The Crow's Nest Reviews

Great location for seafood while in Santa Cruz. Skip the boardwalk tourist traps and drive here.

Mocha rubbed Filet was excellent. Wonderful for groups with kids.

Love this restaurant. Their pacific rim chicken is the best

Awesome place to eat. First time I've been here. Great service.

Seriously disgusting bar food, tasted like it came out of a microwave. Absolutely the worst service I ve ever experienced.

This was our "go to" spot for breakfast and dinner. The views and location can't be beat. Wait staff is super nice. The drinks are great. The food could be better. Dinner menu lacks vegetarian options. The fruit plate for breakfast is really a good value at $5.95. Skip the cinnamon roll french toast- itvsounds amazing andbcould be but here it is too dry. I figured it would be a real cinnamon roll donut that was frosted and then dipped and fried. It's not. It's unfrosted and fried. Dry as a bone. The omlets are great and can be made to order.

Food was OK. I liked the seafood fettuccine I ordered. My wife got tempura prawns, which was so so. Service was fast, but the waitress not friendly at all. You can see they are busy.

One of the best restaurants on the West Coast and it's located at the Harbor In Santa Cruz what else can you say

Love this place for the good vibes, killer music and great customer service!

Dinner seating downstairs starts at 4:30 but there is food served upstairs also. Food was cooked perfectly and the presentation was beautiful. The drinks are strong and we were served quickly. Had the yellowfish tail. It was blackened with sauteed spinich and veggies that were well seasoned and not overcooked. Chicken salad was fresh and crisp. The chicken was very tender and grilled perfectly. Our waitress was informative about the menu and attentive. Only down side was it was blazing hot outside and there is no shade. Wonderful experience! Will be back.

World most incomprehensible and labyrinthine parking lot... good food though.

Been coming here since I was a kid. I've always loved this place & still do. Great food & great service

No complaints, Food was great, easy to get too, very friendly and efficient service, clean. Thank You Crows Nest for the nice evening out.

Had Brunch for the first time and the service, food and views were excellent.

Beautiful waterside restaurant, inexpensive, good service, great food, pleasant atmosphere

Great staff. Seating upstairs is pick and choose, downstairs is reservation style. Calamari is excellent.

Celebrating our anniversary and the server and staff made the experience very special. Additionally, the food was exceptional.

The views are great and the food is pretty good. It can be loud in the dining room at times.

Have eaten here twice +we're not in Santa Cruz often). Both times the food was above average & wait staff competent & attentive.

Good food great views you will have to wait, but worth it

Great food and service with beautiful harbor views!

Mediocre is a generous description. It wasn't god-awful, but eating cardboard would have been a better way of spending my calories and $30. It was crowded, expensive and just not a very good experience overall. Do I regret eating there? Probably. Regret might be a strong word, but it's the closest word to describe my feeling as I left.
But the view is good and the fries aren't bad.

Went here for thanksgiving brunch. Good food, great service and gorgeous view.

I had the crab cakes benedict and it exceeded my expectations.

We've had Szechwan sword fish. Amazing taste and very tender. Great service too.

The Crows Nest is an established lovely restaurant right on the water in Santa Cruz at the harbor. It s always busy. When the weather is nice, you can choose to eat upstairs outside on the deck, which has lovely views of the sand beach volleyball court, and boats going in and out of the harbor. However the menu is limited upstairs. For a full menu and huge salad bar, the seating downstairs is lovely too. I always get the smoked salmon appetizer. It s one of their specialties.

Great breakfast, as usual. Just a fabulous day to take my niece there on her visit to the bay.

Quite a delightful will see food place near the Santa Cruz harbor. The oceanfront views are spectacular and outdoor seating is a plus with heaters. the service was friendly and helpful and most importantly the fish( yellowtail with a mango dressing) was fresh and melted in my mouth

We chose this restaurant because we thought the name was cool. I want to go back to eat here again because the food and service was AMAZING!! The pear & pecan salad was the most delicious salad I've every eaten. I had the seafood fettachini and my wife had the prime rib for her birthday dinner. Our dinner was so well prepared and then my wife was given a complimentary slice of chocolate mousse because it was her birthday. We were seated next to the window overlooking the ocean. From this vantage point, our view of the setting sun was truly breathtaking!!

