Ideal Bar & Grill

Just ok. Very overpriced. Portion size is small. The breakfast special for $ 5.99 is the only good deal here. Service is very slow. Hard to get drink refills. The lemonade was bland and served not cold even though there was ice. A little disappointed. Other food items are too expensive for my pocketbook. I would only come back for their breakfast special. That’s it.

Burgers were delicious. GF options, nice staff, wait was minimal. Chips were plain, but other than that everything was good. Would go again!

Do not order the «Bloody Beer»!! (It’s basically the same thing as a michelada) Last time I was there my drink tasted like mold! I told the waitress and she said it was supposed to taste like that?
WTF? I’m supposed to taste mold in my drink?
Also the calamari taste rubbery and fake!

Had improptu late dinner at Ideal. We are vegan at their pasta pomodo (minus cheese) was excellent. Service was fast polite and server was extremely friendly and personable. There’s not much to say as exverything was great. Locate is right off beach so good views of pier and ocean. It was a Saturday and late (9:30 pm). This was a live music starting at 10:00 in the bar.

This place used to be good, but now… It’s the worst place EVER… Over priced, shity food… And the service terrible… Two thumbs down

My lobster was rubbery, had to ask 3 times for a bib. I had a clear view of the kitchen every time the wait staff went through the door and I was in awe and disgusted by what I saw. This place needs an overhaul.

Had to take my family of 5 here because at 915pm on a weekday most of the places to eat on the pier are closed. Was hard to get them off the boardwalk.
Lets say the prices are a little steep for what you get. No bread with your pasta? That’s crazy. Ribs on special mon, tue. Kid loved the burger. In all we payed about 90 – 100. And we eat out on occasions alot so this wasn’t the bang for the buck I was looking for. But the place is really nice and you can eat outside also.
It just wasn’t so Ideal like the name on the front says.
Fam liked it, I thought it sucked. Ha

Came here as a stopover with my co-​workers during our group bike ride around Santa Cruz this past Friday. Service was friendly, though it took awhile to get our drinks after ordering them.
We only had some appetizers of their fried calamari and cod ceviche. The calamari was easy to chew, but the breading was really lackluster in flavor and not as crunchy as other fried calamari I’ve had in Santa Cruz. The cod ceviche was good, but nothing special — they also really skimp on the chips since there was not enough chips for the amount of ceviche there was!
They have their own bathrooms, so that’s a plus and they’re decently clean. I don’t recommend sitting inside though, since for some reason they have a lot of flies bundling up in the aisles — they could really benefit from sticking some fly tape inside. The outside seating is nice though, since they have a great view of the board walk — perfect for people watching. That’s the main advantage of this place — their location, as they’re right next to the board walk.

The food here is so bland and the service is horrible. Our waitress barely checked on us, the food took way too long to come, and the other workers were so unhelpful in showing us where to check in at. I ordered the seafood melt and I couldn’t even taste the crab or shrimp. The best part about it was the bread. The green onion should have been finely chopped and the seafood should have been seasoned. The potato salad tasted too sour and just did not look appealing at all. Avoid this place at all costs, it’s not worth it.

Ordered calamari 3 stars so
Bomb
Seafood platter no star
Shrimp Louie no star where is the shrimp
Mac and cheese standard

I’ve had better. The margaritas were horrible, buy strong. The fish tacos were dry and too spicy. It wasn’t a flavorful spice, it was like it was covering up for the bad quality of food.
My husband had the calamari and it was tasty, so was our friend’s burger. The service was also accommodating. So, for that I’ll give it two stars. But, yeah… prob won’t come back.

Two stars for the view and nice boardwalk feel. Food was a little below average.
Had the Ideal Burger and Gilroy Garlic fries. The burger was ordered as medium and came back as a well done burnt patty. The beef was so dry it crumbled and fell apart while trying to eat it. The bun was also old or stale and did not help the patty. The Garlic fries are regular fries with some garlic and parsley sprinkled on them, not a lot of flavor. Garlic fries should be mixed in a bowl with some oil so they actually have garlic that sticks or real flavor.
Enjoyed the views, but wont be dining there again.

Pretty useless food and service. Expensive and didn’t pay much attention to any aspects of a dining experience.
They messed up my huevos rancheros twice and then albeit, did take it off our bill, messed up something on the bill. Overcharged us and we walked out paying more than we were supposed to.
One star just for their super strong and good Bloody Mary’s.

