Café Bittersweet

This is quite the find for lunch! 4 of us came for lunch, sat outside, shaded, Heirloom tomato salad, unbelievable!!! Also basil pizza, thin crispy crust, Chinese salad and club sandwich. Everything perfect, great service. Mango mojito/​great! Lisa was our incredible server!

The menu options are great but the service is not consistent and the attention to detail is lacking. There were simple mistakes made on my order on 2 of our last 3 visits. I may come back, but not any time soon.

Came here a year ago, all I remember is it was super busy food was average and service was poor. Decided to try again, I was happy to see it wasn’t packed like last time. We sat inside the café next to the door to the bar. Our waitress came right away, brought our coffee, water and took our order. It took a while for our food to come, we finished our coffee, then the water. Meanwhile the 3 other tables with guests were getting service, like coffee and water. Finally our food came but it was brought by a cook, put on the table and poof he was gone. I got up and asked another waitress for coffee and Tabasco, she brought it right away. We finished our food when our waitress magically appeared and brought the check along with coffee. We put a credit card in with the check immediately and waited, and waited. I finally took it to the front and gave it to someone and waited about another eight minutes while they took it somewhere in the back. The omelettes were really good but the service really poor which I don’t get because they weren’t busy.

I really love the food here and the ability to bring my pets but the service is lacking. Everyone who works there is nice and helpful and the all look they are working so hard. I think it’s an organizational issue. Maybe they need a better system. Took forever to get even water once seated. Then longer to get coffee. Once we left card to pay took a long time for that to get picked up. This is not the first time I’ve experienced that there but I will keep coming back because it’s so yummy. One of a kind!

This is the small Café next to the restaurant by the same name. Service, atmosphere, and food excellent. Prices a bit on the very high side for a breakfast place. This is in an upscale neighborhood of Aptos and the prices reflect that very well.
I found the orange juice fresh squeezed and worth the $ 4.00 a glass. The pancakes were cooked a tad bit too long making them hard and right on the edge of acceptable. Also my Dad ordered extra crispy bacon and got regular cooked bacon; no big deal and not a deal breaker, but room for improvement.
I will be back for sure and found our waitress pleasant, polite, and helpful. Thank you Café Bittersweet.

Food was good, however reason for poor review is due to service! Our server Danielle was very nice and personable, but the hostess and barista were so rude and unwelcoming that we almost decided not to dine here. If it hadn’t been that my fiancé specifically wanted the hot and crunchy avo sandwich we would’ve been out the door. They made us feel like we were a nuisance and just in their way. They sat us at a dirty table and said she’d be right back to wipe it off which never happened. Extremely dissatisfied!

Service was fantastic on a very busy Saturday. The oatmeal is one of my very favorite items on the brunch menu. I never miss it when is I am in town. However, I have yet to order something I did not enjoy. Sure wish we had something like this in my home town.

Great breakfast today at Café Bittersweet. The waiter recommended the Chicken and Bacon Eggs Benedict and it did not disappoint. The eggs were perfectly oozy, the chicken and bacon were perfectly cooked, the English muffin wonderful and the hollandaise sauce was awesomely flavorful with a little kick! I’m so glad I took his recommendation. My kids had the chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and my teenage son should have ordered the kids size because he couldn’t finish the 3^rd pancake on the adult menu. Never happens but it was a lot of food! My daughter eats like a bird and took most her food to go but loved the pancakes and bacon as well. Hats of to the chef! Very friendly staff and we had no wait. Awesome!

This is one of our favorite places for breakfast. The food is great and there is rarely a wait. I am not a pancake person-​but I will gladly scarf down a homemade Bittersweet pancake. They are fluffy and cooked to perfection. Sometimes we order one to split as a breakfast dessert. My favorite breakfast dishes are the traditional benedict (but with chipotle hollandaise) and the arti avo au gratin scramble. My boyfriend always gets the southwestern benedict which is also awesome. Only complaint is that they tend to under cook the eggs on the benedicts-​so I have learned to order accordingly.

Cute outside. Good cappuccino. Food was overpriced. Better breakfast at the Santa Cruz diner. Bloody Mary was just «ok». Had to ask for horseradish to make it taste less watered down. I asked for sliced tomato instead of potatoes and toast and was told it would be an up charge. Now I am not cheap but even I won’t pay extra when I am essentially telling you I don’t want 2 items on my plate and would prefer just a few slices of tomato. And the waitress was a little snooty in the delivery of the message on the up charge. So if the delicious cappuccino was not in front of me likely would have left.
Won’t be back. No cappuccino is THAT good to make up for snooty. She tried being very nice after but the impression was made. My Christian heart forgives. My Foodie belly won’t. LOL.

We had a fantastic brunch on the front patio. The wait staff was very nice and prompt. They were very accomodating for our two little kids. The food was great, much better than your normal café. I will definitely go back when visiting the area again.

One of our favorite breakfast/​brunch spots in town! I love the scrambles, especially the Cheesy Pig and their Bloody Mary menu is fun and always a reason to return. You can come in uggs or heels and feel like you fit in ether way!

