Blondie’s Food and Drink

I love blondies. I go often and find new beers on tap every time as well as bottled. The food is great as well for what it is! Breakfast all day and yummy sandwiches, can’t beat that.

When the store is stocked, Blondies is a great place to snag a sandwich and a beer. However, I find that the store is never stocked enough for me to rely on them for casual groceries, and substitutions are often made on sandwich orders without it being communicated. I’ve frequently had my petite focaccia bread subbed out for an English muffin (???) on one of the sandwiches there. I’ve also had the basil swapped out for lettuce. I would be fine with substitutions but just let me know, and don’t charge me petite focaccia prices for an English muffin. On the plus side, the staff members that I’ve met have all been so kind and awesome that I always end up going back.

One of the only places in humboldt that’s open past 6 PM on a Monday. The whole place serves like 6 different sandwiches, beer (lots), and chips. Not much to choose from but thankful they had a vegetarian option. The sandwiches were taken from a cold case and heated and served, no Bueno.
If you’re looking for somewhere to sit, eat, and maybe get some work done or anything done really. This is not the place. Hitchhikers hang out front begging for money and weed, and if you don’t hand it over they end up inside with no regulation by staff. Weird.

I can’t even remember why I was sketchy about the place at first. Premade sandwiches in a case didn’t sound awesome. It was a Sat at 11 ish, it wasn’t busy when we got there, but the lone girl got hoppin soon after so it took a bit to get our sammies. I heard her back there scraping burnt bits off my grilled ham n cheese.
Holy crap after one bite I was in yumgasm! I got the Poor Student and hubby the Meatwad OMG theses were ahhhmazing sammyches! If we weren’t headed to Oregon I might have just stayed at Blondies. Beeeer!

I’ve only been here a handful of times, and it’s been consistent every time.
The service? ALWAYS delightful. For me, I’ve only experienced haste, those not in a dislocated way. Always asked how my day is going, always smiles, always a genuine feeling of being recognized no matter how busy the girls behind the counter are. I personally thoroughly enjoy their ability to be productive and have a good time at the same time, and how helpful and quick to my needs they are. My need really only being a beer or a mimosa, but still… And I see the same care with EVERY customer.
The product? Well firstly, AMEN to a fantastic craft beer selection! Well priced and tedious to find things I’m finding here quite delightfully. The coffee is rich, the mimosas are strong, and their food is [as far as I’ve experienced] quite good. Very local-​deli sandwich feel, where you know Subway is only their for the ignorants who don’t know what a good sandwich is. They have a lot of locally made unique things to chose from, and you’re wallet isn’t being destroyed over it.
The ambiance? Fun! Kind of San Francisco bulletin board style meshed together in a vintagey beachy kind of way. Checker tile floors, mural ceiling, separated by warm rust-​orange walls that keep the naturally well-​lit place very vibrant. An easy place to kick back with friends or be by yourself with a book or journal. And the music is perfect.
The crowd… I flipped back and forth between four and five stars over this place, and finally settled for five because it’s not the business’s fault I find frustration with one aspect of this place. Now, MOST OF THE PEOPLE I have seen in here have been regular colorful Humboldt crowds who are nothing short of fine and I have no complaints about. You get in great bands that draw fun crowds, you get the mid-​day lunchers, you get the students waiting on their laundry next door. My only complaint about this place is the «trimsient”-esc crowds that gather in frustrating clumps outside with their often wiley dogs and zero comprehension of personal space or awareness of others’ comfortabilities. And in my experience, the ladies inside are quick to help you if other customers are exhibiting such habits so don’t let it deter you from enjoying the venue. That’s not something you find often up here, and that’s why I find this place worthy of five stars. Everyone can have a great time.

