Hoffman’s Downtown

After reading reviews we were hesitant but we had a great meal. the lamb was delicious and the vegetables crisp, the mashed potatoes and reduction sauce to die for. Service was great.

Food was good, however the waitress was not very attentive. She seemed to be very over her job and was not too pleasant. We let her know we were ready to order our meals and she proceeded to do other things around the place and leave us waiting longer. Then we were informed that they ran out of scones, we were shorted by one and brought random flavors since they were out. The drinks took forever to get to the table and she had charged and brought an extra mimosa to our table. We had to get up from our table and ask for things, or ask multiple times. I would probably order take out from there, but there waitress really out a bad taste in my mouth.

We were served competently by Dominick in this downtown eatery. They had daily dinner and drink specials which I tried. The food was home style, healthy, nutritious and delicious. Highly recommend.

I’m on vacation from Vegas and really wanted to try this place downtown. But unfortunately it wasn’t what I expected. Horrible service. Bartenders don’t know how to make drinks. Especially a simple one like a Moscow mule. And food was bland! Once I was sat it took like 10 minutes to get greater and another 15 to get a drink. And it wasn’t busy. The only thing I enjoyed was gentlemen playing the music…

A nice downtown — homestyle restaurant with a full bar. This place is not fancy, it’s a «you get what you see» kinda deal so it works unlike its neighbor next door that is pitching the same thing. Service is attentive and they have a full bar. Above all — the price is really reasonable for the food and overall experience. Great place to stop by.

Hoffman’s is one of our Santa Cruz standbys, especially for breakfast. We became more frequent dinner guests after Hoffman’s underwent a makeover at the hands of Restaurant Impossible. We love that they participate in the «Dinner and a Movie» promo downtown with the Nick theatres.
Plus column:
— Dog-​friendly patio
— Baked goods are superlative, thanks to the baker-​owner. He even bakes all the bread for the sandwiches. Superb crisp scones.
— Killer Reuben
— Great burger
— Delicious breakfasts, great coffee
— Surprisingly good cocktails
— Live jazz
I wish the roast chicken was still on the menu – it was outstanding.
I think that the service has improved over the past few years. We’ve never quite connected with the staff as «regulars.» That’s just my ego talking, but it would be nice to feel recognized.
We’ve recently relocated to Nevada, but on our visits home Hoffman’s will be one of our stops.

Perfect little breakfast/​brunch house. They’re known for their eggs Benedict. I had a simple poached egg and it was perfect! The service was impeccable!

This place is great for pastry, especially the scones. Mr. Hoffman is a top-​notch patissier. However, the food is awful.
I wanted a nice corned beef and cabbage on St. Pat’s Day. The meat was so fatty and salty, I had to send it back. To replace it, I got a Shepherd’s pie which really wasn’t one because it was chock full of corn niblets! Sorry, that’s not a shepherd’s pie. What a disappointment!

Food was fine, but the service was unprofessional.
I had to flag down the server who kept walking by and ask if we could order. Our server had an unwelcoming, defensive demeanor and attitude. She also said that she had to clean up broken glasses in the back, which made me feel that Hoffman bakery management understaffed the floor for a weekend breakfast.
Also the busser was serving water with fingers touching the rims of the glasses instead of holding the bottom portion of each glass. So I can only assume that Hoffman management failed to train the staff how to avoid spreading germs in this regard.
Overall our group had a slightly frustrating dining experience.

Not a good choice for dinner.
We ordered the talk of the town burger and butternut squash ravioli.
They came out super quick and sloppy looking.
Basil on burger was wrinkled and ugly. Husband didn’t even finish eating it. We went next door for pizza.
My squash was 17 dollars of raviolis bathed in white sauce and was not worth 10 bucks.
Hate to give bad reviews but felt like we had to.

My sister-​in-​law and I decided to meet here today for lunch. We walked in and stood with a lot of other people waiting to get seated or get put on a wait list. With servers running around, there was no hostess to be seen. After a long wait, we gave up, turned around and walked out. During our wait in front of the hostess stand, Not one staff member, walking past us multiple times, even said «we will be right with you!» We were completely ignored.
With so many great restaurants in downtown, these two long term Santa Cruz locals will never bother with Hoffmans again.

Great place in Santa Cruz!
Great location in the downtown area.
Best Buy:
Brie and Pear sandwich with side of French onion soup.
The sandwich was EXCELLENT. I was really pleased with it. The soup was served hot and as you’d expect it to be, melty goodness.
Ruben was slightly greasy but very tasty nonetheless.
Salmon salad was hefty and really delicious. A great piece of fish and a lot of walnuts so it was a good lunch.

A bit of a wait for brunch but very good standard comfort food. Nothing fancy but just good solid All American breakfast food. Great service.

