Heavenly Roadside Café — Restaurant in Scotts Valley

Clean, good service, C+ food Date/time of visit: Sunday, June 2, 2019, 8:30 am, immediate seating. Highs/lows: Cleanliness throughout from parking lot, to dining rooms, to restrooms was excellent. Service from hostess through bus-person coffee refills, to waitperson order taken and delivered was cordial and quick, though inexperienced as noted below. Food was not as described in the menu, not well prepped, and partially overcooked, but not so bad to be sent back. Price was in line with comparable restaurants in the area. Details: The hostess, who became my server, first wanted to seat me at a four-top facing the wait area. I declined and chose a two-top in the smaller dining room. I realized when I left that if I had taken the seat first offered, I would have been looking at hungry patrons in a line out the door staring at me and wondering when that single guy at a four-person table was going to stop being so selfish and give that big table up. The table I took overlooked a tree-shaded hillside with a large propane tank and two orange plastic trash bags very visible. A window ninety degrees adjacent to me had a much nicer view, but the table space was obstructed by a sofa and coffee table that could have been swapped for my (or another, maybe larger?) service table. Aside from the above-mentioned exceptions, the service was friendly, orderly, and quick. I ordered an omelet, but got a frittata. Although both are very similar, basic American omelets are beaten or whipped eggs cooked until almost done, then folded over a filling that characterizes the style, then topped (or not) with additional ingredient(s). A frittata is beaten eggs with the main ingredients cooked into the eggs, then folded (or not) and topped (or not) with additional ingredient(s). My “Greek” frittata was served with three large clumps of spinach that were neither chopped up enough, nor spread evenly through it, with unpeeled diced tomatoes that became separated bits of tomato and skin, and un-rinsed black olive circles that over announced themselves when chomped down on. It was topped with crumbles of feta cheese. The outside of the eggs was overcooked--light browning and hard surfaces--while the inside was just-passably undercooked. On the plate with the entree were their roadside potatoes (wedges/pieces) fried in a sparse semi-spicy sauce and a bread choice. I chose the homemade biscuit, which was on-spec tasty. No garnish, so less presentation points. This was my second visit. The first was four months ago on a weekday in mid-morning. That experience was good in all respects, though not exceptional, which in the restaurant biz is usually not a bad thing. Food service should be at minimum good, but hopefully never bad. This second visit was a disappointment. Will go again to break the tie. My creds: over 30 years of restaurant and full bar experience from pots/pans washer to corporate management in one-off, family owned businesses, to high-end entertainment venues, to international fast-food and full-service restaurant chains. Nevertheless, the real bottom line will always be, “De gustibus non...

I am part of a group of half a dozen old codger walkers that finally caught up with owners Marti, Danny and daughter, Isabella—who used to own a great restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz.

We really love the owners, their well trained and friendly staff and how they revived an iconic restaurant on Mount Hermon Road.

Yesterday, after a hike at Henry Cowell’s Redwoods State Park, I had the lox scramble served with with cream cheese, green onions and love, all mixed in. My 75 year old friend Jack (I am a spry 80) is from New York City and we almost always order this dish and we talk of his dad and he eating at the iconic Lower East Side NYC places 60+ years past. Jack regularly orders from Katz’s Deli, Russ and Daughters and Yonah Schimmel’s to satisfy memories. We like the lox scrambled softly, but with the potatoes cooked well, blackened. Tell the servers what you want and they will gladly accommodate you. Yesterday, there was the special chocolate waffle, served with ample numbers of raspberries and whipped cream, served with plentiful amounts of whipped cream—and real maple syrup. So we had our savory breakfast and the special sweet dessert. We have all lived a long time and can eat a hearty breakfast with an out of this world special dessert if we like.

This place lives up to its...

Thursday is hiking day. My uncle and I went to Big Basin because he thought he'd read that they'd opened. We got there only to find they were closed. So we just went on a tour of the area since I'd never been to any of the surrounding cities before.

For lunch, we went to Heavenly Roadside Café because my uncle had been there before. We ate inside, but they do have outdoor dining (and the view is LOVELY). He had ham and eggs, and the plate was FILLED with ham, eggs, and very appetizing-looking potatoes! (My uncle was gobsmacked because he received THREE very large slices of ham.) Seriously, the portion sizes were ample.

I decided to order the Chinese Chicken Salad because I haven't had one in a long time. And this one didn't disappoint. It was packed with peanuts and topped with pickled ginger, which was a surprise ingredient but actually made it a very unique Chinese salad. The sesame dressing was exquisite. Oh, the salad also came with a large triangle that, I think, was a fried wonton. Anyhow, I broke it into pieces and gave my salad a little extra crunch (along with the lettuce crunch).

By the way, our waitress was Kelly, and she was great.

I recommend the Café if you happen to be...