Best Casual Restaurants in Santa Cruz

My husband and I went for thanksgiving dinner. We arrived an hour early but were seated promptly. Staff was very friendly and quick to tell us the specials and take our order. We split the Brussels sprouts and meatballs. The Brussels are a must. It really could be its own meal. You get 2 meatballs which is a bummer but only because the are so good. I had the cornstar martini which was very refreshing & the perfect balance to my very rich & DELICIOUS spaghetti carbonara. The portion size was double what I expected and a very yummy snack a couple hours later. Pasta tasted fresh & perfect al dente. This is the kind of dish you want for a cheat meal. My husband had the salt & vinegar with kettle one. Personally I hate pickles, but the drink wasn’t bad. He had the seafood stew which I couldn’t try because I’m allergic to shellfish but he loved it, and he’s pretty picky about his seafood. The portion was also big and came with a giant prawn on top. There was a lot of seafood in it too which he was happy about. For dessert we had the chocolate bomb & Americano. The chocolate bomb was a chocolate shell with a mousse inside. Not overly sweet at all. It was ridiculously good. One of the top 5 desserts I’ve had. The Americano was great and a great pair with the chocolate. Normally when I have carbs I instantly bloat…bad. After eating here I was fine! No bloat at all! Everything was high quality and fresh. They really know what they’re doing. Everything we got came out hot. I mean blow on it hot. I’ve never been to a restaurant and had my food come out like that. You can tell it wasn’t sitting under a heat lamp. I loved it! Everything we saw come out of the kitchen looked delicious. We will definitely be back!

Fantastic! Everything about this place is great, don’t pass up an opportunity to come be immersed in another world.

It was elegant and good energy. Drink menu was creative and well executed and the food was really good. I think one knock I might have is that their menu was very limited (5 main entree options). It’d be nice to see a few more options, that’s all. Similarly the wine list was very limited which isn’t in line with the overall quality of the restaurant

Great restaurant, nice ambience, good food, great service. Great location, right in downtown, multi Storey parking very close

Super good pizza. The remodel now had a mix of walk up counter service, pizza by the slice, or full order. To get a table that is reserved, you talk with the food at the bar. It still took about 15 min to be seated. Our server was super friendly. Great selection of pizzas.