Pro: outdoor seating, baked goods. Grow: ordering system Finally tried the famous Gjusta! This is an iconic restaurant in Venice that needs to be visited when in the area. We came in on a Saturday during lunch and it was definitely busy and bustling. You line up, order, and then seat yourself. They have an express and regular line, although I'm still not sure what the difference between them is. I recommend having one person order and the other person find seating. The outdoor seating is dreamy and perfect for a warm California day. Food: ORDER the meatball sub! It was super yummy as the meatballs were tender, sauce was saucing, and bread was crispy. I shared the sub with a friend which was just the right portion. My friend ordered the patte sandwich, I'm not a fan but if you like patte then go ahead. Make sure to grab a sweet treat, the olive oil cake was the perfect balance of citrus and sweet. Overall, the sweet treats and meatballs were worth the hype. Outdoor seating is nice and I will definitely be coming back for more sweet treats. read more

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Come here for the tahini croissant!! This is single handedly the best pastry in town! Prices are a little high for what you get, but the food is delicious. When you go in for a sit down brunch meal, make sure to take a ticket. You dont need one for takeout pastries. This probably confuses everyone and doesnt warrant low reviews. I cant speak for the rest of their menu but the breakfast burrito was delicious as well as our coffee and pastries. Seating is first come first served so it can be difficult to find a seat on a busy day. Regardless, the outdoor space is beautiful and cozy. read more

Gjusta - Tahini croissant, coffee marble cake - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

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Popular bakery and food market for Google employees in LA. The croissants were amazing and the latte was good, not great. The hall had lots of delis and served pasties, sandwiches, and snacks for those nearby the LAX office. I think the croissants are perfect. We had chocolate, plain, ham and cheese, and the baklava croissant. All were eaten for breakfast with nary a crumb after. Highly recommend if you are nearby! read more

Came here for a late breakfast/early lunch on a Saturday. They are very popular and the line piles up but, goes by quickly. Once inside, you take a number and place your order at one of the windows/ordering stations and they give you a number. There's a beautiful, large patio where you sit and wait for your food to be delivered (very friendly staff). The menu is extensive making it challenging to make a decision BUT, everything is SO fresh and really tasty. Luckily I was with a few people and we all got different things and were able to share/taste each others orders. I got the salted anchovies with a side of olive bread & the veggie sandwich-- Both, A-MAZ-ING. I don't think you can really go wrong with anything on their menu, just make sure you have an empty stomach. Absolutely recommend and will be back. read more

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The food was decent but the service was below expectation. After ordering, you have to grab a seat yourself, which I did, but the table wasn't cleaned yet (all the other seats were taken). When the staff came to deliver our food, we politely asked the staff if they can clean the table and give us utensils and water. The staff came back and cleaned the table but didn't give us neither utensils nor water. When all of our food came out, we asked the staff again if they can give us utensils and water and they answered yes but never came back. I grabbed the utensils and water from the staff station myself while the staff watched me and ignored. The automatic 20% tip when you dine in and 15% tip when you place to-go order doesn't seem fair if customers have to stand in line to place the order and sit themselves and grab own utensils and water. I'd gladly leave more than 20% tip when good service is provided. I saw similar reviews expressing the same concern. Also, be mindful that parking can be challenging even the street parking. There is always a long line especially on the weekends. You have to pick the number and wait for your number to be called. There was no one explaining how this process works so I saw some people were confused and just waited in line without grabbing the number. read more

Gjusta - Bread Pudding, Tuna Conserva - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

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Great food, service, and ambiance, but super pricey. Would go back again just to sit at one of the outdoor tables and read or work. read more

Gjusta - Build your own sandwich. Open faced with CC, lox, pickled onions, capers, and tomato on an everything bagel. - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

Amazing food and setting in Venice beach so a little funky but delicious! My daughter took us there and we were completely blown away at the variety of food displayed in their counters! read more

