Saturn Cafe

Wow, what a treat Saturn Café is. Excellent service and delicious food. Try the Santa Cruz Mountain IPA with a cup of the tomato soup. Remember to save room for a milkshake!

My boyfriend and I came to Saturn after a long tour around UCSC. We were absolutely starving. Parking was relatively easy to find, but kind of strange that you have to pay the meters even on Sundays.
Our server and the host were really friendly and accommodating. We were seating immediately and ordered our food soon after. My boyfriend ordered the space burger with an iced tea and I had the diablo burger with a vanilla milkshake since they were out of chocolate. The burger patties are not good. To the point where I cannot even justify by saying «well, it is a vegan burger». They are mushy, flavorless, and just all around wrong. The burger buns are seeded and the vegan cheese was alright. But the toppings did not compliment the bland burger very well and I wanted to douse my entire burger in ranch dressing because it was so dry. I had a side of pozole and it was sooo salty! I just ate all the french fries off of my boyfriend’s plate. Lastly, the paper straws make it really difficult to drink the milkshakes. It gave me chills because you suck in air while drinking your drink. It’s just an unpleasant experience and I just drank it out of the glass.
All in all, Saturn is a really cute and fun place with a variety of options all over the menu even though none of them are very good. Almost everything is able to be made vegan and the service is pretty great too.

Horrible service! Ageist, elitest, and snide. Both the maitre’d and the server were very rude. Don’t go here if you don’t fit ‘their look’- if you look mainstream, or anything other than a UCSC student. Expect long waits, and being ignored while your waitress chats with her friends on her smart-​phone.

Great vegan and vegetarian food! No one had to die for our meals!!!
Vanilla Bean milk shake was yummy, served in an old fashioned milkshake glass with a full metal shake to replenish!
Very attention waiter. Taking half of my sautéed Portbello and Gouda Sandwich because I ate almost all my award winning fries.

I try to hit this spot every time I’m in town. Last time I had a bad experience. This time it was back to normal. Pleasant service and the best tomato soup I’ve ever had. So there. Check it out. And don’t forget to try a vegan milkshake. You won’t go back to milk.

Fun atmosphere, tasty vegan/​vegetarian food, amazing desserts, solid service, clean, a regular spot for us on a Friday night!

I was here last week and cannot recommend it because the service was poor, the food inedible.
I ordered tea and a cornbread muffin. The waitress asked if I’d like the muffin heated and I said yes.
The tea came out promptly but I had to catch someone’s attention to get sweetener.
Around 10 minutes later, the waitress said she was till waiting for the muffin, and I said «so am I.» It took another 5 minutes before she brought the muffin.
The muffin looked like a light golden color in the case, but when they finally brought it to me around 15 minutes later, it was dark brown on top almost burnt yet still cool in the middle. It didn’t melt butter. (Yes, I had to request the butter.) That muffin was extremely dry and tasted terrible, a mix between tasteless and what I imagine cardboard tastes like.
I asked for a check so I could pay for the tea only, and that’s what they gave me. I have never done this in a restaurant and really don’t complain, but this experience was so poor.
There were people in only 3 booths so my experience was not because they were crowded and overwhelmed.
NOTE: After I posted this review, the owner contacted me and indicated he would work to train the staff and improve their customer service skills. I appreciate that and hope they also change the muffin recipe and train the staff how to warm it. If they do that and really evaluate their food, I think it could be a good little café.

Absolutely ridiculous service, if I could give negative stars I definitely would. Front counter girls were so rude. My boyfriend and I walked in and they were nice to him but rude to me. I asked to use the bathroom and one of the girls gave me attitude and told me to pay for something as the other girl laughed. After I used the bathroom and paid, another waitress was rude to me for not tipping on a $.54 banana. So yeah if you want vegetarian food with your boyfriend and you want the service to make you feel like shit while they flirt with your boyfriend, definitely go. If you want good service with decent people, go elsewhere.
So whatever girls were working 6−9−16 at 1am, good job on your customer service, you obviously take your job seriously & plan on moving forward in your future.

