The Crow's Nest Reviews

OMG GREAT FOOD, PEOPLE DRINKS AND THE DESSERT WAS ALL 5 STAR+

Super place to eat next to the ocean. Food was good, basic drinks were good but I'd stick with beer & wine. Staff were friendly and we're great with accommodating requests. Parking: if the paid lot is full they will open the marina side for diners which is nice and less expensive.

One of the worst restaurants in Santa Cruz, if not the world.

I finally decided to try this local spot on Valentine's. The view was unparalleled so for that reason alone you should go however the food was just good. Lol, I know that sounds awful and possibly pretentious. I had the filet mignon, it was good. I was expecting fantastic. I recently ate the meal of a lifetime and now even good food seems subpar. Go ahead, you won't be disappointed but you won't likely put this place in your top 10 meals memory bank.

The place was crowded, probably because the food is so good

Wednesday Happy Hour starts at 3:30 pm till closing !!

This place has amazing food, scenery, and nice people.

Great food and a wonderful atmosphere. Service was attentive and whether you are looking for a romantic dinner or a place to celebrate with a crowd the Crows Nest fits the bill!

Good food and service. Lovely ocean view right beside the sea.

Absolutely incredible food and decent pricing, will come back any time I make the trip!

Good fish. Valid service.Panorama, especially at sunset, superb.Beautiful white tablecloths.

Consistently the best for atmosphere fresh food and service.
The BEST CALAMARI ON THE COAST!

Excellent lunch options, delightful setting and ambience, professional, attentive, and personable staff. Bravo!

The Crow's Nest Restaurant in Santa Cruz is a wonderful place to eat a high quality meal. If you want to dress up for the occasion you may want to reserve a seat inside, if you'd rather go there casually then they have seats upstairs at their Bar & Grill.

What do I dislike about Crow's Nest?
- You have to raise your hand(s) and try to get the attention of some employees to come to you. I usually like little interactions with the waiter/waitress, but even to order my food/water I had to alert them.
- Pay to park in their parking lot. Depending on the day and hours you'll be charged accordingly, on busy days you can expect to spend $5-$10 to park your car while you eat your meal.

What are my favorite highlights of Crow's Nest?
- You have a okay view of the beach and ocean, which is such a great view while you're dining on quality food!
- The meal I had looked very cared for, the quantity wasn't huge, but it had the taste of a perfect meal especially with the chefs special steak sauce.
- The appearance of the establishment looked very clean and fancy, I felt very comfortable with my surroundings.
- The taste of my food was honestly so amazing

I recommend anyone with extra money to spend to try Crow's Nest Restaurant! You shouldn't have a bad time at all, and your experience should be great. Thanks for reading my opinions!

What a great restaurant. Loved everything. The sandals were perfect. We will be going back..

Thee worst eggs benefict ive ever had. Tons of paprika and when I cut into my egg water shot out my friends potatoes we're almost Raw way overpriced

Although the service (waiter and bus boy) were great, reception gets 1 star. There was no instruction on how to put down your name, what wait lines were, how to get a pager, etc. Observed at least 5 groups get frustrated just from wasting 20+ minutes standing in the wrong line (we did it too!). Will still return but surely won't rely on the host(ess).

Great location in a great location. Delicious food and very good service. Highly Recommended!

The atmosphere was nice HOWEVER the service left a lot to be desired. We are just now leaving lunch: the hostess seemed to hate their jobs, the couldn't be bothered to seat us after the buzzer went off for several minutes (even though there were 2 of them). The waitress added to the experience, she clearly didn't care about her job because her hair was in a complete disarray (as my sister put it, she looked like she just had sex), she didn't greet us, instead was still chewing on food and asked what we wanted to drink and eat. Then she brought out the wrong foods but didn't come back to check on us for 5-10 minutes before we would have been able to ask her to fix it. I'd maybe go back but would hope that the owners improve the service.

The Crows Nest has something for everyone. One area has fine dining with lovely beach views and there is an open deck with views of the yatch harbor. There's also a dance floor and tables for nightly music and drinks with a more casual eating option. The food is good as well as the entertainment. Of course you can always take a break with a walk on the beach that's just outside. I recommend a sunset visit for happy hour specials and a nice view of the boats returning to the harbor.

Super beautiful place close to the harbor and pizza at the top

Shrimp Tempura seemed like it was previously cooked and reheated. Rice was barely warm.