This is the sister restaurant to Gjlena, which I love. It's a fast casual format (you stand in line at the deli counter, order food, take a number, and the food was brought up to you) with quality deli offerings. I hear people complaining about the prices, but doesn't that come with a territory of dining here? There are so many overpriced places in Venice. There are so many overpriced places in LA. This is just our reality. I personally feel that if the food/service/ambiance is good, I feel OK with paying steep prices. With that said, it is true that the prices are steep here. It's $8 dollars for the smallest cup of juice, and most of the things. Between a girlfriend and I today we shared a salad, sandwich, a slice of pizza, and two little juices, and it comes to round a little over $80 per-tip. I think if it was a sit down restaurant with more service, this may be more justifiable. Everything I usually get here is usually pretty good, but I can see why it seems egregious to pay for some of these prices, especially if a lot of what they're offering, it's just kind of assembled food, that requires little to no cooking. Overall, I like this establishment a lot. Steep prices, moderately portioned, fresh and quality tasting dishes. read more

Gjusta - Little gems cesar- great flavor was a little too heavily dressed. Mushroom flat bread was yummy, slightly hard to cut into. - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

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I brought my daughter to experience the deliciousness of Gjusta. Excellent service, perfect cappuccino and the tastiest pastries in town all made for a wonderful morning spent catching up. The patio has the best ambiance and is well mannered-pup friendly. read more

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The food itself is probably 3.5 stars. but that's not why this review exists. I have three main grievances, which seem to also be corroborated by recent reviews. This review isn't for the staff or owners. They clearly don't give a shit and it seems as if the heyday of Gjusta-* line is over. We are simply late to the party and susceptible to the scam. 1. There is a mandatory 20% service charge for dine-in. Ok, that's a little steep but I appreciate it when it's presented up front. Tipping itself is a scam, but if it's included in the price and I get good service, that's fine. The problem arises when there is 1) no service 2) negative service. 3) forced at the high end. I have worked in the service industry. I also have a good number of michelin stars under my belt. The expectation for service at michelin starred restaurants typically warrants and is enforced with mandatory service charges at a maximum of 18% (see n/naka; kato). Waitstaff is knowledgeable, attentive, and sincere. I made my order and received a number. I grabbed one of the highly sought tables, set my number down, and went to alert the rest of my party. Upon coming back, my number was gone. I had to go back and talk to the cashier to get another one. There were no utensils, no napkins/linen, no water service. Just... nothing. I'm sorry, but to enforce a mandatory 20% service charge when service doesn't exist is an absolute scam. I'll actually touch on the water part in a bit as well. 2. There is a mandatory 15% mandatory service charge for take-out. I'm sorry. This is not a thing, and should never be a thing. Why am I paying 15% extra for someone to bag a couple pieces of bread and pawn it off as service? This is not a service charge. This is an operating expense. Shame on you. 3. The water. I asked for water at the cashier and they had the audacity to tell me that the "tap water machine" was broken. You mean a fucking faucet? You're telling me you're operating a cafe/deli/restaurant without a basic need on a busy saturday? I walk over to the back and there is back of house staff cleaning bottles and refilling them -- with water. Why would you lie about that? Why would I be unable to receive water? Why did I need to discover this myself and ask back of room staff to give me a bottle? I was conflicted because there are things that I want to get here, but this is an absolute joke of an establishment. I will not be coming back, and you shouldn't be giving money to them either. Do better. read more

I had this sandwich like 5 days ago and can't stop thinking about it. I felt compelled to express this so if you're considering what to order, perhaps this will sway you to also have the same ultra delicious experience. read more

