The Crow's Nest Reviews

Nice view but slow service in the upstairs bar and over priced drinks.

Great view, great service
A Santa Cruz gem

I love their appetizers and upstairs bar. The crab cakes and the calamari are my favorites. I try to eat down in the dining room once a year to enjoy the view and the food. Great place for special occasions or when you want to splurge.

Kinda kitschy, but solid food overall. Ahi brochette has a strong recommendation from me!

Subtle faux-polynesian decor. Pleasant bay and shoreline views from many tables, of which there are a few too many for real comfort.
That said, our reservation was promptly honored with a corner bayview table. Service was quick and attentive without being overwhelming.
As expected from the location, do you menu red heavily to fish dishes;I'll party of five each had a different dish some salads some fish and some shellfish. All were excellent. We passed on dessert, though since it was my birthday I got a piece of chocolate mousse cake which we all shared. That was as excellent as the rest of the menu.
I gave the place four stars out of five because the parking is quite difficult unless you can get a spot in front of the place you wil need to park in the municipal parking lot whichcan be
about a block away. The other portion of the four stars is the bar upstairs which serves a very limited menu and is quite noisy but has a better view, as might be expected, from the downstairs room.
Will I eat there again? You bet!)

Sitting out on the deck is one of the nicest spots in all of Santa Cruz. The calamari is excellent and the pear Gorgonzola walnut salad is very yummy. Nice wine selection, okay . Nice wine selection, okay beer selection, and pretty good service. It's the view that makes it all happen.
Bring sunglasses, hat, and sunscreen!

Super awesome! Had a good meal and great service! Try the calamari!!!

Beautiful location adjacent to the beach at Santa Cruz. Menu offers a wealth of offerings and the staff were relaxed and friendly. Just an exeptional day to have a meal on the patio, looking out at the water and horizon, while enjoying a good meal.

My fish was overcooked. Same with my husband's. Salad bar was messy.

Great location, good food and wine selection and great TV coverage of sports events in the bar upstairs

A good, but expensive breakfast. Service was fantastic

Worst service from waiter, bus boy and the food was not what it use to be. They need to have a attitude adjustment, before we come back and pay that much for what we received.

A really well located restaurant where the view is half the experience. Gorgeous ocean at sunset. We went at 4 pm and were pleasantly surprised that they had half off for drinks and appetizers during happy hour (I think 3 pm - 6 pm). Really tender calamari, good clam chowder, good fish tacos except the tilapia they used was tasteless so a different fish would have been better. The only dish that disappointed was the crab cake, which while fresh, had too much other filing material to be good. Parking is a paid lot but pretty inexoensuve ($1.25 per hour).

Delicious. Fantastic views. Quality food. Not cheap. Good cocktails and awesome happy hour

I love the upstairs Crows Nest for entertainment and the views.

We love going here and eating on the patio for sunsets. The view and service is great, food is good but nothing super special but well worth ordering.

Very unprofessional hostess service. I have been to the crows nest twice and will never go back. The first time around the service and food were great. Not so much the second time around. Placing an order by phone, we were told the order would take 20 minutes. Arriving 30 minutes after placing the order the food was still not ready. We waited another 20 minutes for the food. When the food finally came out there was no bread for the clam chowder bread bowl we ordered. The hostess claimed they didn't not give the soup in the bread bowl for to-go orders because the bread gets soggy. I understood and asked if we could get the bread bowl on the side without the soup inside of the bread since we had paid for the bread bowl. She kept refusing to give me a bread bowl and brought out small bread buns. She told us to go down to the crows nest market and buy a bread bowl if we wanted one. This was ridiculous considering I already paid for a bread bowl and she was refusing to give it to me. Finally upon returning home to eat the food we discovered that the extra tartar sauce we asked for was ranch. WE ASKED FOR TARTAR SAUCE AND THEY PURPOSELY GAVE US RANCH. On top of that the small bread buns we were given were hard as a rock. They were so hard that it was able to bounce on the kitchen table, a piece of bread that could bounce is what the crows nest is serving. They also messed up our order and gave us the wrong food. The Alskan Cod and the Mahi Mahi fish and chips we ordered were also not great and the fish tasted rubbery. After spending over $100 and waiting an hour for bad quality food I would recommend finding a different place to eat in Santa Cruz.

Food was delicious! It was nice being able to eat lunch with an ocean view.

Great food, excellent service. I have been coming to this restaurant for the last 10 years and they have been consistently good.

This place with nice view on the ocean. And it s important plus. Cheesecake is not too good. Coffee is wick like water. May be main dishes will better. But o didn t try.

Sat upstairs. Food was unimpressive. Wait staff was mixed - one excellent server, Spencer, but otherwise had to keep asking for things.

Great and prompt waitress, clean, and food was great. Can't wait to go again.

Right by harbour can watch boats go in and out. Nice specials, great food, can eat downstairs in restaurant or upstairs in bar each has own menu.