As a vegan, I enjoy this trendy spot. Saturn café is entirely vegetarian and offers a plethora of vegan options. The shakes are divine! My two favorites are the coffee shake and the chocolate and PB shake.
The salads are organic and provide generous servings. My favorite is the BBQ Ranch chiken salad. The BBQ Ranch chicken sandwich is also a favorite. A must have: the sweet potato fries with chipotle sauce. The nachos are a fan favorite, vegan cheeze available. The biggest opportunity for improvement on the menu is the vegan soup options. Happy hour is for especially great for the libation enthusiast’s crew or for those wanting ½ off appetizers.
The bathrooms are sometimes questionable. Even though it requires a key, people still leave it disrespected and dirty from time to time.
The overall aesthetic is trendy and fun. Some of the tables have vintage dioramas. The music playing is, in my opinion, fantastic 95% of the time.
I have a few favorite servers that are consistently wonderful every time I visit. Theres a mature gentleman with glasses who basically has my regular order memorized by now, a sweet girl with bettie bangs who makes the best shakes, and a sweet girl with a septum piercing who is an all around great server.
Another great thing: They’re open late!

A friend suggested this place for late night eats. I ordered the grilled mushroom sandwich, coffee and a brownie. Total came out to $ 24. I opted for sourdough instead of wheat for the sandwich and I’m glad I did. Tasty sandwich, but dry-​no sauce or anything. Opted for the cheese fries as a side and asked for ranch. Ranch was $ 1 extra and though tasty, I thought it was ridiculous to have to pay for something to moisten and flavor my sandwich. Coffee was good. Brownie was vegan and I found out it was black bean based. Sounds odd and gross, but believe me its not. Nice thing was it wasn’t overtly rich. The server never brought me the water I asked for. Not the greatest service but food was good. Neat outer space décor. Bathroom could’ve been a lot cleaner.

Loved their milkshakes! the vegan ones were even better than the regular dairy ones?! We had the garlic friend which were good, the nachos which were great and the chicken club sandwich (with faux chicken and bacon) which was good if not great. Alas, all our choices were a bit too greasy/​heavy but that was more our fault than the café’s. Overall a very good meal: happy to return especially … for the shakes.

I am writing this as I sit on the toilet, having a violent reaction to the food I ate. I don’t know how pancakes and potatoes could have done this to me. And it wasn’t something else because my sister ate the same thing and she is also having the same reaction.
The pancakes tasted good, and I was happy to see so many vegetarian and vegan options. The «home fry» potatoes were awful though! They tasted like they had been scraped from the bottom of a charred oven. I kept finding bits of charred flakes in my mouth.
The décor was strange. I see what they were going for, but the atomic era/​space-​age theme of the restaurant didn’t really translate. It felt like the whole place was a reused high school theatre set-​piece.
Our server made us really uncomfortable. I mean, he was a good server, very prompt and helpful, but he just gave us the creeps, and I can’t quite explain why.
Overall, food was subpar, service was decent and the music they played was fantastic. New Order, The Clash, and Bowie, so I enjoyed that.
But I don’t enjoy the frequent trips to the bathroom the day after.

Got the vegan nachos and was happy with the half portion size. Enjoyed the crazy décor inside and the waitress was sweet. Might come be back for breakfast since there are many vegan options.

The service here was amazing and the food was amazing. Doesn’t get any better than this! I had the vegan grilled cheese with skinny fries. To die for!

Upon walking in I thought how cute is this retro fridge? Located at the hostess stand they use it to store all their menus. I came in with my friend on a Wednesday afternoon and we were seated right away. The whole place has a funky vibe complete with saturn light fixtures and shadow box tables with mini action figures.
My friend and I ended up sharing:
The Santa Fe Salad: This tex-​mex salad was really tasty with black beans, corn, chick’n, and avocado. I like that the salad was already dressed with a light cilantro like dressing, but there was also salsa on the side for dipping. For me the lettuce could have been chopped into smaller pieces.
Sliders: You get 4 sliders, 2 different burgers — California burger and I think cowgirl? I’ve had many veggie patties and there are only a few restaurants that get it right. These sliders were amazing to say the least. I preferred the California burger with avocado over the cowgirl which had onions strings.
Garlic fries: We opted for the thin fries which I think is the better option over steak fries. These were super garlicky, but the portion size was ginormous.
The service was fine, I’ll definitely be back to explore their menu!

