We went twice for takeout. The food was excellent, so we went back a second time two nights later after a disappointing meal elsewhere. Seabass was especially good, if a little pricey. Well organized and clean read more

Wow. Excellent sushi and Asian fusion. Very surprised at the reasonable price and how great the food was. I had the lobster roll and my wife had sea bass. Both were excellent. Some friends went for dinner and were also blown away. read more

This is our favorite go to restaurant. We go once a week when we are in Laguna. It's always perfect with great service and interesting menu. We have ordered everything on their large menu and loved it all. It's great for families, date night or happy hour. The servers are helpful and the hosts at the front door charming. Great place to share and easy to park. I hope I can still get a table after this review. read more

Probably the best restaurant experience in Orange County. The food is so tasty and delicious! From the Galbi tacos, to the sliders, to the filet mignon satays, to the OMG candy dragon prawns! (Please order all the above). Just amazing. The management is impeccable. The owner is also present, managing the place, welcoming and accommodates to the best anyone would. We keep returning for date nights, double date nights, as well as celebrating occasions with a large party there! Anytime we have gone, everyone loves it without exception! It's a gem ;) read more

What a great dining experience! The food was delicious, the service superb (hats off to Mario, a phenomenal server!), even the music (jazz & classic French pop vocalists) was amazing! Five stars for Starfish! read more

My original review gave Starfish 1-star for a takeout order. I didn't like the rice or the spring rolls. I also didn't care for the owners comment to me after my review. I don't get the comment about "hostage negotiate". I didn't ask for anything, nor did I want anything. The restaurant has hundreds of great reviews, I happened to have a bad experience with a take-out order. I'm a college teacher, I get great reviews and poor reviews from my students, I don't get sensitive when I get a poor review - I use them so I can become a better teacher. With that in mind, I went back tonight for dinner my ​niece​ and her aunt. We had a 5:30 reservation and our waiter was Jesse. He was very nice. They serve sparkling water in elegant bottles that they bottle themselves with a machine - very classy. We ordered chicken fried rice, lemon chicken, dumplings, and some noodles. The food was very good. The chicken fried rice was very good. It was a ​different color versus the batch that I got for takeout, and the chicken was tender - just perfect. The lemon chicken was also very good. Not too sweet, not too much breading, very tender. I did not mention my poor takeout experience to Jesse our waiter, nor did I seek out the owners. I didn't need anything free from them. In my original review,​ I said that I would come back and give it another chance and I did and it was excellent. read more

Came here recently for the first time and loved it. The spicy garlic edamame is the best ever!!! All the food I tried had a lot of flavor and richness to it. The service was excellent, and the ambience was relaxing. Definitely will be back! read more

Got the "General Star's Spicy Chicken." That shit was so fucking gross I'm pretty sure the chicken is frozen and the veggies taste like dirt and the rice is dryer than my fucking dms. The lowest star I can give is 1 but if I could, I'd give it 0.0000000000000001 of a star. Good job starfish fuckers! read more

Without a doubt my favorite restaurant in Laguna. Out of this world food (especially the Thai curry with coconut rice!), the best cocktail menu I've seen in a while, and impressive service each time I visit. The staff is well trained and treat guests to the experience they deserve! I could never get sick of this place. read more

My family and I absolutely loved our experience at Starfish Laguna Beach. I have a dairy and gluten allergy which makes it very difficult to dine out. Most establishments don't take food allergies seriously and I wind up very ill. But not the staff and chefs at Starfish! I called ahead and Kaylee the manager took amazing care of me. The seafood curry I ordered was so meticulously prepared to avoid my allergens. Not only was it beautifully plated and delicious, most importantly I was not ill afterwards! My family enjoyed their dishes as well but mostly enjoyed that we could dine out safely as a family. Thank you Starfish Laguna Beach. read more

Simply the best ! Talk about a place where everyone knows your name !! The staff amazing ! Bryn & Neil at the bar are superb and masters of their craft. A hidden gem in Laguna ! Food is wonderfully prepared and always a work of art. One thing is for sure, the staff make Starfish an amazing place ! Its truly a rarity in a dining experience.. Archie -Gretchen - Kaylie !! The extended family ... read more

The food was great! But the service was slow. But the place was very busy. So it's understandable. appetizers we're awesome.