Gjusta - Tomato Confit - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

This spot is very fun and rambunctious. The atmosphere of the large, deli style counter is absolutely chaos, as you wait ticket-style, to order. On a Saturday morning this took about 30-40 minutes. I didn't feel comfortable giving the highest review purely based on the food quality. The ambiance and service we good, aside from the long wait. We ordered the caesar salad, an open faced lox bagel and a veggie sandwich - all of which are priced at a premium. The salad was a complete disappointment, looking incredible when it arrived, it lacked a lot of flavor and seasoning in the dressing. The veggie sandwich was good but nothing to rave about for $18. The lox on the bagel was fantastic, but that was really the only thing good about it. The bagel was small with one half burnt. All in all, this spot seems fantastic if your picking up fish or deli items by the pound - everything seems super high quality. Yet the execution of their actual dishes left much to be desired from such a long wait time. read more

Gjusta - Make your own sandwich - everything bagel, lox, tomato, sprouts - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

parking isn't too bad, the wait is ok, and the ambiance is 10/10 when the weather's warm! gjusta has a really good menu and it's a quintessential venice staple so it's definitely worth checking out at least once. Really enjoyed the poppyseed bialy with herb gravlax, sprouts, and cream cheese! read more

Gjusta - herb gravlax on a poppyseed bialy with herbs/sprouts - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

Gjusta came highly recommended from several friends. The egg and ham sandwich was delicious and so was my oat milk latte. My partner got the Shashuka Egg dish and said it was good. The price is definitely high and they automatically include a 20% gratuity if you dine in. Lots of outdoor seating. Pastries looked amazing but we didn't try any. I'd come back. read more

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First time visiting Gjusta. I'll start by saying that I founded and own a service industry company with over 80 employees and the way that I was treated by the staff at Gjusta this morning is rude, deplorable and unnecessary. I will never go back and when this restaurant comes up in conversation I will encourage others to do the same. I'm visiting my west coast office from New York and decided to take one of my employees to breakfast and coffee here. The place is chaos. People milling about everywhere, no organization, no lines. The staff are literally shouting at customers from behind the counter like it's an airport security line. Fine, whatever, it's sunday morning. We get a half loaf of bread, a cardamon bun and two coffees from the express line where we are asked if we wanted the food "to go or to stay." We say "to go" cause we're not sure how long we're going to be there. We take our breakfast to the outdoor section where there are plenty of open seats so we sit at the edge of a large table and are chatting and munching on our bread. Fine. All normal. Then, the hostess (a woman in a black sweater with strawberries on it) walks up to our table, interrupts our conversation and says to us "Guys, 'to go' means TO GO!' you're welcome to enjoy your food out on the sidewalk." I say to her that there was no way for us to know this wasn't allowed they should really have a sign telling us that to go food is not allowed in the seating area so that we would be made aware before getting comfortable. The hostess tells me thats it's actually written on the A Frame sign at the entrance to the outdoor seating area. We say "okay" and get up to leave. The hostess is standing next to the A Frame sign. I stop to read it and it says nothing about "to go" food not being allowed in the outdoor seating section. I tell the hostess that "the sign says nothing about to go food not being allowed in the seating area." She then say "okay do you want to stay?" to which I respond "No, now I want to leave because of your bad attitude." to which she responds "I don't have to take this from you." She continues to say that she's "going to call SECURITY and have you 86'd from the restaurant." As this is happening a group of waiters and bus boys menacingly start to gather in between the hostess and myself and start advancing toward me getting into my physical space while telling me I need to leave. Not a great way to be treated on a sunday morning. So, in short we paid $35 with a mandatory service fee for two very small coffees, a half loaf of bread and a bun to be told we can't sit there and then aggressively and violently removed from the premises for the great crime of eating our overpriced food. Choice and competition are the cornerstones of the economy. Gjusta's food is basically the same as anything else you'll find on Abbot Kinney. But as anyone in service will tell you the product is not the overpriced bread you sell, but the customer experience. Go to Gjelina instead for breakfast. The food is way better, the vibe is great and the people as so nice and they leave you feeling full of not just food but of human decency and respect. read more

