Top Asian Fusion Restaurant in Santa Cruz
Akira Seabright
1222 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
The kinda hip place for sushi. Tattoos, piercings, beards, dreadlocks, black denim, spectral hair colors, a few skateboards parked and propped against the wall, neo-retro pinup and tattoo style framed artwork adorning the walls... all commonly seen of the environment, patrons, and staff at Anita Sushi. Small groups of friends unexpectedly run into more friends and recount the events of last night or last weekends blurry outings as they gather in line in the small inside waiting space, and less congested, brick-paved outside waiting area, for their turn to be seated for Akiras early evening food and drink happy hour and, their just slightly less crowded later-night happy hour. Theres a lot going on in the relatively small restaurant, with servers weaving through the tight spaces between the coming and going patrons, and people squeezing past one another, some trying to get in to get their names on the seating list, others trying to get into the single stall restroom, and others making their way out with the lethargic, post-sushi Satisfaction Saunters. All are talking over the heads, shoulders, and vocal directions of one another in friendly exchanges, albeit at a sometimes elevated and distracting volume.With all there is to see and hear during the busy times at Akira, one thing less common is the presence of the Japanese sushi chefs one might expect. But the skills of the predominately young, non-traditional chefs, many sporting tattoo-covered arms and pierced faces, are up to par with those from whom their culinary craft was derived.The service is decent, with consideration for the size of the space and the crowd. The servers tend to be predominantly young females, and there are some instances where experience may be lacking and the volume and pace of the environment distracting to staff. But this is a friendly, lively place for familiar people and neighborhood locals to enjoy good sushi, company, conversation, and libation, and any minor service oversights can be easily overlooked in the shadow of enjoyment.The food itself it quite good and fairly reasonably priced. But, as everyone seemingly has strong individual opinions and preferences in sushi, I leave my description centred on the experience as a whole, and leave you to delve into the experience of the cuisine independently.But I think youll find it very good!Cheers!
Golden Triangle Cuisine
217 N Santa Cruz Ave Suite A, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
Fusion restaurant with variety of asian tastes on the menu. All the dishes were tasty and the service was great. Added bonus, BYOB without corkage.
Hulas Island Grill
221 Cathcart St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
I love Santa Cruz and its surrounding areas. From the hills to the water every visit here is an adventure.That being said, I understand that eateries in downtown S.C. will be a little costly. And I dont mind spending a little money accordingly. But if Im honest I have to say this place may be overpriced.Twenty dollars per dinner and two starters and few drinks was $170 for four and a half people. And that would have been fine if the food was as memorable as the area.It wasnt.And the place is DARK. I mean, yeah myself and my companions are in our 40-50s but its kinda embarrassing to have to use our phone flashlights to read the menu. But we did it and were able to order without too much trouble.And I want to point out that there was no problem with the service. The staff was nice and attentive (and were tipped accordingly.)But the food was pedestrian and certain items were overcooked. The texture of my pulled pork was that of something boiled in a bag. Not saying it was. But...Anyways, if youre looking for a new place to visit where the food is DECENT and the drinks are tasty, visit Hulus. But youd probably be best ordering apps and drinks.
Mrs Khan Uyghur Cuisine
712 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States
I really hoped the food would be better as it would be so nice to have a good Uyghur restaurant in the Bay Area. Ive always loved Uyghur food and I went to Xinjiang in China specifically because I loved their food. Unfortunately this restaurant doesnt taste even close to what I expected. In fact the small Uyghur restaurants in any medium or large cities in China taste better. I feel maybe this restaurant is trying to cater to everyone and a result it caters to no one.Lets talk about lamb first as lamb kebob is often what introduced most Chinese to Uyghur food but there are two major problems. First there is no fat but lamb kebob needs fat to bring out the flavor of the lean meat portion of the kebab so now you ended up with flavorless chunk of meat. The second problem is that there is no flavoring. The spice is out on the side but thats a no no as spices needs to be grilled on the meat to flavor the meat. Its not meant as pepper thats added after grilling. As I said when you cater to everyone you cater to no one.The menu has may dishes that look almost Indian food but they are not the same as the naan is much thicker and they dont taste as fresh as what I had in other Uyghur restaurants and once again very bland.The pearl noodle is like macaroni without the holes in the middle and in Xinjiang we call it Ding Ding and its probably the best of the lot and its not saying much. The meat with the pearl noodles is not tender and the flavoring for the noodle has too much tomatoes so almost tastes like spaghetti.Lastly we also the grilled gluten which is a typical Northern Chinese street food and its grilled too much without the chewiness of typical grilled gluten.So overall, I cannot recommend this place at all even though I really hoped for a good Uyghur restaurant.The service is so so but the place itself is cool as the tables are huge even for the smaller tables and it almost has a Turkish Moroccan vibe to the place.
