Do yourself a favor. Go down the block to the Sand Bar. (No, I don't work for them!) It's just ten times better, and less expensive, too! Try it! read more

The breakfast is greasy, the tables are sticky but you're there for the view and what beautiful view it is. The food isn't bad, it's your basic breakfast diner fare. The service is excellent and attentive. When you go, order coffee (or heck, a glass of wine), stare at the ocean right outside your window, and ponder just how amazing life is. read more

Great burger. Burgers are special for me and in a world of restaurants competing for who has the craziest ingredients there is something nice about finding a place that does a simple burger right. Zelda's burger was fantastic, simple, perfectly cooked, and delicious. It didn't try and be anything it wasn't supposed to, just simple and good. 5 stars, friendly people, reasonable prices. And simple. read more

Our waitress...bless her heart, she was great but she must have known Zelda's is a dump because she told us "Thanks for bearing with us." at the end of our meal. The food was mediocre and barely warm, who knows how long it was sitting out. They brought my husbands drink in a to go cup but everyone else had a regular cup...um ok. OMG was it WAY overpriced too! It's got dingy lawn chairs and rickety tables. Keep walking if you see this place. read more

Wow, I guess we should have checked the reviews before going here... but I guess we assumed being one of the main restaurants in Capitola, it would be on point. I've also visited in the past with no real complaints. Unfortunately, that was not the case during yesterday's visit. My bf and I ordered the lobster and mine smelled too fishy and looked really gelatinous. My bf insisted it was fine and ate both of ours. Sure enough, a couple hours later and still as of today, he is sick with food poisoning. We ate everything else the same all day, except for the lobster, and I'm completely fine. Thanks for reminding us why we try our best to stay away from meat and seafood-- eck! DO NOT SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY HERE! There are plenty of better options in the area, including Pizza My Heart. Health Services needs to shut this grimy place down. One star goes to the band playing. read more

First off I'm a local. The one star reviews are totally spot on. Zelda's is a bit of an embarrassment for the town. The "who gives a crap" attitude all seems to be top down management issue. Vapid & immature servers, untrained bartenders, overprice mediocre food etc...keeps everyone who lives here annoyed that they are taking up such a great location. read more

Good thing Zelda's has a great waterfront view. If it was about their service they'd be out of business. Food is pretty good.

I've never thought much of Zelda's so I can't say that I am surprised by my family's encounter with the hostess this last Father's Day. Her name is PAM. From the get go she was unfriendly. My uncle told her he had called to see if it was necessary to make a reservation for 5 people. He was told there was no wait. So we get there and end up waiting for 40 minutes. After telling the hostess what he was told over the phone, she tells him that she is going to go see who picked up the phone and fire whoever told him that. She proceeds to come out and call him a liar and tell him that she believes her staff and not him. Then she passive aggressively pats my aunt on the shoulder to say, "but don't worry honey, you're next on the list." Two other groups with similar sized parties are then called before us. After asking The waitress what the hostess' name was, she proceeds to come over to the table and confront us. She angrily asks what we needed her name for and then tells us, "well you know, you were in the wrong too!" And stomps off, basically shaming us for an innocent mistake we had made earlier about accidentally sitting down at a table when we thought we had been called. I've been in customer service for 11 years. I know the drill. Sometimes people misunderstand things. It's hard being in that industry and its not for everyone. This situation could have been fixed from the get go if PAM had an ounce of empathy toward my uncle/aunt. All she had to do was say, "I'm really sorry there has been a misunderstanding. We have been busy and have had a wait for sometime and I understand you are upset, but do not worry we will get you seated as soon as possible." There. Boom. Simple as that. Everything would have been smoothed over and the escalation of the altercation would have been avoided. And what is up with coming over to the table and confronting us? SO rude. I don't normally write Yelp reviews, but PAMS attitude was unacceptable and unprofessional and frankly I was dumbfounded and appalled by her demeanor and behavior. A little bit of compassion and a dial down of the ego would be extremely beneficial to PAM in the future! The server that brought out the food was awesome though! I didn't catch his name, but I had ordered a salad instead of fries and they got the order wrong and the guy made a huge salad for me ASAP and let me keep the fries. The one star goes to him, that's what I call good service. read more

