Food Lounge — Attraction in Santa Cruz

First, it’s no longer the Food Lounge & hasn’t been for 5 years ! Not sure why Google Maps thinks it’s still the Food Lounge but ~ anyway it’s 11th HOUR COFFEE & they Always ROCK ! It’s in the Santa Cruz Art Center @ 1001 Center St in old India Joze space (where I used to work for Joseph & India Joze !) they’ve done a great job with a space and it’s always full of people using the Internet, hanging out, building Community & getting great Food + Drinks & yes, they do sell JOZE CHAI ! [Notes from the Front Line] FYI :: 11th Hour Chai is NOT CAFFEINATED ! so if you want caffeine in it you gotta ASK FOR a SHOT of BLACK TEA in it ! And if you WANT a more ROBUST CHAI FLAVOR ask for another pump of Joze Chai concentrate in it ! If customers keep asking: 11th Hour may get the message ! But they...

Shoyu tonkotsu ramen was quite good! The outside seating area is nice and the food was good. It’s worth the wait. It’s first come first serve, order at the counter pop up as one should expect. If you’re a group of 3 or 4 be prepared to wait 20min to order. You will be given pager which will notify you when your order is ready. There is also open seating so keep an eye out for an open spot as you wait for your order. Depending on how busy they are it could be another 20min before you see your food. There are only a few servers so I’d recommend ordering two drinks for oneself prior to receiving your food. Overall, a nice way to spend a night in and around...

I love the atmosphere at the food lounge, and I go there often for various events and pop-ups. Like all pop-ups, some are frustrating and some are out-of-this-world fantastic.

The food lounge isn't a restaurant, or a bar, but you can often get both food and drink (beer, wine and the hard stuff) here. Many of the up-and-comers of the Santa Cruz foodie scene pass through the food lounge, so if you want to be part of the in-crowd, go...