Guri’s GrubHouse & Taps

RIP Guri’s Grubhouse and Taps. Ehem…
…you leave us with memories
That no one can steal
And you leave us with heartache
That time alone can heal
If we could only build a stairway
From our heartache and pain
We’d climb it and bring you
Home to us again
You’ll never be more than
A moment apart
For our thoughts will keep you
Alive in our hearts
Our family chain’s been severed
The joined links briefly gone
But our bond will be whole again
As we’re called, one by one
Guri’s Grubhouse and Taps…
…As you settle
In your new life above
Take time to look down
To see how much you’re loved

I don’t do too many reviews, but this felt necessary. The first time I went here, I would have given it 5 stars, but oh has it gone downhill. Me and my wife went back a week ago, and although the food was good, the service was slow and there were several items on the menu that «weren’t available».
Knowing that they had several items that I thought my kids would like, we chose to go again tonight. Last time. To start off, 75% of the menu wasn’t available, which sucked. Re-​do your menus if you can’t get the ingredients you need to make good food. Waitress also mentioned they were out of things that were not even on the menu, leading me to believe this place has no clue what they are doing.
On to the food they did have. The onion petals were swimming in a pool of grease ½ inch deep in the bowl. The hillbilly pizza had a bourbon bbq sauce that tasted more like straight bourbon than any kind of bbq sauce I’ve ever tasted. To top it off, my two daughters ordered one. Needless to say, they couldn’t eat it. My wife, after being rejected on the first 4 items she wanted, went with one of the only options, a cheeseburger. It came to the table red inside (rare), with pickles that were thicker than the burger. I had the blue cheese burger. No complaints, but as a side, I ordered the beer chili mac & cheese. Most inappropriate name ever. Should be honest and call it hamburger helper. Looked and tasted like it was right out of the box.
Now I am at home and all of it combined has me and one of my daughters sick to our stomach and in and out if the bathroom for the past 2 hours.
The bathrooms are filthy. Obviously unattended for hours with people’s business in the toilet and paper everywhere.
If by chance you, the owner or manager read this, I am a huge supporter of local businesses and want to see you succeed, but please review your business model and make improvements on your product and attention to details or you will find yourself as just another failed attempt at small business.

I was pleasantly surprised during our visit. I’d been very interested when I heard their new menu would feature local products but don’t usually end up near Fresno State.
The good: Some excellent variety of bar food and healthy options. There was definitely a focus on house made fare, which is always a big selling point for me! When the food came, it was hot, fresh and beautifully presented. The seasonings were ample and tasty. Everything was very good!
The bad: We ordered primarily a mix of apps/​pizza/​salad and it probably took more than 20 minutes for our food to come. They brought everything g together which could have been the issue — I know pizza takes a while to cook. There was not much checking on us, or drink refills in the meantime.
On the whole, I really enjoyed this place and would go back, regardless of the little issues. They could tighten up service and easily make this a 5 star restaurant.

I really like this spot. I love how the food is local, the menu is catered to special diets, which is nice, and the atmosphere is very relaxed. O e of the times it took a little long and they compensated doe that for our food. But otherwise we have always gotten good meals and great service. Love when we can represent our local farms and dairies at restaurants around town. Great local support.

I have been here 4 times and every time it gets better and better. I love the BBQ pizza, blue cheese burger and grub house burger. Delicious each and every time. I just had a late lunch and tried the seasonal cheesecake, which happen to be pumpkin. 1 word. AMAZING!!! Service has always been excellent and very attentive. The chef really shows the care and quality in her food. This place and House of JuJu have spoiled me with such quality burgers I could never enjoy a «regular» hamburger place ever again.