This is for the service only. Please read before you walk in....I wish we did. The waitresses were sweet and did their job. Now, the food. Disappointing. Disgusting. This place should be embarrassed to be putting food out like this. $15 for two fish tacos which is ok as a plate with mahi mahi...but is was just kinda warm and had no Flavor. Returned. The Mahi salad...kinda warm and again no flavor, dry and straight from then freezer...returned. Ceviche..didn't know oregano was in Ceviche, or in the clam chowder, for that matter. Oregano is not a good way to mask Clam chowder from a can. Might been better straight from the can. I wasn't going to leave this review but if this place hasn't done anything different after previous reviews about their restaurant, then they really don't care so here it is. The only thing this place has is a place right on the beach. Too bad they like to take advantage of tourist. I plan to be around this area since my child just started UC Santa Cruz but we won't be back here with our friends and family. Too bad, you dont care Zelda, you could have had good customers. Or Do you care? read more

Decided to go to Zelda's for a bite of lunch with a few friends, one of my companions didn't want to go, he had been before and was unimpressed. Unfortunately there was the begonia festival going on and the place was packed. We hit it at the end of lunch so we only had to wait a minute for a table. They shoved us into a small corner where there was a pyramid of bottled beer boxes, I tried to look out at the beach instead, but the patio was packed as well, blockng any decent view of the beach. I hate when restaurants don't put prices on thier alcoholic drinks, and I hate to ask the price and appear tacky. I ordered a mimosa and my friend ordered a bloody mary, as well as a round of waters. The water glasses are tiny and I was glad I wasn't thirsty because the server took a long time to refill them. My mimosa was terrible, they probably used the cheapest champagne available. I was horrified by the $7 price tag on it which I didn't find out until the bill came. My friend's bloody mary was really good though, with every sip he took I became a bit more envious while I stared at my mimosa with loathing. Nothing really jumped out at me off the regular menu, one friend (the one who didn't want to go) warned me away from the mediocre calamari. I settled on the cheapest thing on the specials menu (which was paper clipped to only one of the four menus we received), the eleven dollar french toast with strawberries and almonds. I was served two pieces of french toast cut in half with not enough strawberries. The strawberries were a bit tart, the almonds saved the french toast from being truly dissapointing. I was starving and finished off everything on my plate. My friend ordered the fish and chips, he said they were a bit dry. My other two friends ordered the seafood melts, of which one came. They made a mistake and brought out a tuna melt, my friend didn't want to wait and settled for the tuna melt, they both enjoyed the melts, but the potatoe salad was disgusting. When the server returned with the bill we had to send it back to fix the price difference of the mistaken tuna melt. In summary, bad food, with expensive prices. I will opt for somewhere else the next time we are in Capitola. read more

An old reliable when visiting the coast for the day. Went for lunch on a Thursday so parking wasn't an issue. The food and the service were good. There was no rush so we were able to leisurely enjoy our drinks and enjoy the view! read more

We needed a place we could eat with our dog. We were looking for an outdoor patio. Zelda's has a nice bid outdoor patio where our little dog could sit outside the fence where our table was. The food is pretty whack! Everything was bland, its always a bummer when you could have made it better yourself! We got ceviche, fish tacos, chips and salsa and a salad. The drinks were good and the service was good. It's just overpriced and poor quality food! read more

Overall it was okay but we got the eggs Benedict and the inside of the eggs were supposed to be runny. 3/4 of them were cooked fully inside which made it not taste the same. Coffee and muffins were really good. read more

Want to sit on a huge deck right on the Capitola beach and watch families enjoying the day and the sun setting in what seems to be the north, but isn't? Want to have a nice drink and hearty dinner at a reasonable price? Pick Zelda's. It's often crowded and loud, the mojitos are mostly ice, but real good, coconut shrimp and sauce and fish and chips are yummy. You couldn't have a better evening by the sea. This isn't fine dining, but good basic fare and a place to unwind and smile and and enjoy your companions! We've been coming here for years, and will keep coming. Leave your complaints and troubles behind, take in the view, and relax! If you're lucky enough to be in Capitola on a sunny day, you're lucky enough! read more

Just remember I warned you! The manager followed a dissatisfied customer out of the restaurant to argue with her. The food was horrible. The place was dirty. Remember I warned you read more

I don't know what all the bad reviews are about. I've been here twice now and the staff is very friendly. This morning I had a mind blowing breakfast for $6.95 which included large portions of scrambled eggs bacon and home fries with toast. It was excellent and I will be back here again. read more

