Best Date Night Restaurants in Santa Cruz

This was our second visit to Venus and our first five-star meal wasn’t luck of the draw. Our second meals were equally delicious. We didn’t realize it was chicken Parmesan Thursday and how fortuitous! A salad, the chicken and a glass of wine for $28. This is enough food for two. Our server was attentive and friendly. Our son and his wife are joining us there tonight for round three! Highly recommend 😊

Beautiful evening, great food and our waiter was fantanstic.

This is a great dining option in downtown Santa Cruz. Excellent food and service, with a creative drinks bar.

I chose Chocolate for a birthday/retirement lunch with family. I was the only chocoholic in our party, but all enjoyed the food. We all got different hot chocolates to begin, a variety of main dishes, and different desserts, all of which we liked. I got a dark Colombian hot chocolate, which packed the kind of deep punch I like. I also got the chicken mole. They now have only one type of mole, which was a little spicier than I'm used to. I acclimated quickly and gobbled it all up, although the spice did affect the taste of the remaining hot chocolate. For dessert, I got the chocolate sin cake, which was nice and dark, though not as dense as I expected. We ate inside, which was rather dark--I had to walk over to a window to read the menu. Service was generally good and well timed, although the one soda ordered was not brought. The restaurant is quite small, so it's probably never loud inside; we were there mid-afternoon, and there were only a handful of other patrons. Metered parking right outside on the street was surprisingly available, although not cheap. There is also a covered lot right around the corner. We will definitely return!

We sat at the bar and had a great time! We were served good food, were entertained by staff and customers, always a good time 🫶🏼