Zov’s Bakery Tustin

For years I have recommended Zov’s Bakery to friends and family. My most recent experience, however, has led me to completely change my mind about the business. When I lived in Tustin, my family and I went to Zov’s about once a month. I also frequently bought their chocolate flourless cake for birthday parties, work parties and anniversaries. Even after I move to LA, I would make the drive out there because I love them so much. Today I called and asked if they had any cakes available since I didn’t have time to pre-​order. The employee told me that they had a cake available, but that they would not hold it for me. I understand this is the policy, so didn’t want to make a big deal of it. I told her I was driving down from LA, and she was kind of rude and said no guarantees. I tried to explain the situation and say because of the drive I was wondering if they would maybe break their policy and put one aside for me. She still said no. I frantically drove from Culver City and when I got there they had just closed. There were at least 15 people eating on the patio, so I stopped a server on the patio and asked if they might let me in to buy a cake since they were obviously not down closing out the registers. He also said no. Talk about horrible customer service. I will definitely not be back, and I will definitely be telling my friends about this experience.

LOve, LOve, LOve the salmon salad, sooo good and you must try the flourless chocolate cake and the chocolate bomb !!! This is my go to place when I need to bring impressive desserts… Cant go wrong here, great selections.

I am a frequent visitor at Zov’s, so much so that I take clients there for lunch meetings every week. Today I was meeting with a client, we ordered our drinks and then waited for over 15 minutes and they never came. Then the server came up rushed and asked us what we wanted to order, never acknowledging the fact that we still had not received our drinks (1 water and 1 iced tea). We placed our order, he then asked us what we wanted to drink AGAIN! At this point I was a tad annoyed but let it go.
We had our lunch and sat at our table conducting our business mreting. They were NOT busy (I counted 10 empty tables on the patio alone) so we continued to sit and work (we gave the server a large tip as well to say thanks for us being there for a while).
We were then shocked by the manager (a rude old man) who came up and said rather rudely we needed to leave! I was beyond shocked! Told us they needed the table to seat guests and that his pockets were empty of money because of us (again 10 open tables outside alone at 3 pm in the afternoon). Then rudely slapped me on the shoulder (yes it really did go down like this). I was beyond pissed and flabbergasted at the nerve of him ands well and embarrassed in front of my client as I brought her here.
If you are thinking «maybe they were just being sensitive» an older man and his son were at and table near us, they came over and said, we are regulars every week and that was so rude and uncalled for! They said we should say something! So here I am saying something. So what Zov’s accomplished today was permanently losing my business all for a table that was not even needed. The nerve of a manager to speak to a customer like that is astonishing, I would not support a business who treats it’s clients like a piece of gum on their shoe.

The magic bar here was everything!
Basically everything that is good crammed into one dessert, nuts, chocolate, coconut and so much more, it is rich and filling and a huge slice, really more than one should eat by themselves!
Prices are a bit steep, most items are around $ 7, but the quality and care put into each item really speaks for itself and this is the perfect place to indulge and spoil yourself.
Service was great, it did take awhile since they were pretty busy, but they were very helpful and packaged our goodies nicely to go.
The mini cakes look beautiful as do the cookies and other pastries, I will have to be back and try more!

This is for the bakery side in Tustin. The wife and I are hear at least once a week. Service is always friendly but some times a little slow. If you are in a hurry, go to jack in the box. This is quality food and quality some times takes time. Sit back and relax, enjoy your self. You will enjoy your meal. If it is on the menu, it is good. Try the Zove’s power breakfast or there oatmeal brule.

Came here for coffee with a friend and will definitely be coming back. They had great service and a sweet atmosphere. Definitely will coming back for dinner.

I have been going to Zov’s Bakery in Tustin for about 10 years. The food is good, no question, and the baked goods superb. What I’m not liking are several things. First of all, the portions seem smaller, and just generally less well done (I’m thinking of the Blackened Salmon Salad here, on a combo of lentils, browned onions and rice which comes out dry often as not lately). The desserts, are as delicious as ever, but pricier than before, and they were never reasonably priced, in my opinion. I feel gouged by their recent price hikes in general, and again, they were never very reasonably priced… just sayin. Now, the final blow, I often stop by to pick up a particular bakery item that although not cheap, is less than many other offerings. There were two guys standing there talking who only waited on me when I said something to them. Then, when I opened my take-​out pastry, they had put in the wrong item! Overall, Zov’s has gotten bigger but pricier with quality and service slipping.

