There are good things to be said about Laguna. Their beer selection, for example, is pretty original even though they don’t have anything on tap. The fact they have a couple of organic beers does make up for that.

The food is, however, not good. I had what was described as a blue cheese burger, and I am just going to assume that they either a) forgot to put the blue cheese on, or b) used the cheapest, most flavorless blue cheese on the planet. The burger itself? Absolutely no flavor to it, and covering it with about half a pound of may is not going to make that better.

I can’t be too negative about Laguna, as I’m sure there are many many (many) worse places to go for a beer on the South Hill.

For just the food though? Stay away.

Laguna Cafe has a wonderful atmosphere. The inside is very cozy.

I have never had the food at Laguna, just the coffee. We enjoyed the inside of the cafe so much, my husband bought me a large gift certificate there.

Unfortunately, the owner is a little overzealous. The two times I have walked into the cafe, the owner would constantly talk to me and try to sell me stuff. It was rather annoying. So annoying in fact, that I no longer walk inside the cafe. I go through the drive thru!

In addition, one weekday morning at about 6:30 a.m. I tried to go to Laguna for coffee before work. However, Laguna was not open! The sign said they were open at 6 every weekday. Having a large gift certificate, I often go to Laguna in the mornings and have never had a problem. There was no explanation on the window or a sign explaining why they were not open that day. Perhaps there was a family emergency or something…but at least the customers should know that!

I hear they will be having jazz on the weekends. I think it is worth checking out. I will go back someday. I’m just giving the place time to come into their own. The owner just needs to chill out and let the customers see what a neat atmosphere he really has.

I agree with the first review. The owner can be very overwhelming. Every time I go in there I have to bring a book or pretend like I’m on my cell phone so that he won’t bother me. I go to Laguna often on my lunch break because the food is excellent and I love the atmosphere. I think he’s started to get the hint that I want to enjoy my lunch in peace, but I still notice him harassing all the other customers! I would recommend eating at Laguna for lunch. Their tuscan chicken wrap is amazing and they have excellent soups. Their dinner menu looks great too but I haven’t made it in yet.

Don’t mistake a man’s passion for “over zealousness.” Dan wants to make each and everyone’s visit to the Laguna Cafe a positive experience. Their philosophy is sincere and unique. Each customer is not a customer, they are a guest. Dan and Debbie, the owners are building a great clientele as they and their staff are making friends with the people they meet. There is a saying that comes to mind- “you can’t please everyone.” But, at the Laguna Cafe they can certainly try and that is what I have seen there.

Lunch: the Tuscan Chicken either as a sandwich or a wrap is like Ashley said “amazing”. I liked it so much for lunch I decided to try dinner, big mistake. At $15.95 + tax & tip for salmon the salmon was dry and had no flavor, I couldn’t identify the garnish and the vegetables amounted to about 1/4 cup, the rosemary potatoes were soggy and the bread verging on stale. It may not be the cooks fault because trying to do everything on a panini grill is a challenge. One tip for the cook; salt & pepper EVERYTHING. One tip for the owners; don’t try to do everything, skip the dinner items that really require a grill and stick to things that can be done well on a panini grill. Don’t try to do everything, just do somethings really well.

It was especially a challenge to attempt to do fish right next to one of the best fish restaurants on the south hill. Leave the gourmet cuisine and high prices to Twigs, know your market and focus on that.

I doubt I will waste $20 on a dinner attempt again. But I’m sure I will be there repeatedly for the Tuscan Chicken Wrap.
I found the owner pleasant and eager to please, I hope he takes this as an opportunity to improve.

The food is excellent!!! Because we could not decide on what wine to have, we pre-tasted three wines and then made a choice. Dan was very helpful which helped make our dining experience very positive.The acoustic guitar/singer was very good. The ambiance is very good. The service was excellent. The evening was the nicest dining experience we have had in a very long time. Plan on being frequent customers.

I wonder if some of the reviewers and I ate at the same Laguna Cafe. My wife and I had two different entrees (the ravioli and the ribs) and both were excellent. In addition, we tried (at the owners suggestion) the stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. SPECTACULAR! We also had their ‘Dreamsicle’ desert with a cup of their specially roasted coffee and both were outstanding. Dan offered us 3 different samples of wine to compliment our dinners and desert until he found one that matched OUR preference.

One reviewer mentioned the unique assortment of beers. We each tried a different one and they too, were to our liking. Yes, Dan did come by several times to visit, but it made us feel more like a guest in his kitchen than him being ‘overzealous’.

We’ll be back and probably bring friends with us.

we went here last week for an early dinner, we are all friends and go out together quite often. That said, dinner was good, nothing spectacular, but acceptable fare. my companion who is quite the wine snob was impressed with the offering from the owner, and the suggestions for dinner from our waitstaff were delivered with the appropriate enthusiasm. But the meals were just there. nothing over the top, just….there…. i will go back again, on my own and see if it was just me. But for right now, this doesn’t strike me as somewhere i would want to spend $20+ on dinner

Laguna Caf is another South Hill trendy spot where people go for atmosphere over the food. My wife and I dined there the other night and while we like the atmosphere we were under-whelmed with the food. Don’t get me wrong the entrees we enjoyed were good but nothing to get excited about.

I had the Chicken special which was good, but a little disappointed to find out that the kitchen consists of a couple of panini presses and a small stove/oven. I will give them credit for trying to pull off a dining establishment using only those items, but it does not add much value to the food.

Service was spotty, they completely forgot to order our appetizer and it was also pretty evident that they can get back-logged on their panini machines as we waited over 30 minutes for our entrees to arrive. We let them choose our beer and wine selections, only because I had heard great thingas about them and to put it mildly we didn’t like either one.

We had asked for a critic style light white wine that had not gone through any malolactic fermentation with little or no oak. Think German Riesling or something similar to that. Instead we got a creamy over-oaked white. The beer served to us was one of the worst beers I had ever tasted, and was again very opposite what we asked for.

Bottom-line is that service was spotty, don’t recommend that they choose you libation and if you think eating panini grilled chicken for $12.00 is worth it then you will like the place. As I said before I think most people go for the charming atmosphere,

This is a guarded yes – go for the atmosphere, dine on a couch, eat under an umbrella, or go for lunch and you will get your money’s worth. Take a date here or expect high quality dining—no.