Went with a friend after having a massage. We sat outside on the front patio. There were sweet dogs with their owners at other tables. My friend had the Greek Goddess omelette. I had the crunchy chicken and bacon benedict. We both started with a bellini — prickly pear for her, passion for me! DELISH! My benedict was different and yummy. Judging from my friends plate, I think she liked her omelette. Thankfully we were able to keep our water glasses full by asking any passing waitstaff for fill ups! I would love to come again for dinner at the adjoining Bittersweet Bistro. The bar inside looks amazing and I am to understand they have music on the weekends!

I’ve been coming to Café’ Bittersweet since they opened it up well over a decade ago. I used to get breakfast burrito’s here almost every day on my way to work (even though I had to go two exits in the wrong direction to get here).
Having relocated to Austin in 2006, I hadn’t been here in several years. Stopped in for lunch on Saturday around 12:30 PM with my girlfriend to find they had done away with the deli, and were now only a sit down café’ (they used to be a combination of the two). It was fairly busy, with just a few open tables inside and outside. We chose to sit at a table outside, and were promptly seated, however service was dreadfully slow from this point forward.
My girlfriend chose the blue cheese burger special, and I went for an old favorite — the chicken apple sausage breakfast burrito. The order took about 30 minutes to come out, and while the burger was delicious, outstanding even, the burrito was horribly overcooked, to the point that it really wasn’t edible. Eggs were hard, potatoes were uninviting, and the cheese was all but cooked away.
I tried to work my way through the burrito, but gave up just about the ½ way mark. Our server finally came back by (about 15 minutes later), offered to remove it from the bill, and asked if I wanted anything else. I should have learned my lesson, but I decided to order the BLT to go. This took another 20 minutes to arrive (toast, bacon, tomato, and mayo), even though the restaurant had thinned out by this point. I ate the BLT in the car on the way to our next destination, and while it was ok, I thought it had too much bacon to LT ratio (who complains about too much bacon? I do!), so it was overly salty, and not the balanced BLT sandwhich I like to enjoy from time to time.
This isn’t the Café’ Bittersweet I once fell in love with. Hopefully this experience was an anomaly, but I’m not feeling inclined to go back anytime soon. I feel my $ 30 could have gone further elsewhere, with a higher satisfaction ratio. Meh

Very bittersweet. Food was ok, service wasn’t. Ate separately from my girlfriend, we came to eat together… not to watch each other eat. I’m supposed to be happy after breakfast, I’m not. Overpriced bland food, very long wait times and subpar service. Will not return or recommend.
$ 50 for a «meat lovers bloody Mary» (bacon skewer tastes like fast food), two orders of huevos rancheros, and a latte. I got jipped!

Yum! We have only eaten here twice for breakfast in the Café part. It is small and noisy but we love the breakfast. Both times I have ordered the AuGratin Scramble which is so delicious.
Can’t wait until it is warm enough to sit on the patio.

Excellent breakfast. It’s a smaller section of the larger Bistro restaurant. The café has both ample interior tables plus outdoor patio dining and plenty of parking. We tried 3 other places on a Sunday morning where we could not get a table. We were only passing through town so it was frustrating. Then we found this place.
The pancakes were delicious, and not just because of the chocolate and caramelized bananas which were amazing! but because of the pancakes themselves. Not doughy like a lot of places. The toppings though were fantastic! The waitress was delightful, pleasant and attentive. My other half had eggs the way he wanted with a couple off the menu items like grilled onions and tomato slices which was no problem. Coffee was superb! Thanks for turning a frustrating breakfast necessity into a great dining experience. We will definitely be back on our next trip.

It took a half hour to get my $ 6.75 dry granola that’s better fit for feeding birds ($ 8 if you want it to actually be edible with yogurt). Stale English muffins with my moms eggs Benedict. Slow service from the kitchen and horrible service from the waitresses — didn’t even refill my water glass ONCE. Flagrantly high prices-​almost fraudulent. STAY AWAY if you value your time, money and taste buds.

I am giving it one star because the food was good.
Asked the hostess if she was the correct person to give our name to, she said yea and avoided us for 10mins. We finally had a waitress slip our name on the list. Even though there was multiple tables open, it took about 25mins to be seated. You can actually see how they seat incorrectly. Tables of two people were seated at tables meant for four multiple times. Anyways we were seated after 25mins and waited about 10 mins before we asked for a server, ten mins for water, 25 mins for the bloody marry had to ask for it twice. Food took a while and was cold, and yes had to ask for the toast. And yes they messed up the toast order. So we were there for about an hour and half, ate for about 20mins of it. I really needed this to happen to finally stop going here. For 6 years I’ve been bringing out of town guests here and being ignored the whole time just because the food is good. But this was the last straw.

If good food is the only standard you have when it comes to rating a dining experience then I would have given this place 4 ‘s. I include service in the overall experience, and service is certainly lacking. You will be seated promptly, but then you will wait another 10 to 15 min. to be waited on. In about another 20 to 25 min. you may receive your food. If you order anything like pancakes, waffles, French toast that would normally come with butter and syrup you will be annoyed when they are not brought out while your food is hot. I had to go up to the counter and ask for them, which still took about another 5 min. to be brought to the table. This has happened both times I’ve ordered pancakes with different waitstaff. Forget about refills on coffee unless you go up and ask for it.