Ordered the Breakfast combination with a large orange juice. Everything was fresh and tasted great. Wasn’t as busy nor was I in a rush but overall satisfied. $ 22 a little high for breakfast but it’s all good.

Zov bakery used to have great brioche. Not sure what happened to the cook but when I bought 31 of them last Saturday morning, while they all look fine, they really tasted stale, dry and tasted like cardboard. Total disappointment

I gave it a shot. But worst. Charging you for a refill soda? Its a sign that the new management is not making money? whats the name of the chef it again?

I LOVED this place! However I recently had a lunch date here after not going for a while and she’s how things changed! Prices not only pretty much sky rocketed but the service is lacking AND they charge for refills!!! WHAT? !!! Since when do they charge for refills for regular coffee and soft drinks? Man I’m definitely going to think twice about coming here again because aside from the babaganoush and calamari appetizer everything else is not worth dealing with the poor service and hiked up prices!

November 2014:
They have now added on to their restaurant and it is even better than before! Bigger bakery display, extra restrooms, improved traffic flow within the dining areas. And the food is as good or better that before. Love this place, especially out on the eastside patio.
Both sides of this wonderful restaurant are fabulous. I have been going there for many years.
Meet someone for a leisurely breakfast, drool at the amazing bakery counter, enjoy a tasty lunch in the morning sun or sit on the restaurant side and have an upscale lunch or dinner.
Plus the surrounding shops are very interesting and have beautiful displays. Seems to always have enough parking and is centrally located to the 55 freeway.

Excited to visit the bakery for some well-​deserved treats for a couple of friends. The selection looked wonderful BUT the service was underwhelming. Ordering 8 cookies that were placed in a box… that looked mehhh. We asked for extra parchment to wrap our own. In addition to that the cashier was so not in the moment. Poor customer service brings me to 3 star review even if the treats are good. Really too bad.

OMG my life is ruined! I was OBSESSED with the Flourless Chocolate Cake. I am a chocolate dessert connoisseur and I dare to say that this dessert was sheer perfection. It was the perfect balance of sweet and butter. It was rich but also light thanks to the thin layers of mousse. I called the bakery today to ask them to hold some for me and they told me that they changed the cake because the bakers are gone and the bakery is under new management. Now instead of having that thin layer of rich buttery ganache, it’s topped with buttercream. Buttercream! How very white trash, let’s just slather it in cheap sugary frosting. Zov’s, PLEASE BRING BACK THE OLD BAKERS AND THE OLD FLOURLESS CAKE!!! I am begging you!!!

The bakery items here are quite good. We also had breakfast and that was so-​so.
I’ve had the Lemon Raspberry Cheesecake and Crumb Cake which was quite good. I am pretty picky about bakery items but those passed my discerning taste test. The Veggie Omelet was fine, but I think my biggest issue with breakfast here was that our server started ignoring us once we placed our order. Runners brought our meal and provided us with refills, but our waitress quickly brisked by us 8 times before I gave my credit card to another server from a different section.
Odd experience.

So Let me start by saying they have some awesome imported goods in their marketplace/​bakery.
So I ordered their «famous» calamari and their mac & cheese which boasts chicken, bacon & mushroom. Sounds delicious right… eh… So I get the calamari and it smell fantastic, it isn’t fried or battered its in this delicious garlicy sauce with fresh tomato pieces. They give you little crustini’s to soak up the delicious sauce. I taste it on the bread, its soooo yummy! Then I’m eagerly looking forward to a piece of calamari… and… … rubber bands. Big chewy rubber bands. GROSS I returned this immediately.
Then the mac & cheese… That seems pretty hard to mess up. Wellllllll… I get a plate that looks good. Toasty bread crumbs on top, a TINY sprinkling of bacon bits and a few mushroom pieces. Hmmm guess they skimp on the good stuff. I dig in… Its dry, but wait there’s a wet mess of shredded chicken in a sauce layered on the bottom. Weird… OK… so maybe I’m suppose to mix this thing up. Strange for a mac, buutttt I mix away. After I mix it up it tastes ok, nothing great… and then I notice the sauce from the chicken and the cheese sauce start to separate. Ick
I wont eat here again, over-​priced mediocre food. No thanks.
That’s what I have to say about that.

