We love the Bittersweet! Cocktails are great and different appetizer specials every day, seven days of the week. The best appetizer is the tower, two sliders, two taquitos, sweet potato fries and fried calamari! With three kinds of dipping sauces! Yum! The menu is expansive and great and the cocktail menu goes on and on. Service at the bar is great and friendly. We love the bartenders- Ryan is our man! Some of the best salads include the Carpaccio, favorite entrees include the chicken scallopini, the beef stroganoff and any of the steaks. Try this place- you'll love it. Hint, food is the same at the bar as the dining room, you can get any of the appetizer specials there and service is fast and friendly...... read more

Love the morning burritos. The crunchy chicken eggs Benedict is soooo good! A must stop when in the area!

The food was amazing and the waitress Kerrie couldn't have been better. I ordered the New York strip steak which was cooked perfectly. The outdoor seating area had a lovely atmosphere. read more

I have been in the food & wine business for 39 years and have been very fortunate to have traveled on 4 continents during numerous food & beverage foraging trips. My experiences range from street food to Michelin Starred restaurants in 12 different countries. My recent experience at Bittersweet Bistro compelled me to write my first review on Yelp. Where do I start? Wine list, mediocre. $30 corkage insanely high and very short sighted (Only $15 at Oswald in Santa Cruz). Menu, not very imaginative considering the very high prices for what is prepared and served. $8.75 for french fries? When asked how my Skirt steak should be prepared, I cheerfully replied "correctly". The waitress grinned and said "medium rare then?" I replied "Yes, but not too much on the rare side". I received steak tartare with a char, which embellished the chewiness of their cut. When I asked where they source their meat from, the answer from the kitchen was returned as "Somewhere from the midwest". At their high prices, they should boast a specific quality beef producer and give quality beef. I've had well prepared and extremely delicious skirt streak for $20-$25 in restaurants much less pretentious then here. $33.50? Really? The beef was sub-par. Their fillet of sole entree $36.00 was over cooked, dry, and stingy with the amount of sole. The mashed potatoes and vegetables gracing both entrees were the same. They were good by the standard of a comfort food truck stop, but on $30-$40 entrees? Again really? This from a chef who "honed his skills at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York?" The about us page on their website doesn't say that he actually received his culinary degree there or that he even has one, so there is that. The service was not great, certainly not what should have been expected considering how nicely lit and appointed the place looks, and for the ridiculously high prices. When the owners of an establishment actually post their pictures on their website, I would think that they would at least have the self awareness of how they might be perceived by their guests. Elizabeth, co-owner and the chef's wife, was at the reception quite a bit. She appeared to be completely disinterested in her patrons, and either bored or unhappy to be there. I watched as numerous patrons left as well as when our party left. She rarely looked at anyone, let alone gave any kind of verbal thank you to anyone as they left. Really? No "Thank you for coming?" No "Hope you enjoyed your meal?" I realize that everyone has an opinion, and I generally accept things as they are, but I am amazed by this establishment. Their patrons must not be concerned with money, or reasonable pricing. They must also not get out very much. I visit the Santa Cruz area a good 6-8 times a year. I've never had a complaint about the food, service, or prices at Cafe Cruz, or Oswald. Two establishments these owners could take a serious lesson from. Very disappointing to say the least. I would use the term "price gouging" here for sure. I have no problem paying the prices for Fine Dining done correctly. Their prices pretentiously reflect that of Fine Dining, but their food and service do not reflect anything close to it. If you're looking for fine dining, this is definitely not the place to go. read more

Perfect for what and where it is, can't say enough good things about this place as EVERYTHING (food, bar,service, ambiance) is just right, have always been treated excellent by the staff each and every time I go . If you have not been there.......dress a bit, think casual smart, not t-shirt and tennis shoes. read more

Food was tasty but not really exceptional. There were kids and dogs, both annoying. Waitpersons were good and we will return for the specials. read more

We love to come to this restaurant for breakfast and the setting is so calm and peaceful. I love it for dinner on their patio as well, but the ladies in the morning cafe give the best service and we love all of them. It is a beautiful place to relax and enjoy the scenery. LOVE this restaurant. Thank you Cafe ladies! You are awesome..... read more

One of the most disappointing "dining experience" I've ever had. A so so diner is much better and the service is too. Arrived and changed seeting from inside to outside because so noisy inside couldn't hear the conversation with others dining with me. Waited over 40 minutes for any person to come and begin to take order, another 10 minutes for silverware and asking for ice water you'd think I was asking them to go to a mountain top for it. Been told this is one of the area's best place to dine. VERY expensive and quailty not there. Food served luke warm, after dinner coffee not hot and curddled milk given to add to coffee and when waiter was told he acted like I had been a very bad girl and curddled the milk myself. Went inside to speak to the manager and she was the rudest of all. Acted like our group should be lucky we even got the crummy service, so so food, and luke warm coffee & curddled milk. WILL NOT GO BACK and will tell others to go to the neighborhood diner for better food & service. read more