Cozy nice for breakfast and lunch. Food is good especially fish. We ordered smoke salmon, baked scallop and some bread. I wish a glass of wine with. Lunch time, it's pretty hard to find parking spot (street parking only). read more

Visiting from out of town and our hotel recommended this place. The pastries were so delicious and all of the food just looked incredible. We also had a salmon toast with capers that was yummy too. The drip coffee is delicious and full of flavor. Great service too. Highly recommend! read more

Gjusta - Apple Coffee Cake and Marble Coffee Cake - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

After hearing about it for so long, I finally tried it out for brunch and I 100% understand the hype. Their bread is the star of the show, and their dishes do a fantastic job highlighting its freshness. No matter what you order for your entree, I'd recommend getting the bread and butter to truly appreciate the quality of the bread. It's served with a generous portion of butter and flaky salt and it's absolutely divine. I was also a big fan of the french toast, which was topped with fresh fruit, cream, and a delicious caramel sauce. We ordered some pastries to go and they were all excellent, but the tahini croissant was my favorite! Sesame adds a wonderful nuttiness to the pastry and I've never seen it used to fill a croissant before. The only item I wouldn't order again was the passionfruit limeade--it was quite tart, so I'd only recommend it for those who can handle really sour drinks. Otherwise, everything we ordered was delicious! The service was fantastic as well. Our server was so friendly and she gave us great recommendations because it was our first time at the restaurant. We sat outside on the patio and staff member brought us an umbrella because the sun started bearing down pretty intensely. Even though it's busy on the weekends, we only had to wait 20 minutes for a table, and they have a small store to shop around while you wait. Overall, we had a great experience, and will definitely be returning! read more

Gjusta - Sourdough French Toast - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

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My first time there and I ordered a smoothie and was very disappointed. It was the smallest smoothie I've ever seen and still over $11.00. I also found the staff to be a bit dismissive. I liked it enough to give it another chance though. read more

You must have a lox bagel sandwich. You will get yo whole life back! Always a good place to eat. We're still in COVID regulations, so service was not the greatest however far from terrible. Food is always good, a few item on the menu may be a bit different from description. My favorite thing to do is drop $100 in the bakery on goodies like baguette, whipped burata, za'atar hummus, pastrami lox, and pickled veggies. Seating is currently outdoor. We did make reservations via Open Table up one leaving at 10am, the line was already halfway down the block. I'm never sad I made the trip to Gjusta Bakery. read more

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They will not remove cheese from the veggie burger. They were out of avocado. They charged 20 percent tip and made us get our own napkins, utensils etc. I had to create my own $20 sandwich and it was good. Will not be going back. It shouldn't be too much to ask to not put a piece of cheese on the burger. read more

Food is superb like always. Through put the years that I've been here food quality hasn't changed. Service has improved. The ambiance is like you are in tapas house in Barcelona. read more

Gjusta - Tahini croissant - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

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Looking for great coffee & pastries in LA? Then head over to Gjusta in Venice, a bustling bakery & cafe with a large outdoor patio. It's a popular place for breakfast and lunch, so be prepared to take a number and wait in the queue to order and get a table. Recommendations: For savory, try the Ham & Cheese Croissant. For sweet, try the Bread Pudding. So good! read more

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Went here today and upon paying was told "the tip is included in the price, don't worry about adding a tip" which sounded great! I noticed the screen pop up where you normally type in your own tip, which quickly disappeared. Got my receipt, and no, it is not included in the price. There is a 20% additional charge to the menu items. How is that even legal? It seems like the cashier just punched in a tip for me. After digging a little online, it seems like they charge a mandatory 20% service fee for dining in ...okay, but there was literally no "service" provided. They brought out food to our table and that was it. I don't know how restaurants get away with this and stay in business. read more

Does not have alternative dairy milk besides Oat which sucks when you have allergies. Food menu is more catered for lunch vs brunch. They have gluten free bread which is nice and their selection of pastries and fish is really nice. Be prepared to wait a while! read more