Over the decades, the consistency has been off. Sometimes watered-down diner coffee, just mediocre menu items. We were very happy this time! Our orders were perfect; strong coffee (great!), 2 X-spicy bloody Mary's were just that, our crab cakes were perfectly fresh - not dry. Poached eggs & hollandaise, whites were just firm enough & fresh golden yolks were nice & oozy. Herbed potatoes were slightly crispy outside & tender inside, just right. Side of fresh fruit had a medley of perfectly sweet melons. Complaints are the hour-long outbursts from the obnoxious cursing customer using her outside voice while telling her family members off & staff ignoring it all. All 8 tables around were disturbed by the circus. Behave that way at home, no biggie. Publicly this was a constant brunch-time disruption. Plus, we had a soft-spoken, very attentive smily English-2nd- language waiter, so lots of noisy abrasive confusion around us. Our 2nd order of cocktails weren't what we ordered, a little bummer our waiter didn't recall. But the food was great, and so is the view, hence our 4 stars this time. Cheers!

Great Food and Great Service plus the atmosphere and view is Awesome!

The ribeye burger was cooked perfectly. But the idea of eating a ribeye burger is better than the reality. It's overkill.

A great dinner, wonderful view. The best restaurant in Santa Cruz.

Food was amaizing....Calamari, Smoked Salmon, Seared Ahi.

This place was highly recommended, and it is in such a great location, with a good view, prices are some what high
But our drinks were overloaded with whipped cream and TASTELESS absolutely no flavor, not to mention that the hostess was rude...
I'll probably not be coming back...

Best outside deck experience in Santa Cruz. Their chocolate cake and spinach salad are such a treat with Anything in between. Their waiters are usually stretched thin, but hustle with smiles all around and someone will get your order out fresh. Check out the pad when the live music sets up to get the best seating...

Ok, I am changing this review from 5* to 3* because the quality of food has fallen. It is mediocre now, no special taste of anything. But they are overcrowded and probably didn't care. Still expensive, but nice views and decor. If you come for ambiance then you'll get it, if you come for tasty food - you probably won't. I ordered Cod and my husband some other fish with creamy mushroom sauce. Even creamy mushroom sauce was not as good as I would want it. I mean how can you spoke anything creamy??? Apparently you can. We were during lunch time so their dinner might be different.

What an amazing place! Beach party is a bit of a Disneyland to be quite honest.

Nice view and laid back atmosphere. Good service. Menu is OK but not great. Nice plate presentation.

Veggie stir fry seemed like one of those menu items that is just a hodgepodge of random ingredients from other dishes. Crows Nest is definitely more for fans of fish.

Overpriced!
Considering what you get.
$15.75 for 2 crab cakes that had more filler than crab, and that's how they tasted.
$14.75 for sesame crusted ahi that was ok. I've have a bigger and tastier portion at the Outback for less money.
$14.74 for nice pieces and portion of calamari, but overseasoned in Italian bread crumbs (that could have been in the crab cakes also!?!).
My guess ordered an apple-tini. What she got did not taste like apple, but I will say it had a decent amount of alcohol. Yet again I can find a better tasting apple-tini for less than $9.70 elswhere.
Service was a mixed bag. Food came out very fast once order was placed, but the plates and silverware came after the food.
We had to ask for water, a great big faux pas in my dining companions view (tip automatically goes down). I asked for a "couple" of togo boxes, she brought us 1 big box. And then she was no where to be found when we were ready to pay the bill.
Even the view was wanting. It was a very nice day outside, but no shaded tables on the deck. Inside views were blocked by a wall on the deck to the south. And other windows were blocked by people.
Needless to say, it will be a while before I venture in there again.

Great view, and friendly atmosphere. Food was fantasticly presented and delicious to eat.

Great view, good service, comfortable interior, wonderful food

Always well worth the drive. Lunch or dinner, so good. Right on the beach & staff was amazing for our rehearsal event. Always one of my favorite places.

Everything tastes fresh! Staff is helpful and very kind. Scenery is magnificent. A must go to place!!

The food was overpriced and not good at all the rice was undercooked and the fish was very raw it was like eating cooked sushi. The view was nice though and the salad bar had many options and was all fresh.

Come here on weekends for appetizers and drinks in the upstairs bar. The house made potato chips and calamari are to die for. Also recommend the tomato crosini. Cocktails are delicious as well. Get a seat by the window and you can watch boats come in and out of the harbor.

Great food, especially their large selection of fresh fish dishes! This isn't a cheap restaurant, but it's definitely worth the price.