A disappointing visit to Bittersweet last night. Although the evening was perfect for sitting out on the patio, the service from the young bartender was not. Our martinis came in the smallest possible glasses, filled only about 2/3 full, 9 bucks each. The recession- busters pastas were just ok. Maybe if they hadn't sat under warming lights while we waited for 40 minutes... read more

So bummed they have a "BRAT BAN" in the lounge now. No kids under 13 years old on weekdays. We have gone here regularly for over a decade and now feel like we aren't welcome with our family. We have 5 and 7 year old boys who know how to act in a restaurant (no electronic devices at our table), and were turned away from the lounge this week. We were told we could sit in the dining room or the bar (backwards restriction?). The funny part is our kids starting joking they could be rude, turned their hats backwards, and said, "look, we're teenagers!" This is super frustrating and NOT addressing the issue. Let's talk about lazy, disconnected parents, and not punish those of us raising the next citizens who will contribute to society. Let's ban kids on ipads and bad manners. What happened to "it takes a village?" You want to ban my family? I will tell all my friends, fellow parents, and sympathizers to ban you. Shame on you bittersweet. read more

Ordered a dark and stormy and Ryan the bartender gave me a rum and coke. If you don't have dark rum or ginger ale, just come clean about it. Got the steak soup and they gave me the sausage and black bean soup. Oysters were good, cleaned well. The food runner came out auctioning off my food, woth no clue who had ordered it. Ryan only asked about my food when I had already finished. And then someone brought out the right soup and said whoops, we brought you the wrong one. "Oh well" Then there was a 5 year old at the bar kicking and screaming. Children should not be at the bar top. Brought my check before I even got my dessert. I understand that's hard to gauge when people want this. Usually proper restaurant etiquette is to drop it during or after. Dessert was the only high point. Chocolate mousse with creme anglaise. Absolutely wonderful! The quality of the food is the only reason I'm even giving this one star. Food alone would be 5/5 read more

Food is good. Desserts here are SPECTACULAR. Took a group of friends visiting from out of town, including a chef, here for the dessert and everyone liked it. read more

Great variety of delicious food and the staff are very friendly. Outdoor seating is the best!!

I recently organized a holiday party here in their back room for work. It was the 2nd year in a row we hosted at bittersweet because they make everything so incredibly easy. Elizabeth and her staff go above and beyond to make everyone's experience wonderful and I particularly appreciate what little work I had to do to make it a success. Our staff loved the food and the ambience in the private room. Thank you! read more

I finally got in contact with the owner and she was able to help me out with the problem. The bill was supposed to have been split three ways, but I apparently was charged for the whole shebang. She credited the extra money back to my card and she would try to charge the other cards. She fixed the problem, and I will probably go there again someday...but I won't be rushing back... read more

i love the ambiance here. it's romantic but simplistic romantic. they always have beautiful roses in the front. their seafood paella is DELICIOUS. i also had their beef stroganoff which was so flavorful as well (but i thought it was slightly expensive for beef stroganoff). i'll be honest, i can't afford to come here on a regular. but the few times that i've been here, the service has been wonderful!! definitely a date restaurant. so...i think they made their dessert menu smaller. i came back a few months later and the selection was a lot smaller. but the desserts are melt in your mouth yummy...i'm drooling just thinking about it. 5 stars- great service, delicious food, and GREAT dessert!! i prefer this place for a romantic evening way more than shadowbrook! read more

Love how the staff eats dinner at the bar while I'm eating mine. A barely tolerable experience with the employee karaoke.....would you go back? read more

I stopped in here in earlier this week to have lunch as I often do. I was in the middle of my lunch when I heard yelling and looked up to see a young lady being accosted by a man, pointing his finger and yelling at her. Turns out the man yelling was the owner, Thomas and the young lady was a vendor who was just stopping by to check on the account. I was appalled at the way he was treating her. I realize this is not a food critique, however I think it is just as important to spread the word when it comes to the way business owners treat the people they work with. This guy was such an Ass, I will never, ever be back. It was completely disrespectful and I will not patronize anyone who treats people this way. Such as shame because I USED TO enjoy eating here on a regular basis. read more

The menu is extensive, the majority of entrees offer a small plate option, the food was extremely good & the service outstanding. However, the outrageous corkage fee of $25/bottle & the similarly ridiculous mark-up on the menu wines prevents me from willingly recommending this restaurant or pining to return. For the money, Sanderlings @ Seascape Beach Resort is a far better value, particularly when you add their incomparable ocean views. read more

always good food. the happy hour specials in the bar are an amazing value. i love this place and goes down as one of my favorites.