I want to preface this by saying i have been going to gjusta for YEARS, and have introduce many people to this place. I requested to get a sandwich without the bread toasted. I do this every time i come here, no issues. They make fresh bread here, so you would think no issue right? Beni the assistant general manager would absolutely not allow it, acting extremely rude. I explained to him how they always do it for me, and he said others are "breaking the rule" that's bullshit. Have you heard of customer service? this places customer service is absolute shit and will be the reason people won't go there anymore . read more

Good: lots of variety, DELICIOUS, worth it! Service and ambiance: lots of outdoor tables (big and small) with shade and heat lamps. Minimal street noise. East street parking (I came on Tuesday around noon.) *They automatically add 20% to the check. No need to tip. read more

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I've been here a couple of times. Remember to get a number near the front. Some people wait in line up without realizing and then wait even longer when they figure it out. The food here is great! The first time I went, it was really busy and there was no seating while my group was waiting to order so we chose take out, but seating was then available as soon as we got our food. We sat down and the waiter took our receipt to apply a service charge for sitting down even though they didn't provide any service. We had to serve ourselves water, get our own utensils, etc. Def an awkward experience. I still liked the food despite the poor service read more

Gjusta - Smoked Brisket Banh Mi - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

$17 for an olive loaf. $10 for a slice of flatbread. 8-inch sandwiches that start at $18, $4 for a 3-inch cookie, $11 for an order of fries, etcetera, etcetera. That's just a sampling of the eye-watering prices they're charging here for standard bakery items. I mostly knew what I was getting myself into walking into this hipster's nest in the heart of Venice, but it still felt like getting kicked in the gjustas when you look at your receipt and at the bottom is a 20% charge for MSC. Upon inquiry, I was told it's a charge added automatically to every check, for the staff. Tip? That's separate, and of course, expected. Sitting in the patio eating my flatbread and trying to catch the wind that'd been knocked outta me, watching all the hipsters and their larvae enjoying their matchas, chai teas and $6.50 croissants, I realized I was the only one agonizing over prices. The residents of this area need a place where they can spend their tech and trust fund dollars. Gjusta is simply satisfying a need in the community. I'm happy for them. For my part, I need to get the f outta Venice... read more

Listen.. this is a deli type eatery with outdoor seating. Service may not always be as friendly as if it were a restaurant. I'm ok with that because the food is absolutely spot on . In particular .. their selection of dips & breaded goods. I've had a lot of hummus and baba ganoush in my life and Gjusta has one of the best I've tried in my life! read more

Wokey, rude staff and usual West Side tip rip off. Really horrible experience...this is my local place and i am done being scammed read more

I'll be back in Los Angeles in a few weeks and I've been trying to pick out a few places to dine at. I was here about 4 months ago, and really enjoyed everything I had. I still think about that croque madame from time to time. I docked this place a star because of the price and service charge, but after mulling it over, that was unfair of me. I'm seriously considering coming back here, so in my mind, that makes this place a five star establishment. read more

Gjusta - Croque Madame - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

We came here for breakfast and it reminded me so much of New York. The interior is set up like a very fancy deli with lots of wood, soft lighting and old fashioned slotted letter boards for the menus. The street outside is another story, be prepared for a homeless tent city, which is luckily not visible from the charming back patio, totally fenced off from the disarray. I had the egg sandwich with harissa catsup (definitely not NY BEC) and a latte (at least I ordered a latte but the guy who brought it said cafe con leche, so maybe they don't have espresso?). Both were very good. We also ordered a breakfast burrito (looked a bit simple, like not a lot of ingredients), a pastry, a scrambled egg combo thing and a matcha latte. Everyone was happy, except for my husband and his sad burrito. Full disclosure, he really wanted a deli sandwich, but you can't order those during breakfast, so he was disgruntled from the get go. They also have some jams, nuts and granola for sale, which look very good and have cute packaging but the tiny bag of granola was 15 bucks, so I passed. read more

