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Ideal Bar & Grill

United States California Santa CruzIdeal Bar & Grill

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Bustling room & bar with American entrees including steamed clams plus cocktails such as margaritas.

Description

Bustling room & bar with American entrees including steamed clams plus cocktails such as margaritas.

Posts

Been here twice, its the best place for drinks I've found at the boardwalk by the Beach. I ordered a breakfast item this time around, no picture sorry, but it was the Organic Acai Bowl. Very refreshing on what was a hot day. My guest ordered the Heuvos Ranchero. Accompanying my snack was of course my favorite hobby! Drinks baby! I ordered a Tropical Mimosa to start, followed by an El Presidente with an extra shot of Don Julio Blanco (no picture unfortunately) and topped of with an Aperol Spritz and a Malibu Planters Punch. The Mimosa, as expected, was just exceptional... incase you haven't notice the trend I lean largely in favor towards Mimosas. The El Presidente was a delicious opposite of "woah wake up" time strong. Next time I won't add a second shot and may be able to finish it faster. Aperol Spritz was a weird one. I don't know if I can say I liked it or not but I personally know it was not a drink I would normally order anyways The Malibu Planters Punch was a tad bit stronger than my usually rum and coke type drinks but I think at this point the bartender was challenging me and I do love when they challenge me. Remember, 3 of 5 isn't bad. I did not have a bad experience I just feel like it could have been better. Getting seated was fast, being served was not. Our Waitress always had a smile on her face and was very energetic and optimistic but even she was surprised on at least two occasion when she came over and saw I was still missing my drink. The Heuvo Ranchero was weird, I would suggest leaving the tortilla to the side instead of buried under the entre entirely and include salsa for this Latin dish please. Otherwise, yea, I'm coming back baby!

Shaun MorganShaun Morgan

10

I've been here twice. This review is about the service this time, not the food. Both times I had the clam chowder and bread bowl and it is good. I dine alone when out on an excursion and this is the first time a waiter made me feel like I was a waste of his time. My thoughts are because I didn't order a big meal and was alone that meant he wasn't getting a big tip. I was saving room for dessert, however he never asked if I wanted dessert, just brought me the bill. At that point I decided not to order dessert anyway. Earlier my water was out, and my coffee was almost out. I was right across from the station where the water and coffee are. He filled a pitcher twice, thinking he was going to bring water, but no, he went to a table of 4 who had just received all their drinks and ordered and he topped off their waters while my glass was empty. He did it a 2nd time for another table of 4. Then he grabbed the coffee pot so I thought sure he was coming to my table. Nope went somewhere else with it. I still left a 20% tip, and that's on the total. I don't take the tax off to calculate the tip. Because I am aware that people in the service industry rely on tips, when I do dine alone, I usually leave closer to a 40% tip, and i have been known to leave over 50% for great service. I wish now I had left 15% instead, that would have still been more than he deserved. The name on the receipt looks like it's Correll B. 8-5-17 around 6:04 is when the receipt was printed. I hope he sees this and realizes how his actions were perceived.

Brian CataniaBrian Catania

10

Good food, professional service, excellent location, premium prices really this is a fine restaurant, nearly ideal, except for this ridiculous fine print at the bottom of the menu "we will charge an additional 4% to the prices listed above because those awful Democrats who run the state of California have in recent years forced us to pay our staff decently and we just have a really really bad attitude about that." Dude, you are charging over $20 per entre. Round the prices up and stop whining about how difficult the restaurant business is when you're required to pay your staff. I came for a nice meal. Charge me a nice price up front. If I want to pay a layer cake of fees for labor exploitation they have those meal delivery services for that. That's not a business you need compete with. Seriously, look at the bill! "That will be $150 and then a $6 surcharge because Governor Brown forces us to pay the workers and we just can't bring ourselves to charge more than $26.95 for Clams and Fettuccine."

Daniel HowardDaniel Howard

00

We were here on Memorial Day for a late lunch and they were very busy! (no surprise there) We waited a short period and walked on the beach - They text you when your table is ready which I love. The server was prompt and so nice and helpful when suggesting drinks. The slushie/frozen drink is delicious btw (and you can get it To-Go) While we were there we saw a disheveled, 1 legged pigeon with the most beautiful eyes. We were feeling so sad for this little guy and then the waiter informed us that he is sort of a ‘regular’ and they consider him their mascot! His name is chowder and he is very well taken care of and he even has a girlfriend named shiny who is all white. It was a heart warming and fun part of our lunch and we will forever remember that experience. The photo is actually from the people mover ride, we were having so much fun that we didn't even get any photos. Oh and the food was good! The garlic fries were extra extra garlicy and delicious.

Jonah RyanJonah Ryan

00

We ordered the ceviche, clam chowder, fettuccine Alfredo and stuffed salmon. We also ordered the bacon bloody Mary, rum punch and some drink that had tequila and champagne. That drink and the rum punch was pretty good, the bacon bloody Mary wasn't that good, didn't even finish it kind of left stomach turning. The ceviche was really good though, if I went back I'd order that again. I also enjoyed the clam chowder, it had a good consistently and a good amount of clams and potatoes. The stuffed salmon was okay, i felt like it lacked flavor and salt in my opinion, i wouldn't order that again, but the carrots that came with it were really good..one word of advice, you have to ask for everything condiments wise, salt, pepper, hot sauce, napkins etc, they don't just offer you those condiments so make sure you ask for them if you need them

Jackie MaldonadoJackie Maldonado

00

Thank you for serving great New England clam chowder WITHOUT bacon! What a relief to find a chef that can cook without bacon. The price of $10 chunky chowder was a great price. You will need to add black and some salt to the chowder to make it “pop”. My nephew ordered the baby back ribs and loved them. I was teasing him about coming to a restaurant near the water to order baby back ribs but he loves the ribs and the ambiance of viewing the water. The French fries were good and we order them as a fast appetizer since there was no bread provided complementary and we were hungry…lol . Oh yeah .. free refills with the tea!! The service was great from the hostess to the server.

D FD F

00

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Overview

4

(1.3K reviews)$$

Phone

+1 831-423-5271

Call

Website

idealbarandgrill.com

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