Surfrider Cafe

No Longer In Business

A short walk from 99 bottles through the main part of Santa Cruz. I actually kind of liked this place, even tho it had a bit of a truck stop mixed with surfer bar feel to it. They are still affiliated with Boulder Creek and feature a couple of their beers on tap that are being contract brewed at Uncommon while they rebuild. Rest of the taplist was decent as well, again focused on local products. I had Angus sliders, and they were pretty good. Service was very solid. I would go back.

Strange place. very awesome staff. food was good, but pretty divey. I probably wouldn’t hang out here. beers were okay and obviously a local hang out.

This place serves a bunch of Boulder Creek beers, and BCBC has been improving steadily for a while now, making this a decent destination. I’ve eaten here once and my burger was incredibly salty, but I think the general consensus is that it’s alright overall. Parking in downtown Santa Cruz is a nightmare so I won’t dock them specifically for that. Come during off hours.

Honestly it’s a nasty joint. Looks good from the outside. Inside is a different story, The shared restrooms which you need a key for are beyond nasty. Sub par food. I’ll never go here again. Beer lines need cleaning.

Visited 12/26/12.

The room is shaped like a hoseshoe with the kitchen in the middle, kind of strange. When you go in the front door on the left side is the restaurant, on the right is the bar, and in the back on the right side is a lounge with a couple of couches.

Service was friendly but a bit strange. They had 5 people working (2 in the kitchen) and one by one almost all of them came by and asked what we wanted to eat. Each time we said we just wanted a beer (we were at the bar) and each time they told us to wait and the beer person would be with us.

You can order a taster of anything on tap and that includes the guest beers for $1.75 per 5ish oz pour. We ordered all 6 house beers (Boulder Creek beers) and 1 from Santa Cruz AleWorks. The red ale from Boulder Creek was the best of the bunch.

Didnt eat but the food did smell good and I was hungry but we were on a tight schedule. Since I’ll likely be back to Santa Cruz again at some point I’ll probably stop in again and try the food.

Kind of what you’d expect from a diner/cafe. Lots of burgers/sandwiches/etc. on the food menu. The bar is sort of an interesting addition and is tucked away just next to the main entrance. Quite a few beers on tap, but we stopped in for the Boulder Creek beers. Tasters are $1.75 each and we tried all the "house" beers. Most were pretty decent, with the red ale being the best. The other drafts were pretty solid beers as well. Service was good, but kind of interesting in that only one girl behind the bar seemed to be allowed to pour beers or take drink orders.

Burgers, shakes, sandwiches at a good price along with a nice selection of local beers.

I thought I would check this place out as soon as I learned that it was linked to the Boulder Creek Brewery and was serving house beers. Well, the beer is hit-or-miss with a couple Santa Cruz brewery beers that can only be had here, along with a few regular Boulder Creek Beers. Some good, some not-so-good, and a few decent guest crafts on tap. The food is pretty boring with burgers, shakes and not much else. The fries really suck, and I’m a fry man. Service is pretty good and they have been doing two dollar happy hour pints, so value points get boosted. I guess that they aren’t strictly a brewpub because they don’t brew the beer on-site, but they are the only place to try the Santa Cruz Brewery beers that I know of. I can’t say that they offer anything that would make me want to come here over Seabright, which is pretty sad.