The Crêpe Place — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

Award Winning Clam Chowder Soup?! Not at this bar/restaurant. In fact, I didn't find anything award winning or noteworthy about this place.

I was in Santa Cruz, last minute on a Sunday afternoon. And after I ran an errand that took more time than was supposed to, getting something to eat was ideal and necessary.

Found this place on google, (yup, dumb enough to pay attention to the "Award Winning Review" about their clam chowder) it seemed like a decent place, but after receiving really bad service for a bowl of clam chowder soup and a ginger beer, it turned out to not be such a good idea.

On google, the hours were till 7pm, I arrived at 6:30pm, was told it was ok to sit in the bar & would be served. And that the restaurant was closed.

Error #1 ~ I had to ask for a menu after waiting for a good 10-15 minutes

Error #2 ~ Nobody came to take my order, I had to walk over to the bar myself to remind the bartender, I existed.

Error #3 I ordered the "Award Winning" Clam chowder soup which ended up being really salty and not at all worth the visit

Error #4 I also ordered a ginger beer, which ended up being 93% ice & 7% ginger beer in a short glass

Error #5 - When I was ready to pay and leave, I had to walk over to the kitchen and ask for the bill, then I had to walk over to the bar to pay. Nobody came to pick up my bill.

If anything, no tip should have been given being that I did all the work, except for making the food and the bartender bringing my whole order to my table. (A ginger beer and a bowl of clam chowder soup ~ it was really difficult). 🙄

But, like an idiot I still was kind and tipped the bartender, who seemed to forget I was present until I put myself in front of him ~ TWICE.

What's really sad, is the place isn't that big, to overlook anyone sitting and waiting to be served, ESPECIALLY when the bartender said to sit anywhere and he would take care of me. But the bartender did not take care of me, he ignored and forgot I was waiting. The bartender was just too busy with cleaning glasses or 'something else', that made it not important to pay attention to his customers. There was only a handful of customers in the bar area, around 9 customers.

Too expensive for the lack of service and lack of good tasting food, a return visit won't happen!

*The restaurant must have had an off day, cause all the previous reviews, rave about it. But the day I went, the back patio & main restaurant was closed and only the front bar area was open. But the (patio/garden) pictures for the google listing make the back restaurant look like a pleasant experience could happen. It's too bad, I didn't get to have a good experience, as I'm not in Santa Cruz often and was really looking forward to having a hearty bowl of clam chowder soup.

And for those who know me, if I find something I really enjoy, I'll make the trek just to have it. It's too bad, I won't be returning for poor service, poor quality of food and poor environment. Not inviting at all.

There was a cool artistic phrase painted on a wall, across the street from the bar, the only...

Food is great! The waitress was AWFUL, meanwhile the water girl was awesome. Considering how bad this waitress was, I'm not sure if she's still around.

This happened a while ago, but I wanted to write a review because I still remember how terrible this service was and funny in retrospect. It's the worst customer service I've ever received. Long story, but, good god was it outrageous.

A friend and I stopped in to get some crepes one night after hearing the good things about the place. We are polite, kind of shy and unassuming female students. The place wasn't very busy. I wasn't sure what to get, so I politely asked the waitress for her opinion. She scoffed and gave me a look, saying "I don't have all night to explain" or something to that effect. I was shocked at the complete disrespect to my face, so I just ordered something to diffuse the situation.

Waitress never checked on us. The water girl came by many times, doing a better job of waitressing than the waitress did. The waitress stopped by at the table next to us, completely ignoring us, talking loudly and chatting with the people who she seemed to know. She couldn't explain one item on the menu, but she was talking to them for a good ten to fifteen minutes...?? My friend and I were flabbergasted that she had the nerve to do that in front of us while totally ignoring our table and not giving us our food.

About 30 mins go by of us sitting without food. The water girl had to get the waitresses' attention to give us our food. Waitress huffed and finally dropped it off at our table before going back to the other table to talk again. Never checked on us, nothing. We didn't complain, but water girl took notice of our situation and profusely apologized for the waitresses' behavior.

The nail in the coffin is this next part. Waitress was good at getting the money, because she swiped the checkbook up quickly without a word. When we really wanted to leave, because it's been WELL over an hour at this point, with having to wait for the food and the check.... When in reality, we could have been finished in 45 mins. Waitress went back over to that other table when she was finished processing it. She started blabbering again!!!

The water girl noticed her talking on and on with our credit cards in her hand, and us silently waiting for it.. wondering if we should get up and take it from her. (But again, like polite people, we didn't want to be rude and cause a scene.) Water girl took the initiative and had to FORCEFULLY TUG IT AWAY FROM HER HAND. She was so busy chattering she didn't even realize she had VICEGRIP on that checkbook and a job to do!! Afterwards, he didn't even care when the water girl took it from her hand. What the heck.

Water girl got the tip, not the waitress. Waitress, I really hope you're doing your job properly these days. It's really a problem when your water girl is a better waitress than...

One of the prettiest places I've been to in a while, this was quite a surprise find. The result of a tired scroll through yelp to remedy a mediocre evening wading amidst crowds on the Santa Cruz boardwalk. We were distracted for a moment by the massive and bustling Italian kitchen on the street corner, arguably among the largest dining areas I've seen in California. Boy, would we have missed something if we'd gotten in there! The Crepe Place had loud live music blaring from inside. We waited while the bouncer said somebody else would help seat diners. (You answer if you're here for the show or dinner to get in). My husband's expression turned questionable, mirroring my thoughts. I suggested that we could head back to the Italian place If this seemed disappointing. The music was incredibly loud and dinner seating, invisible. By this time, another lady signaled us to follow her, only to find ourselves walking through a small residential wooden entrance, past dozens of small cylinders in an ill-lit pathway. In a way I was relieved because we got away from the loud music with tons of people standing. This seeming-dark-path-to-nowhere opened into the prettiest patio, with greenery contrasting beautifully with wooden tables and outdoor heaters. String lights and wooden furniture that were all different from each other, not the plastic precision of most modern restaurants. A room leading up also offered alternative seating, refuge from the cold, and filled choc-a-black with another worldly 80's parlor charm. Don't miss the bread loaf that comes steaming, fresh, and with a knife stuck right through it on a wooden platter. It's one of the best honey-wheat bread you'll ever have. We went with the dinner option with the soup & salad, the works. I had a clear mushroom soup, Zorba the Greek crepe, and the Mama Mia crepe. We requested for replacing eggs & mushrooms with a few other options, but unfortunately had one of them land on the table with the mushroom. Given that my husband doesn't eat mushroom, that was a bit of a bummer. But we rolled with it regardless. Bad days and small mistakes can't be penalized! The soup is one of the best I've had and the crepes are MASSIVE. The Mama Mia was incredible, but the Zorba was meh. All diners can go watch the show in the adjoining room post dinner, which is a perk. But the small non-perk is the kind of music, if you're not into it. The music is too darn loud for the beautiful setting in the dining room. So prepare for it, if it'll bug you. And hey! The price is on the steeper side of the $11-30 $$ range, but if it's the day after your pay...