The Cook House — Restaurant in Capitola

There's a review from (admittedly) a year ago or so which paralelled our experience today to a surprising degree. We waited so long for our food (not crowded at all, but there's more to what they do than I can see, I'm sure) that I almost got up to just pay for what we ordered and leave to get breakfast somewhere else. At this point, I wish I had done exactly that. When the food finally arrived it ranged from perfectly fine (not great, to be clear, but good) to a couple of things which literally made my wife say, "I don't know how they sell this." Imagine an almond waffle the thickness of a magazine which you can't cut with your fork. (No exaggeration.) We couldn't eat it. I have a lot of bad feelings about leaving a bad review after what everyone has been through in our country, but in over 20 years of visiting Santa Cruz (every year), I've never had such a disappointing eating experience. Not even close. To a person, everyone there seemed like "good people," but to not apologize or even acknowledge our situation was striking. I asked, when requesting our check, "Would you say our experience was typical for 'The Cook House'?" The woman's response was, "Well, I don't know. There were a lot of to go orders that came in when you were here." And, that's it....

I am a fair and reasonable person who gives others the benefit of the doubt and don't mind waiting. However today was probably the worst service I have gotten in 10+ plus years. I think the root of the issue is that it is poorly managed. We had to ask for menus because after telling us to have a seat they never gave us any. We had to ask 3 times to get water, while we watched other tables be brought water and other drinks. The two waitresses clearly had tension making it uncomfortable, and had difficulty communicating. At the end of the day, if they are going to expand their seating to be outside they need to double their staff. Our food came cold and took almost an hour after we sat down. The staff is clearly overworked and unable to manage the amount of people. At the very least they need to provide wait times and take names down as...

Wife and I went to the cook house last Sunday 12/8/24 and had great experience there, As we walked in we were greeted by the staff and seated at the bar right away. They had our drinks to us within minutes of sitting down. The owner/waitress came over and took our order very quickly. We were impressed with her, She had a packed house and still was smiling and talking to everyone there. She knows 90% off the customers walking through the door and made it feel like I was apart of a Cheers episode. Now when the food came out it was so yummy. My wife and I are now gonna choose this establishment over anything else in town. Total family vide here. Thank...