I should have listened to the Unilocal reviews because this place just doesn’t quite have it figured out. Nice presentation, menu and concept, and service and location are excellent, but the execution is all wrong.
Appetizers weren’t anything special. Chile Verde dip was OK and I liked the seemingly home-​made chips, but the chile wasn’t anything special and the dish just kind of doesn’t work with cheese dip, avocado and sour cream kind of overwhelming the chile verde.
Burger was good. Bleu cheese burger had some intense flavors and the ingredients were quality. Solid burger for sure and no complaints here. a little heavy on the pickled onion but it worked.
However, the pizza was just all wrong. we had the apple and gorgonzola pizza and it was extremely doughy like an Olive Garden breadstick with some stuff sprinkled on it.
i mean, that sounds like an OK idea but the toppings were just not able to cut through at all, the apple was pretty lackluster (you need a really sharp, bright, crispy apple for this kind of dish) and the gorgonzola was the only thing separating a huge mound of dough from the apple. I mean, there could have been some kind of sauce or oil or something in there, but i didn’t taste it. just dry and lifeless. so sad.
and it was absolutely covered with pickled red onion. my wife said it looked like an octopus was sitting on it!
i don’t mind pickled red onion but they seem to put it on everything here. there was tons of it on the burger too, which was OK there, but i was really onioned out at this point and it didn’t go with the pizza at all.
I was looking for a kind of «fancy» burger-​bar place to get some really nice munchies but i just don’t think this place cuts it. And I hate to say it because apparently a lot of stuff is home-​made and farm-​fresh and all that, but the dishes are just weird. I just read that the same people own/​owned Swiggs, and maybe that makes sense, because I thought they had really strange, overly ambitious food as well.
Not much traffic, either, which probably makes it hard to keep a rotating menu and beers on tap. i didn’t see a lot of people ordering food. disappointing.
I’ll be checking out Starving Artists Bistro, which I think has a similar concept but much better reviews.

Nice interior
Accommodating and friendly service.
Sat near windows and was bothered by 4 flies that I counted. Another couple sat next to us and were the first to move because of the flies, we moved after that.
Ordered the Chili Relleno sandwich to include an egg. Sandwich was $ 8.99 and egg was $ 2. The sandwich was served on a roll and was about 5″. The egg never made it into the sandwich and I was credited accordingly. The concept is great but the sandwich was overwhelmed with cheese and did not have a lot of flavor as far as seasonings.
Received $ 5.00 off for the inconveniences.
When you get rid of the flies let me know via Unilocal

After seeing excellent reviews I decided to try this restaurant on a Friday evening. As soon as we entered, my husband and I were greeted by a very friendly hostess. We were seated immediately and our lovely waitress asked what we would like to drink.
The bartender brought us our drinks not more than 5 mins later. I had some champagne (I love that he plopped a strawberry inside) and my husband had a porter.
Once we ordered our food, it only took abut ten minutes for it to reach our table. I had the Fresno sweetheart pizza (topped with local seasonal ingredients) it was large in proportion and really delicious! My husband had some type of burger. don’t remember what-​but he said it was really good! We also shared some garlic fries (they were thinly cut and so so good).
All-​in-​all I love that they:
–use fresh local ingredients
–all staff was very warm and professional
–menu had a great selection of drinks and food at very reasonable prices
I hope they are around for a long time.
I definitely recommend this place!!!

Guri’s Grubhouse has really good (if not orgasmic) food that is creative, different, unique and original to the american restaurant scene here in Fresno and Clovis. There are things on the menu you would never find anywhere else in Fresno and Clovis. Like the Rocky Mountain oysters (bull testicles), Foie Gras, and poutine [Canadian favorite]. With the added value of amazing chic and hipster interior, wide offering of liquor and fascinatingly prompt, friendly and efficient service, Guri’s is definitely a great place to get together with friends and have a fun dinner with the family (Avoid evening if you want to talk, because they have live music that is too loud). Their prices is fair, with meals ranging from $ 9-​$ 18.
The signature dish here would have to be the Rocky Mountain Oysters, a fun bull’s balls adventure for you brave women and men out there.
Since Ive tried so many things here, Im going to break it down to make it easier for reading:
1. The Rocky Mountain Oysters $ 4.99 which is aka bull testicles that is deep fried and served with a sauce. It was actually nicely cooked, and creatively and perfectly battered. The bull balls itself has a a chewy texture like gizzard or tripe, and is basically neutral in taste. Guri’s does a great job to flattened the bull balls and fry it in this amazing bread crumb, that tasted like a katsu, making the chewiness now appear crispy, now thats amazing.
2. The lobster roll $ 15.99 was delicious and nicely portioned for the price. However I felt that the bell peppers was overpowering and masking this dish, made the lobster taste almost invisible. I would have preferred the classical style of lobster roll that I normally can get in San Francisco, where its simple with a light mayo, with the bursting flavor of the lobster so prominent.
3. The BBQ pulled pork was a goliath $ 8.99. It was nicely put together and was really tall, hardly easy to stuff in your mouth, definitely an orgasmic flavor of sweet and crispy from the onion rings. Maybe the sauce was too sweet for my taste, but I think the pulled pork is really worth the price.
4. The Hilly Billy Pizza $ 10.99 had a really nice crust, where it was crispy yet perfectly chewy, it has that brick oven taste. But I would have gone with a different topping, the pizza for some reason had a weird combination taste that hardly complimented each other. I think the largest issue was the contrasting sauces of chipotle aioli and bourbon BBQ fighting to earn my taste buds vote.
5. The Grubdown burger for $ 12.99 was a delicious juicy burger that is cooked to perfection, it is slightly expensive for just the burger, but I do appreciate the clean taste from lean beef being used, and the combination of arugula and that sauce was pretty good. I do think the sauce needs to be improved to give it a unique taste. Otherwise great burger with soft pillowy buns.
6. The Pastrami, a classics jewish dish was $ 9.99 its made for meat lovers who knows how to stuff long things down your pipes. This mammoth of a sandwich is filled with meat, and has a long juicy thick pickle that is deep fried, kind of an interesting sandwich. The taste itself, not too salty.
7. The truffle garlic fries was a delicious for $ 4.99. Nice and crispy show string fries drizzled with a light garlic and truffle infused flavor. I juts wished they had the thick chips instead (steak fries)
Overall good comfort food that is made delicious and with utter care. Sure isn’t the place that makes the most amazing meal ever, but it was good enough to get me coming back for more.