This place is one of my favorite places in LA and has such unique dishes. Located in the heart of Venice, Gjusta is a great outdoor spot and has all the vibes. Love their food so much and will always come back to support. read more

This place was always crowded before the pandemic with the "take-a-number" system, but somehow one always managed to find a place to stand/sit to eat our food. Since Covid hit, we'd been one for take-out and the quality is relatively the same - good overall. I knocked down one star (one and a half would be more like it, but I decided to be nice :)) because of the price. Sure, this is in Venice/SaMo, but the prices are still quite stiff for even this area. Regardless, we keep coming back, mainly for the Brisket Bánh Mì (the brisket is the star here, but the bread is good too), their variety of pickled/oiled fish/seafood and the grain bowls (salmon belly, specifically). Once in a while we'd have cravings for a $20+ sandwich (you read that right!) and nothing else could do, but the Brisket Bánh Mì themselves. Street parking is easy now, but can be a pain during non-Covid time. read more

Gjusta - Smoked Brisket Banh Mi - Bakeries Near Me - Venice, California

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Went there yesterday for the first time. Ordered the Italian salad. Was disappointing. Could only find 2-3 small pieces of salami. My friend who ordered the same left half of it on the table. At $20 it was unsatisfying. After standing on line for some time you pay at register and they bring it to you later. When I asked the cashier why it showed $26 for a $20 salad, she said "20% service charge included ". Oh. To stand on line and order, a 20% service charge, with no warning. And on top of that the "Tip" prompt comes up - so if I had not paid attention (I'm money conscious) i would've paid another 20% on top of that. I'm sure that most people (young crowd ) don't pay attention and just tap the screen. I thought this was so disingenuous on their part. Although the sandwiches looked pretty good (I have not tried ) I don't think ill go back. I don't like when people take advantage. read more

They make no changes or accommodations for even religious dietary restrictions. Very disrespectful for a place that charges an automatic 20% service fee and then refuses to provide the most basic service from a restaurant. Shameful read more

Had a great brunch at Gjusta once again! We went in at around 11 am on a Friday. The wait was not too bad for ordering and there were open seats outside. They told us they had carrot cake in the back to order at first but didn't let us order it at the register, which was unfortunate. We tried the blueberry cornmeal cake, bread pudding, and smoked brisket banh mi sandwich today. All of the food was top notch! The crust around the bread pudding was especially good. The ambiance at Gjusta is always great. We were a bit cold so they turned on the heaters, so we were able to comfortably enjoy the food. Will definitely be coming back sometime soon. read more

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Amazing food! Creative choices! Fresh Fresh Fresh! Great outdoor space with a European feel. read more

A friend of ours introduced us to their bread (olive and fruit) last week - and my wife and I were ecstatic - possibly the best we ever had in the US (and we Germans know serious bread). I still stand to that. So we drove the hour from Pasadena - and wanted to love the place. We really did. Sadly, the breakfast we had - sandwiches - was among the worst we ever had. Even the bread was soggy and greasy, the bacon not remotely crisp, and the eggs totally overcooked. We understand the concept of the place. But we agreed that the egg & ham in a Starbucks, "cooked" in a microwave, was tastier. Sorry - we can not recall that we were ever so disappointed. Finally: "We believe all hourly employees are integral parts of the chain of service and contribute to each guest's experience. 15% will be added to takeout orders and 20% to dine in checks. " I agree when it comes to the employee part. But should this be a part of the general business calculation? Seriously: the bread was so good that I did not mind paying the $14-15-16 per loaf they charge. I sure would not mind paying a dollar or two more - it cost me more to drive over from Pasadena. Actually, I would much rather do this than say: "at $16 for a loaf of bread, we can not afford to pay our staff properly, so please help us with another 15% gratuity". As much as I wanted to love the place, my entire experience felt so wrong I doubt I would ever go again. A shame, really. read more