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Surfrider Cafe: Restaurant Reviews

429 Front St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (Formerly San Pablo Taqueria)
831-713-5258
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Ranked #10 of 215 restaurants in Santa Cruz
Cuisines: American
Most recent review
- Dec 20, 2012
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30 reviews from our community

93% Recommend
    15
    13
    2
    0
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Rating summary
    Food
    Service
    Value
    Atmosphere
Date Rating
There are newer reviews for Surfrider Cafe
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Soquel, California
Senior Contributor
38 reviews 38 reviews
26 restaurant reviews
Reviews in 21 cities Reviews in 21 cities
31 helpful votes 31 helpful votes
“Thanks, Groupon for leading me to SURFRIDER!”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed December 20, 2012

What a great surprise to eat lunch at Surfrider & eat my new favorite burger & Caesar salad PLUS best darned fries around! Their chef makes his own Caesar dressing, topped it with skirt steak. Yum! Lots of great beers & organic peanut butter chocolate pie was killer.

  • Visited December 2012
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Atmosphere
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 5 of 5 stars Food
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See 5 more reviews by ckf722 for Santa Cruz
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
San Jose, CA
Senior Reviewer
9 reviews 9 reviews
9 restaurant reviews
Reviews in 4 cities Reviews in 4 cities
“GREAT Cheeseburger!”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed November 30, 2012

This is one of the BEST Cheeseburgers I have ever had! My brother agrees! We had the 1/2 Burger with Cheddar on thier homemade sourdough bun. I will be back!

  • Visited November 2012
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Atmosphere
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 5 of 5 stars Food
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Santa Cruz, California
Senior Reviewer
9 reviews 9 reviews
4 restaurant reviews
Reviews in 8 cities Reviews in 8 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
“Yum!!!!”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed November 14, 2012

My husband and I ate here a couple nights ago - first time and really weren't sure what to expect.

We were greeted and led to a cozy booth as soon as we walked in. The waitress was great, took our drink orders (a couple micro brewed beers), and then gave us time to look at the menu. It's pretty extensive and eclectic for a small restaurant - lots of different choices, and some nightly specials.

We decided on two different slider plates - the angus beef and gorgonzola with bacon, and the pulled pork. Each plate had three really good-sized sliders, with generous garnish of lettuce, tomato, and pickle on the side. Delicious! - We shared, but there was so much food, I couldn't finish my share. We had the polenta fries, too. Great presentation - they looked like stacked Lincoln logs, and were served sizzling hot with a small side of mixed baby greens and a chipotle dipping sauce. Really good.

We also ordered the stir fried veggie platter with peanut sauce and brown rice. I don't know what the heck we were thinking, because there was no way we could eat that much. Our waitress saw my look of astonishment when the huge servings of food arrived, and she advised us to take the veggies home in a box, as they would be great the second day. Bingo - she was absolutely right - so we had two days worth of food.

We will definitely be back - this restaurant serves very well-prepared food, lots of choices, huge portions, good service, and reasonable prices. Highly recommended.

  • Visited November 2012
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Atmosphere
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 5 of 5 stars Food
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Delaware
Contributor
20 reviews 20 reviews
8 restaurant reviews
Reviews in 9 cities Reviews in 9 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
“Great meal in a lively atmosphere”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed October 31, 2012

We ate here last Friday night, arriving at 8:30. It was busy and there would have been a 20 min wait, but we chose to sit immediately at the bar to eat dinner. The food was absolutely delicious! I had a bruschetta salad with grilled chicken over greens. Such great flavors. My son loved his burger and cold beer. A great meal for a great price. (We spent about $35). It was lively with locals and the decor is an old fashioned surfer/Hawaiian kind of thing. fun.

  • Visited October 2012
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Atmosphere
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
    • 5 of 5 stars Food
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Santa Cruz, California
Senior Contributor
29 reviews 29 reviews
23 restaurant reviews
Reviews in 8 cities Reviews in 8 cities
9 helpful votes 9 helpful votes
“Great Deal...Great Food...Even Greater Microbrew!”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed October 25, 2012

I love this place. The menu is varied, although I always tend to gravitate towards the Derby Sliders with Gorgonzola and Bacon Bits, the skinny garlic parmesan fries, the beer battered fish and chips, and, of course, some of the best micro-brew on the planet. They have a great happy hour and the staff will let you sample any of the brews that you want. The beer is almost all hand-crafted and unique. They love groupons here, so I always get a few to make my value even better...just don't forget to tip well for the great service. This place ROCKS!

  • Visited October 2012
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Atmosphere
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
    • 4 of 5 stars Food
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