Ella’s At The Airport

Great lunch spot! Really fresh food, great prices, and fun cocktail menu. Only went once, but I’ve been dying to go back ever since.

Food — 4.5 Service — 5 Ambiance — 4
We found Ella’s through a Groupon, and were very pleased to see they offered gluten-​free selections. The waitresses were friendly and hard-​working. The food was delicious and the portions adequate. If you sit outside, please note that the chairs incline backwards, making it difficult to eat if you sit all the way back in your seat. Our only real concern was the prices seemed a bit high for a la carte food at an airport. We will try happy hour next time!

We were seated and left with menus, but no one ever returned to take our order. We waited for about 20 minutes for someone to return to our table before leaving (several servers glanced at our table but did not come by). No one made an attempt to apologize on our way out and the whole place just seemed disheveled and grumpy. The menu looked good and we wish we could’ve eaten here, but we probably won’t be returning due to the poor service.

Excellent entrees are very delicious and beautifully presented. The staff was wonderful, very friendly and charming. Easy to find location inside the Watsonville airport building. Dogs are welcome in the outside patio. Very nice!

The BEST gluten free pizza I’ve ever had! This restaurant is a welcomed addition to our neighborhood! Thanks Ella!!!

We have been here a couple of times. The food is good but the service is incredibly poor! This time, we sat for 30 minutes before our drinks were brought to us. When we asked about our drinks the host and waitress both acted like we were bothering them… incredibly poor customer service.

Aa took very good care of us! Great place atmosphere is fantastic!!! Flew in from Denver Colorado to watch our Denver Broncos play in super bowl 50!

Food is excellent. We normally have a great experience however tonight did not. Ordered a root beer, never got it. Waited forever for our food. Husband’s pizza came out 15 mins before my pork chops… My food did not come for 40 mins. Server did not check on us at all. Then when we asked for a box she told us she would bring us one and proceeded to walk past us on 4 different occasions… No box. Server was removing plates from tables, taking drinks to people, taking orders and could have easily brought us a box or check. We received neither. Finally spoke with manager who gave us 8 dollars off the check… BUT charged us for the drink we never got. What a joke. Sorry Ella’s, but you let us down tonight.

Wow. I’ve been there for drinks and apps but never looked at the menu. Just left a great dinner, had the chicken and was blown away at the sauté of kale, mushrooms, squash, chard, croutons … Oh Dear. Great service, the owner was a doll. Great pour from the bar. Good value with food to spare.
Thanks !!!

Great food. Excellent service. We sat on the patio and watched airplanes. Very fun.
My only problem was the price of their house wine. It was $ 9 a glass. I had two glasses but
if I knew the price, I would have had ice water. It’s very delicious food, with a nice atmosphere.
Great for a quick getaway from the realities of life. Enjoy!

Very difficult to reconcile the positive reviews here given the three experiences I have had at Ella’s. My first experience was actually OK, which tempts me to give two stars. But my last two experiences have been definite one star-​events, so I’m going to stick with one star, hoping the owner might be concerned enough to make some changes. We need more good restaurants in Watsonville, but sadly this is not one at this time.
My first experience was with two girlfriends meeting after work. I sat briefly at the bar until my friends arrived. The bartender was excellent, very attentive, and once we moved to a high table in the bar area, he made some good appetizer recommendations for us. Prices were good; wine selection adequate; beer selection very good; and food pretty good.
My next experience was lunch with my husband. I took him there enthusiastically after my happy hour visit. It wasn’t terribly busy but it took forever to get waited on, then once we did order, our drinks didn’t arrive for at least 20 minutes. About ten minutes later we got our lunch. Still a long time to wait for food at lunchtime. The menu seemed pretty limited and since my husband isn’t wild about paninis, there weren’t too many other choices. The service was close to the worst we have ever had. Our waitress seemed completely unfamiliar with the menu, was very slow and inattentive, and once we were finished we waited another 15 – 20 minutes for our bill before finally just going to the counter to pay. My husband swore the place off.
Today I convinced him to give it one more try, but suggested we have lunch in the bar instead. When we walked in, there were maybe three other people at the bar and a modest lunch crowd. We sat there for ten minutes, and although an apparent bartender was present, pouring drinks and retrieving food from the kitchen, she never once acknowledged us or said she would be right with us. So we left. And we won’t be back.

I’ve been following Ella’s since discovering her fabulous beef wellington in Hollister and her unbelievable wood fired pizza’s on East Lake Ave in Watsonville. Now I’m happy to report that there’s another gem of her’s to check out, «Ella’s at the airport.» Awesome for lunch with «On– the-​tarmac» like views of the aviation activity and a perfect evening dining opportunity too!
The menu is diverse and you’ll find something for everyone. The specials are always changing and she does her best to use local ingredients, produce, wines and beers. The full bar and multiple beer tap selections are probably the best in the area. Appetizers, the ABP Fire (artichoke hearts, brussel sprouts & prosciutto) with sriracha aioli is a absolutely must and for the soups, the Potato Cheddar Soup with bacon, is the best I’ve ever had. From burgers, steaks, chicken specials, salads and wood pizza’s you won’t be disappointed. Recently she installed a new clear top (tent-​like) structure with bistro bulbs for additional dinning seating. It’s a very cozy environment with first class stainless steel heaters and hip lounge furniture. You’d be doing a disservice to yourself and your loved ones if you don’t give it a try and see what others are talking about.