We stopped here after lunch at Zov’s bistro (Review here:
) and had a hard time choosing what to get, everything looked so good!
–Chocolate bomb: 5 stars: omg this is soo good and decadent! If you are a chocolate lover, you will adore this dessert! It’s also very airy and light, it is a chocolate mouse covered with a hard chocolate shell; it doesn’t feel too heavy at all!
–Key Lime tart: 5 stars: This was delicious as well, the flavors were right on par, perfect balance of sour and sweet and the crust was so yummy; I highly recommend it!
–Bread Pudding: 2 stars: SKIP this, it was made with cherries and had a really weird taste to it.
Ambiance: 5 stars: We sat down briefly just for dessert, but there was a good amount of seating, they serve regular food here too
Service: 5 stars: everyone was really nice
Price: Most of the desserts are around $ 7

There’s a Zov’s Bakery and a Zov’s Bistro. The bakery faces Taco Bell while the Bistro faces El Torito. If you’re looking for something not too fancy then the bakery side is for you! Walk in and you will see all the different types of desserts they offer. They have indoor and outdoor seating areas as well so take your pick!
What we got:
Individual Bread & Butter: each person gets there own small loaf of bread and butter. So cute! Bread was soft, but butter wasn’t as soft as I would have liked it.
Grilled Pork Chop ($ 21): it was a seasonal dish that came with like a hash brown cake, sauteed spinach, and caramelized pears? The pork chop was pretty dry… but everything else was pretty good! Hash brown cake thing was definitely the best thing of that dish.
Chicken Kabob ($ 19): grilled chicken skewer, rice pilaf, and a tomato cucumber onion salad. Sister’s dish and she said it was pretty good. Chicken was a little dry, but dip it in the tzatziki sauce and yum!
Raspberry Lemon Cake ($ 8): not as good as I thought it would have been. Hard white chocolate cover around it, lemon mousse on top of a raspberry mousse, and stale rice krispies on the bottom. Took a couple bites and I was over it…
Service:
They were attentive and would come by every once in awhile to ask us how everything was. Water glasses were never empty. Nothing too out of the ordinary though. Definitely a nice place to grab lunch or dessert though.

When we first pulled up, early on a Sunday afternoon, we were surprised that the bistro was closed. Just about to go elsewhere, we noticed a little sign that the bakery, on the opposite side of the building, was open.
The other side, the EAST facing side was open! A sweet young man immediately welcomed us & offered to seat us wherever we wanted. They had a breakfast, lunch, and specials menu. It all looked delicious. I had coffee cake, which was served with vanilla cream sauce & fresh berries. It was amazing! The service was outstanding! The cakes in the bakery look delicious, I’ll be back for sure!

I really wanted to give Zov’s 5 stars, just based on looks alone. Call it pastry envy, if you will. Whatever.
We sat in the café side of operations, with the pastry case behind us, so we could have our dinner without too much distraction. The North African lamb stew smelled, and from what I understand, tasted amazing. I ordered the butternut squash ravioli, and to my dismay, it was like pumpkin pie in a pasta pillow. The hummus plate was tasy, not superb, but still pretty good. The golden lentil soup was pretty good, though not great, I’ve definitely had better.
The service was good, our server was very attentive and refilled drinks often. The kitchen was a bit slow though, for a restaurant not yet at capacity.
The bill was what floored us, coming to about $ 40 a person with tip and tax. We had ordered just soft drinks, no wine or anything. For the caliber of the food, it was kinda pricey, I think.
We declined dessert and walked to the pastry case. I chose a lemon cheesecake a coconut cupcake, both of which looked spectaculary pretty but were slightly underwhelming. $ 16 for two pastries, a bit much, and I thought they’d be yummier. They were a-​ok though, just expensive for what you got.
I mihht come here again, if offered some sort of lunch special, I am, after all, a pretty big hummus wh*re!

