My daughter and I visited Santa Cruz during the Xmas holiday season. She found Mission West on…read moreYelp. It's a small neighborhood Cheers Bar. The bar tenders were quick and attentive. The best part were the drinks. Kettle One Espresso Martini made to perfection $10. Nice pour of whiskey $10. Hands down the best deal in town. I would highly recommend.

Mission West is the real thing!…read more There are dive bars that look like dive bars and they serve crappy drinks. Then there are bars that look like dive bars but they serve excellent drinks.. well-made cocktails, even in the correct glasses and the gorgeous cubed ice that looks like glass and has no bubbles. Those are the kinds of drinks only bartenders who care about the drinks they put out there create, and those are the ones who work at Mission West. The location being near a convenience store and busy street gives the bar the appeal of a dive bar but don't let that fool you. Mission West is this dark moody place that's narrow with decent seating and always a good set of customers to talk to. The specialty drinks are solid. Love their manhattan, paper plane, and espresso martini. If you're special, they may even give you one of their fancy stickers.

Shout out to Maxine for all the best recommendations and peak info regarding the brew and story…read morebehind each drink! The taste of each is so unique i am most definitely coming again specially after my friends boasted about the service and ambience being so welcoming and uplifting!

The location is inside of a food hall. Saturday afternoon was bustling with lots of activity in the…read morearea. There were plenty of open places to sit at the bar. It was a little tricky for our group of four to talk since we were all seated at the bar. There were a couple of areas to stand with your drinks if you wanted to stand across from someone to speak while enjoying your drink. Cocktails were unique and fun! Everyone in our party enjoyed our cocktail. The bartender was friendly, not overly attentive (bonus), very knowledgeable and patient with our questions.

What a pleasant experience. My server Mimi was charming and respectful and very attentive. The food…read morecame quickly and was up to my standards. A touch of the pricey side. But had a kickin gin and tonic, so don't skip that.

Today I stopped by Venus on the Westside. Admitably, I was starving when I approached the door at 2…read moreminutes to opening. The hostess and waitress kindly let me in. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. I spoke with my waitress to inquire about dairy free vegan options. Not much but I did order a Ba mi sandwich with mushroom. What came was a pork version ~ definitely not vegan. If it were my call , the sandwich I then had to wait for would have been on the house. No such luck. This is not all. Where I was seated by hostess was definitely the world's worst table in the absolute flow of an onslaught of wait staff delivering everything from the kitchen and busing dishes. It was awful. Since my order had already been messed, I did not have the heart to ask about moving. This was an all time worst dining experience. I will never return here again. I have enjoyed the other Venus in Seascape. But these folks were inattentive and lacking empathy. Even their martini was sub standard. Not so at the other Venus.

Of course I've never been here so I checked Yelp reviews and it looked like it had pretty good…read morereviews. We didn't have reservations and it was on Mother's Day. But we got seated right away for three people. We got seated towards the back of the restaurant where the other bar is. I start to look at my menu for a couple minutes and I noticed something weird happened that I was in a different spot. And then I realized that I was sitting on a rotating platform! It was super cool because you always get a rotation to view the ocean many times. I only ordered one drink, because I had a 2 1/2 hour drive home, which was really good and my bistro steak (medium rare) was so good. It had a really nice char and taste to it. I'm definitely coming back to check out their other entrées and hopefully have more time to have a couple cocktails!

We enjoy Hawaiian food, so we made this our lunch stop at Santa Cruz. It's located near the end of…read morethe pier so it was a little walk to get here. We were seated immediately on a Saturday, which was nice. The AC/fans were blasting so it was actually really chilly inside, but you've got a great view of the ocean and the revolving bar is a bit of a trip to watch! I got the honey macadamia nut prawns, my wife got the tamarind Pua'a, and the kid got coconut prawns. The food was decent- not bad but nothing notable in our opinion. Perhaps our thoughts were swayed by the prices- a little expensive we thought. Decent lunch but a one and done place for us.

Our fave bar. Cool vibe, pool table, great bar selection, great tenders…read moreThere's no food, tho, so plan accordingly

It's a Dive-ish bar with top notch drinks, and always a pleasure to pop in for a night cap.read more

Was my fav in college and now a must when I'm in Santa Cruz. The red room is pretty chill, although…read moreit does get busier on weekend nights. Friendly bartenders, ideal red everything vibes, and two rooms for seating options.

There are two floors! Downstairs and upstairs…read more Upstairs lounge is bigger with more tables and sofas for large groups. I like the red lighting throughout the whole place. It's a fun and unique vibe

We have so many special places to visit and eat. Jack O'neals is just another home away from home…read more From the beachside window seats to the wall up to the dream in. Christian made sure to keep us happy. it's a great place to sit and enjoy a meal, coffe or get a wonderful drink at the bar. Service is always amazing. i've never had a bad meal here. the steak and eggs are best on the block. thank you again for another great experience! Dennis J Rodriguez II Pro Show Painting

Popped into here for a light dinner. Had a bowl of clam chowder, and a Caesar salad with chicken…read more The clam chowder had an odd taste and it was really paste-y. The salad was surprisingly small. The chicken was good but the dressing was nasty salty. The sardines? That is what I get for not asking for dressing on the side. Great view but the food sucks, especially for the price.

My FAVORITE restaurant…read more Went to celebrate my birthday for a girls trip, we got Tiki Torch Wings, Ceviche, potstickers and my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE..... The Pink Bikini Martini.... I swear I can drink a ton of those. Our server was a little more serious, but I've experienced that before here. Not overly friendly... Felt like maybe they were a little annoyed. But, hey we all have our days. I just love the vibe, the classic videos, the decor and they even have a doppelganger picture of my mom I always ask her, "How'd they manage to get a picture of you...." lol The only complaint... They know longer have available parking across the street as they are now putting a building in that part for the university, so we had to go on a mission to find parking further away and walk through the businesses to get their.

Dunno much about the inside of the restaurant, we had our pup with us and took to patio seating…read moreright on the sidewalk. Drinks were make right, had me an Old Fashioned and it hit all the right spots. The Hawaiian steak was good, a ten oz steak, on top of some good mashed potatoes with Brussel sprouts. The steak was a little sweet for me but very good. My kid had the king carb curry over rice. I think that was probably the best item on the menu. I tried a bite or eight. It was super good. Service was great.

Really nice spot to chill with friends. Enjoy live music entertainment and the patio fire pit…read moretables. The drinks were really good! Had a nice time.

So good. Ask the bartender (Cameron) for his best drink. Great service. This is a cozy and relaxing…read moreplace.

First time visit a few weeks ago and loved it. Did some day drinking with friends and this was our…read morelast stop. Staff was great. I seek out #divebars and this is now on my roster of places to take friends when they are in town. Drinks are reasonably priced.

Love this bar, always fun, great bands on tues and wed and pool playing is always fun , great…read morebartenders