It only takes one person to ruin your entire restaurant experience. Really regret to edit this review and downgrade from five stars to one :(I wouldn’t have posted this because the manager was awesome, but the bartender made a point to draw attention to the fact that I was writing this review, so here it is.
We came in earlier today and happy hour was awesome so we came back to watch the Warriors game and boy was that a mistake. The bartender slammed our drinks down for two rounds and then neglected to check on us. Actually I think every time she put our drinks down she slammed them on the counter in front of us. Of course she catered to all the obvious regulars and even told the man sitting next to us how handsome he was and greeted him with «hey sexy.» Kinda inappropriate if you ask me. Not the conversation I wanted to hear as I was trying to enjoy the Warriors game.
Anyhow. She could sense our frustration so she came over and proceeded to ask us if we were upset at her. We simply explained that we would like it if she could check on us every so often. So she refilled my coffee. Great.
Then began the patronizing. Within about five to seven minutes she checked on us three times to make sure we were doing ok. With upmost inauthenticity, she asked if I needed more coffee when I had more than a cup full which led us to believe that she was intentionally checking up on us to be snarky, simply making a big deal out of the fact that we asked her to check on us. Not cool.
After we said how it was a little condescending to be asking us constantly if we were ok, she started being all sweet and asked us about where we were from etc. and then TOLD US HOW A CUSTOMER TOLD HER HOW THEY SAW ME WRITING A Unilocal REVIEW AND TOLD US ITS OKAY IF WE WRITE A BAD REVIEW. Sheesh, only be nice to us if you see we are writing a bad Unilocal review???
Manager was very apologetic and professional and the food was really good but god like I said… it only takes one person to ruin your entire experience.
Here was my original review from earlier today.
«Excellent happy hour! Good food and good beer with a good view. Little on the franchise side but still very enjoyable»

I did NOT like my dining experience here. Came here with a group of 4 on Saturday for a late lunch (around 1:5j0 pm). We were seated quite prompt in the patio area. Among us two couples we ordered (2) clam chowder, (1) guac burger, (1) fish and chips (1) seafood platter (1) «TBA» Turkey Bacon
Avocado Sandwich.
From the time of our order to when we got our food was exactly 46 minutes. 46 MINUTES! My hangry self was getting so agitated.
And to top it off, the food was just so-​so. So terribly so-​so. For supposedly the 2014 voted best clam chowder of Santa Cruz, it was unmemorable. Or does Santa Cruz not have good clam chowder?
Everything was truly unmemorable. Except the waiting time and the bill. Super over priced for a mediocre experience. I will not return.

Friendly staff
Good food I like I’m happy I will definitely will come back, I had the calamari and garlic fries this time

Stopped in at the Ideal Café to get an iced latte and a cappuccino before we walked along the beach. Both drinks were up to standards — strong espresso and milk was foamed to perfection. Ideal is located at the beginning of Santa Cruz’s main pier. The restaurant looks to have a lovely sunfilled patio with a perfect view of the ocean.

Less than idle service, but we enjoyed the food and the sunny seating next to the beach for a light lunch.
The fish tacos weren’t consistent though tasty. The dish had two big tacos; one with plenty of fish in it, the other taco had a tiny piece of fish in it and all salad.
The store bought chips next to it were an unnecessary, bad addition. I would prefer any small salad or fries instead of these bad chips and their accompanied miniature, watery salsa.
The calamari was good and perfectly cooked they serve calamari strips and they manage to make them stay soft and fluffy. The hamburger was yummy and flavorful and the fries were nice and crisp.

The Ideal Bar and Grill does have the ideal location. Located just at the start of the wharf there is a great view of the beach, the water, the boardwalk and a great neon sign. There are tables inside and out. We just wanted drinks and an appetizer to share, so, we were seated at the bar.
The roasted garlic and brie was pretty good. I had a Manhattan, it was okay. I wasn’t driving so I order another one. The next one was okay too. However, they did not taste anything alike. They were prepared by two different people. When the bartender brought the 2^nd one he had a bottle of bitters in his hand. When I mention the difference in the taste he offered to add more bitters. I said no.
It has been a long time since I sat at a bar on a Saturday evening, it was fascinating. The male bartenders all wore ties and the woman bartender’s shorts and tank top looked like the ones the women working on the street corners wear. They all poured each other drinks. Older men, sitting at the bar trying their best to pickup younger women. A band was setting up to play in the corner. It pretty much seems that weekends at bars haven’t changed much.

An improvement in service and dishes would do wonders for this fairly well situated eatery.
More staff MAY be needed for those who are working very hard to keep up with the current flow of patrons. Nothing specifically negative to say because there’s a lot of room for improvement with great potential.