Oswald Restaurant — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

We were looking for a trendy place to enjoy a nice meal as a group of 5 and Oswald fit the bill perfectly. The service was wonderful -- we appreciated that they replenished our wine, water, and delicious bread with perfect timing! Now, onto the food:

APPETIZERS We enjoyed the mushroom soup and the Dungeness crab appetizers. The only issue with our whole meal was that the Caesar salad was extremely bitter. The whole table tried it and agreed that my sister should send back her dish but she hates making a fuss at restaurants. Be warned that he Caesar salad is EXTREMELY bitter.

ENTREES

The standouts were the Crispy Duck Breast and the Ribeye Steak. The duck breast was cooked to perfection and the crispy skin was simply amazing. The Ribeye steak was also good - a very hearty plate. The mushroom bread pudding that came with the steak was one of the best savory bread puddings I have ever tried -- I think everyone at the table was fighting to get a piece. Two people at our table ordered the ribeye and finished every bite.

The Chilean Seabass was also amazing. We really enjoyed the accompanying salad frisee salad with the fried radishes as toppings. The housemade fettuccine was just okay. It was a good vegetarian dish, very hearty, but too heavy on the vegetable to noodle ratio for us. We were searching through mounds of cabbage just to find some noodles at the end.

DESSERTS

Make sure you leave some room for dessert (our table of 5 demolished three desserts). The chocolate souffle was incredible and definitely lived up to its hype. My personal favorite was the almond custard torte which was incredible paired with the vanilla ice cream. The creme brulee was also delicious.

We would definitely come back here to eat again for a nice dinner or to celebrate! It was a great atmosphere to enjoy conversation and each other's company. I usually hate when restaurants are too loud or too quiet but Oswald had the perfect balance. Unfortunately, they don't validate parking even though they are right under a large...

Despite having lived in Santa Cruz for 6 years, Oswald's was one of the only places in town that I'd never eaten at. I'm not exactly sure why not -- it's got a reputation for being one of the nicer places to eat in town for a city that doesn't do fine dining all that well. Nevertheless, being back in town for a night, I decided to stop by and finally check Oswald's off the list.

I came in with high expectations, perhaps due to the fact it was one of the few places I'd never eaten at in Santa Cruz, and it did not disappoint! I wouldn't exactly call it fancy by any stretch of the word, but it's classy by Santa Cruz standards. Its got a nice date night sort of ambience, and I really liked the vibe from the server, Janelle, who brought out a few bottles of wine to try after I asked her to surprise me with a red.

The food itself was really good. I tried the Dungeness crab appetizer and the skirt steak. The steak was cooked to perfection (medium rare), and wisely topped with blue cheese and crispy onions. I wasn't a fan of the side of potato au gratin, but luckily I had also ordered french fries which went along better.

Happy I finally went! Though I'm no longer in Santa Cruz, I can see myself coming back...

Our first visit. Good cocktails: Smoked Maple & Walnut Old Fashioned, Cosmojito and a glass of Chardonnay.

Appetizer: Caesar Salad. Good with anchovies on top, but lacked acid. It was nothing out of the ordinary. I would expect more for $21.

Entrees: Shishito Pesto Pasta was good but made with boxed pasta. For $43, we would expect the pasta to be freshly made.

Seared Scallops with Beet Risotto had a great balance of flavor, but not for $53. Scallops were done perfectly with great flavor. The beet risotto not at all resembled risotto. Risotto should be made with arborio rice and have a creamy texture. Instead, whichever rice they used, long grain possibly, was par cooked, not al dente.

Beef Lasagna was okay. I would've liked some cheese in between layers. Again, for $33, I would've expected more.

Lamb Shank was good, but Laili down the street does it better, for less. My husband was not impressed, in spite of its beautiful presentation.

Desserts: Bread Pudding & Vanilla Creme Brulee. Decent but not great.

The service was excellent. The ambiance was nice, but again, for the price, I would expect a bit more sophistication.

All four of us agreed that we will not...