Attentive staff, our whole party enjoyed their meal. Will return.

They had sea to g on the patio which was nice and cool. Service was great and the food was very good.

Great service. I had the crab cocktail and the Tuesday lobster local deal with the salad bar. Both really good and lots of great and healthy options on the salad bar. View is stunning. Price really good compared to what it would cost in Australia (especially when it comes to lobster!) Restaurant didn t have wifi to order an Uber afterwards but there s free wifi outside near the crows nest market.

Its a nice place. Quite busy. Food was good but service was a bit slow. And it was a bit pricey for what you got.

Very poor service. Not enough staff for the summer event they were hosting but they were still charging an entrance fee to the bar. Outside lights weren't woking so we were literally eating in the dark. Food was great. Drinks were poorly served. Definitely not coming back for drinks, that's for sure. Parking is really bad since they're fixing the road. This is in no way the restaurant's fault but I am definitely taking that into consideration next time since it didn't really reach my expectations for having to do a 8-10 min walk to get to the restaurant. I don't mean to sound all negative about it but that's what all collectively stands out for me on my last visit.

I feel overwhelmingly indifferent about the food here. Pricey but it's good I guess? You go here for the view and the experience. And it's worth it if that's what you're coming for. Just don't expect the food to knock your socks off. I don't recommend the fish tacos. Try your luck with a different dish.

Nice medium price restaurant in a pleasant setting.

I used to consider the Crow's Nest as good for the food and spectacular for the setting/views. The last couple times, the food has shown signs of catching up to the view. The salad bar, which may have been not attended to enough before, has been great, and the entrees are coming up to those of a four star place. The service, as always, is excellent. Congrats on the improvements and keep it up!

A little touristy, but they have a consistently good product. Beer and wine selection are very good, and they have an outstanding salad bar.

the best: fun, good food, very nice ambiance, views, etc...

I'd give this place 5 stars for the view, alone; the ambiance and the live music ads to this very enjoyable venue.

Their Summer Beach parties are a must!!!

However, in the upstairs lounge they charge cover on nights when it just doesn't make sense. They also stop serving food way too early!

The management has been a little uptight in years past. Once upon a time there were only blonds employed, but they've managed to recover from that past image.

The street leading up to it isn't easy to navigate. There's usually plenty of parking, accept during events like the Beach parties, so carpooling is recommended.

The view is fantastic and the ahi tuna is even better.

Very nice employees, great food, excellent service! Located right next to the water gives it the benefit of a wonderful view. Food is a bit pricey given the food they offer, but you're also paying for the experience. Great place for birthdays and events, or dinner with a group of your good pals! Recommended.

Great ambiance and a superior location right o the harbor. Only problem is the price and the food. If the food was as good as the views they'd be a six star joint u days a week.

On a stormy day, hubby and I love to sit upstairs in the bar area, have a bowl of clam chowder and tempura prawns, and watch the amazing surf.
Downstairs restaurant is nice. The food and service are always spot-on. We go there occasionally for special occasions, but most of the time we're upstairs.

Actually not a review of the food or service but of the helpfulness and care from the staff. My son got a gash on his foot from a shell on the nearby beach. The staff of the beach store and the restaurant provided bandages and antiseptic wipes - major kudos for being helpful with no commercial agenda.

Least vegetarian restaurant. Nothing on the menu but salad

Great as always. 50 years I've been coming here and it is still an outstanding restaurant. Service, atmosphere, food all rocks.

I like this place. Decent food and reasonable pricing.

Outrageously overpriced for very mediocre food. Had the shrimp and crab sandwich (for $17, mind you), which was tasteless and sad-looking. Wouldn't go back.

Not a bad happy hour. Staff is nice. Could be cleaner.

Seating in the bar/grill is a pain, but the food, view, and drinks make it worth it!

One of my favorite places to come have a nice lunch/drink and stroll the beach right there! Great food, great vibes, great overall!

The salad bar is excellent! Also, nice view of ocean and lighthouse from the first and second floor tables.

Great food. Kind service. Perfect views of the ocean.

Nice view of ocean. Servers were polite and professional. I would go back if in the area.

Celebrated Grandpa's birthday at Crow's Nest. Sunday night, on a 3-day weekend. Great dining experience, just a little before the dinner rush started. Our party of six arrived around 5:45 pm, with no reservation, and were seated immediately, downstairs. Delicious appetizers (fried calamari, and poke) and everyone's favorite dinner options, even the grade schoolers were impressed with the kids' menu and -gasp- wanted more broccoli! Friendly, helpful waiter, and a lovely view. My only critique is that I'm way too full ... and, that is no one's fault but my own! You always pay a bit more at a beach front restaurant, but it's well worth the memories at Crow's Nest. And, great complimentary dessert for Grandpa. Highly recommend. (People complain about having to pay for the harbor parking ... but, it was $2.25. Um, okay!)