The cool little sandwich shop/​beer barn, live music, hang out place located just north of campus on the road frontage of LK Wood @ California. Blondie’s makes some really good sandwiches and you can grab a cold beer — they have a huge beer selection (see photos) and other drinks, as well as tap beer.
The food is consistently good, grilled sandwiches are the norm here. There are several tables and chairs inside as well as a small sitting area outdoors. Its usually got people coming and going — always pretty relaxed and laid back.
We usually order a sammich, grab a cold one and a seat. Food takes from 10 — 25 minutes on average depending on the crowd.
Live music in the evenings, a cool crowd, cold beer and tasty food. Hard to beat — they even have a «poor students» option on the menu — a grilled cheese for a couple bucks!
Blondie’s is a decent place to grab a sandwich or cold beer, catch some live music, visit with friends or just hang out and meet some new ones.
All in all, a solid sandwich shop.
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I live in this hood, so we got our sandwiches to go. 2 out of 3 were absolutely delish: the Marilyn, and the Natural Blonde. However, the pastrami in the third was fatty – actually greasy, and this might just be the rave on the west coast, but it ain’t N. Y. style. I am looking forward to trying Blondie’s other selections.

After another visit here I’d have to say I would boost this place to 5 stars. The beer /​cider/​sour on tap selection is so much better than any place around this area. And their bottle selection is un real. And their food is yummy and the vibe is great. Nuf said

Blondies is the best place in Arcata for beer, hands down. Their selection is second to none. As someone who has lived in Arcata for 10 years and brews themselves I can say that my beer tastes are well represented at this fine establishment. The sandwiches are amazing the coffee is phenomenal and the staff is very friendly. Both beer snobs and people who are just getting into beer will be very happy this place. They also have a good selection of ciders and wines. But back to the beer they have undoubtedly the best selection of IPA’s in Humboldt County. For people cruisin through Arcata on the 101 take the sunset exit and google map blondies (it’s 2 mins off the 101). You won’t be disappointed. Get your beer on at blondies.

I love the selection of beers here, and the sandwiches.
My one word of warning — check the expiration dates on the beers. Twice now I have bought six packs that tasted «skunky» and bad and both times the beer had expired yet was still on the shelf.

Love the baby Bella. Blondie is as cool as she is hot, her man is chill too. Awesome brew selection. Just a walk to hsu and laundry right next door.

Went here on open mic night… big mistake. Rowdy and packed to the gills! Every other time I go here it is awesome and chill, though. I love Blondie’s, but not on open mic night. The host was drunk and so were many patrons as they kept trying to steal my drink! Don’t expect to order pizza either. I’ve gone there four times and they never have dough. I don’t care though because their sandwiches are THE BOMB. MmM I can taste the BBQ sauce on that Rodeo Cowgirl now paired with a nice Ace Cider… I wish they updated their events list so I could plan a trip in… it’s from back in October 2011 :-/
I came back here on vacation this past week since I’ve moved away. My husband and I came to quiz night. It was really fun. I liked the host and the girl working the counter. I had my usual Rodeo Cowgirl (YUM!). We were the oldest ones playing I think (30 yo) …most people seemed in college. It started about 20 minutes late and ran for about 2.5 hours. You can pay a $ 2 buy in per person for your bar tab if you win. We did it but ended up in last place haha. You can have a team of up to 4 people. There were 7 teams in sizes 2 – 4 people. You can also buy raffle tickets to win prizes. You also get 2 raffle tickets for your buy in to try to win the bar tab. The prizes ranged from unopened wine bottles to half empty wine bottles, brownies, fruit snacks. You could also complete challenges against others if your raffle ticket was called and win a beer ($ 5 value) or a few other things… like 20 shots of espresso haha. We went with the free beer. They have an updated calendar of events posted in the establishment. They have a bathroom. This place is super chill. I even brought my in-​laws here one time. I’m kinda rethinking that one… haha. They have had good live music here too.

Great place to kick it, play board games, grab a bite to eat, and have a drink. They have a huge beer selection :) Wouldn’t study here as it tends to be a place for social gatherings as well as music performances but it’s a nice place to wind down and chill with friends. Gets pretty packed when there is live music so if you’re going to check out something specific, I’d head over there a little early.

