I'm officially done with Gjusta after my experience today, which was the final straw after several visits marked by the same issues. The mandatory 20% gratuity, whether you're dining in or taking out, is outrageous for the consistently poor and unfriendly service you receive. The ordering system is a confusing mess. Today's absurdity: I tried to order the brisket hash and asked if the fried egg it comes with could be scrambled instead. A simple request. The answer was a blunt 'no substitutions.' When I pointed out that they do, in fact, make scrambled eggs for other menu items, the staff member just pointed to those items and said I could order them. The refusal to accommodate such a minor change is baffling and exemplifies their terrible approach to customer service. Save your money and your patience; there are plenty of other places that value their customers.
Mark Burress
2 pastries and a coffee required a non optional 15% gratuity at a walk up counter. Pastries tasted great but the coffee was boiling hot. Even double cupped you couldn't hold in your hand.
Frank Vizcarra
The place is super cool with all the fresh queues, the food is good, but not as good as it looks it lacks depth of flavor. But bothers me the most is the 20% added to every eat in order (15%) for take-out. The required tip DOES NOT incentivize employees to provide good service. This is evident at Gjusta. The SERVICE IS NOT EXISTENT. The order taker was short and in a hurry to take my order. When enquire about the $20 service charge, he said is written in the menu. I asked where the money would go and he reply with, would you like me to call the manager to explain it to you. I said no, I just want to know where the money goes. He said, it goes to all the employees. Ok, then the tip it’s already included. Then he prompted me to leave an additional tip, which I declined. This has not worked in the past because the employees are guaranteed something they don’t have to earn. It promotes BAD SERVICE, BAD ATTITUDES, DIRTY PLACES. Gjusta is a cool place, don’t ruin it.
Robert Luna
Food is overhyped. Tried the pastrami Reuben and it had very little meat. No modifications were allowed. My friend got the fish and eggs which were also mid.
Google doesn’t allow zero stars for service and atmosphere, but that is what I give it. It was chaotic going in with no one realizing there is a number pulling system. After half an hour waiting packed in like Vienna they finally called our number and did not allow any modifications to the food. Then a mandatory 20% service fee for making us wait in the chaos, order up front, get our own water and find a table. Which we couldn’t find. So I asked for it to go and they were gracious enough to make the service fee 15% for togo orders. What a ripoff scam. Overpriced, overhyped, and would never go back again.
Katrina Lewis
The food is fine but oh my god the service here is simply terrible—had an experience today with the manager who was just nasty. Unbelievable. Last time I come here.
Matt Lewis
Just the worst service you could ever imagine. Eunice the manager could not have been more unfriendly and uncaring. It’s a real shame they are indifferent to the experience of eating here because the food is good and it’s a neat little spot.
Nate Scott
Service absolutely sucks but food is good. No point if your meal comes in 1 hour increments though!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
Dhatrish
Shakshuka - 1/5; better go to Lodge company for Shakshuka. How can they not add parsley and they haven't even tried to tame the tanginess. Huevos Rancheros - 3/5; don't know why I ate Mexican here instead of one of the many amazing Mexican restaurants in LA Coffee - 5/5 Baklava croissant - 3.5/5; the filling is different but as a whole it's nothing to write home about Pecan, apple, coffee cake - waste of carbs/5
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
Ari S
All around very subpar. Pastrami cut was not good tasty or size-able. Definitely not worth waiting, having an automatic $8 “service fee” and then being asked for additional tip without having full service. Cherry on top was charging extra for hot sauce ?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
Roslyn Ross
I have been buying croissants from Gjusta for years. I don’t live nearby so I order them on door dash. They have always been flawless. In the last six months this has changed. Now 75% of the time they are either burnt or overcooked and dry, not worth eating. It’s strange to me that a place of this quality that charges what they do would not put these terrible croissants in the trash. If you burn the food, you don’t serve it!!!!! No idea what had happened to this place.
Never mind the ultra annoying ticketing system to place an order for the restaurant as if getting in line is too complicated- they add 20% to your order to “dine in.” I opted to dine in and found myself a seat. Was not acknowledged by any staff - went to get myself a glass and bottle of water because I was not offered one. When my food and coffee came I asked for utensils and sugar and a spoon for my coffee. Got the utensils but not the sugar or teaspoon. Not sure what the 20% charge is for but clearly not for good service.
Next time they should pay me for all the work I did. The sandwich was gross, greasy soggy, runny- there was a weird tomato paste that really ruined it along with all the honey smoked ham flavors going on. Coffee could have been great had I gotten my sugar… $50 for one person.
An overrated overpriced Panera Bread. Basically meh ?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Esteban Viezcas
Excellent pastrami reuben, and bread pudding for dessert
“The sandwiches were so good, the place was so nice! We had a great time » Paul 9 years old
Excellent family time! We wanted to eat everything!! The soups, sandwiches, salads, desserts... the quantities are very generous and the atmosphere excellent. One of our holiday favorites.?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Laurence Grüninger
Got in the express lane for a take out croissant and coffee. Not sure why, but we waited ~30 mins despite there only being 5 people in front of us. The real disappointment however were the croissants we got. They tased weirdly cheesy and rancid. Especially when combined with the coffee the taste was very bad. I am not sure whether we were unlucky and got a bad batch, but I used to live in Paris and this is not what a croissant is supposed to taste like.