Great fish, especially the swordfish. Beautiful view.

Good service, good food, great views of the harbor.

The staff is very pleasant. This has an ideal location looking out over the ocean, but their bushes obscure the view. The spot without the obscured view was closed.

Great view, good Louie salad, and an Irish coffee on a gorgeous winter afternoon......aaaah.

Horrible service, we asked the hostesses if we could sit upstairs and they said, Yes you can, if there is any seating. This was at 8:45 pm, so we went upstairs to find a seat, there was a table open. We waited about 20 minutes, waiters and waitresses passed by like we weren t there. Then we decided to go sit downstairs because there might be better service, then we asked the same hostesses if we could have a table downstairs, because we weren t getting any service upstairs. Would you like a kids menu? Then I replied, No thank you, we were planning on just getting desserts and drinks. Then the hostess said You have to get at least one entree downstairs. Then I said Well, we weren t getting service upstairs anyways. Hostess said, Well the upstairs will be closed to 21 and over shortly Now why I m upset is because they didn t acknowledge the fact that the upstairs wasn t going to be an option for us because we walked in with my daughter, who is clearly no where close to 21. The tables downstairs were no where close to full. Sad to say, as locals who came here often, we won t be going back anytime soon. Even if our out of town guests request to go.

The food at Crow's Nest is amazing. But aside from that, the service is the worst service I have ever received. The servers were very rude and unfriendly. Our server took us to our table and We waited for 10 minutes until we had to ask someone where our waitress was and she replied with "she will be here shortly" and walked away. The service here is terrible except for the bartender, Scott.

Food was great. Service too.I will definately order the Blackend chicken salad.

Had a delicious dinner. Excellent service and great atmosphere.

Warning: Do not order Bloody Mary upstairs. They put so much horse radish it burned a hole in my stomach. Didn t even mix it. And the bruschetta was so awful looking! Only good thing about this place is location and convenience of view.

Food, place and the servers are all fantastic! I'll definitely come back for the 3rd time, soon!

Service was very slow, though they were slammed. Need more waiters on Saturday nights. Food was excellent, view was even better. Call ahead for a reservation

They always have walk in availability, but do take reservations. The location next to the harbor with bay views is superb. You can sit downstairs at a table perfect for romantic conversations or you can check out the scene upstairs by the bar where they have indoor and outdoor tables, sports screens, and almost always have entertainment ranging from great local bands to talented standup comics. You are pretty much guaranteed to enjoy a fantastic night out.

So... you need reservations for this place. I say this first because we called earlier in the day and was told they would not take reservations for our party of 5 since it was not needed before 6:30pm on a Wednesday night. We were surprised but went about our day. When we arrived, we were told that there was a 30 minute wait. The construction in the area was horrible which caused several delays for us since we had to detour. Still, we arrived at 6:20 pm. The hostess said the person we spoke to earlier should not have told you that we didn t require a reservation. She stated that in fact she encourages people to make reservations when visiting as the amount of business received fluctuates greatly throughout the day. My question is .... why allow someone to answer the phone that doesn t know what they are talking about? Misleading customers adds to their frustrations in addition to the wait time. The hostess kindly invited us to go upstairs to have a drink while waiting for a table. Sorry, I am contemplating whether I want to even give Crow s Nest my money right now. If I wasn t here with others, I wouldn t stay.

When I inquired about the general manager, I was asked which one do you want . The hostess went on to say there is a general manager for each night of the week. Before working in television, I worked for a few very popular, high volume restaurants while in New York. I never heard of having more than one general managers - maybe assistant, or other managers, even FOH and BOH managers but not a general. Apparently tonight the manager is Kelsey. Perhaps the chaos in business management is what contributes to the confusion among lower level staff.

I will say the Spinach Salad was amazing. The server brought me a salad without the dressing I asked for, however she said if I didn t like it, I could get a new salad with the correct dressing. I didn t care for the honey mustard dressing on its own but mixed with the balsamic vinaigrette (which was wrongly given to someone else at the table that asked for Thousand Island ...sigh) it was delicious. So... I didn t send it back. I would get this salad again.

The steamed clams appetizer thou - awful, small, over cooked and with many broken shells. Almost chipped a tooth I think - was gritty and crunchy like i was eating sand. The service was quick and although the server was a bit uppity, she was mostly friendly and therefore earned the 25% tip. I believe in tipping karma despite service at any rate.

Also, you have to pay to use the parking lot. Which means you should bring cash. It worked out to being $3 for 3 hours of parking. Not thrilled we had to pay for parking to eat, but I guess times are hard. I am not sure I would visit this place again unless it was to satisfy a friend s desire to eat there.

The food was phenomenal great service and the wait was not very long

American food at this spot - yummy. everyone at our table was enjoying everything. i will be bringing friends next time. bring your hunger - portions are generous. similar to a place in denver i loved.