Yum, yum! Came here twice because the food and setting is just so welcoming and nice.
Greek omelette was delicious! Friend had eggs Benedict which didn’t disappoint, son had the stuffed French toast– that’s two meals in one.
We found a great breakfast/​lunch place in Aptos!

Benedict was perfectly cooked! And the apple chicken sausage omelet was delicious. Sitting outside was really lovely with all the doggies! Great food, nice staff, good price. Wish we could’ve eaten more… next time!

The mother in law had a gift card and I am so glad we took advantage! The service was fast and frequent. I got the chicken and waffle. A nice rendition and I would order it again. the hubby liked his eggs and sausage. The coffee cup was never empty (or half empty) and the servers were friendly.
Highly recommend for groups!
Will be back for more!!!

Three stars just for the service and outdoor seating.
My boyfriend and I were on a weekend vacay, so we came to stay in Aptos. The weather was beautiful and I wanted outdoor seating. BF remembered this place, so off we headed to the restaurant. We were both hungover and hungry, so we were stoked for a hearty meal.
I ordered the croissant Benedict which included bacon, egg, avacado, and a side of potatoes. The potatoes were cold and had no flavor. They seem to believe that sprinkling paprika on potatoes is the key. Not! My Benedict was a pile of grease. I sat there just feeling nauseous. BF ordered the seafood Benedict. The first bite was great, then, it was repetitive and unexciting.
We also got charged double for a Bloody Mary. That forced us to wait for the correction to be made while sitting in the sun unsatisfied.
Thanks for serving us, but we won’t be back.

One of the servers ran to my car with a bag of moldy tortillas. This was actually a good thing, sort of. The server was being super nice since I had brought the tortillas into the restaurant to feed my twin toddlers. Unfortunately I didn’t realize they were moldy. Good thing kids are resilient!
Not to worry, none of the food served at Café Bittersweet was anywhere near expiration. My husband and I shared the Crunchy Chicken Avocado Sandwich and the Coconut Panko Crusted Tilapia Sandwich. I liked the texture of the chicken sandwich (and the avocado was actually served on top of the bun!) but it was a little bland. The tilapia sandwich was arguably better than the chicken, but barely. It was also bland and I couldn’t taste the coconut. Each sandwich was about $ 13 which was high given the taste, but forgivable given the cost of ingredients. (Note to self for future reference: salads on other tables looked good.)
The sandwiches came with fries and cole slaw. (My toddler James upon encountering cole slaw for the first time announced «It not hot slaw! It cold slaw!»)
We sat outside and it was extremely pleasant, perfect summer lunch. The servers were very friendly and presented the kids with children’s menus and crayons.
My husband and I shared a $ 10 dessert, the chocolate banana bread pudding. The price was a little steep but my husband LOVED it so much I think he would have paid double for the opportunity to eat it. It was more like a soufflé than the standard bread pudding, and there were berries and chocolate on the plate, too.
My kids also liked the fountain in the front courtyard of the main restaurant and were excited to watch the koi get fed.
3 stars for entrees + good dessert, service, and atmosphere = 4 stars

BITTERSWEET is in the name so just be prepared to get a bitter taste in your mouth in regards to service. Lets just say from the outside it looks pleasant but not so much when you stop by to eat in. The food was average nothing special burgers and fries.
Here was my main gripe, reading the past reviews I see there was a lot said about customer service. Just to let you know it was an understatement, it was a nice day but the outside seating was full, we decided to order and sit inside. There were a good 3 – 4 couples inside ranging from early 20’s to late 50’s, all seemed to be tended too and were finishing up. I did recognize it took a fairly long time for a waitress to come by, to place an order, to get a check, to ask for more water.
How long would you wait before getting served? Waited 10 min to place order, close to 30min-​45min to get our food it seems if you did not sit outside you were forgotten about, sadly there was a couple sitting not to far from us that arrived I’d say 10min after we had been there, hmm to my surprise they also ordered burgers, let me know this. why is it we ordered before them within 10 min they received their order, dunno if they were regulars but that should not matter, whether or not you know your patrons you should not give anyone special treatment. So another 35 min in me and my wife get fed up on waiting for our food, we ask for the plates to go, why is immediately after asking for this our orders were now ready and seemed already neatly packaged. Hmm interesting, again food average I was already irritated so after we left I had no interest in eating.
If you want to be disregarded, please come here they will be sure to meet your expectation of failing at common courtesy and at service. You can’t give negative stars to restaurants but if you could dam this place would have a new level of fail.
Food — if you like food don’t come here, they don’t serve food
Price — should have been free after 45min wait it was actuality 30min but if you like to wait for mediocre food your more then welcome to wait
Service — ha (you call that service!)
Ambiance — from the outside looking in, great place to have brunch that is if you ever get your food or acknowledged you exist