Top other services in Santa Cruz:
Laili Restaurant
101 Cooper St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
Update on my past review. First i would like to let you know that my old review is still at the bottom of this update and you can read it if you would like to know what my thoughts were before this update about this place. We visited this place frequently since my last review, we felt that we had found the place that never drops the quality of service but( I know these is always a but) the last couple of time we had food there (to be fair take out only), as hard as it is for me to say, but it was not good. my meal was not to par to what I normally would expect from this place. The steak was watery on the inside and cut like an after thought, the food seemed very unappetizing. it was a rare feeling to say the least, as I always praised the place to my highest regards. So after deciding to visit Santa Cruz again, my wife and I decided to order take out again, this time ordering for my kids too. Once again I was let down by the way the food was presented and packaged, my kids pizzas, I can not even describe it but my kids did not eat them once they saw how they were packaged. Now my food was ok I decided to order something else but what got my a little upset was that the order was not complete and there were stuff missing on the bag. by the time i got back to my hotel, they were close and i just did not have the energy to make a big deal about it.Hope this does not comes as a negative review but an opportunity to hear from someone that has always love the place and love to experienced the food as it used be. Please know that, this is just my opinion, some may find their food to still be out there with the best, thats ok, i am just sharing my last couple of experiences at the restaurant.Thank you and i will see you around!We decided to visit this place and we were happy that we did. First of all, they allow dine in right now, one thing it is noticeable is that the first part of the experience may be a little frustrating because it get busy and trying to keep social distancing while waiting for your table can be a little difficult. Once we were able to sit down, things rapidly changed. The service was great but the food, Believe me it was great. I have not eaten middle easterners food like this before, it was great. For full discourse, we visit the same restaurant the very next day to see how consistent it was, and yes, we were not disappointed. I truly feel if you can over seem the little chaos at the entrance, you will find a place that will keep you having great food. Thanks you and I'll see you around.
Mos Dumplings
2301A Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
My Bf and I stopped by here for dinner. Youre seated and then order from QR code on the table.We got:- Pan fried dumplings (very good, simple)- Mapo Tofu Dumplings (very creamy and tasty! My bf says he wishes it came with vegan cheese option, although I liked it as is since Im not vegan ^.^)- Spicy Korean Dumplings (super delicious and my fave! Soo good!)- Sesame Salad w/ Braised Tofu (it was nice to eat the dumplings with something lighter and fresh, since dumplings can be a bit heavy and filling)- Lastly we also got the Spicy Sichuan Noodle Soup (this was my Bfs favorite, he really liked this one!)Were from out of town so we ordered a lot of food and didnt finish half but all of it was tasty, reasonable price, and it was awesome to have left overs to take home, which lasted another 2.5 meals after.The best part was the service. All the staff members who we spoke to were so cute, sweet, and nice! We really enjoyed our time there. If it was closer, we would def go back! There are so many other items on the menu we wished we could try! Next time were in the area, we plan on stopping by.
Cruz Kitchen & Taps
145 Laurel St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
We finally got to enjoy a meal at Cruz recently and it was so worth the wait! I ordered the rib eye and it was the best steak Ive had in a long time, plus it came with fresh veggies and these amazing garlic mashed potatoes I coulda eaten like 4 servings of. We sat at a table with this amazing painting of a pirate ship and full moon and it was so fun just looking at all the details. I guess all the tables have unique tops, I think I saw one with garbage pail kids lol. Ill have to bring the kids and sit at that table next time. I will definitely be going back, next time I will be trying the fish and maybe the chicken wing appetizers I was eyeing up from the table next to us.Edit: I dont usually edit reviews but we finally went back last night for a second time to eat at Cruz and I ordered the fish tacos this time and they were so good! we were there during happy hour and I saw a bunch of warriors fans in there having dinner before the game. If we go to another Santa Cruz Warriors game Ill probably go to cruz before for beers and dinner. Its so convenient right next to the stadium.
Charlie Hong Kong
1141 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
Update: Thank you for addressing this issue!5 Star Service and healthy dining!I have been coming to Charlie Hong Kong for years. The food is usually not bad; I like that they use farm to table ingredients; its not the authentic flavor you find in other asian fusion restaurants but its fine. Today I had the Curry Chicken Pad Thai for lunch and I was shocked that there was a rock in my food! How does this happen?