Great food!!! We went on Sunday at 4:30 pm and literally were the only people in the place. We wanted to experience their beers and the food.
Sat at the bar and Jake was awesome. Hubby had the Irish Stout and I did a beer flight with 4 beers Jake picked. Both were great choices. He suggested the hummus trio and we went for it. Buffalo, black bean and beet hummus with deep friend chips was also very good. It was on special for $ 6 and was surprisingly good. I got the bleu cheese burger and hubby got the «kitchen sink» burger. Again really good and cooked just as we asked.
The ambience was sorely lacking. Just not as much fun when the only noise is the sound of you eating. The staff was nice but my guess is the prices are too high for being across from Fresno State.

I heard good things about this place so decided to pop in on a Friday night with my girl. First time in and the staff was welcoming and the service was great. There was live music throughout the whole meal. Bonus!
We had a couple different craft beers and a cocktail. Lot of good drinks choices on the menu. We tried the clam chowda and it was ok. I also ate a tri trip sandwhich which was good. The waitress modified one of their pizzas for us after getting the ok from the chef. It was tasty and even better warmed up the next day.
All in all the food was good but the atmosphere of the place was even better. I would come back. Didn’t feel like a Fresno spot

Oh Guri’s…I love the whole concept of a seasonal and changing menu, but man the food falls flat.
We started off with the poutine appetizer, which is French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. The fries looked like it needed some more browning, the cheese curds were probably the only good thing about this appetizer. The «gravy» looked like a giant dog slobbered all over it. Not to mention is was bland. Like my first bite I couldn’t be more disappointed. From my experience gravy has always been salty. The gravy also had these white things in it. At first I thought it was cooked down onions, than I tried it and the texture wasn’t quite potato-​like, but that was the closest description I could think of. Our waitress didn’t know what it was either.
Than I got the pastrami sandwich. I appreciated that the pastrami wasn’t overly salty, but the most horrible thing about this behemoth of a sandwich was the fried pickle spears. Never in my life have I ever burned the roof of my mouth so badly. The juice of the pickles seriously jacked the hell out of my mouth. It seemed to blister pretty quickly as I kept thinking i had something stuck in the roof of my mouth. I think that’s why deep fried pickles never appealed to me in the first place; the hot, vinegary juice. Now I will avoid deep fried pickles like the plague.
Overall, I probably would not come back.

Second time here and it was another satisfying experience. The menu is very creative and innovated which is the reason to come check this place out! Props to the Chef (Megan I believe here name is). It’s always refreshing to see someone who has a vision who might seem unorthodox to many, though delivers exquisite cuisine. I appreciate trying new things and experiencing new flavors!
Back to the food, I ordered their Grubhouse burger and it was really good, probably on my top 3 in Fresno. The burger is juicy and oozes flavor in each bite, the bun is soft and fluffy with a buttery taste, the caramelized onions are always the icing on the cake. This is a very safe and satisfying burger to get, next time I can’t wait to try the one with a fried egg! I’ve had one before and it was unbelievable :)
Only downfall was I wanted to try the belly of the beast sandwich and they didn’t have it available. I’m not one to bitch so no biggie! Looking forward to my next visit!