Love the Crows Nest!! Best view near the Harbor, great food and always a good time. Upstairs bar and outside dining are a great night spot or daytime dine. Bands are always a plus and the calamari is the best on the west coast, which is the best coast!!

We came here on a friend's recommendation. He said he's always had outstanding food. It didn't meet our expectations. Our breakfast was over cooked. Maybe they were having an off day so we will give them another try.

Food was goodbut the oit door lamp smell wrecked the ambiance

Great ambiance but the food options were not impressive

We chose to eat upstairs. We had the grilled fish and portobello mushroom sandwiches with their awesome spinach salad. On the way home, she realized that she didn't get the avocado on the portobello mushroom sandwiche she ordered. Oh well... it's still good.

Breakwater is great for happy hour. Delicious food. Wine could be colder

Lovely "nice" resturant by the sea! They have lots of seafood dishes for that coastal appetite and a few alternatives for those who prefer no fish. Great atmosphere, especially for a date night. But don't forget your wallet cuz it is a little pricey. They have local deals though, like half priced lobster 1 night per week! Yum

Love the comedy night upstairs and the salad bar downstairs! Beautiful view and great food! Decent specials and happy hour is one of the better deals in the area. Take a moment to dip your toes in the water after dinner or try and visit during sunset... Won't regret it!

Great place to enjoy a rainy day drink. Great server, good food, awesome view.

I love the Crow's Nest for the views. It sits at the mouth of the harbor, a favorite spot. The salad bar is terrific if stocked and the food is good. I don't recommend it during busy times, our Mother's Day was a disaster. But on a Friday afternoon, when the tourists aren't in town, it's a little slice of heaven upstairs on the deck.

Fantastic dinner and ambience and great View. Terrific service

Always great. Good appetizers, good frinks., fine dining, music, dancing and a great view of the ocean, boats and turn harbor.

Definitely a beautiful scene watching the sailboats rolling into the harbor during sunset.

Their service is great and the food is fantastic. Very fresh salad bar with a lot of options. The view of the water is really beautiful.

Good food and fun plus it's on the beach. One of my favorites!

It is a nice place to go for a drink, but when it comes to food it is really average. I ordered scallops and the plate was underwhelming: the rice was dry (as when you leave it in the open air for a few hours), the vegetables were undercooked and simply boiled, not seasoned at all.

Food was good especially the calamare appetizer. Service is okay ..

Swordfish was astounding and I will be there sooner than later. Looking forward to a cruise ship from the dock. Conveniently located.

We were a five people party and one of us is a Switzerland Vietnamese America who happens to be a good cook specially the Benedict Eggs. She gave the Benedict Eggs with vegetables a 4.5. the only missing is the shortage of sauce which has good homemade quality. The poached eggs got all 5 from everyone. Good to excellent service. We also lucky to have a nice can weather. Benedict Eggs with crab meat is Strongly recommended.

Very delicious breakfast. Try the cinnamon rolls pancakes paired with fresh coffee and a Murphey's stout beer on nitro, creamy

I have lived in this area for my whole life ..I have never had the worse service ever..
Our waitress had no personality, I get it she was busy...BUT really we had a party of 4 asked for water after 10 minutes 1 glass to share .I could go on and on but it isnt worth it
We will not be back,

We came here for brunch during the Labor Day weekend and enjoyed the food and restaurant very much! We were seated right away in the patio area with a great view and perfect weather. The service was good and the food was delicious! We had the Crabcake Benedict, Chicken Caesar Salad and the French Toast, they all tasted great! Portion sizes are large and I could have shared my Crabcake Benedicts. My meal cost $17, I don t recall what the other dishes cost. The parking lot is a paid lot with a minimal charge, I think we only paid $3 for about 2 hours. Parking can be a challenge but we were able to find a spot without to much trouble. All in all this is a great place for lunch with friends and family.

Always great service. Lovely views and great food options. Love Storrs Chardonnay.

I loved this restaurant! I had the swordfish and garlic mashed potatoes.

Beautiful relaxing day! The drinks were delicious and creative and the food was amazing!

Portions were quite generous and everything tasted great.

Our first server (dark hair, 2nd floor patio) was very unwelcoming and came across as rude but Nora came in and saved the day. The rest of the dining experience was above expectations.

Excellent service, fresh fish, must try smoked salmon, grill upstairs has perfect view of harbour and ocean.

Great views and you won't go wrong with their calamari appetizer.

Food and vuse excellent !!
a little bit overpriced

Watched the sunset here with my wife. It was amazing. Service was top notch.