Penguin Cafe

@TonyEatsSAC Penguin Café in Laguna Beach (on PCH) was a «normal» breakfast… I like the story of the small local restaurant. It’s been in the family since the 1940’s and was originally an ice cream joint. Sticking to their roots, they kept the Penguin name… For today, I had the breakfast burger. Although our meals were pretty average, the server was friendly. Their not reaching their potential as a local restaurant…

Cute little place, well established in the Laguna Beach Community. Very friendly service, all smiles and personable. Coffee is constantly fresh, which is nice. Breakfast was okay, maybe not memorable, but fueled us for the day. Huevos a Rancheros needed some salt, but eggs were cooked a perfect over easy. Pancakes are huge, as big as the plate. I can totally see why this place has been around since 1942. Loyal locals, and family owned.

Great breakfast! Had the Spanish Chorizo skillet. Derek had the French toast with sausage patties. Great local café!

A little busy, but pretty decent food. Good beach environment and friendly staff. Would recommend getting the chorizo and eggs!

I’m giving this place five stars because I’ve been coming here for 35 years.
Now that Sabrina is cooking the food has really improved. Everything suddenly tastes better. The salads are more than iceberg lettuce. The burgers are tasty and juicy.
The service is always great, where else can you ask them to cook you up a chili and cheese omelette?
I usually don’t come here in the summer or on weekends. I like to walk in and get a booth.
I miss the days of the double patty huge chili size, but that was probably not a healthy choice. The newer version is smaller and not so much to eat.
Lately I opt for the half sandwich with salad option.
The coffee here will wake you up.
Please take note here that this is not a fine dining establishment. It is basic breakfast and lunch, if you are fussy or looking for a gourmet experience go somewhere else.

My favorite Breakfast/​Lunch place in town. Great local feel, great service and a must try. I can’t lie I LOVE their Breakfast, I eat there at least two to three times a week, if not more. M a chef and I know a good meal. This is the place. I would recommend something but EVERYTHING is delicious. It just depends on what you are in the mood for. Their beef is grass-​fed, making for a fantastic hamburger. They only use Boarshead meats. I could go on and on but I’m sure you’ve got the point. A Laguna must have. There is a reason it’s been n business sence I was a kid. Nothing like a great diner style restaurant. The owner/​operators are the nicest people in the restaurant industry.
Highly recommended, obviously.
See you there.

The atmosphere of this restaurant is very homey and nice and the food is alright. The one thing that ticked me off was the sanitation. We went there early in the morning but the tables and chairs has crumbs over them and the utensils were dirty with actual dried food on them. Going back to the food, we ordered the combo, French toast and the eggs benedict. The combo was again okay, nothing special. The French toast however was really bland. The eggs Benedict was probably the best one but there other places that have way a better breakfast menu. Would I go back? meh.

Place was very good for old fashioned breakfast! Interior is classic and old music played. I had pancake breakfast and pancake was one of the best I have ever had. Light fluffy and crispy on ends. Husband had omelette and it was busting at seams with goodness. Staff was friendly and looked like this was a place with plenty of local regulars. Prices were great and we would recommend HANDS DOWN!

Yes, this restaurant is a hole in the wall
place but It is one of Laguna’s institutions. Don’t expect fancy service or menu but the food here is excellent. The breakfast is great and I also like to come here for lunch. We have many fancy restaurants here in Laguna so I really enjoy having an old-​fashioned diner like Penguin’s. They have many local loyal customers like I am so I am sure they will be in business for many many more years.

Decent, small, pretty clean café with nothing fancy that has been around Laguna Beach for the longest time ever.
The décor is a little old school and absolutely tiny but take a look around and there’s decorated penguins everywhere!
There’s a tiny parking lot behind the café that’s shared with a few other shops and street parking if you can find it. a little further out.
My friend who is a Laguna Beach native brought me here for brunch and we ordered the mini combination each — it was priced very very reasonably at $ 8 and came with french toast or pancakes, eggs, sausage or bacon, and hash brown.

Still the best Americana diner experience on the OC coast! Adults gravitate toward the breakfast burritos, chorizo & eggs and one of the best huevos rancheros in OC. And the basic American breakfasts can’t be beat!
Kids will find all they need in pancakes and French toast. And be sure to ask about their occasional cinnamon rolls and pie specials in the fall and winter months when you some extra «warmth food»!

Super fast take out. It was an early morning and I was in need of an omlette. I walked from my hotel and found this historic place. I ordered and waited a few minutes for my order. The omlette was good and the waitress that helped me was very nice. Oh I noticed they used an IPad to place my order so even though this place has been here forever they have a little high tech behind the scenes. That’s how they are so quick I guess.