Food was delicious, coffee was great, service on the other hand was HORRIBLE. They were training a girl so I understand service would be slower but this was another level of horrble. The entire table ordered water at the beginning and they didn’t bring water until I had to flag someone down once we got our food. And they only brought 1 water. They hardly refilled our coffee our water. Mind you there were only 3 other parties in the restaurant at this time.
Again I understand that training someone makes things slower but not even refilling coffee or water? I would not go back here or recommend it.
The stars are for the Chefs not the waiting staff

One of the worst brunches I’ve had in a long time. It took fifteen minutes to track down our waitress and order. My frittata was literally swimming in oil to the point that it was nearly inedible. The only redeeming point was the cranberry scone. However, my mom’s walnut scone was so tough she couldn’t eat it. Inconsistent and sloppy food.

Okay first off I miss the bakery, the display cases with all the great pastries, but I realize that was a point of contention in Hoffman’s make-​over.
We stroll in on a sultry thunder laden Sunday morning we wait around and eventually we are greeted by a perky hostess and plenty of open seating. The long lines are across the street at Zachary’s. It’s my wife’s birthday and she chose Hoffman’s. It was an eggs benedict day as 3 of us ordered the crab avo eggs benedict for $ 13.50 and my healthy daughter ordered the veggie eggs benedict.
Décor was funky, the metal chairs were cold and rigid, the bench backs were from a Austin Power’s set. But I was really impressed with the basket of scones on the table, yum.
Our plates are served and with hungry appetites we dig in. Home fries are a little blackened than I like, but what troubles me is that they are luke warm at best and closer to cold than hot. I asked our server if I could get them warmed up and she brought be some new potatoes, A+ on the redo.
But I would hope for $ 13.50 you could at least get the potatoes cooked right the first go around. The EB was good with a lightly seasoned hollandaise sauce but my first 3 bites of the crab avo seem to have more avo than crab, it was crab-​lite. Again I felt we paid a good price to get plenty of crab in our EB!
But then I find it, a large clump of crab on the other side of my toasted sour dough. I give Hoffman’s a solid B for flavor and ingredients but a C– for presentation as the crab could have been more evenly distributed so each bite could say dungeness crab, avo, egg, and hollandaise.
Overall it was a nice visit to Hoffman’s the staff was polite cheerful and efficient, and the reason I give them a 3 stars. The food could do better with presentation and flavors.

We had a great lunch here last weekend.
It had been some years since we were here last so it was nice to see they updated the décor.
We were seated right away and our server was very nice and did a great job. She explained all of the specials and answered our questions about the ingredients. It was nice having a server that really knew her stuff.
We sat on the outdoor patio.
We had the Salmon salad and the Strawberry waffles. The fish was fresh and cooked just right. The waffles certainly satisfied my sweet tooth.
This is definitely a place that we will visit again.

Hoffman’s (nobody really calls it Hoffman’s Downtown.) has some unique characteristics.
They make all the bakery items in house. All the croissants, pastries, torte, etc. are all baked fresh in the kitchen every morning. However if you’re first in the door in the morning, you’ll be getting day olds as the fresh stock doesn’t come out until about an hour after opening.
I think the breakfast is the strongest meal,(well, brunch on the weekends) but there’s nothing wrong with the lunch or dinner either. The bar bites (appetizers, especially the happy hour ones) are pretty decent.
There are only two taps, and the whisky selection isn’t bad.
Where the bar excels is the Absinthe. Hoffman’s has the deepest selection of Absinthe in Santa Cruz. There are between 6 – 11 types available at any given time.
Haven’t ever had to wait for a table or for service, but if it’s jazz night and you are inside it might be best to plan drink refills around the breaks. The Jazz is pretty good, but ordering when a band is playing can involve shouting and pointing.
Are you a jazz lover, absinthe connoisseur, or just enjoy a mellow high quality brunch?
Hoffman’s is for you.

My friend and I stopped here for a late lunch this past weekend, and we had such a good time!
Our waitress was very friendly, showed us to our seats (we requested patio seating since it was a nice day), and left us with our menus. We came around 3 and was too late for the breakfast menu, which looked amazing, so we chose from the lunch menu instead. We were both starving: my friend ended up ordering the burger with fries, and I got the B.L.A.T. sandwich with fries.
The size of the burger was huge! The patty was a generous size and was definitely filling. My sandwich was also huge and j ended up finishing it, which was surprising because that says a lot about the taste and quality of the food. The fries were also on point: not too thick or thin.
We would definitely come back again to try some of their other items on the menu! The portions were very generous for a very good price. The atmosphere was also warm and inviting. The only downside was that there were a lot of birds flying and walking around while we were eating, but that’s only because we were out on the patio. Can’t wait to come back again whenever we are in Santa Cruz!

This place was aight for a quick bite.
It did the job of satiating my hunger pang after cruising through the fungus fair.
We ordered quiche with salad plus an additional French onion soup (3 $ extra).
° the quiche was barely heated up, the salad was a plain jane, and the soup was meh.
The croissant sandwich and the Reuben were probably 3.5−4 stars. The Reuben had a small helping of beef, but it was delicious. I didn’t like the thousand island dressing on the side.
Overall, I’d come back just for their pastries. The chocolate cake is bomb!!!
That’s my two cents.