My wife, stepdaughter and I popped in for lunch on a sunny Friday lunchtime. It was busy but we were seated quickly and our waiter promptly took our drinks order ( shame so many beers listed on the menu are not available any longer ). Our drinks arrived and we ordered our food. Fish and chips for two of us and a Chipotle chicken sandwich. The food took a while to arrive which wasn't a problem...But when it did that's when a nice family afternoon turned sour. My chips were STONE COLD....So I got the attention of a staff member and told of my predicament. Her first response was "did you taste the fish?" No I didn't as the chips were STONE COLD so why would I let this pass and try the fish??? She agreed to take it away and get a fresh one. All good you may think but then she came back and told me a new one was on its way but...And this is what really pissed me off. ..She went out of her way to tell me that my dish had felt hot to her...Basically calling me a liar!. I was stunned as were my companions. We finished our meal under a cloud...Quite frankly we couldn't wait to get away from this rude obnoxious crone with no people skills. The sad thing is that the food when hot was very good and our waiter was wonderful. We explained what had happened and he apologized to us but due to the rudeness and brazen accusation of lying about cold chips we will probably not go back unless attitudes change. I don't expect a reply to this review but it would be nice if the owners could acknowledge that this is no way to treat a customer complaint. read more

sooo it all started seeing a complete stranger promoting ZELDAS ON THE BEACH cool t-shirt. Im not going to lie the shirt had me pretty persuaded that it might actually be a cool classy restaurant to eat at. I then ask my lady if she would like to eat at that restaurant for her birthday that was coming up soon! To make a long story short.... Headed to Capitola for a birthday weekend. Tourist attractions are great as well as sea side views. A couple drinks before dinner & we finally headed to ZELDAS, to be completely honest i was a bit over my drinking limit for the night. But you would think even being drunk the food would taste amazing.. NO! the lettuce was stiff, the salmon was frozen not fresh at all, the shrimp ceviche had no flavor & the chips that came with it must have been from years ago they were stale; service was lousy the only good thing that came out of my experience was the view & honestly my advice to you.. SAVE YOUR MONEY, YOU'LL HAVE A BETTER CHANCE SKIPPIN DOWN THE STREET TO DAIRY QUEEN. you let me down ZELDAS' read more

Bllaaauugh!!!!! (Super sad face)..... what's happened to our beachside cafe's & restaurants ???!!!!!???? People come here not only for the beautiful ocean views, but for tasty, & memorable places to eat ..... so much mediocrity!!!! It's so sad ...... read more

Went there for dinner on a Monday evening. Will most likely not return. Ordered calamari appetizer and fish and chips. The price/value is WAY off. If you can believe it, the cod was tough, rubbery, and undercooked and very soon gave me heartburn. I'd never had a piece of fish which I had to eat like a tough steak before. What part of the fish was that?? The calamari tasted fine, except there were no legs, which is my bar when it comes to calamari appetizers. If you like brown food, this is the place to go. They could have added just a bit more color with a salad or cole slaw or something. Oh, we had a window seat and I had a great view of the wall. read more

The Nachos sucked!! Hardly any beans, too many chips and not enough cheese! I'm never ordering that again!! The deep fried artichoke hearts had no flavor. At least dip those suckers into batter before you fry them! I was very disappointed!! Boo Zelda's! read more

We always go to Zelda's when in the area. The ocean view is great. Food is okay, but VERY pricey. Drinks are good. Nice to sit outside right by the water & watch the birds & people. Lunch for 2 with 1 drink each $50. Next time we will just have a drink. read more

Sadly, we had our last meal at Zelda's on Monday, November 3, 2014. This has been our "go to" spot for over 20 years, love the beach side seating. We had an unexpected and completely inexcusable visit. Our server and the bartender were extremely rude from the beginning to the end of our short visit. We left our food and second drink order at the table, paid our bill, and were treated very badly by the bartender, who was not professional and made facial gestures to other customers regarding us. Done. read more

Great for brunch. Huevos rancheros were excellent. Blueberry muffins and coffee while you wait. Sunday morning plenty of seats inside and outside. Very cheery staff. Laid back and comfortable feel. read more

I was there for breakfast a couple days ago the food was alright the view was amazing but what has made me quiet uncomfortable is watching how the manager (I'm assuming it was) was speaking to an employee, threatening to fire if she didn't do a certain thing. Watching the poor girls expression, she looked intimidated and embarrassed as I would've been being yelled at by someone higher than me. I wish I could've said something because it infuriated me watching this happen right in front of me, never have I experienced something like this. It angered me more watching how the other employees just watched and didn't do a single thing. I'm honestly disgusted by this place and will not be back because I will not support a business like this. read more