Wow! We just found another favorite restaurant!!! The food was fantastic the desserts were to die for. My wife and I shared a chocolate mousse and it was more than enough. Great friendly staff and a very great restaurant experience. read more

I have just finished a great Saturday morning breakfast at Bittersweet. Kristen is a fantastic server who cheerfully shares her knowledge and enthusiasm about each entre offered. Definitely, I will be back. Parking is easy. Restrooms clean. Cheerful attitude! read more

food was pretty good. had one of those 'WOW - is this REALLY happening right now' kind of moments with the wait staff and management tonight. i am no picky guy, and we were there on vacation looking for an easy, light hearted meal. however it i was so disappointed with the staff and their approach to serving their clients that I am taking time out of my vacation to share with y'all... Service was awful. Awful. Awful. Orders got mixed. Smiles were elusive. Waiting too long was commonplace. Checks were inaccurate (and overcharged) Fair enough. Sometimes the wait staff has had a hard day and we are all human right? We went to the management to share the experience and it became obvious ---- the complete disregard for customer satisfaction is borne from the top. And believe me, it trickles down to the rest of the staff. TOP 3 WORST SERVICE EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE. Pizza is pretty good. read more

Happened to find this place while looking for another, so didn't know what to expect. All we had was breakfast, and it was great. I came to find out later(from other friends we suggested the place to)that they have a great koi pond and outdoor pizza oven out on their patio. Next time...dinner is a must - 'cause we sure had a great breakfast! Very kick-back atmosphere - really works! Keep it up owners and staff! read more

Very disappointing. Over-priced, over-cooked seafood dinner with meager but pricey wine selection. Not the place to go for a quality dinner. Focus is on happy hour and appetizers not fine dining. read more

I like this restaurant but it is a bit pricey. The bar is very nice and when they have specials on Monday it is a great place to meet friends! read more

I eat here a lot (2-3 times a month) and have had some good food and some average to below. I ordered the New York and ended up getting a bad piece of meat. Something was terribly wrong with the meat. It was spoiled or something and it tasted disgusting. The bartender asked me how I liked it, and the manager was standing with her. I did not intend on complaining, but they asked. I told them how bad it was and that I would not even take it home to my dog. I was shocked when the bill came and they charged me full price for it ($38.00). I was not in the mood to complain any more so I just paid it. The potatoes and spinach were fine, and the Bartender did bring me a free drink. A week before I had the Paella which was really bland. The thin crust Pizza's are great and the chipotle chicken sandwich and the meatloaf sandwich are good. read more

Unfortunately, I have to give at least a star. It took over an hour for our order to be taken, the service was inconsistent, and the prices were overall too high. I also ordered two dinners for my family to bring home, but one as not included, though I was charged. Trying to have this fixed was a headache, and I honestly don't think Bittersweet Bistro is worth their price or service. read more

Service was poor and ended up being charged for soda water.

I love Bittersweet. The food is always good and their recession crusher deals are fabulous. A different $6 special every night of the week. You can't beat that! And their desserts truly are works of art! read more

We had our company luncheon last week. I just want to say Christa was an amazing server. She was on top of everything. One of the girls in out party was pregnant but they catered to her need. read more

Four of us went for dinner on a Wednesday night, definitely not busy yet the service was so slow that it took 2 hours just to get the main course. Pretty hard to enjoy dinner when you are continually asking the server for your dinner. read more

As a former customer, and later as a server who was acquainted intimately with the food, I must say, today's visit for brunch was HUGELY disappointing. The food has seriously gone downhill, if brunch is representative of it. I ordered the chef's recommendation, the Crispy Bacon/chicken Benedict. If I didn't know better, the tiny, sliver of something dry (passing as a chicken cutlet) was dipped in pancake batter for breading. It was sickeningly sweet, and after one bite I had to remove it from both muffin halves, it was downright gross. The bacon and muffin were both hard, lukewarm and chewy, and must have been sitting around for a while. And the spicy hollandaise? What hollandaise? At best, it was a watery, flavorless buerre blanc with some red looking seasonings - it wasn't even close to spicy. The potatoes, bland and boring cubes. And, seriously - an orange slice, pulled apart for a garnish? Denny's could have done better. Flavorless and prepared with no care at all. It was insulting to us as customers to even be charged for this slop. The service was good enough, but clearly those poor servers have nothing to be proud of when it comes to the menu, so they did the best they could. Huge thumbs down. I will not be going back or recommending it to anyone I would call a friend. read more

Although the service can be slow, it is better than when I wrote 7/13 review. The food is usually pretty good.

