Trestles Restaurant — Restaurant in Capitola

To be honest, I was disappointed. The menu was extremely small, maybe four or five entrees. I will be the first to admit that I am a slightly picky eater, but I almost always find something at any restaurant. None of the options sounded good to me. At the table we ordered the fish taco starters, pork chop, halibut and the prime steak. The fish tacos were good, but tiny. The same was true with the other dishes except the steak. The pork chop was cooked well, but half of it was fat, so it was not filling at all. The beans did not make sense for the dish either. The beans were good, but didn’t make sense to me with the sauce and seasoning the pork chop had. The halibut was good, but small, wasn’t filling. Another thing to note is that they don’t have a liquor license. They only have wine and beer and mocktails that are edited to be low proof. It was extremely loud in the restaurant and hard to hear the people at my table. The servers were super nice, no complaints about them. The only complaint I have about the service is that I called them an hour before our reservation to let them know we were celebrating a birthday. They said that’s great and they will make a note of it. There was no mention of the birthday at all. They had chocolate mousse but only for purchase, and no birthday surprise. Personally, I thought that was lame because most places have free dessert for the birthday person or at least sing happy birthday, but there was nothing. Also, more expensive than the food was worth in my opinion, I felt like they tried too hard to make each dish seem fancy to justify a...

We had made early Thursday dinner reservations for our 43 anniversary. As locals, we had wanted to visit this restaurant to see what the rave was all about. The atmosphere is clean, modern, comfortable-but small. Thankfully, we made early arrangements, as it tends to get loud as the tables became populated. When we arrived we were pointed to our table. Apparently the table where we took a sit was the wrong table, so we were asked to move. The restaurant had only been open an hour, so the restaurant was pretty much vacant. When our waiter arrived he informed us of the fresh fish was Halibut for the evening special. When the waiter returned we ordered a half set of oysters and our drinks. It took a while to get anything to the table, which was pretty surprising considering he only had one other table. Upon delivery of the oysters we both decided to order the pork belly with scallops, a fan favorite. Again, no one came by to check on us, let us know of a delay, refill our drinks..nothing. When the plates arrive the presentation was sloppy!! I plate better at home than this chef. (Pictures attached- left is what we was served-right is what others posted/website) The waiter dropped, left without asking us if we wanted another drink or a refill on water or tea? Nothing! The food was tasty, just poorly presented. I want to say that the waiter and the chef were just having a bad night. Certainly, a price point per serving needs to come with a bit more care in preparations and service. Probably won’t be recommending this place...

I was pre-disposed to like Trestles because the owner grew up with my sons here in Santa Cruz, and I know he has a great background of experience working in the business in Napa. What was so great is that it exceeded all my expectations and we had a memorable dinner here. We tried as much as we could possibly eat and every time they brought the next thing, we loved whatever it was more than the last thing we had. Starting with the fantastic Tuna tartar, and Pork Belly appetizers and on to the beet salad and the heirloom tomato salad, we oohed and awed and shared every bite around our table. Then the entree's came and we were equally pleased. My wife loved the halibut and I loved the prime grade New York steak. Rarely do you get this quality anywhere else, and Trestles sure didn't miss a beat with us. And as mentioned by other viewers the french fries done with truffle oil and parmesan cheese on top was special. We didn't have desert as there was just no room left, but I did get the fresh street corn with my meal and it was to die for as well. Roasted and served with lime and cheese on top, and I couldn't get enough...., which is how we felt about everything here. Which just makes it so we can't wait to return for another special meal soon! Top marks for this great new restaurant...