Unfortunately this resturaunt was horrible. We came to the resturaunt 5 minutes before they stopped serving breakfast and they would not make an exception to five us the breakfast menu. This limited us on options to brunch which is not a good selection and brought down the experience right away. All 3 plates that we ordered tasted worse than fast food. The quality was horrible on every neat that was ordered and the eggs on one of the dishes were fake. They did not offer any bread with the dishes which was very unusual as well. They also sat us in a corner near the door so everytime a employee walked outside we would get a breeze from the cold air. Fantastic location for a resturaunt but horrible management and chefs. The waitress did all she could but she could not make up for a horribly run business. I would recommend any fast food place before Zeldas. One more thing, prices are outrageous for the horrible food. Good luck everyone! read more

So disappointed with the food! For the price it should be a lot better like Paradise Grill a few doors down. Just bland. Like good cafeteria food. One waiter handling the whole restaurant. Nice guy but clearly had too much going on. Lastly, the decor is very dated. It looks like they haven't done anything to the place in 20 years. The view is great as it's right on the water but I wouldn't go back unless to sit on the deck which wasn't open. They seem to be resting on their location laurels...expected more. read more

We have been to Zeldas a few times a year in the past only because our local friend has a history of coming here since a child. I dont think we will be going back anytime soon though. The food has been disappointing & the prices are outrageous for what you get. We just ate there yesterday for breakfast & they had 2 young greeters at the door to seat you & the first thing they did was sit us furthest from the windows. By the coffee bar in the front actually when there were other tables open that were better. We were behind them in plain view & they just kept chatting not caring that we also were not being waited on at all. 15 minutes later we had to get up & go ask for someone to help us. Wow. The food was flavorless & does not come with any sides. For $13.95 all I got was the scramble & potato's. It sould at least include a toast or muffins as they did offer in the past for that price. Today we went back just for a snack. Ordered 2 calamari & fries plates & the fries were un-edible. They must have been sitting for some time. Not hot either. The price..$40 something for just 2 people , 2 sodas, & a crappy fried plate. There are to many other places that have good food & worth the money. Avoid this place if you don't want to feel robbed, disappointed & still hungry. read more

Came here so our whole party could find something on the menu that they could eat. We sat outside, which had beautiful scenery and was great for the most part. We ordered the calamari off the happy hour menu, which was good but not what we were expecting. They were large pieces of calamari, and not the bite size pieces. We got a variety of dishes, non of them were great. A couple of people got hamburgers which were very dry and the server didn't even ask how we wanted it cooked. We got cesar salad with crab, which literally tasted like nothing. We also got the chipotle chicken sandwich which seemed to be the best thing anyone got. If I was rating this based off of the customer service alone, I would have given it a one star. Our server took way too long to take our orders, and never checked on our table to see if we needed anything. At one point another girl had to pick up the slack and bring us water after asked multiple times. Would not recommend, even for a quick lunch. read more

We should have paused attention to the reviews. We stopped into town for a quick bite before heading in to San Fran. Had our hopes up when we say gluten free fish tacos listed. Nope. The stopped serving them at 3 and we where there at 3:25. Figures. So we had some beers and nachos with skirt steak which was ok. Service was lackluster and the smell from the beach was awful which of course isn't their fault. read more

Go to Zelda's for a spectacular view of the water and to bask in the sun on a nice day. The chicken nachos and the margaritas were good. Next time I would skip the rest and definitely stick to appetizers and drinks. The servers were on Capitola time, but thankfully we had a great view to look at while we waited. The Seagulls are vocal and are not afraid of people. read more

While this restaurant has a wonderful view, the food is at best barely average. The skirt steak was overdone, the fresh fish doused in heavily salted sauce, and each only comes with a starch (mashed potatoes, rice or fries) -- all for over $20. Forget substituting the potatoes for veggies- they won't do it. We ordered two drinks (mojiito and lemon drop) and both were awful. It was the first time I ever sent drinks back. They tasted like cheap liquor. Service was okay, the waitress was curt with us once we sent our drinks back so we did not dare say anything about the dry steak. I suggested passing on this restaurant if you want more than a view for your $30 dinner-- that's the price without drinks, appetizer or dessert. read more

Pass it up for any other option on the beach if you enjoy a good meal. Lousy service to boot.

