Jack's Hamburgers — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Just visiting the area for the weekend and found this hidden gem - HOLY COW do I have only good things to say! My quick review? Delicious food, served by a quick and friendly staff, for an affordable price.

The Food: Fantastic. My friend and I got the Swiss Mushroom burger, my partner got the Diablo. ALL of our burgers were excellent quality. The meat had perfect texture and was free of excessive grease, meaning we walked away feeling great (not sick and bloated like other burger places leave you.) The buns were lightly toasted and retained a good "fluff." The lettuce was crisp, and the mushrooms were fresh! We shared a lemonade which also must've been freshly made, as hinted at by the pulp. I simply cannot praise the food quality enough!

The Service: Quick and friendly! There's an outdoor area with tables and benches to eat at, and the restaurant has an open window where they call out/deliver your order. (We chose to eat outside due to COVID but it looked like indoor seating was an option as well.) For us three, we waited maybe 15 minutes tops for all our burgers. Some Uber Eats/Door Dashers came by as we were waiting and they too got their orders exceptionally fast.

The Price: Incredibly affordable considering the quality. A combo meal with fries came out to be about $10 each. Compare that to other fast food places that now charge upwards of $10-$15 for a similar combo meal for significantly crappier food, and you realize how great this place is.

Jack's was truly a great find! Being from out of town, I still felt "at home" here. The weather was perfect on this specific day, so eating some tasty food outside and taking in the downtown scene was epic. If we pass through again on the way back to our hotel, we'll definitely be back...

EDIT TO POST: Jack's made this right. They explained beyond burgers took longer to cook and the regular meat burgers are ready to order and also that they were out of fresh avocado and went to New Leaf to get some just for my order. They gave me a burger and a drink to make up for the frustration felt after a friend called and talked to management. That's customer service for ya! I am happy to report that this restaurant definitely made things right for me. Thank you Jack's!

Ordered a Beyond burger w/ side of avocado. Burger was alright but the service was disappointing. I tipped $3 for a $10 burger which isn't a ton but for a single mom treating herself on a Friday it was all I could afford.

Family of 4 came in BEHIND me and all of them ordered burgers w/ fries and drinks.

I waited 20 minutes and watched the people in front of me and the family that was BEHIND me get served all of their food and drinks before the cashier even noticed I hadn't been served and then said something to his cooks. At this point I would be left with only 10 minutes to try and scarf down my lunch before returning to work.

Burger was brought out a couple minutes later w/ out avocado and wrapped to go - when I ordered it for eat in. Avocado was brought out later.

I was never offered an apology or anything. I'm hoping management can make things right for me somehow but at the very least that this highlights that my experience today was not...

I had high hopes for this place given other online reviews. Unfortunately I hated the experience, except for the food. I wanted to sit down inside, and the seats and tables were atrocious not cleaned at all, looking like they came from a thrift store's dump. It started with a line that filled all available standing space within the restaurant. I did not get a discount for upgrading the fries as part of an entree to chili cheese fries (-$1), he charged a large carte for everything. It was much more expensive than i expected. And the employee who took my order, and all of them inside, did not smile at all at make customers, but only fir the young skinny female ones. He refused to hand me my Pepsi at first, saying it's served with yhe meal, but he relented after asking 3 times. Once seated, it felt very claustrophobic as the line of people waiting to order were everywhere filling the space, right up on my chair, even using my table to lean against and rest hands on! The chili fries were nothing special, just like any other restaurant's chili fries. Because the crowd of standing customers NEVER thinned, I gobbled up my food and hi-tailed it out of there! That experience was horrible.

The ONLY bright spot was that the salmon patty burger was excellent!! I think they need to highlight it as a selling point. And they had Pepsi, which so few restaurants...