if i am speaking about how good a meal looks can i say

As a non-native I would just say "Çok güzel". When you say "görünüyor", it sounds like "it appears nice" (when it really isn´t). 

thanks JNQ

You are right, "görünmek" and "olmak" are different things. Appearances can be tricky. You cannot really know if, for example, a food is tasty or not unless you have it in mouth even though it looks so yummy in close distance. But this doesn´t mean it will surely turn into hell when eating, it is also possible that it can be as tasty as it looks or more tastier than it looks. Who knows? I think "güzel görünüyor" means it looks nice and most probably is, but to be sure it must be tasted, tried or whatever it is. 

Hi Scalpel

I understand your comments about appearance and taste.

I just want to be able to say "it looks good" if a particular meal or dish is given to me and it looks good. It just gives me something to say to practice my turkish.

Thanks for your help and i shall use that phrase

When you are given a meal or dish that looks really good and, before you eat it, you need to make a polite comment on its appearence you can say "güzel görünüyor" or "lezzetli görünüyor" which means "it looks delicious." ... But you better to say "harika görünüyor" (=> looks wonderful) which is more preferable to me and, I suppose, to many of us.. When you feel free to exaggerate it a bit more you can also say "muhteşem görünüyor" (=> looks magnificent) .. It all depends on your choice.