Top Pan Asian Restaurant in Santa Cruz
Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery
49A Municipal Wharf, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
Go for the views!!!Makai is fantastic restaurant on the Santa Cruz Wharf. Giving amazing sunset views and also ocean views!Food is pan Asian cuisine, so basically best of everything. They have plenty of seafood choices too!They have good cocktail menu! They do corkage too if one wants to have bottle of wine on their own!
Top other services in Santa Cruz:
Gobi Mongolian BBQ
1308 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
For dinner its not all you can eat (contrary to literally every other Mongolian BBQ place), they charge you more to press down on the meat. Yes, you read that correctly, they charged me $6 to press down on the meat, so I could put more in the bowl. Ive never heard of this practice and is the cause of my not coming back. The service was poor, we had to wait to pay, and the staff seemed less than interested (the main host was on his phone and then went outside to stare at women walking by. . . gross).I think most of the issues with this place can be forgiven, except for charging $6 more for pressing down meat, especially during dinner service. I would go so far as to recommend driving to San Jose for Mongolian BBQ if you have the craving- I dont want to support this business practices.edit: The value just doesnt seem to be there; for reference, most other Mongolian BBQ places will charge you the same price or less for all you eat.
Cafe Brasil
1410 Mission St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
One of the best breakfast / brunch places in Santa Cruz!Be warned that this restaurant is so good that people will wait for hours to get a table on the weekend. I'm not sure if the wait is still as long, after the pandemic, but the food is still as good.I'm not fond of most breakfast foods, especially eggs (which I find to be one of the tastes and textures I despise more than almost any other “food”). However, Cafe Brasil's egg dishes are actually something I look forward to eating! Honestly, I can count the number of egg dishes that I have ever liked on one hand (before trying the egg dishes here), and still have spare fingers. Yet, Cafe Brasil has several egg dishes that I really like!If you don't want eggs, though, they have so many other options that you are guaranteed to find at least a few dishes that you will fall in love with, from standard American fare to the very unusual.The most popular item on the menu is the “acai bowl”, which is similar to a frozen smoothie made from raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries (the flavor of the açaí berries) with crunchy vanilla granola on top, and then sliced strawberries and bananas topping all of that. I promise that this açaí bowl tastes even better than it sounds like it would! Yum!I found this restaurant because a friend introduced me to it and I fell in love with the food. Every person I have brought here still talks about it when they visit, and asks to go back.— The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating.— The outdoor seating is dog friendly.— There are plenty of options for most people with dietary restrictions; just let the staff know when you are ordering. (I am vegetarian and at least 1/2 of the menu is available for me to order with only a few items needing any adjustments. There are plenty of vegan options as well as gluten-free options. Just note that if you don't tell your server, you should expect most dishes to come with fresh cooked bread and butter, and often pan fried potatoes.)
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.
Golden Triangle Cuisine
217 N Santa Cruz Ave Suite A, Los Gatos, CA 95030, United States
We, a family of 4 adults and a toddler stopped by Golden Triangle( Los Gatos ) this evening to grab a quick bite before heading home. We had been out all day and it was raining, we just decided to spend some time together at the restaurant. Let me start off by saying that weve been here multiple times and have never really had any issues. We have almost always enjoyed the food and the ambience. Not sure what went wrong yesterday. When we entered the restaurant and asked for a table, the staff at the entrance asked if he had a reservation ( we did not know we needed one, weve never really had to make one in the past), and we said we didnt. She was polite and did let us know that the table she was willing to offer was reserved for another party that was coming in an hour later and that we would have to leave by then. We agreed and she seated us. We sensed some irritation when we asked for a high chair for my toddler but we just brushed it aside as we knew that they were busy and were probably in a rush, we were provided one nonetheless. Next, I asked another hostess if there was a baby diaper changing station in the restroom and she snapped back with What changing station? I repeated my question with more clarity, this time around she just responded with No! Just a restroom! with some amount of irritation which again, I didnt think much of. She handed out the menu and repeated you dont have too much time to order, ok? The hostess that checked us in came back to take our orders and we did let her know that we were ready to place an order for our toddler and that we would be ready in a couple of mins to order main course for the adults. She got upset and started rushing us and said ok no, I was clear that we have only one hour for you, ok? You have to order soon and just then my 2.5 year old daughter reached out to shake her hand and said Hello, nice to meet you! (I have a chatty toddler and she was just happy to be at the restaurant), she withdrew her hand in annoyance and walked away and said that we would have to decide and that she would return in a few mins to take our order. This attitude, is something that I do not appreciate. Im not expecting every person out there to oblige and to reciprocate to friendly attitude from a toddler, but she neednt have reacted the way she did and we did not have to be reminded every 5 mins that there was a countdown. If they were super busy, they could have told us straight up that theyre not able to accommodate us, we would have taken a to-go. We, anyways were prepared to pack the rest of our meal closer to 7pm and head out in case we werent done by then. All, I want to say is that we arent paying less just because we have no reservation and do not have to feel obligated to anybody for accommodating us! Overall, the food was good but the service was pretty bad! Rude staff! I dont feel motivated to return here!