I'm officially done with Gjusta after my experience today, which was the final straw after several visits marked by the same issues. The mandatory 20% gratuity, whether you're dining in or taking out, is outrageous for the consistently poor and unfriendly service you receive. The ordering system is a confusing mess.
Today's absurdity: I tried to order the brisket hash and asked if the fried egg it comes with could be scrambled instead. A simple request. The answer was a blunt 'no substitutions.' When I pointed out that they do, in fact, make scrambled eggs for other menu items, the staff member just pointed to those items and said I could order them. The refusal to accommodate such a minor change is baffling and exemplifies their terrible approach to customer service. Save your money and your patience; there are plenty of other places that value their customers.
2 pastries and a coffee required a non optional 15% gratuity at a walk up counter. Pastries tasted great but the coffee was boiling hot. Even double cupped you couldn't hold in your hand.
The place is super cool with all the fresh queues, the food is good, but not as good as it looks it lacks depth of flavor. But bothers me the most is the 20% added to every eat in order (15%) for take-out. The required tip DOES NOT incentivize employees to provide good service. This is evident at Gjusta. The SERVICE IS NOT EXISTENT. The order taker was short and in a hurry to take my order. When enquire about the $20 service charge, he said is written in the menu. I asked where the money would go and he reply with, would you like me to call the manager to explain it to you. I said no, I just want to know where the money goes. He said, it goes to all the employees. Ok, then the tip it’s already included. Then he prompted me to leave an additional tip, which I declined.
This has not worked in the past because the employees are guaranteed something they don’t have to earn. It promotes BAD SERVICE, BAD ATTITUDES, DIRTY PLACES.
Gjusta is a cool place, don’t ruin it.
Food is overhyped. Tried the pastrami Reuben and it had very little meat. No modifications were allowed. My friend got the fish and eggs which were also mid.
Google doesn’t allow zero stars for service and atmosphere, but that is what I give it. It was chaotic going in with no one realizing there is a number pulling system. After half an hour waiting packed in like Vienna they finally called our number and did not allow any modifications to the food. Then a mandatory 20% service fee for making us wait in the chaos, order up front, get our own water and find a table. Which we couldn’t find. So I asked for it to go and they were gracious enough to make the service fee 15% for togo orders. What a ripoff scam. Overpriced, overhyped, and would never go back again.
The food is fine but oh my god the service here is simply terrible—had an experience today with the manager who was just nasty. Unbelievable. Last time I come here.
Just the worst service you could ever imagine. Eunice the manager could not have been more unfriendly and uncaring. It’s a real shame they are indifferent to the experience of eating here because the food is good and it’s a neat little spot.
Service absolutely sucks but food is good. No point if your meal comes in 1 hour increments though!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 1
Shakshuka - 1/5; better go to Lodge company for Shakshuka. How can they not add parsley and they haven't even tried to tame the tanginess.
Huevos Rancheros - 3/5; don't know why I ate Mexican here instead of one of the many amazing Mexican restaurants in LA
Coffee - 5/5
Baklava croissant - 3.5/5; the filling is different but as a whole it's nothing to write home about
Pecan, apple, coffee cake - waste of carbs/5
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
All around very subpar. Pastrami cut was not good tasty or size-able. Definitely not worth waiting, having an automatic $8 “service fee” and then being asked for additional tip without having full service. Cherry on top was charging extra for hot sauce ?
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 2
I have been buying croissants from Gjusta for years. I don’t live nearby so I order them on door dash. They have always been flawless. In the last six months this has changed. Now 75% of the time they are either burnt or overcooked and dry, not worth eating. It’s strange to me that a place of this quality that charges what they do would not put these terrible croissants in the trash. If you burn the food, you don’t serve it!!!!! No idea what had happened to this place.
Restaurantji Recommends
Never mind the ultra annoying ticketing system to place an order for the restaurant as if getting in line is too complicated- they add 20% to your order to “dine in.” I opted to dine in and found myself a seat. Was not acknowledged by any staff - went to get myself a glass and bottle of water because I was not offered one. When my food and coffee came I asked for utensils and sugar and a spoon for my coffee. Got the utensils but not the sugar or teaspoon. Not sure what the 20% charge is for but clearly not for good service.
Next time they should pay me for all the work I did. The sandwich was gross, greasy soggy, runny- there was a weird tomato paste that really ruined it along with all the honey smoked ham flavors going on. Coffee could have been great had I gotten my sugar… $50 for one person.
An overrated overpriced Panera Bread. Basically meh ?
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 2
Excellent pastrami reuben, and bread pudding for dessert
Beautiful artisan foodie paradise!
Wheelchair accessibility: Uneven cobblestone ground
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Avocado Toast, Bahn MI, Salmon Roe Bagel
“The sandwiches were so good, the place was so nice! We had a great time » Paul 9 years old
Excellent family time! We wanted to eat everything!! The soups, sandwiches, salads, desserts... the quantities are very generous and the atmosphere excellent.
One of our holiday favorites.?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Got in the express lane for a take out croissant and coffee. Not sure why, but we waited ~30 mins despite there only being 5 people in front of us.
The real disappointment however were the croissants we got. They tased weirdly cheesy and rancid. Especially when combined with the coffee the taste was very bad. I am not sure whether we were unlucky and got a bad batch, but I used to live in Paris and this is not what a croissant is supposed to taste like.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 3
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