Sugo Social — Restaurant in Rolling Hills Estates

3.9/5 -- EVERYTHING here is DELICIOUS. It's a beautiful, open, inviting environment for all ages with a truly incredible range of fantastic foods. There some down sides though, in terms of service and sweets.

SUBPAR SERVICE:

The service isn't great. The people who work there usually are nice enough. However, most of them run around looking pretty frazzled and confused. They're not fully trained on the menu. (Which may not be their fault because the restaurant can't seem to decide on a menu; they recently made things worse by changing to a really cluttered and ugly looking, multi-paged menu, in addition to a two-sided second menu and a separate third dessert menu.) We've also found that some waiters are just not qualified. Whoever is training them is not doing a good job, and they really need an experienced manager to show them how to do things and teach them quality standards for dealing with guests. I've had more than one experience where the servers have been rude. It makes you think twice every time about how frequently you want to come back . . .

AMAZING FOOD OVERALL:

My family and I have tried probably half the menu by now and have been super happy 90% of the time.

Honestly, you'd think with such a range of different kinds of foods (Korean, Italian, Portuguese, etc.), it'd be hard to execute everything well, but these people are nailing it!

Some of the most noteworthy items on the menu include: the Bibimbap (but share it; it's huge), the octopus pasta (ask for double tomatoes in the sauce; wow, can these chefs cook octopus), the chicken (get it with a side of fries), the pizza (they make their own delicious dough), and their take on a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich (also get it with a side of fries; holy bananas, this thing is amazing)!!

ROUGH DESSERTS:

The desserts aren't at the same caliber as the food by a long shot. SUGO clearly has an amazing savory chef 8.5/10, but the desserts are maybe a 4/10. I've tried a super basic cookie, a brownie that lacks dimension, and the worst is their Korean hotteok (a pancake with vanilla ice cream). The concept is good, but it's so poorly executed it's actually funny.

These are supposed to be soft inside and crispy outside. SUGO's has a tough, rubbery top akin to chewing on a sandal, and the bottom is so shockingly hard that it is nearly impossible to cut through. You know how you really know something is wrong with a pancake?? When your waitress comes over with two steak knives (unprompted) and says that people usually need these to cut through the dessert. You're telling me with a straight face that you don't see anything wrong with a pancake that requires TWO STEAK KNIVES to cut though?? LOL!

CONSISTENCY:

Most food is made with consistent deliciousness. The one thing that I worry about is the pizza. We went months having one perfect pizza after another, but for the past two months, that consistency has gone. Sometimes the dough is unevenly cooked with some good crust and some burnt curst. Sometimes there's too much of that tomato oil on top. Sometimes it's too salty. The worst is the inconsistent cheese to toppings ratio. I had a to-go pepperoni pizza the other day that was 75% pepperoni on top and 25% cheese. I had to add a bunch of grated cheese on top and reheat it in the oven to even out the ratios.

OVERALL:

Overall, it's definitely a restaurant worth visiting again and again. Just don't get dessert. G o on a weekday at a less busy time so maybe your service goes better. And hope you get a waiter that is polite.

I will update my review to a higher rating should the negative parts of the restaurant be improved upon. I hope they do get changed because it really is a wonderful place for food and atmosphere, and I wish them...

Hidden Gem, for sure! I always try to find seafood pan roast in Southern California. It's one of my favorite meals, especially after trying the pan roast at the Oyster Bar at the Palace Station. After having Sugo's Pan Roast, I don't feel the need to drive to Vegas. The food was absolutely delicious.

It is a fusion restaurant of American, Brazilian, Italian, and Korean. I haven't tried anything Korean yet from the restaurant, but I can't wait to go back and try it.

After placing an order order, I drove to pick it up. The restaurant is part of the Promenade in Palos Verdes, so there was plenty of parking in the garage. I had to walk a bit and go up the restaurant stairs. I did see on the website that the restaurant provides curb side pick up, haha. I might do that next time if I ever do another to go order.

Picking up my order was quick. I couldn't wait and had a slice of pizza in my car as it was warm and ready. Pizza was not too bad. It was a bit heavy on the sauce, but everything else was delicious. Great amount of cheese and high quality type of cheese as well is used. Pepperoni's were tasty. Crust was good and had a nice crunch. Solid Pizza. Would order the pizza again.

Finally, I made it back home and tried the Brazilian cheese bread. It was complimentary, so I didn't expect much from it. Pão de queijo was amazing! The sauce that came with it had hints of Chives and just perfect. The bread was so nice and fluffy with a hint of cheese as well. I've tried a lot of different pão de queijo, yet I might say this is one of the best ones.

The seafood pan roast. Too good. I've been craving it the next day. Good amount for the price. Had it for 2 meals. It's really delicious. Best pan roast in Southern California. Plenty of shrimp, it felt like Bubba Gump's shrimp boat in the pan roast. They had fresh crab in it as well. Really wonderful. Highly recommend the seafood pan roast to anyone!

Will return, hope the business is successful because it is certainly...

When we went to Sugo Social for the first and probably last time the waitress asked how the food was, and I said, “mediocre,” which I thought was generous. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t good either. She seemed genuinely concerned and said she’d talk to the owner, mentioning that they wanted the restaurant to be a nice spot for the community. The owner never came over, which was fine by me, but they did give us a $20 gift card to come back.

We ordered the lettuce cups without chicken or soy protein, substituting mushrooms as our protein which is totally our jam. Unfortunately, they had no flavor. They desperately needed hot sauce or something to make them pop… meh. Next, we had the bibimbap without meat, just mushrooms again something we often do at other restaurants. It was underwhelming. The kimchi wasn’t great either, which was disappointing since it’s usually my favorite part.

We also tried the cheese pizza, which reminded me of Shakey’s Pizza. It wasn’t good, but it was bread with cheese, so I ate it. The prawns rose pasta was another letdown; the sauce really missed the mark. Lastly, we had the brick chicken. It was boring and I had to ask for salt and hot sauce, and I still didn’t eat half of it. The side salad was just a heap of frisée, which turned out to be the best thing I had. Still, how much frisée can one person really eat? Overall, it was a bummer because we were so excited to try this place.

As for the ambiance, a fresh coat of paint in the bathrooms wouldn’t hurt. The women’s bathroom walls were gross, and someone in our group said the men’s was just as bad.

On the bright side, the waitstaff was nice. They didn’t seem very well-trained, but they were kind and...