I’ve only been here for desserts but I can’t wait to come back for their café as well! I have been looking for a good dessert place in orange. county where you can just sit down and indulge in sweets. Best part is that they also serve a variety of wines. Perfect for a girls night out. This particular location has a nice patio in front along with heaters to keep you warm. I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to find this place.
Things I loved:
The bomb — chocolate covered mousse and crème brûlée
Key lime tart — perfect balance of sweet and sour
Update:
I went back for lunch at the irvine location and loved their food!
I think we ordered the lamb burger and chicken wrap. Both full of flavor and the meats were so juicy

Nice café, has seating outdoors and indoors. We did outdoor first but changed because it was hot and there were webs around my chair that got on me)= Plus is seemed like everyone was so close to you outdoors. Started to get packed around 11:30AM inside, but outdoor seats were still open.
Food:
Complimentary bread: Soft and warm! Nice little start.
Chicken Tahini Wrap (4 stars): Nice juicy chicken, the sauce is pretty flavorful as well. Love the cilantro inside. Doesn’t taste like a typical pita sandwich, had lighter flavors. Got fries as my side and love that they are the skinny fries. Crunchy and just so good!
Turkey club (4 stars): They give a good amount of turkey slices and it was juicy as well! Better with a side of herb sauce.
Chocolate Bomb (4 stars): Pretty darn good. Really rich, so perfect to share. The crème brûlée filling is towards the middle, I think the rest of the filling is a chocolate mousse.
I do think the desserts are over priced though, a lot of them were around $ 7-​$ 8, I saw some for $ 5 – 6 that didn’t look as gourmet, and none of them are that big. At least the one I tried was good.
Great service! Our waiter checked up on us and always had our water refilled. The man who brought out our food was great too. We asked for ranch which they didn’t have but he just brought out an herb sauce he thought we may like instead, which we did!

Countdown to Unilocal 100 Challenge — Review #94
I have eaten on the Bistro side several times and I have been unimpressed. The food is similar to anywhere you can obtain at multiple chain places in OC: Soups, salads, sandwiches, et al at high prices. However, I have only been to the café side one time before for breakfast. On that occasion, the meal was unmemorable so I can’t remember what I ordered.
On this occasion, I met a business associate mid-​morning, and we were standing by the bakery case waiting for another individual. We were both eyeing the small coconut cake (Bakery Case #1), and we agreed to split one. As you can see, they have a lot of variety in the case including a flourless chocolate cake, a chocolate cheesecake w/​raspberries and lemon bars, et al.
The coconut cake was very good. It was moist, not too sweet and the coconut was fresh. We both commented how we should have ordered our own (both of us are big-​boned): 4 Stars. The best coconut cake I have had recently was in NYC at Smith & Wollensky’s. I would rate S&W’s 5 Stars. Zov’s version was pretty close, but there was something about S&W’s that really made it stand out.
The Azn waitress was very cute and came to check on us. When she saw that mine was gone, I told her that my business associate ate mine and that I needed another one. My comment brought a smile to her face as well as a laugh: 4 Stars. The ambiance is pretty generic w/​the exception of the bakery case: 4 Stars.
My recommendation ala King’s Hawaiian and Goldilocks: Come for the very good bakery items. The food is an afterthought. BTW, there are two more locations in Irvine and Newport Coast.

3 stars for the food, 4 stars for the desserts!
The breakfast was good, nothing special, although I did enjoy the banana pancakes.
Order the Chocolate Bomb! It’s amazing chocolately goodness! To top it off, there is a crème brulee type custard in the center! The Key Lime pie has the perfect balance of sweet and sour with a light crust.
Our waitress was very helpful in recommending food and desserts to devour. The service is efficient and friendly!