So we walk in and no less than 6 teenage employees were at the coffee bar. We got seated and then watched all of them do NOTHING for 5 minutes except twirl their hair and make their own coffee. Meanwhile no one bothered with us. Then after throwing daggers someone came over. She was new and didn't know what the specials were we ordered the chorizo scramble. Meh. Would have gone elsewhere except the 1/2 marathon was going on and we were limited. But I won't return here that it for sure read more

Expectations are everything. It's vey true. But it's when you don't have high expectations and they stil fall short that makes me want to voice my opinion. I have been to zelda's two or three times in the past. It has been disappointing just about eveytime on several levels including food, service and wait time. The view is good and that is the reason why they are still there. But this time was so bad that I just had to say something. Wait time was twice as long as we were told, one hour instead of 30 minutes. The table was still being wiped down and damp when we were taken to our table. So then the waitress who seemed stressed out due to being busy came over and hastily took our order which was two burgers, three bowls of clam chowder soup due to being foggy and cold, and drinks. we were warned that the kitchen is slow so be patient. So still ok. It was amazing. The food came in like 5 minutes. Then the bar drinks came, only two and one was a beer about 5 minutes later. asked for an extra plate to share some food, had to ask 4 times of three different people. Asked for a glass of water, again of three different people. Finally one waitress form another station brought us one. Still no other drinks. The two kids in our group ordered sodas. Even those took asking 3 or 4 times and they finally arrived. So finally all we ordered, two burgers, three clam chowder and drinks was all at the table. Halfway through the meal, the waitress asked may I take your plate. I said:" Do you stil see food in my plate?" Then I asked her if she still sees me chewing food. She said "I'm sorry I thought you were done." Never asked if everything is ok. Nothing of the kind. So the meal continued for another 20-30 minutes. The kids finished their meals and she asked if she can bring the check. I wanted to have a cup of coffee after my meal but I said yes, check please. Just couldn't wait to leave. So in closing, the experience was bad and the food did nothing to make me overlook the bad service as it never has. And all of this for $105. Two burgers, three clam chowder soups, two alcoholic drinks and three sodas for $100. The cheese on the burgers cost extra though. The only thing was the view and even that was mostly covered by the fog. The reason this place keeps on going is the location and the lack of competition. You do what you have to. I love Capitola beach and I wil keep going. But Zelda'a is out. no more. read more

I'd give this stink hole a zero, but that's not an option. As a local, I'd NEVER eat here. This place is only about location. Also, don't dare forget your card at the bar at night..... you'll pick it up only to find an extra $50 in whiskey has been charged to you (you don't drink whiskey), and the manager proceeds to tell you that it's your problem. Eff this place, and Pam the manager. read more

I know they have prime real-estate right on the beach. But it's not only dirty felling, especially outside. But their prices are outrageous. I'm they charge $15 for a prawn cocktail, which would be a splurge, and could have been okay with a group of 4 sharing it. But it literally came with 5 (FIVE) prawn. We complained, but the waitress didn't care, and pretty much didn't come back after that. It was unbelievable! Not worth the view, not worth it in any way. read more

5 star for location. 1 star for horrible food, drink and service. I got the portobello mushroom burger which was bland, that was half of the bun. Service was really really slow. I waited for a long time to place my order. My drink that was supposed to come 'right away' didn't until I repeatedly asked for it and finally came during my meal. And when I tried the 'signature' sangria, it tasted like cough syrup. read more

Well, I went here stupidly before checking Yelp for other's reviews. Thought it might be nice to have a meal on the beach, the menu is posted outside and it looked small but decent for what I wanted. My wife ordered the garden burger and I ordered the bacon cheeseburger. First of all they didn't even bother to ask me how I liked it cooked, I guess that there is only one way for them- crappy. The sesame seed buns, I believe were probably about 3 days old because you couldn't even take a bite of the burger without the bun squishing and ripping because it was so dry! The fries were fine for pre-frozen, non-salted fries. The soda was watered down and the servers were a bunch of high-schoolers that obviously didn't give a crap. The only thing that was half-way decent was the bacon on my burger. They don't even put condiments on the burger- they give you a freakin mayo packet on the side. Ugh, tasted like it should have been a 15 dollar meal that costed over 40. Would only come back here for the $1.99 happy hour not another meal- EVER! read more

Don't go here for the food. Beautiful location. Great patio deck on the beach. If you want to go for the view and relax with a drink, you shold be satisfied, just don't order any food. read more