Johnny's Harborside — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Sorry, I typically dont leave bad reviews, and this is the second time we visit this restaurant for dinner. Had somewhat bad experience this time for the following points: (Just as a reference, we paid a total of around $115 for two below average sized person).

We ordered 12 raw oysters. we love oyster and had them at so many different places. The night after this dinner, both me and wife had diarrhea. For this one day road trip, we had early lunch at burger at popeye. Since we had different items from popeyes, its very unlikely it was the caused by the burger given the timing and identical symptoms.

We ordered the 10oz new york stripe steak to share. It was nice the waitress asked if we would like the steak to be cut in half and serve on two plates for sharing. We appreciated the consideration and agreed. only to find out on the bill at the end that there was a $7 charge for this “premium” service. To be honest, we had this “steak share service” at many many restaurants. Not to say that a restaurant rarely charge for it, if they did, they told us the extra charge.

The waitress kept asking if we need anything else. Including asking if we need to ass mushroom on the steak. we got a little bit alert and checked if there is extra charge. We declined since we already ordered sufficient food for us. In the end, after we ordered the main entree, the waitress asked again, do you want to start with bread with garlic? again, not notifying it has extra charges. If I remember correctly, this “ garlic bread” is not even on the menu, I dont remember the name of this item in the bill though. A lot of restaurants offer this kind of free starter bread, especially for a $30-50 level restaurant. So we agreed. We agreed partially because we declined a lot of “recommendations” from the waitress, so it felt kind of embarrassing to decline again. So, in the end, this item showed up in the bill, called something like “garlic bread” or something at about $7 or $9.

May be, if the restaurant owner see this review, he/she could post the bill here? my card is ending in *647. Btw, There are two waitresses, one of them seemed a lot nicer with smiles and walked around checking on customer needs. but not the one who was serving us unfortunately. The eye contact gave us a feeling of loneliness for some reason. Weird….

Today is the second day, both me and my wife are still under mild diarrhea. And I decided to leave this review in the bathroom in the midnight lol.

But I should also say the positive:

The view from the restaurant was great. Second floor view and we watch fishing boat unloading finishes.

the oysters tasted ok. not the best compares to the ones we had from east coast, but are good compared to other west coast oyster.

the steak is cook well to the medium hardness, so, skillful chef!

So, given this experience, we might give this restaurant another try next time as long as people are aware of the extra charges, and of course hope the oyster wont cause diarrhea again.

Hi restaurant owner, I am sorry I decided to leave this review. I really appreciate it if you actually read through all this. This restaurant has great food and unique location. I am pretty sure this restaurant can be more amazing and enjoyable with some tiny touch improvements....

Tonight was such a very unfortunate experience. It has been over a decade since having a good experience at Johnny's but we read that it had new ownership and hwad chef, so being to foodies we are, we had to give it another shot. The food was good, not great. I do want to mention this was their Taco Tuesday so it was not their regular menu. It did have a few items from their regular menu however. The tacos were all cooked well and a la carte style. We tried Birria, lamb, diver scallop and tempura halibut. The halibut was the most favorable, though none of the 4 disappointed. Unfortunately our night was not enjoyable due to our service. We had ordered all our items and though they came out one by one by one (very odd mind you) it was fine. After having pur tacos we waited for a calamari. When it never came and our server finally stopped by, asking if we'd have anything else, it was then that we knew our calamari order was never placed. Our server immediately admitted she forgot. Thats fine, errors happen and I appreciate so much that was quick to admit to the error. I asked if it'd be long and she said it would be quite quick since its the quickest item out. 15min went by and nothing. She stopped by and said it'd be out in 3mins. At 20 mins later I asked for the bill and said to forget the calamari, that 20min after our meal was finished is no good. Here's where I was shocked. Our server then responded "well we are quite busy now!" And then left to get the bill. She returned, handed us the bill and said "have a good night". Before she left i simply said, "I do understand its busy now, but this was placed an hour ago with our meal as an appetizer" to what she responded to "yes, sorry for forgetting" and left. Again, errors happen, accidents happen, etc and I am absolutely not ao severe to think that is unacceptable. I am, however, so surprised that it was dismissed with absolutely no concern or effort to "make good". Not even the smallest gesture like "let me get you both a drink on us while I go make sure your calamari comes out!" or even "I am so sorry, let me at least bag it up so you have it and ill take it off the bill for the error". It just felt dismissive as nothing to be concerned with. We were just very disappointed. I was really hoping Johnny's business change would bring another "hot spot" back to Santa Cruz for a Must Visit spot. Unfortunately that is not...

I have been a patron of Johnnie 's Harborside since my work boss introduced me to the restaurant several years ago. I usually drop between 1-3 hundred $ per visit, I have treated many visitors, knowing it will be a good experience. Well, not tonight. I ordered a half crab, it was on the blackboard as 'fresh local crab' and it arrived first, without a claw leg, and I complained. Claws are my favorite bite. A half a crab includes a claw leg, i am paying for it. There were black rims around the leg junctures where it met the body, I thought it may be due to a certain kind of 'boil'. I opened and ate one crab leg section. It was okay. The manager brought me another small crab leg, it still was NOT a claw leg. Then I broke open the body, only to find a warm translucent mush, instead of firm, opague, flakey crabmeat. I complained again, and was told there was a two-boil process that occurs to a crab by the time it arrived on your dinner plate, (I have eaten enough crab for five human lives, in many different places, i know the common practices) and the crab apparently looked edible according to the manager. The manager offered to boil the meat some more. I indicated I had no interest in that progress, in my mind, if that crab had gone through a two boil process and arrived at my table in the state it was in, they were serving me a rotten crab. While my daughter's main meal was adequate, mine was horrendous. I won't be patronizing this restaurant again for a long time. I know my way about crab, and that rotten crab was the worst I have ever been served, and for a premium price. Perhaps the staff should taste and eat good and bad crab so they know the...