Came here for the first time with my boyfriend last Sunday. This place was very nice, clean, and spacious. This restaurant also had a full bar, multiple flat screen tvs, and very comfortable and stylish dining chairs.
The food was good as well! I ordered a tri-​tip sandwich and a side of fries. The meat on my sandwich was succulent– tender, juicy and nicely seasoned. The fries however were so-​so.
One of the things I really like about GrubHouse is that this restaurant partners with local food companies. Their food is fresh, organic, and grown right in the Fresno area. I think that this is fantastic! Partnering with local food businesses also allows for GrubHouse to get creative with their menu as it changes with the season.
Overall, I had a good experience here. GrubHouse is a bit pricey, but I will definitely be back to taste more of their delicious foods (and order a drink or two from the bar, lol).

The service was great and there was live music. It’s sad that the F2T concept hasn’t caught on much here. But… It is Fresno. Had this been Yountville or Palo Alto, I’m sure it would have gained more foot traffic.
The food itself is ok. We paid $ 17.99 for a burger, which is very much on the pricier side of things for middle-​class Fresno. The burgers are a la carte. The onion petals are a cool twist on onion rings but they were really bland. We had to ask for aioli.
I like the concept but with gastropubs, the ambiance should be dark and dank. The setting, smaller and more intimate. And the location, well, better. It should be more pubby and grubby. A mix between Lefty O’douls in SF and Mad Duck.
The bartenders were super nice and very hospitable, as was the host staff. The place felt empty on a Friday night, which is unfortunate. I’d love to see this place excel but a change of venue is definitely a must and while F2T is awesome, people in Fresno appreciate affordable versus trendy.

This place has potential but after reading the other reviews it seems to have been struggling for quite some time. Here’s the breakdown:
Décor– probably my favorite part. Brick walls with fun lighting and big booths mixed with a raised up bar in the middle of the restaurant. I actually didn’t feel like I was in Fresno!
Alcohol– extensive beer list with a mix of local and beyond brew. Happy hour is well priced. We came on St Patty’s day so we got the green beer… which was really just a green Coors light but honestly something about it being green made it the best Coors light I’ve ever had haha
Service– friendly and attentive but (I hate to be that girl but I’ll just say it) he was too friendly. Constantly talking and cracking jokes and talking up the food. I get you want to be a an advocate for your restaurant but this was overkill. It just started to feel a bit interruptive/​overbearing when we actually were trying to order and talk amongst ourselves.
Food– I do appreciate the fact that they use all local ingredients which why is the price is probably kicked up a notch. But the portions are small and for a gastropub it really was just kind of, I guess for lack of better term just left us feeling like «meh.» We ordered a bunch of appetizers and a flat bread pizza. The tacos were minuscule and bland. Jalapeño poppers dry and could use more cheese. The BBQ flatbread looked enticing but really just was plain and the asada fries were limp with a small handful of meat. Corn dogs were decent but they’re fried so it’s hard to mess those up.
I think I’ll definitely give this place another go because I really like what they are trying to accomplish. If anything it’s a great place for some brew but the food is just subpar.

Decided to try this out for a second time with some friends. Ordered the bagged chips, Margherita pizza, the veg Mac & cheese, and the quinoa burger. The chips were meh, but the rest was delicious.
I felt the price was good for the food.
Our server was pleasant and immediately informed us of the beers they did not have at the bar due to a delayed delivery. Food came out in good time.
We were happy with our experience and will be back.