Was on a girlfriend trip and visited this special yummy restaurant. The ambiance was so lovely and relaxing. The restaurant is truly beautiful and the music was soft and sultry. Want to pay tribute to shining stars at the Starfish. Jessie (mixologist) has a delightful personality and knows his special recipes for extraordinary drinks. One is particular "ENLIGHTENMENT" was off the charts! Another star was Jaime (serve)with an effervescence personality. She knows her menu and went above and beyond to make sure we were happy. She is a great addition to this restaurant. Thanks so much read more

While we were on our summer vacation we stayed at the Laguna Beach Lodge. Starfish was one location which was walking distance and we decided to check in. We were greeted promptly and let our table. The atmosphere and vibe were on spot. Very clean and family friendly. Our server was great, very friendly and knowledgeable with menu items. His recommendations regarding food were also on point. Food was great and dessert sealed the deal. We highly recommend this location. read more

Amazing food. Spicy Eggplant, Green Beans with Sambal, rickshaw noodles, lobster with macadamia nut rolls were great. Going back again. This was my 2nd visit in a week since my 1st ever. It was that good. read more

Chris was such an incredible server. We came in for a bachelorette party and there was no missed detail. He was incredibly attentive and took them time to make sure we had everything we needed, he truly made dinner a great experience. The food was soooooo good! All around amazing experience. Chris- thank you for going above and beyond to give our bride to be the best night!! read more

Dined here last night with my lady for the first time and all I have to say is, yessssssss. Delicious food and cocktails, cozy and sensual vibe, rad art, groovy music playlist & genuine customer service. We went for industry night and got half off our bill. Our server was a delight. We had an incredible experience over all and will definitely be coming back. Highly recommend :) read more

If I could give a restaurant six stars, this would be it, and I have never said that before. Extensive menu, delicious food, generous portions, great atmosphere and friendly staff that aims to please. What more could you ask for? Across from the Montage Hotel. read more

Another great meal at Starfish on Christmas Eve. Tried some of the new menu items, excellent as always. read more

Starfish - Bamboo rolls... YUM! - Asian Fusion Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

One of my favorite spots for Asian cuisine. Try their happy hour to sample multiple entres.

We stayed across the street from this place, so initially we came because it was within walking distance. Without our knowledge, we arrived during Happy Hour. The menu was still plenty interesting, the dishes that staff recommended were fresh and delicious. Drinks were very good and plenty strong. Service was fantastic, so much that we came back to same place 2 days later for lunch:)!!! Bread pudding was out of this world, we had it both times. Delicious food, friendly staff, reasonable prices. Definitely will return soon:)!!! read more

Starfish - Bread pudding. Yummy!!!! - Asian Fusion Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

Thank you for your response to "my comment." First off, you should take positive and negative comments to help, modify, and improve your ways of cooking and operating a restaurant, after all that's what yelp is for --to help you improve and for other to see if your Restuarant is recommended. Isn't? So, as a customer I honestly felt that it is with in my rights to comment on a particular dessert I had. Although, you may not like my comment but it has validity because another "customer on yelp" also commented similar issues with the Mango dessert dish where the sticky rice tasted like regular rice/steaming rice!! Now, how can you say I "publicly bashing" when your restuarant paid to be on a public service site and not be able to accept constructive criticism on your dessert based on my opinion??? In addition, you felt that I had "no knowledge of the time [spent] to sourcing all of [your] authentic Asian ingredients..." If you haven't found out, there are many local Asian markets now that have all the ingredients to make this mango with sticky rice --your staff just need to make sure it's "Sweet sticky rice made in Thailand." So, the time you "source in authentic Asian ingredients" is an "overstatement." But again, you have no knowledge that I am Thai born and raise in Thailand and know what sticky rice with mango dessert taste like...you can't go wrong with true thai blood born to give you a valid critique on your dessert dish. Same as you have no knowledge that I don't "Yelp for a living" when I am a successful Engineer who knows how to choose a great restuarant to eat and that is why I chose your restuarant to try, but I guess I am human, I made a mistake to eat at Starfish Restuarant who claims to have authentic food and being able to take constructive criticism when you simply can't. If only your restuarant can take some feedback I would suggest you to do some research and development or even continuing professional education in making mango sticky rice. Perhaps flying to Thailand and work with real Thai master chefs. But if finance is an issue perhaps then try going to Thai town in Hollywood, CA and try real sticky rice and mango and then mimic their dish will help you a great deal. After all, Starfish isn't the only place that serves Sticky Rice with Mangos! read more

