Windmill Cafe — Restaurant in Live Oak

this is the best restaurant/tea shop i've been to in Santa Cruz. Great, healthy, organic, delicious food - Dog Friendly, Outside Patio, Near the beach and badass, friendly people.

PASTRIES Firstly, they offer pastries which are both vegan and gluten-free. In reference to the foregoing - the treats are moist, full of flavor and made of 100% natural, organic ingredients. My favorite so far has been the lemon poppyseed.

MEALS The gluten-free bread is home made and comes with the vegan tofu scramble or it can be ordered on the side with any combination of things. My favorite combination is this: 1 tofu scramble AND one vegan/gluten free waffle to share with someone.

SMOOTHIES Where else can you get CACAO Powder (not cocoa) and maca, with a banana and any choice of dairy OR non-dairy milk. Yeah, here.

COFFEE-SUBSTITUTE The mill does serve chicory for anyone trying to quit coffee (me). However, they have a decent cup of drip coffee but their espresso drinks are my favorite, if I had to choose.

I don't work at the Windmill Cafe - but I do live near there (therefore, I am feasting at least 4 times a week). I'm writing this review as I'm sitting at River Cafe - having wished that I would have just driven down to my neighborhood for their espresso and a muffin. River cafe has music (a pro) but the food & drinks are average -- unless ya want a mimosa. and i don't.

go to the windmill. it's not a bike shop anymore. it's not a candy shop, either.

it's the best priced, healthiest, tastiest food in Santa Cruz - made by people who care about what you put into your body and on...

I appreciate that Windmill Cafe is trying to be very sustainable and also thoughtful about continued practices to reduce COVID-19 transmissions between customers and staff. That is the primary reason I'm giving this a 2 start review.

Otherwise, I'd give this place 1 star. The food was not good and the service was off putting. Their menu is confusing. For instance, the scramble breakfast says "2 eggs scrambled, garden greens, and toast. It came out as greens and eggs scrambled together and a piece of dry, cold toast on a paper plate. Comas would indicate to me those are separate items on the plate. I asked about this after and had to pay for more eggs to come out that weren't scrambled with greens-- there was no apology or acknowledgement of wrong doing. There was also ZERO presentation or thoughtfulness to the food. It looked thrown together like something you'd see at a campsite on a weekend outdoor adventure. There was jelly and butter smeared on the plate next to the toast (this wasn't indicated on the menu either) and I am allergic to the jelly so it made eating the toast uncomfortable as well.

Upon leaving, I was also accosted by one of the employees who made me feel like I didn't understand how to place things in compost versus recycling versus trash. She was so admitant that I was going to do it wrong that she all but inspected my plate as I put things away. It felt rude and way...

So we didn’t actually eat here . We walked up and then went back to our car and left. The purpose of this post it to save other tourists the hassle of driving here and leaving . They advertised indoor seating but they make you wait in line out side and order outside and pay before you can sit down. The inside of the cafe was basically empty with 20 people sanding in-line outside the menu is on the side with the line of people blocking it . It was written on a small chalk board and there writing was very small . So you can’t even figure out what you want to order until you get up to the register we stood there for 15 mins while it took a group of people trying figure out what they wanted to order. Then we realized there were 5 other groups of people ahead of us we would be standing there for quite a while . It seemed like a ginormous waste of time because nobody can figure out their order until they get closer to the menu. And that’s why everyone ahead of us was taking so long to order at the register. Grossly inefficient. It also looked very rundown and the building was dumpy . California is a...