I really don’t know what to say overall but I’ve had such good memories of this place over the years but the last few times have been complete letdowns. This place was a go to spot for me since I’m gluten free and it makes the perfect date night, but I feel they’ve changed hands enough times I do t even think they know what’s going on any more.
I liked the themed nights like Taco Tuesday but they were very short lived. I found myself there almost every Tuesday for a few weeks then the themed nights were gone. What happen? Was it just not drawing enough people?
The sweet potato fries were the best item on the menu, but I had noticed them changing over time. They seemed less homemade and more frozen. The portion sizes also diminished. The last time I ordered them it didn’t come with that side of sauce that was good with them so I asked the waitress if they had any. She said she didn’t know. I saw another guy having sweet potato fries with the side of sauce.
The very last time I was here I got a very distinct vibe that men really aren’t welcome at Saturn anymore. I get that they’re trying to appeal to the more ‘feminist’ vibe with the Santa Cruz Brewery banner (strong women make strong beer), and possible with the layoff of the former male staff that had been there forever, but I was really bothered by a lot of the behavior of the waitstaff, hence why I will not be returning.
There were three of us waiting on a forth but we had ordered and paid in full. I usually leave a good tip too, but I kept noticing odd glares from the staff. It wasn’t busy so I don’t feel we’d overstayed our welcome. When our forth joined he had gotten food elsewhere and wasn’t hungry, but had a bag of take out food with him. They we’re all too eager to tell him he could have that there.
Sorry Saturn, thanks for the memories but get a sense of direction and lose the attitude.

Vegan/​vegetarian? You’ll find lots of them in Santa Cruz, but not with retro décor like saturn. It’s at the very end of downtown next to taco bell.
The portions here are pretty big, but the prices are a little more expensive than what you’d normally see in burger places.
Pros: open until 3AM weekends, midnight most days.
Right next to downtown, big portions.
Cons: $ 1 extra for more sauce, expensive, scary restrooms (looked run down with graffiti). Close to camoflage!
Everything they have here is organic, vegan/​vegetarian, and somewhat healthier for you.
Sliders come with 2 ca burgers and 2 cowboy. Both were good, you can taste the black beans and corn in the veggie patties, but all the burgers were dry. Good portion of Sweet potatoe fries. Came with a sauce that looked like thousand island. Asked server for more, but it’s $ 1 extra… why charge for more sauce??? It was very good, but I think I’ll order something else when I come back.

Vegan options that are tasty! Open late.
My go-​to is the ½ order of nachos, sub steak fries for chips, no cheese or cream. A full meal.
They have Organic Ketchup, that alone is epic!
Gotta love the Saturn Café, keep it coming you hipsters!

What better way to kick off NYE day than with a late morning visit to the Saturn Café? After all, if anything can cure a well-​earned hangover, I thought it surely must be the scrumptious veg-​friendly offerings of this Santa Cruz staple.
Seating was prompt; kombucha delivery was prompt; Cowgirl Blue burger was — you guessed it — prompt.
But beyond that point, an awkward amount of time passed without either of the wait staff checking in on us, offering the check, or propositioning a much-​needed to-​go box (perhaps French fries are *not* the cure-​all for recovering from an unknown number of rum and cokes).
We waited, and waited, and waited some more. I gazed out the window at the charmingly odd collection of Santa Cruz residents. He read his future in the bottom of his coffee mug. I flipped my debit card over and over along the edge of the table, hoping that monetary gleam might catch the preoccupied instinct of the café’s employees. Alas, an unapologetic amount of time passed. I was beginning to think we might actually ring in the new year with our asses firmly adhered to that booth’s cushions.
As you can guess, we eventually made our escape (no dine-​and-​dash needed). Even though the food was up to par, the lack of service put a moderate damper on the experience. But everyone has their «off» days, and I still love what the Saturn Café does for its community. So I’ll be back, but perhaps with a slightly lower expectation.

My experience of Saturn Café has been closer to 3.5 stars. I’ve been here twice before and both times have been underwhelmed with the food.
The first time that I visited, I ordered the Peanut Royale and recalled that it was mediocre and that the same thing at a Thai restaurant would have been significantly better. I’m not sure why I even expected a vegan/​vegetarian American comfort food place to do an Asian inspired dish well.
On my second visit, I decided to order the Cowgirl Blues Burger, which I thought was expensive for $ 12.50. My food really did not have a lot of flavor and even though it was described as spicy, it was only mild. It was also served with way too many fries, so skip ordering appetizers because you won’t have room for them.
While the booths were pretty fun and had unique table tops, I noticed that the bathrooms were no longer painted for Robots or Aliens. Why did they get rid of that?
I won’t be running back here, but I am interested in giving them another try in the future. I hope my third time here will be better than my first two experiences.