Emily’s Good Things To Eat

Food is usually delicious and so are the drinks! Except when they forget to put turkey in your turkey sandwich… Besides that tho thumbs up, I guess

First off, never call in your order and expect it to be ready when you get there because they make it when you pay for it. So there is no point in ordering your food to go. And secondly make sure they have all the ingredients before you order it… Because when you get there they have told me twice in a row «sorry we don’t have any more chicken» or «sorry we’re out of soup» and they don’t tell you until you receive your food… Never coming here again. Slow service and lack of ingredients.

I’d wanted to try this local place for a while and stopped in to grab some sandwiches to go. The location is excellent, the parking lot is a pain… it’s best to walk or bike here.
I won’t be back but it is a cute local business. Our sandwiches were soggy. mushy bread is the worst. My husband hates onions so I asked for no onions on both sandwiches but ended up with tiny onion bits in both.
Not worth the $ 7ish I paid for each sandwich. The wait is long and the service isn’t spectacular.

This place was cute right off the highway the food was okay but the customer service was little to desire, the person taking out order appeared annoyed and in a rush which came off as rude. As a for a first time visitor to this establishment. It left a bad taste. I say check out other places before this joint especially if it’s your first time.

Emily’s husband (he is also the manger and is there all the time) was taken to court for sexual harassment charges by one of his female employees, which encouraged other women from the last seven to twelve years to come forward with their experiences with Robert Nahas (Emily Reilly’s husband/​manger of the café). They settled out of court.
I personally used to go here everyday and I almost applied for a job too. I loved going her because it was mostly women working (which was refreshing and nice because usually the norm is women are the minority) however slowly, more and more women started to be replaced with men. And that’s when I found out they were being sued for sexual harassment of his employee (but really it was not just one victim/​he is being accused of being a repeat offender/​predator)
I can’t believe she was the MAYOR! And she works at a real estate agency: she’s also one of Santa Cruz famous slumlords!
Y’all have the right to know.
Do what you will and support such an establishment of that’s what you want after being presented with such information

Love coming here.
Wife loves their Gluten free muffins. I love their chocolate croissant. Must be eaten right away though. Chocolate topping doesn’t travel well.
Parking lot small and one way.
Staff has always been friendly.

Sunday brunch here was so delicious. Everything hit the spot. I love this place! A gem in Santa Cruz! I will for sure be coming back!

This is a very dumpy place with food to match, why would anyone stop here when there are so many great bakery-​cafes in this town, some only a few blocks away!

Terrible experience here, if you are JUST PASSING THROUGH TOWN and NEED BREAKFAST, don’t be fooled by the name of this place. It’s JUST A BAKERY. White bread only, not only is most of the food premade and wrapped in the front case, but there’s an offer for foods that are only made at certain hours. Such as Eggs before 10am on a SATURDAY! we were in need of Breakfast and had run out of time, and this place was the only place open seemingly in that zone… so it looked like a good option… but it wasn’t! 10:04 am and NO EGGS for us! One in our party couldn’t eat wheat, so it was sandwich innards with the bread removed, in the end. If you cannot eat wheat or sugar, and you are in a time bind, DON“T BOTHER with these GOOD THINGS TO EAT. Oh, and this CAFE REALLY NEEDS AN UPDATE!!! FUNKY INTERIOR!!!

I come here at least once a week, usually for one of their tasty ham and cheese croissants. They recently started making breakfast croissants! They are a bit expensive ($ 8) but worth it. Usually they only have them in the morning but I came in around lunch and said please and they made one for me! Yum!
They lose a couple stars is because they won’t toast your croissant. They have a microwave for customers to use but that kills the crispness that makes croissants so good. If they added a little toaster for us to use I would come here even more often and give them more stars. It’s unfortunate that they won’t do this (I’ve asked many times) because the best thing about this shop is the croissants and a cold, damp croissants are not nearly as good as hot, crispy ones.
The biscotti are also very good.

++Egg Salad sandwiches on either white or wheat bread — both are equally worth the visit.
Tasty bread choices and delicious random bites.
Outside patio is nice and quietly secluded somewhat away from Mission St.
Sometimes the cashiers/​servicemen or women are distracted in the back yet it’s understandable since they are baking sometimes. Patience is always a virtue and you can look at the MANY treaty options as you wait for someone to kindly ask you how they can help you.
I think I have also seen live music here before too — so the ambiance is definitely a nice touch.

Came here for the first time. Got a cheese pocket pastry and was SO disappointed. I LOVE cheese pastries! This is not a place to get them. All I got for $ 2.25 was a glazed pastry. Where was the sweet ricotta cheese?! There was nothing «in the pocket», an utter absence of cheese. I ate 80% of the pastry looking for any signs of cheese. I am so full of pastry that I couldn’t even stop at Gayle’s for treats.

Great coffee, great eats and prices so great they seem like they haven’t been updated in decades. Definitely the best bang for your buck-​maybe anywhere in the country.

This place has been around a lonnggg time, and people either love or hate it.
The good: The pastries, cookies and especially the croissants are perfect and most of the other items-​sandwiches, breads, cakes etc are of good quality. The seating both inside and out is utterly charming. Opens the earliest of any bakery in santa cruz. Also earlier then most coffee shops. Morning people rejoice!
The bad: It is entirely possible to blow 10 bucks on coffee and a croissant. At the moment there is some labor related drama which threatens to sink the business. The muffins are worthless, the taste isn’t bad but the presentation is awful and the price is astronomic. In a similar vein anything besides the basic coffee (Italian roast) is a waste of your time and money.
The odd: The seating while funky and charming is super small. There’s some drums and a piano inside-​but no one is allowed to touch them. The outside seating is gorgeous, but the mornings in santa cruz tend to be a bit on the chilly side. They do have their own parking area which is good but it’s a little tricky to get in/​out of. Unless it’s 5 am you are pretty much restricted to right turns only to get in and out.

It is really difficult to complain about anything made of butter, sugar, and fruit fillings, ya know? That said, Emily’s gets my thumbs up. While the honey bran muffin tasted overly molasses-​like, the apple walnut cake was complete redemption. Divine! We also had this bacon cheese bread twist thingy that was perfectly decadent too. Huge variety of muffins, scones, breakfast sandwiches, and other carby treats.
The prices are super reasonable — most items were less than $ 2 each, and the fill your own coffee station was great. BUT — skip the chai latte. The chai they use is too bland, and my «latte» tasted like steamed milk.
There’s a cute outdoor seating area with redwood trees surrounding it. Otherwise, the grab & go routine works well here.

Not too many early AM options open in the area on the weekend, so we were very happy to stumble in at ~7A last Sunday. Friendly service and a large selection of enticing options. Their ham & cheese croissant is the best ever!

Really good pastries and the outside patio is an amazing place to enjoy the sunshine (:

Bad espresso drink. Tastes like hot milk. Its supposed to be a cap. Owner seems like a robot & the kind of guy who takes the employees tips.
The more i drink this coffee, the worse it gets.

Hit or miss my last visit an almost hit with a loaf of sliced bread and a bag of muffins.
Maybe If I get there earlier in the day for freshest goods.

I loved coming here 20 years ago and loved going in now. Yummy sammies and pastries. Nice garden/​deck seating, where you can bring your furry friend and enjoy a beautiful day in Santa Cruz. I miss being a banana slug.