This place has been around since 1942 — so yes it has some wear n tear (some cool old things/​somethings need updating) but, it also has some really good food to offer. We enjoyed the burgers and a hot dog named «The Bird» — food came out rather quickly and was hot n tasty. Service was very good too.
Overall, an old classic to visit in Laguna Beach.

I have had good experience every time I come here.
One star for the casual and relaxing atmosphere. It’s a good place to go with your best company or family to come enjoy traditional American breakfast before going to the beach, which is right behind the shop. But not too good for big group though because this place is called «a hole on the wall.»
The next star is for the food. It is good, not a lot, but it’s enough to keep you active the whole afternoon at the beach.
Third star: staffs are friendly and helpful.
Last star: adorable penguins everywhere!!!
The only reason I deducted a star was because my utensils were all dirty this time.

What a fun little place! And I do mean little. There aren’t many tables and the tables themselves are pretty small. This place opened in the 40’s (I think) and it seems like not much has changed. It has a very cute nostalgic quality to it.
We had the eggs Benedict and the huevos rancheros. The Eggs Benny was ok. A little on the bland side. The HR was pretty good. The true standout in the meal was the salsa that came on the HR. So good! I couldn’t get enough of that stuff!
The service was exceptional. Our waitress was so sweet to our 18-​month old son. She brought him a piece of toast and sliced bananas to keep him happy while we waited for our food and when the novelty of that wore off she brought over a little penguin toy for him to play with. She was just the sweetest!
The combination of the great service, the pretty good food, and the nostalgia makes this a wonderful little place overall. We will definitely be back!

This place was the worst food i ever had. Hardly anyone in the place but i kept hearing the waitresses apologizing for the bad food. I heard people say they were missing parts of their orders and i saw waitresses taking it off their bill. When my food came, suprise, the order was incomplete and when i finally got everything the food sucked…
I saw locals come in and ask who was cooking obviously they dont have a very good chef.
If you wanna pay for shitty food go to the penguin its 2 hours later and i am still sick

Pros: friendly staff, casual atmosphere, & affordable prices
Cons: food lacked a bit of flavor & not good for groups larger than 4 during busy morning hours (8am-​11am) since the place is a bit small

A cozy little restaurant with an old school diner feel. Metered street parking and a waiting list clipboard on the wall outside the door. Plenty of wait seating outside.
My corned beef hash was cold in the middle — I mean COLD. It was a little watery too which made me think it might have been frozen before hitting my plate. So disappointed because I was looking forward to breakfast after reading all the reviews. Eggs were cooked to order nicely and potatoes were ok but these weren’t enough to bring me back.
What I feel was good: service, coffee and sourdough toast.
Bad: corned beef hash :(

Love this cute little Mom and Pop breakfast place. Get up early head over to the coast and run on the beach then walk over to Penguin Café and grab a great breakfast.
My personal favorite are the banana pancakes and the eggs benedict, my husband loves the Huevos Rancheros and if he isn’t in the mood for that he will get their bacon and eggs. Eggs always made the way you like them, bacon crisp and tasty… Mouth drooling as I type. I can eat breakfast all day!
Coffee is pretty damn good too. We have always had great service here, but we are pretty much always here early :). We like to sit at the counter. It is a small place but the atmosphere is lovely. Looking at the cute drawings of penguins made by kids and enjoying the morning. There seems to be quite a few regulars because when they walk in they get greeted by name. I love places like this.
One of my favorite places in Laguna Beach. It’s not fancy shmancy like a lot of the places in Laguna… but definitely a place we love to come to. Who doesn’t love a good breakfast?

This café was mediocre at best.
As we were riding down PCH the breeze blowing through our hair, we decided to stop for breakfast. I quickly Unilocaled breakfast and Penguin Café came up as a top rated place.
I decided we would try it out especially since the name is cute.
As we walked in I realized the only cute thing about this place was its name.
The décor was from at least 4 decades ago and there wasn’t so much cleanliness about this place.
I honestly was disappointed already but decided to order the breakfast sandwich and the French toast. My boyfriend ordered the breakfast burritos.
The dishes were all OK but not fabulous. The potatoes were terrible. They were hard and some even cold. I wish they would put more effort into the potatoes. The breakfast sandwich was edible but there was globs of mayo that I had to wipe off. I can’t say much for the burrito since I didn’t try it. But I did notice my bf didn’t finish it and he has big appetite.
Overall 2.5 stars for the food and I am rounding down due to their cleanliness.