Special Noodle
415 Ocean St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
I dont quite understand when a guy sitting next to us and told his family this is the best restaurant at Santa Cruz. It is true that theres some lack of good dining options at Santa Cruz but this place is far away from the best at any perspective.(P.S. Based on the reply from the restaurant owner in below, as expected, such a typical Chinese restaurant owner, a narrow-minded operator, cannot stand any objections and non-five-star reviews.) Be careful with other reviews, have to question whether they are authentic or they are paid to review nicely.Reply to the owner: thank you for pointing out, I forgot to mention that, your food is never cheap, compared to the quality that you present. You are shaming yourself when comparing to a Michelin starred standard. Mopping your floor first before talking about food. Also, kind advice: please practice your grammar in case that you would like to defend yourself against other critical reviews.Food: admittedly, the food is never Panda Express style. But you can easily find a dozens of places with better Chinese food in Santa Clara.Service: the service is not poor but lets say it barely exists. The floor is pretty slippery with thick oil --- that is a must-have and fit the checkbox of an authentic Chinese restaurant.Atmosphere: I find one reason that many non-Asians are attracted to this place is because they indeed paid attention to tableware. BUT, AGAIN, the cleanness is another story, which they should pay more attention to.Value: definitely not cheap, you should expect $30-50 per person.
Bistro Vida
641 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025, United States
Bistro Vida used to be our favorite go-to place for celebrations (3-4 times a year in the past 5 years). Weve been on good terms with the owner Ali as well (hes big soccer fan:). He always welcomed us with a glass of bubbles right away (was on the bill of course but thats ok - still a nice gesture).Over the past years, weve started to feel that the focus has moved from quality to quantity but we still went given the personal connection, etc.During Covid closures the terrace opened up (fantastic!) and then it expanded, and expanded again. As so often it happens the quality and attention we loved so much simply couldnt keep up. The place totally lost its charm :(Then a lunch experience last week just made us realize that Vida transformed into something which is no longer what we loved so much about it.There were already issues with ordering, then appetizer was brought together with the Entrée (which was semi-cold)... but true shock came when we wanted to pay - apparently there was no internet for over a day so card reader wasnt working. Instead of getting a mobile internet they demanded to put down our card number on the back of the bill or pay cash. We had no such an amount of cash on us and didnt feel comfortable leaving the card detail totally exposed. We offered to pay Paypal, Venmo or even to come back the other day to pay. It was all dismissed first with cheap jokes (I need the money to buy a new pair of shoes) then that they need to close the books each day. Maybe... but once again Ali is the owner!!! Anyway appreciate the past and good luck for the future and maybe you can find your way back to greatness
Charlie Hong Kong
1141 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062, United States
I went here the other night and it just wasnt an good of an experience, but really wasnt terrible either. If you want reasonably priced food, that tastes possible okay this might be the place for you. A lot of people really seemed to love it. Awesome for vegetarians, but if you want protein its not as affordable nor would I say its worth the price.Food:I ordered the pad thai and it was the worst pad thai Ive ever had. It tasted like vinegar and the vegetables were too bitter. I can eat pretty much any vegetable raw and enjoy it. They might have put uncooked kale in it, but I love cooked kale. Thats like the only raw vegetable I have a problem with. Im usually not a picky eater so that I was displeased was surprising to me, and pretty disappointing. Whatever my boyfriend had ordered was tastier, but still not something Id pay to eat. I couldnt eat my meal at the time, but when I got hungry enough and it had gone cold it tasted fairly reasonable.... Still wouldnt call it good but I wasnt as displeased. I wouldnt call this an authentic any culture place either.Price:It wasnt that pricey, but for that price I could have gone someplace tastier that at least had tofu or egg in the meal.Service:It was pretty quick and the person on the register was friendly enough.Environment:Loud as all heck. I left the dining area and waited outside. We ordered for there, but it was so loud we could barely have a conversation. I dont think there was any music playing, but since there were so many people there in such a small place it was way too crowded and unbearably loud. It was fairly clean, but the way things were colored were sort of nauseating. Not really a reason to complain though and I didnt think Id die from eating there.In conclusion:Im probably never going to eat here again unless Im forcibly dragged there by friends because the food wasnt very good and it was way too loud. Other people seemed enjoy it though so maybe it is just not my type of place. I would not recommend any of my friends to come here honestly.
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.
West End Tap and Kitchen
334 Ingalls St d, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, United States
We couldnt finish, we just couldn t eat it all and we eat well! The burger had all the works, cheese, avocado, bacon, and veggies. It was SOOOO good. The chicken sandwich came with kimchi, an awesome combo. If I have one quibble, very minor, it is that it needed more HEAT! A spicy kimchi or aioli would have made that dish into a supernova.Yall, their fries are crazy good. So simple, crispy outside, fluffy inside, seasoned to perfection. Yeah, I need those fries in my life again for real.The calamari? Fuggeddaboutit. They know what theyre doing, they even add a little fried jalapeno for some punch and it works. They have this jus dipping sauce that is part pickling, part ???, that was so damn good, we almost drank it! Rarely do I take appetizers home, I took all the crumbs I could of this one.Their beers are weaker than I would have expected but they taste good. We had the kombucha and cider, tried some of the beers and they werent what we like (dark and strong, above 9% ABV when we can get them). Dont let that deter you though, everything they do, they do with FLAVOR!The interior and ambience are super cool and we fell in love with the aesthetic. Our server was awesome, went out of his way to take care of us and we really appreciated his attitdue. When we come back to SC, well definitely break bread here again!