Terrible food. Horrible staff. Difficult parking lot. And horrible food. The shack they own outside the restaurant was just as bad In the food department. Never going there again.

Crab & shrimp melt way smaller than it used to be and they raised the price from $17.95 to over $22 since we last visited 2 months ago! Thoroughly disappointed!

Good mai tai. Food is excellent. Prices a little high

He did not put sugar or a spoon for the lousy coffee they served us badly cooked food We returned it to the waiter and he did not change it he put it in the microwave

The location is great, with a beautiful view of north Monterey Bay. Restaurant on the ground level, lounge upstairs with an exterior patio. Prices are decent for the area too. Our experience was a ltiile lacking in the way of service and food quality, but it was our first and only visit.

Amazing food and the back room had a great view of the harbor!

Good Monday night deals. Half price! Decent food. Wasn't blown away but fair value for money

Traditional restaurant on the water. Always a good choice.

Truly a wonderful experience with family and friends staff was so accommodating and patient. I have recommended too many to go and experience the Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz. Thanks to all the took care of us.

Our party of 4 had breakfast here on a Saturday at 10am in early May 2019. It was my first time at the restaurant, but we were brought here by a local resident who knows the Santa Cruz restaurant scene. It was delightful. The restaurant is situated at a very scenic spot, next to the town harbor and marina, and next to the beach, near a lighthouse. We ate indoors. Outside on the beach, there was a group of 100 older people with ukeleles! (Apparently a regular ukelele play-along workshop on the beach! And including an old lady who did the hula-hoop in the center of the circle while the beginner musicians tried to play). But getting back to the restaurant review, the restaurant is large, full of people, with wood decor and good large windows for enjoying the views. The scrambled eggs were very good, but the toast was not good. The french toast dish seemed small or shrunken and oddly prepared. I am not sure about prices and value since I did not pay the bill. While I cannot give the food the highest ratings, we really enjoyed the dining experience, mostly due to the scenery and the surroundings. I would go here again, for sure.

Tasty burger for a long time so good !! Eat here if you have the roads past.

I had high expectations for this place because of the great reviews and several recommendations from friends. However, the food was mediocre and the service was subpar. Ordered off the prefix menu and what came out was a joke. But perhaps my idea of food that should come off a prefix menu is diffrent. My entree was described as prawns and what was served were more like small shrimps, the kind you can get frozen at the grocery store that's about 25 shrimps in a pound. Which is fine, but should probably be described more accurately on the menu. The shrimps were served on a bed of grits, and they did try to dress it up with a drizzle of sauce and a flower on the side. Extra star for effort. Bottom line if you want to eat at a local restaurant, but still enjoy the chain food of Applebee's, eat here.

Good food and drinks but the entertainment could use an upgrade.

We put our names in around 7:30 pm. The hostess said the wait is about an hour or so. She took our phone number and said she would call us when the table was ready. We killed time by walking the pier and browsing the little shop nextdoor. About an hour passes so we checked in with the hostess and she informed us it would be a little while longer. The time now is 12:40am and still NO CALL. This is beyond disrespectful and plain rude. I have two family members managing fine dinning establishments in both San Jose and Palo Alto, they would NEVER allow this type of behavior to occur with a patron.
After months of my fiance hyping this restaurant to me i reluctantly agreed to go since we were in the area. He is so embarrassed now because he swears this doesn't happen.
I could go into greater detail about our experience, but what's the point when this restaurant clearly doesn't care.

Perfect service and food, specifically the prime rib.

First time at crows nest. The food was amazing and came out pretty darn quick. The view was something i havent seen in a long time with the marina was filled with boats of many types and the restaurant was in a perfect location for the weather. I was amazed by the simplicity of the building layout where there was bathrooms really close to wherever i was. The staff was extremely helpful and kind. I also shopped at the store across the parking lot. It was a very cute and convienent store where i left with souvenirs ultimatly i will definitly tell my friends and visit again

Awesome view and good food. A little difficult to find and the parking can be a challenge but it's worth it.

