Ivéta Downtown — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Ugghhhh....SO wanted this to be awesome like the westside location, but it really missed the mark.

Came for the first time today with my mom for lunch. They did a beautiful job with the decor...clean, minimal, modern euro cafe feel. First disappointment was they were out of diet coke (how hard is it to have someone run to the store??), didn't have ice tea, only hot tea. Only 2 different types of tea....really? There was only one other table there when we sat, but the food still took forever, and came out at all different times.

Mom ordered the Italian wedding soup, she said it was good. She also had the citronette salad, she said pretty flavorless. I ordered the brussels sprouts salad, served warm, it was good. I also ordered the burger, and laughed out loud when she set it in front of me. It was very small, like they put a kids burger on a regular bun, and despite the waitress asking me how I wanted it cooked (medium), it came out very well done. I let the waitress know that it was way over cooked, and the kitchen offered to make a new one, but we just didn't have time to wait even longer. I ate a quarter of it but that was all I could muster. I figured it'd be taken off the bill, like any other restaurant would do to make up for the poor food experience, but no...$17 for an inedible hockey puck.

The entire bill was $67, and I know inflation/everything more expensive, yada yada....it just really seems like a ridiculous amount for lunch with no alcohol. Server was sweet, but not very efficient, and service was a bit awkward. I thought maybe it was all because they are just newly open, and needed more time to work out the kinks in ordering/cooking/work flow, but server said they've been open for 45 days or so....! Overall, incredibly disappointing, and we will not be back. I will continue to patronize the westside store for now. Not sure if its a different team running this new location, but there is a LOT of room for...

We decided to finally try the new downtown iveta location. The owner also owns the campus and westside location. It is a hit or miss with those locations because the campus is just a quick grab and go place for students so you cant expect too high quality food because of that. The west side location we frequent often(twice a week at least on our bike rides). This was a complete failure from what we expected. We read two articles written on this place and expected high end food in a casual place as they said. There is nothing high end about this food. The burger was so small on a large bun. Overcooked when I asked for Medium Rare and it was cooked all the way gray. The siracha kale salad was a bust. The only thing we tried that was okay was the Brussel sprouts but it doesn't even stand out. It was a shame because we expected some good food in such a nice location. The front of house is also inconsistent, they seemed untrained and had to go back in the kitchen to get answers for our questions. I wanted to give them a benefit of doubt because they are just opened but i found out they been opened for almost 2 months now. Gave them 2 stars because i know they can do better. Its more leaning towards 1 star then 3. Will come back in a few months hoping...

1st visit: Hands down the best new restaurant in Santa Cruz today. Had the short rib that was new on the menu they said. Really tasty. They are truly seasonal with the parsnip which is rarely done in town. Service was wonderful with Darlene and Michelle? I think it was. Great wine selection. The must tries are the beautiful burrata, mushroom risotto, Brussels sprout with honey glaze, sea bass, and short rib. looking forward to return.

2nd visit: I originally posted a 5 star review because the food was excellent, timing was good, and service was superb. after coming back for lunch the quality has gone down dramatically. Not sure what they are doing maybe fixing costs but the food is terrible now. Italian wedding soup? really they literally just precook soup and heat it up and serve it. Looked terrible and tasted even worst. Citrus salad had no flavor but citrus.. really. add some salt in the dressing or the salad at least or pepper. It was terrible and it looked like it was just thrown on the plate. They are known for their unique foods and amazing platings but it has all changed. I dont understand how after 2 weeks between visits it can be this terrible. Not coming back unless they...