Crow's Nest Restaurant
Two rooms in one building on the harbour mouth: a dining room downstairs that starts serving breakfast at eight and takes bookings, and the Breakwater Bar & Grill upstairs that takes none and runs to live music at night.
Why go
It has sat where the Santa Cruz harbour meets the sea since 1969, and the split between the floors is the thing to know before you drive out. Downstairs is the sit-down room: breakfast daily from 8am, lunch on weekdays, brunch at weekends, dinner from 4:30, and a menu the restaurant describes as fresh seafood, pasta creations, Midwestern aged beef, and daily chef's specials.
Aged Midwestern beef on a harbour menu is not what you expect to find next to the catch. Upstairs is open seating with its own bar-and-grill list and no reservations at all. Both levels open onto shoreline decks, and the room is hung with vintage surfboards and surfing photographs.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the daily chef's special downstairs if you want the kitchen's own pick, or take the bar menu upstairs for the view and the deck.1
- Avoid: trying to reserve upstairs. The Breakwater is open seating only, and downstairs takes bookings no more than two weeks ahead.1
What locals & experts say
- The Crow's Nest, on its own run:
For over 55 years, guests have returned again and again for breathtaking panoramic views of Santa Cruz Harbor, lighthouse, and wharf.
1 - The record is thin here. No bylined review was read this pass, and the history above is the restaurant's own.
Good to know
- Timing: downstairs breakfast from 8am daily, dinner from 4:30pm daily. Upstairs opens 11:30am on weekdays and 11am at weekends.
- Happy hour: Monday to Friday 3pm to 6pm upstairs, all Wednesday evening from 3pm, and Sunday from 7pm to close.
- Getting there: East Cliff Drive at the harbour, which is the far end of the Santa Cruz waterfront from the wharf.
Verdict
could-visit — Fifty-seven years on the spit where Santa Cruz harbour meets the sea, running as two different rooms in one building: a dining room downstairs that takes bookings and serves breakfast from eight, and the Breakwater Bar & Grill upstairs that takes none and runs a bar menu and live music into the night. Midwestern aged beef next to the fresh catch is the odd note. It stays at could-visit because the only source is the restaurant, and the view is doing more of the talking than any sourced dish.