A couple of weeks ago my family, some of whom live in Aptos, chose Bittersweet Bistro for 6 of us to go on a Sunday evening. I don't mind spending on a nice dinner at a nice restaurant, however with the menu prices I expected superb service. This whole place fell very short. I can not blame it solely on the server because no one else backed her up. She seated the first thereof us to arrive and then we had to go get more menus. Our waters were not kept filled and when they were filled (only when requested), they were filled with warm water. A drink was not as expected and she argued with my sister's boyfriend, who had agreed to pick up the tab. They "nickel and dime" them menu. They ran out of one of the featured items, beef stroganoff and offered to use filet cut instead. We said, "sure" until the server said that would cost more even though it was the restaurant's fault. They should have made good on their menu item. A couple of us had quality meals, however, I paid $20.00 for a "Prawn Caesar Salad". I expected a top notch Caesar Salad. The "prawns" were not PRAWNS! There were several little shrimp placed around the edge of the bowl. Anchovies would have been $1.50 more. I don't believe that the dressing was home made or had any real anchovies in it! I guess I'm just used to a good restaurant like the Whaling Station in Monterey...A caesar salad is made table side and the service can't be beat! We go just for the experience! I was soooooo mad a my family's experience at Bittersweet Bistro, I would not go back! The price compared to experience and food fell waaay short of par! read more

For years Bittersweet Bistro has been one of our go-to restaurants when we wanted a good meal and nice atmosphere. Our most recent visit, on a Tuesday evening in early December, left us with a, well, bittersweet feeling. I made reservations for an early meal so we could relax and enjoy the eve. as it was the Mrs' birthday celebration. Upon arrival, we were led to a "nice quiet table". We were seated near two large, boisterous parties, one with small children running about while the adults visited. Should have asked then and there for another table, but it was apparent that one corner of the dining area was the only part of the restaurant being staffed at this hour. Our waiter was prompt, courteous and knowledgeable about the menu and wines. We opted for a couple of glasses of wine while perusing the menu. The wine arrived quickly, accompanied by our waiter asking if we were ready to order. I asked for a few more minutes, and that's about all we got before he was back. OK, I felt a bit rushed, but we gave our choices. About 5 minutes later the busboy came by with bread, just as our appetizer plate arrived. Would have been nice to slow the service down a bit... we were still working on the appetizer when our salads were delivered- the tiny table for two was awash in plates! In less than 5 minutes the waiter came back to inform us that our entrees were about ready. I commented at that time that there really was no rush. Sure enough, the entrees arrived about 3 minutes later. Where are they going to go on this full table??? Meanwhile the din increased as the parties consumed more wine. I must say that our entrees were wonderful, the Mrs had a grilled steak that was melt in your mouth delicious, I gobbled down the stroganoff with it's rich, mushroom and sour cream sauce. Our waiter was back soon to finally clear some of the plates from the table. Just as we finished our entrees, he was back with desert menus- What's the rush, the place(except the bar and our 3 tables) was practically empty. I'll just quit here, suffice to say, our experience was truly bittersweet: Great food, too noisy on a quiet night, and we felt really rushed. Not a great experience. It will be quite some time if we choose to return. read more

I have been to the Bittersweet a couple of times, and I must say that me and my wife have really enjoyed it. The food was good and the deserts and drinks were amazing. The only draw back is that it is really pricey and can get rather crowded on the weekend. read more

Enjoyed lunch on the patio so decided to return for dinner. Hubbie and I were seated at a tiny table for two. A Sunday night and they were not overly crowded. Server seemed to be put out to wait on us. Never asked how we enjoyed our food, which was mediocre. Never asked if we wanted second glass of wine. I had the beet salad which supposedly had roasted beets, however the ridges from the canned beets were evident. Hubbie had exotic mushroom pasta which was very bland. Stuffed mushrooms were the best part of the meal. Overpriced, $30 corkage fee???? We've experienced better. We won't be back for dinner. Too many great places to dine in Aptos. read more

We have a golf tourney every year in that area with between 16 - 24 players. We booked reservations for 18 hungry/thirsty guys and converged on Bittersweet Bistro. Nice looking place and accomodations for us were good. A few of us brought wine and were shocked by their $30 per bottle corkage fee. For that reason alone, we have crossed this place off our list and they have cost themselves about $1,500 plus every year forward. Food was decent but nothing special. read more

Had dinner with a party of 17. As soon as we all walked in for our table felt a very cold reception from the management staff. Several of us brought our own wine and were informed it would be $30.00 corkage per bottle and $60.00 for a larger bottle. That seemed a little extreme and asked if they would reduce it to $20.00 each, but the management would not budge. Several of us wanted to get up and find another restaurant, unfortunately it was a Saturday night and we decided to stay. Due to the actions of the management we all decided to order less food and no dessert afterwards. The service was adequate and the food was actually good, but considering the prices and uncomfortable atmosphere would not recommend this place. read more