We went here for lunch on a Sunday, it was right before they started getting busy which was great. I tried their vegetable curry with coconut rice and it was amazing, spicy though and the rest of my family had dishes with meat. Everyone was very satisfied with the food, very tasty. read more

Such great food! Service is usually good, too. It can get loud, but the food is well worth the noise. The small plates are all terrific, especially the pan fried pork dumplings and the Banh Mi sliders. The Vietnamese mint chicken roll is awesome. The Thai curry chicken is a favorite. read more

When we came here during OC Wine Week, we were expecting the restaurant to be packed. I mean, respected restaurateur, fancy new restaurant, reduced-priced menu: who wouldn't be flocking here, right? But much to my surprise, the restaurant was only half full -- or half empty, depending on how you look at it. Maybe it had something to do with the place itself, which I found rather chilly. Not chilly as in aloof, but actually chilly as in I had to keep my coat on during my entire dinner. But then again, maybe the décor didn't help either; the space is awash in an eclectic medley of Southeast Asian woodcarvings, aquamarine-dyed leather booths, and teal walls -- kind of like opium den meets Mad Men meets home aquarium. For our starters we had the Ahi Poke (yellow fin tuna, avocado, tobiko caviar, pine nuts, truffle oil, taro chips, and micro shiso) and Wok Fired Mussels (pei mussels, lemongrass, spicy Thai basil coconut broth, bell peppers, and roasted garlic). Whereas the poke was a little dull and uninspired -- I couldn't even taste the half the ingredients in the dish -- the mussels were flavorful, intensely spicy, and well executed. But seafood lovers should take note: if you are looking for that sea flavor that usually comes with mussels, you won't find them here. Next came the entrees. The Ginger Scallion Shaking Beef (cubed filet mignon, green onions, sesame soy, Asian herbs, baby arugula salad, baby heirloom tomatoes, crispy shallots, micro Asian greens) was tough to chew and swimming in a sea of sauce. The flavor was decent, but the meat itself was dried out and just plain disappointing. The Pan Seared Chicken Breast with Garlic Noodles (shiitake, shimeji, king mushrooms, vine ripened tomato, yellow chives, and sweet basil) initially arrived at our table without any chicken at all, but it really made no difference when they fixed the error, for it could hardly be found in the greasy mess of wok-fried noodles that looked and tasted like they could have come from any local Chinese take-out. To be honest, this dish was like a slap in the face. But on the other side the culinary spectrum, the 5 Spice Baby Back Ribs (dry rubbed star anise, cinnamon, pickled vegetables, and katsu dipping sauce) were terrific. The meat was tender, the flavor was unique, and I unabashedly licked every one of my fingers clean; they were that good. For dessert we got Profiteroles filled with Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. The dish itself is satisfactory -- not exactly what I would consider interesting by any means -- but the best part was that it came with our own drizzler. By that I mean when the dessert arrived, the server stood over each us and hand-drizzled warm dark chocolate sauce over our plates, which elicited many oohs and aahs from the table. But what does it say when the theatrics of the drizzling gets a better response than the dessert itself? When I think about what we got for $40 -- 3 courses plus wine pairings with each course -- Starfish really offered a great deal for Wine Week. But based upon this meal, I really doubt that, with the exception of the ribs, I could be convinced to pay full price for any of their dishes. Which is really too bad, because I really wanted to like this place, and everyone who was working that night was really friendly and nice. 2.5 stars read more