I’ve seen this slightly off business location go through many mini-​mart kind of variations over the years and this is by far the best. A treasure not only for Arcata, but for the entire Hum Bay Area. Treasure if you like a super kid friendly environment, great home made sandwiches and meal items, low key neighborhood get-​togethers, and especially if you are a beer or hard cider fan. We are on the verge of spoiled here in Hum Co with some great local craft brewers and regional superstars. The Co-​op, Wildberries, Eureka Natural foods, and the Food and Liquors place in Fortuna have been my hunting grounds for new unique brews to explore. Until I revisited Blondie’s recently. They have a remarkable selection of harder to find specialty beers from out of the area and a very nice selection of Belgian/​European treats. There is so much here you will find nowhere else in the area, it is ridiculous. To boot, the biggest selection of hard ciders I’ve seen anywhere. Not the overall square footage of selection of bevvies you may find in metropolitan areas, but really great. Come in, get some food, pick a brew out of the refrigerator selection (or pick one on tap, always changing, always unique) and sit and enjoy. Coffee, bagels, candy, juice, good fresh foods, whatever. Super friendly service (if strained to help everyone at times) to boot. They have theme nights, are study friendly, have games and books to choose from. I could go on. Just go check it out. My next work party get together is definitely going to be here.

My gf and I went there for the trivia night last Monday, thinking we could grab a sandwich and test our wits against the younger college crowd. We arrived a little before seven so we could get a table and order some food. Our table wobbled so badly, my beer spilled and so we changed tables, finding one of them to be not-​so-​bad (later customers were turning them over and borrowing tools to fix them). The goat cheese fondue looked yummy so we ordered it and were handed a plate with a glass bowl in the center of it. The bowl was roughly the temperature of the sun (having been microwaved), yet the lump of goat cheese in the center was cold. We sent it back and the waitress just threw it back in the microwave, absolutely destroying the tomatoes they had put on top. To make it worse the «crostinis» they served it with were hot dug buns that had been pressed flat in a Panini press. You can serve that, I guess, but please don’t call it a «fondue.» The trivia game started a half hour late and two hours later (an hour after the blew out their co2 and could no longer pour beers) she still had not read off the final questions. What a joke. Their food is atrocious the whole floor was dirty, they let a dog just walk around through the crowd and the trivia game is just a ploy to get you there and keep you as long as possible. They try and sell you raffle tickets and then (after they sell the tickets) bring out the prizes which were obviously old products and leftover B.S. they could not otherwise sell. When I tried to complain, «Blondie» just blew me off — obvious content to take our money and give back as little as possible. Never go there.

Humboldt State is like a sister school to UC Santa Cruz. We’re both in small-​ish towns, situated up on a hill and are surrounded by trees (and sometimes we like to smoke ‘em).
If only we had a spot like Blondie’s back in Santa Cruz. Located near Humboldt State, this is the quintessential spot for college students. They’ve got an array of sandwiches (vegetarian and meat) for under $ 7. They also offer fancier nibbles like goat cheese fondue and spinach artichoke and jalapeño cheese dip for under $ 6 and not-​so-​fancy tater tots and jalapeño poppers for under $ 4.
Really broke? Get the «Poor Student Special»: a grilled ham and cheese sandwich for $ 3. Add a can of Olympia to brighten your spirits for an additional dollar. Speaking of booze, they’ve got over 150 types of beer, wine and champagne to drink in store or take home. Also, their mimosas are $ 2 and $ 5 can get you a whole pint of it.
With free wifi, plenty of seating, and a few outlets here and there, Blondie’s is the best place for cheap eats and drinks to hold you over while you’re studying… or trying to at least.

When they have sandwich makings in stock they can do it right. Unfortunately the last two times I’ve been there they don’t have provolone cheese and the avocados were hard as bricks. They just opened recently so maybe they are still getting the kinks out.
They should also try listing the type of bread they have for sandwiches instead of making customers guess at what they have.