu for the kids to eat off of, so had to order by the side… come to find out when we got our bill… 2 omlets, pancakes, bacon, 2 eggs, juice for both kids and 2 glasses of strawberry champaign came out to $ 76 and some change… kids didn’t get their juice until after we were done eating, our chapaign didn’t come until halfway through our meal… service wasn’t great… the only person with their head on tight was the person who brought our food!
We gave ol dude $ 40 cash and the rest on a the debit. .
The worst part… Checked our bank this morning. well, our waiter charged us the full meal of of $ 76 bucks, took the $ 40 cash and charged us $ 36 more on the debit. Ended up paying $ 158.00 for a meal that wasn’t even that good.
Let’s just say this is a joke and they will be getting a call from me…

As the saying goes, «Good things comes to those who wait!» We were walking Kaya around Laguna Beach two years ago when we stumbled on GG’s Bistro. At that time, we decided against eating here, but bookmarked the place. Fast forward two years and we used this place to reboot «Bookmark Saturday» night.
The restaurant is separated with what appears to be a small dining area inside (
) and a decent size patio (
) on the outside. We had a choice of where to sit and chose the patio since it was a pleasant evening. We had to do some adjusting to the table and chairs since the patio was kind of cramped when we first sat down. Laina is a people watcher, so she really enjoyed the view of the street. Since it was the 4^th, there was plenty of hustle and bustle on PCH.
The dinner menu consists of Appetizers, Salads, Pastas, Mediterranean Fare, Entrees, Side and a Kid’s Menu. They have HH specials Monday thru Friday from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. There is also a check in offer for a free glass of house wine with a minimum purchase (I believe it was $ 18.00).
After getting a good look at the menu, we settled on Humus Trio (
) to start our meal. For drinks, the better half had iced tea and I ordered lemonade. Laina said the iced tea was good and I felt the same way about the lemonade. I think I enjoyed the Humus Trio more than my lovely wife. I think her favorite was the red bell pepper version, while I really enjoyed the olive humus. The olive humus had some really nice heat, but the better half doesn’t enjoy spice. The pita bread was very soft and it was served warm (really enjoy warm pita). When our server returned, we were ready to order our entrees. Laina ordered the Mediterranean Salad (
) with Olive Oil and Lemon Dressing. I went with GG’s Homemade Koftes (
) for my entrée.
The food came out in a reasonable amount of time. Laina enjoyed her salad and said the dressing was very refreshing. There was a good amount of ingredients and we both found it interesting that the feta was shredded instead of crumble, I don’t think either of us had ever seen shredded feta. The gyro was good, nicely seasoned and the portion was quite large (I think Laina finished about ¾s before she tapped).
The Koftes were nothing short of awesome! They were cooked to a perfect medium and the seasoning was spot on. The only thing better than the delicious koftes was the fantastic tzatziki. Laina and I agreed this was the best tzatziki we have ever sampled and it was a wonderful compliment to the koftes. The Piyaz went well with the koftes and the combination of tomatoes and red onions added some zest to the entrée. I also thought the hard boiled egg slices were an interesting addition to the Piyaz. The spicy sauce was good, but I really didn’t use much of it because I thought the tzatziki far outshined it and was a better compliment to the koftes.
The only thing that was really a negative was the service was rather aloof at times. The «regulars» seemed to get the majority of the attention while other diners were noticed in passing. I get places like to give extra attention to those that frequent their establishment, but you should make your other diners feel like lepers. At one point, a bus boy brought refills to our table and before you could say «Where’s the ice?», he was gone again. You would figure since one of the drinks has «ice» in its name, it might be a clue to drop some cubes in the drink before bringing it to the patrons. We were able to flag down the person who appeared to be the owner and he retrieved a glass of ice for us.
Rohlinism: It is much easier to fix the service in a restaurant than it is to fix the menu.
I go out to nicer places to have something I couldn’t find in my own kitchen at home. If a restaurant provides that, I am more inclined to look over issues with the service. In the reverse, if the food is awful, it really isn’t going to matter how awesome the service is, because there will not be a return visit. Lousy recipes /​chefs will kill a restaurant in no time.
So to sum it up, we were able to laugh off some of the service problems, because the kitchen was on its game when it came to the food. Laina was already discussing future visits as we were leaving the restaurant.