Food is pretty good here. The mix drinks depending who is bartending. If the Asian girl is bartending, your drinks won't be good. Sorry. Every time we have come and when she's working she just doesn't make the drinks as well as the other guys. Besides that, great place. Note, sometimes they don't have a hostess and just go in and sit yourself. We have seen people waiting outside at Hostess table top and no one ever comes. Just come in. read more

We went back to Starfish because of a good experience we had once, but this time was completely different. Nice ambience, welcoming waitress who was polite and brought everything on time. But the quality of the food was bad! The mini sliders were mostly bun with the thinnest patties, smelling like overused oil. The worst was the Cod both taste and texture felt like it had been prepared before, probably a day or two earlier and warmed up in the miso sauce. The vegetables were not appetizing either. We had other appetizers and overall everything we ordered was disappointing. read more

The ambience was beautiful. I loved the Decor our waitress was nice but she did not tell us that the food we ordered for the happy hour menu would be spicy my younger daughter couldn't eat any of the dishes because most of them were spicy we ordered her butter noodles and they tasted good just didn't have enough taste my daughter wanted to order a kids ninja roll but all they had was cucumber and avocado for $9. My daughter didn't finish her noodles, we were waiting for them to pack it up for us. All of our food came out at the same time it would have been nice to have a few dishes served at a time so that way we can enjoy eating hot food throughout our meal. read more

My favorite place for food a drinks. Great service and fun atmosphere. Love it all!

Great Asian fusion restaurant! Love the ambiance in this place. And the staff are all so nice and helpful! Food wise, this place is fantastic! Ordered some sashimi to start, then got the whole fish and Thai curry (must try with the coconut rice!!), and there were a few other vegetable dishes that I can't seem to recall, but wow was everything so good!! Highly recommend this place, I will definitely be coming back here again with my family! read more

Amazing. Great service. Delicious food. Crave it almost everyday. Would recommend ordering the ahi poke as an appetizer and the mahi mahi spicy dish as your main meal! read more

Starfish - Asian Fusion Near Me - Laguna Beach, California

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I love this restaurant. Food is good & enjoy sitting at the bar to grab a bite to eat. The only problem is that if a friend &/or acquaintance of the bar tender is sitting at the bar they forget about everyone else. This happens too frequently. Oh and I do not want to hear about their personal life. He is sooo wrapped up in himself, he didn't even ask if I wanted anything else just gave me my check after my appetizer. read more

Tonight my girlfriend ordered take-out. She arrived 25 minutes after she was told to pick it up. She ended up waiting another 25 minutes to receive it. Ohhh....it gets better, she walked out and it seemed like her bag had "light fare" from what we had ordered. Sure enough, the wrong order was given to her. So frustrating! read more

I really wanted to like this new Laguna Beach hangout but I was sorely disappointed. The bar and decor is done nicely but unfortunately the food does not measure up. The blonde hostess was a table Nazi and did not want to sit us in a different table although half the tables were empty. She let us know that the tables along the glass wall were reserved but there were plenty of other tables in the restaurant to be seated at. Our waiter did move us to another table that was not adjacent to the bathroom unlike the table we had moved from. I started with a cocktail that I could not detect any alcohol in maybe at 53 they thought I was underage, I guest my botox is working. The food was underwhelming with the rice and shrimp on my entree almost too dry to eat and with little flavor. I hope they improve the food Starfish does have a great a great atmosphere. read more

