Alderwood Santa Cruz

The restaurant serves delicious food made with top-notch ingredients. The dishes are beautifully presented but not overly fancy. There's a diverse selection on the menu, catering to all budgets with options ranging from casual burgers and fries to upscale offerings like dry aged ribeye. The menu is regularly updated, offering new dishes to try. They also offer a happy hour until 6pm. The service is excellent and the staff is friendly. dine-in option is available.

The food at this restaurant is delicious, but the service is extremely poor. The waitress completely ignored us, leaving our water glasses empty for half an hour. It also took her half an hour to bring us a to-go box, even though the restaurant was not busy. Very disappointing experience. Service: Inattentive Meal type: Dinner

This was our second visit to Alderwood. Our first visit was during the pandemic, so we were curious to see what had changed since then. One thing that stood out to us was the generous portion sizes. We probably should have shared a starter and main instead of ordering one of each, along with sides. We began with a bottle of Paul Bara grand cru rosé champagne, which had a slight tartness but was highly recommended. I ordered the parmesan popover and my husband got the avocado for starters. The popovers were huge and came deconstructed, while the avocado was tasty and well-sized. For mains, I had the 8oz fillet with Hen of the Woods, which was cooked perfectly. The mushroom side dish was surprisingly delicious. My husband, being from Maine, ordered the diver scallops but found them average. His broccoli and pepper side lacked flavor. We skipped dessert due to the generous portions. A colleague who frequents Santa Cruz said Alderwood's burger is one of the few she eats each year due to how much she enjoys it. Although there were some initial hiccups with service, the rest of the evening went smoothly. Overall, if you're in Santa Cruz, it would be a mistake not to dine at Alderwood.

Definitely a top quality restaurant, food is amazing. Drinks are great with lots of amazing cocktails mixes to choose from . Their bartenders and wait staff are very knowledgeable and experienced. Menu is filled with amazing/interesting dishes. My only complaint is the prices , a steak meal starts at $145 leaving you with a $500 check for 2 having a good night out . Worth the money but still. Service: Dine in

Our second time at Alderwood. The first was during the pandemic period, so we wanted to come back and see what might be different since we were in town for the weekend. One thing I noticed is that the portion sizes were HUGE. I we likely should have only ordered one starter and one main instead of one each and then sides for our main. We started with a bottle of Paul Bara grand cru rosé champagne. It had a little tartness to it but lovely bottle, highly recommend. For starters, I got the parmesan popover and my hubby got the avocado. The popovers were gigantic, and I got three, and it was a deconstructed sort of finish with items to assemble overall, it was tasty but not amazing, would likely not get this one again. My hubby's avocado was very tasty and he gave it an 8 out of 10, and a little on the smaller side, with it being a half an avocado (which was perfect as a starter for portion size). For mains, I did the 8oz fillet accompanied by the Hen of the Woods side. The fillet was perfectly done. Highly recommend. The Hen of the Woods had me concerned but it was one of the dishes that made them a known name, so I rolled with it. It did NOT disappoint. Wow, who knew that mushrooms and maple could go together? Highly recommend this side dish. My hubby, as a Mainer, ordered the diver scallops from Maine. He gave it a 7 out of 10 and said he would have likely picked something else. It was ok, but nothing exciting that made it memorable. His side was the broccoli and peppers. It was a substantial portion but didn't have a pop with flavor in any way. We passed on dessert because everything was so big and filling lol! My colleague who is in Santa Cruz a lot stated that she only eats a burger about 3x per year, and Alderwood's is one that she's make one of her three (she likes it that much). I saw it go by and it did look amazing. Service was a little wonky at seating. And initial communication as the server made a lot of odd assumptions and interrupted us several times. We just smiled and rolled with it, but candidly was a bit strange. Things improved after that and the rest of the evening was great. If you're in Santa Cruz, you'd be an idiot not to make a stop here.