I am still very disappointed with the service. A friend and I arrived at 12:10 for lunch today and ordered two small salads.(Dolce Vita and Winter Salad)
It took a FULL HOUR for our food to be served. Almost 4 other tables that were seated after us got their food. When i asked the server at 1:01 where our food was she said the kitchen was backed up… Its very disappointing because we love the food there, but over a hour for 2 small salads is just ridiculous.

At last, something to bring back the romance of air travel…
Surprisingly good lounge and restaurant at the Watsonville airport. The food is fresh, well-​prepared and quite contemporary (Italian/​Californian). The patio, bar and dining room are intimate, fun and as a previous reviewer noted «medium-​classy».

I have been to Ella’s at least 10 times… consider myself a regular. We enjoy sitting outside on the patio in the summer, coming in for jazz nights, and sitting at the bar for happy hour. We bring out of town family here, too. I’m Overall, I’m thankful that there is a medium-​classy, solidly tasty restaurant so close to where we live.
I give the food a 4.5 (partly because it’s Watsonville, and there’s not that much here!) But the service gets a 3.0 at most. I weight higher for food because I can tolerate poor service – but there is some WORK to do with her staff.
Service complaints: Bring bread to the table promptly. Always give your customers silverware. Don’t clean the frickin’ table with another customer’s napkin (yes, this happened). And most of all: GET A NEW HOST. The host is a gruff old man who refuses to take names promptly, never greets with a smile, and kind of throws silverware at you. I wish I was kidding. There are 2 servers who are on their game, and a few others we have who definitely are not. Now that y’all have been open almost a year, isn’t about time to sit down and work through the kinks of the serving process and properly train your staff?
Food recommendations (dinner): Gorgonzola/​onion bread is a must (trust me). We really enjoy the coho salmon (flavorful and moist!), and the pizzas (we replace the jala salami with shrimp and I started making candied jalapeños at home, they are so good). All of the salads are creative and flavorful. I even enjoy the pasta dishes with their rich, creamy sauces (especially the cauliflower cellentani if you’re craving mac and cheese). The bar/​drinks are good (not amazing), and I like that many of the wines are local wineries that I have visited. For happy hour, the sweet potato fries (we add garlic) and aioli are decadent treats. We’ve had a couple of the desserts, which were nothing to write home about.
We’ll continue to be regulars because the food is consistently tasty. Hope to see the service improve!

Food hit the spot & server, Nicene, was patient and kind
*yelp wants longer reviews… Ain’t nobody got time for that :) So here are a couple of sentences to please the people of Unilocal who think that people need to keep reading reviews instead of getting on with their lives

We came in on a Tuesday night the place was about half full and we were greeted kindly by the nice old man at the front of the house. I ordered the shrimp and polenta which was cooked perfectly and my friend ordered the stuffed pork loin. Both were incredible and we will definitely keep coming back for more.

The food was okay but the rating is mostly
Coming from the service. Our waitress would disappear for long periods of time without checking in on us. When the food finally came, they brought me the wrong pizza. I stuck with it anyways because I did not want to wait for a new one to be made. At the end of the meal, it took at least twice as long as it should have to get our check when all we wanted to do was leave.
As far as the food goes, we got a free Gorgonzola garlic bread with the help offer and it was actually pretty good. I usually hate bleu cheese but it was not overpowering. The pizza had a good crust and the toppings were not too heavy. The burger was very good and the fries were crispy and well seasoned.
For the service alone, I would not go back.

Because it was close to home and looked good, I decided to give this place a try. Placed a to-​go order for chicken and waffles as well as a gorgonzola bread.
The chicken and waffles were interesting. It tasted ok. The mango slaw was good. Would have been better if the waffle wasn’t all soggy.
The gorgonzola bread was… a pile of goo. Whoever made it cut it into two large pieces instead of appetizer portions and then plopped it all on top of each other in the container. Bread was pretty much floating in a container of cheese.
Defiantly not impressed.
They also had a menu out that was for their other restaurant across town. They wouldn’t make anything that was on it so not quite sure why it was there.
Also a little put off when i saw a couple at the bar eating and noticed the woman pulling a hair off of her food.

Amazing place! The staff is very friendly, the food tastes great, and it is reasonably priced. Plus if you check-​in on Unilocal you get a free gorgonzola garlic bread, which is to die for! I love all the cheese and onion they put on top. The french fries are also very crispy and tasty! I recommend trying the Elijah Love pizza.
Minus 1 star because the service can be a little slow. Definitely not a good place to come to if you are in a rush, but it’s a very nice place to come and have a relaxing lunch.