I really want to like this place, like I REALLY want to enjoy my dining experience here, but this place comes so close, and manages to come up short every time I step foot in the place. Here are a few things I have noticed in the times I have ate here:
1.) Service is super inconsistent. Everything takes way longer than it should to happen. Want some to come over and take your initial order? You are going to wait. Want to get that second beer you have been eyeing on the menu? You are going to wait. Want to cash out your bill? You are going to wait. Just last night everyone was served their meal except my girlfriend, our waiter kept assuring here it would be right out and kept hyping up how «its going to be worth the wait, this lasagna is amazing!!!» When she got it there was a significant portion that was burnt, when someone commented that the wait was ridiculous he said «oh well its new and they haven’t figured out the timing on it yet!»
2.) I still don’t think the quality of the food is anywhere near approaching what you would consider to be «gastropub» food. Its more like a grill with a fancy beer list here, I have yet to see anything that stands out as being particularly interesting. I had the homemade linguine and while I could tell by the texture it was definitely made there, the taste was off in a way I can’t quite put my finger on. None of the burgers strike me as particularly creative, the flat bread pizzas are just pizzas, nothing interesting there, and the rest of the menu just strikes me as «meh»
3.) I don’t know about this whole farm to table thing they have the waiters hyping up at every possible moment. Maybe everything they get is fresh and directly from a farm, but if thats the case the increased quality in their ingredients certainly isn’t helping the final product. Also if everything is farm fresh, where is the shrimp coming from? We don’t exactly live right on the ocean, so unless they are trucking it in daily I am a little dubious as to how that relates to the claims.
4.) It gets really tiresome after the 5^th or 6^th time the waiter tells me how amazing the food is. If the food is that good I am going to know it when I eat it, someone repeatedly beating me over the head with comments and remarks just comes off as trying too damn hard. I don’t need that many words in my interaction, because what ends up happening is the table is in the middle of a conversation and the waiter comes by, and goes on for a few minutes about how great everything is, it stops the conversation at the table while you wait for him to finish and its irritating. If the waiters spent as much time making sure orders were taken and things come out quickly as they spend on telling me how great it will be once I hypothetically receive it, this place would be in better shape.
I know this comes off as being kind of a rant and it probably seems like I am being to hard on these guys, and my original intention when I started writing this was not to have it be this long, but the more I think about this place the more irritated I get. This is a place that should be great but just can’t seem to get its act together. I don’t know what the answer is, but it seems like the owners certainly don’t either if the recent menu and chef change are any indication. Who knows, maybe they will get it together and things will work out, but I don’t think I am ever going to find out if it does, because as it stands I just really don’t ever want to step foot in the door again based on my previous experiences here.

Despite some of the mediocre reviews, I wanted to give this place a try just cause it’s new and local.
The food here was just really average at best. Deviled eggs we had was nothing really special, and actually tasted like it has been in the fridge for a few days to be honest.
The artisan pizzas they have here could probably expand though, since none looked really too good for us to try.
Sliders were good, but not great. I would probably request for the bread to be slightly toasted, as a personal preference though. Tri-​tip, pastrami and the bbq chicken all tasted somewhat lukewarm, like it was heated up for a few seconds.
Fries for some reason are served in a brown paper bag. I don’t understand the purpose of this? Either way, the fries we had were way too salty. If you order this, I would ask them to be light on the seasoning of it. The house made dipping sauce for it (forgot what it was called) was not bad though, and actually even went well with the sliders.
Service was fine and probably has improved since the opening. Food came out within 10 – 15 mins (it was pretty slow though on a Monday night), and our server did forget about one of my drinks, but apologized and brought it out right away after being reminded of it. One of the managers even came by our table to ask us how everything was going, which is always a plus as well.

My first time here I was turned away at the door because they couldn’t accommodate a large party on a Sat evening, due to so many reservations.
It’s understandable but the way the waitress said it was a bit snobby. I was upset.
However we decided to give the place another try this week and it was a lot emptier for lunch. Surprisingly.
The décor was nice & I liked how much light there was in the room we were seated in.
The menu is very short and small. Not much to choose from.
The prices were fair for what they were.
Lunch and Dinner menus were almost exactly alike, except dinner did not offer sandwiches.
They use locally grown produce, great to hear.
I would say for lunch this place is affordable.
I had a lunch combo with was $ 9.95 (ish), half a sandwich and a side of fries.
I also ordered a couple of appetizers,
Mexican style street corn ($ 6): I had to order this item because it’s elote! Right? Well their take on it. Was good, the chipotle style sauce was great but the corn seem a little undercooked?
Deviled Eggs: uhh. Well, they’re basic.
Desert we had the Pear Cobbler and a donut style monkey bread.
Pear cobbler was great.
My two friends lived the donut styled monkey bread. It was too sweet for me.
All in all. I was expecting a bit more from this place from all the hype everyone gave it.
But I think the limited choices on the menu really affected me because I didn’t want a sandwich but everything else sounded too oily.
I like that they do change their menu often. Maybe next time the items on the meh will be more to my liking.
I will be back because I would like to give this place another try.
If you’re in the area give it a try. Not with a long drive across town though.