Always good food and terrific atmosphere. Good service, friendly staff.

A great place for seafood and drinks. There was a hair in my entree, but the staff handled the situation perfectly. The seafood flavors were the star of everything I had and done well.

Great view, fresh seafood, what else can you ask for

Spent thanksgiving there with my family
The views are amazing. We had the holiday special and they offered dark or white meat and also just the fixings. We had butternut squash soup that was smooth and sweet. It was really busy with over a 45 minute wait.
$$$.

You can't beat the view. Excellent salad bar. Good happy hour and locals specials. Casual upstairs and more extensive menu downstairs. Service upstairs almost always is bad and it often takes ages to clear the last customers dishes.

Very good food and stylish restaurant. Definitely higher priced and parking can be an issue. Views are great and they offer a complete menu.

We went there rainy Saturday and ate on upstairs. Surprisingly, they were busy but luckily we were able to find a table. Food was okay nothing extraordinary but not bad, either. Should be cheaper for during the day. My boyfriend ordered Ahi brochette over caesar salad; he mentioned Ahi was not the best quality but they were big and a plate was too small. My tempura Shrimp with spinach salad was also okay but I don't call it tempura. It's just deep fried in batter. I wish they offer cheaper price for drinks and others during the day as they add up a lot.

Cumin on scallops may not have been a great idea. Good drinks and good food. Nice view.

The view is great and the service is usually pretty good but the food is usually pretty disappointing

Best place in Santa Cruz to get a consistently yummy meal. Servers are wonderful. Special shout outs to: Sam, Carla. Lisa and Kenne.

Great ambience, great view on beach and ocean, nice menu, popular place. Whenever you walk in a crowded restaurant, you know the food is good!!

FANTASTIC food! The server was extremely welcoming and nice, especially considering our table size. The food was on the pricier side, but it was worth it. Originally, they said that the wait would be an hour long, but somehow we were able to get a table in 15 minutes. Definitely plan ahead and get a reservation if you're with a large party.

The calamari breading was crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside; and it came with three different sauces (tartar sauce, tartar sauce with horseradish (?), and a cocktail sauce). The Pacific Rim Chicken Breast was so juicy that my friend and I almost thought it was raw (don't worry, it was definitely fully cooked). The top sirloin was delicious and came with an amazing steak sauce. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their food! They also had a great variety of drinks (but beware, they don't list the prices of the drinks on their menu).

Overall, great place to go to if you're looking for a date night with delicious food and drink.

Best location ever, great food, delicious drinks and the beach... it doesn t get any better!

One of my favorite place in town, good food great environment...

Great atmosphere went for breakfast and had the Eggs Benedict it was superb! Ocean view and awesome patio!

We ate upstairs with a great view from our table near the water. Great calemari, good fish tacos and fish & chips. Loved the drinks. Wonderful clam chowder

Amazing Place amazing location great food great live entertainment the best place to have food friends fun had the best time for my birthday rocking it.

I love this place, been here a bunch of times, the service is almost as good as the food, and I haven't ever had a bad meal here.

Food is decent. Live entertainment most nights. Comedy on Sundays can be hit or miss, but I've seen some really outstanding comedians. Nice bar, outdoor patio with oceanfront dining.

Nice place by the marina in Santa Cruz. Great food, best service, and really creative menu.

Burgers were good. Clam Chowder was a delicious! Bloody Mary hit the spot! Nice views. Friendly staff. Water views and beach walk nearby.

Service was excellent. Ahi was delicious. Filet Mignon was overcooked. Restaurant was clean, with good ambiance.

Consistent over the years. Great view. Mostly passable service. Decent food. Always crowded. Good values available during the week. #saladbar

Service was excellent, but one of the meals was well done instead of medium rare. They were very gracious about it and the other two meals were gone.

Great place to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner (must pay for parking)with pleasant atmosphere and view of the harbor as well as impeccable service!