It's been a few minutes since I have "yelped" anything. I keep telling myself that I will return the favor to other yelpers since I do use Yelp quite frequently. However, life and career has taken up most of my time. The Jennifer and I frequent the infamous Montage across the way from time to time for an afternoon cocktail or an espresso after dinner. I have always wanted to try this place. I am huge fan of Pan Asian Fusion. The Wife was lucky enough to have a Tuesday off with me and we decided to try something different. I am a man of habit. Normally I would I have cruised down to The Village and grabbed a margarita but I remembered this place. How do you test a restaurant out for the first time? Try the samples of Happy Hour or in this case "Opium Hour". We walked in 3pm with flip-flops and a tank-top which reminded us of Maui where HH starts at 2pm. It's HH somewhere, why not here. We were the first ones here!! Awesome! Neil, our Bartender and Alex our server were very helpful, friendly, and polite. We had the Lobster Sliders, Garlic Noodles, and also tacos. All delicious!! The Lobster Sliders actually had real lobster not the faux crab meat!! In fact, if you look at The Jennifer's review, we actually came back for dinner and I was dressed more appropriately for dinner. It's not always Maui for me. Gretchen the owner even greeted us. She was friendly and professional. What more can you ask for? We will be back again and Thank you to Gretchen and Neil for the friendly service. By the way!!! What a beautiful restaurant!!! The food quality is amazing. read more

Sorry folks, but I'm done with this place. The taste of the food is good, not great, but good. However, we've developed a habit of getting a Thai massage (great!), ordering take-out from Starfish, getting a drink and appetizers from the bar while we wait, and then enjoy dinner at home before doing whatever we have planned. Tonight, we ordered dinner, finished our drinks and waited an hour before our meal finally came out, after I had asked several times and announced we were leaving. Miraculously, the manager came out with our dinner. This is not the first night this has happened, but the third. Sorry, Nancy, I like your food and liked the routine. In the end, though, I pay for the service. Until you fix that part of your operation, there is no room for Starfish in our schedule. read more

The ambiance here is amazing the cocktails are very unique and delicious. The staff here really makes this place cool. The food is pretty good I'm not crazy about some of the things I've tried but the quality of the food is good so I think it's more of a personal preference. I'm pretty sure most people would find the food amazing. I recommend this place. Be warned this place is popular and does get busy. read more

Loved my experience here. Not only was my salmon salad beyond orgasmic but it was so good I wanted to order another !! My waitress Alexis was aware that I can't eat spicy food and the salad she recommended was not perfect . I paired it with the "Monage Trois" champagne from Italia ! It was a large glass bigger than the water glass. It was a beautiful glass I must say . Alexis sure made good suggestions . Alexis was super friendly , kind and helpful! We will definitely return. Wish they had a dance floor I must say the music and system were also on point ! beautifully designed decorated atmosphere!! read more

One word; FANTASTIC!! The food is like nothing I have ever had before. This was my second visit, we had the taco appetizer and the sliders and each bite left us wondering what the secret ingredient is. We shared a few different items the first time we went. I have to say I don't believe I have ever had anything quite as delicious as the shaking beef , but trust me the tacos and sliders run a very close second. The staff, service, atmosphere and decor are all top notch as well. Definitely check this place out, you won't be disappointed! ENJOY! read more

Came for restaurant week. We noticed that the restaurant prices weren't really any different from regular prices, so that was a bit of a letdown... but the food was incredible. We shared the spicy tuna roll, Korean galbi tacos, and crab wontons for an appetizer. All were super tasty. For entrees we shared crab fried rice, pad thai, and chicken curry. I honestly have a hard time picking a favorite, but I think I'd have to go with the crab fried rice. They weren't stingy with the crab- there were many large chunks in there. It had a really savory and addicting flavor. The curry was a little thicker than you might expect, but it was delicious and went well with the coconut white rice AND with the crab fried rice. The pad thai was also a little different than normal... but I really enjoyed the unique flavors. For dessert I thought the bananas foster would be my favorite, but they were just mediocre. I really enjoyed the dense chocolate cake. It was very rich and delicious, but not too rich where you feel like you need to drink a gallon of water after every bite. The vanilla ice cream also helped cut the richness. You're definitely going to get something unique and exciting at Starfish. I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for something new. There is such variety that you could come back multiple times and always enjoy something new. I don't know if I could stray from the delectable crab fried rice though! The atmosphere was very cool- it made you feel like you were at a fancy restaurant on vacation at a tropical island. The only thing is that while in Laguna, don't expect this to be a view restaurant.. It's in a heavily trafficked shopping center. So if you're on vacation and looking for a breathtaking Laguna view, this might not be your place. Honestly though, the food makes it all worth it. I look forward to coming back sometime soon! read more