Cafe El Palomar

Excellent location! Very good food. They now have Vegan and Vegetarian options. Great service and fun restaurant. Highly recommend this location. They also have a to go order area to eat outside or at the beach. Full Bar is always fun too!

If you like egg scrambles, try their Machaca… it’s great. I returned to Santa Cruz after 10 years and found time to return for breakfast at Café El Palomar to cap my beach area visit. I was surprised it had moved into the old O’Neil Surf Shop so it is now on the opposite end from the Crow’s Nest. A real treat to eat sitting literally ‘on the beach’. The service from Niki was excellent also.

The food was rather bland. The fish tacos required lots of salsa and lemon juice to make it palatable.

The guy at the take out counter was incredibly unhelpful to the point where it seemed he didn’t want me to eat there.

I love this place. It’s nothing fancy and it’s not trying to be anything it’s not. Simply a place where locals come to have great food, chat with each other and watch the amazing views out the window.
I met two girlfriends here for breakfast this past weekend and I lucked out and got a seat facing out onto the glorious ocean. It was gorgeous! My friends are locals so during breakfast, several friends they knew came in and the conversations were great. Everyone seems to know each other and the service is just so friendly.
The girls ordered the daily special and an egg/​refried bean and corn tortilla plate. I ordered the eggs benedict. They enjoyed their meals but I was very disappointed with my benedict. Everything was great except the hollandaise. And you know that if that’s not right then the whole thing is lost. First of all it came out cold, and orange. Orange? It had no flavor which was SO disappointing because my eggs were cooked perfectly! Of course this didn’t stop me from licking my plate but it did convince me that I should try something new next time and hopefully love it so much that I add another star to my review.
Unbeatable view, great service, family friendly and a local favorite. It’s not 5 stars but I’ll be back again and again and again.

Café El Palomar is close to the Crow’s Nest in the Harbor. My friends and I went around 11 a.m. so we were able to order from the breakfast and lunch menus… so much to choose from! I ended up getting the english muffin breakfast sandwich– scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese on toasted english muffin served with potatoes. The potatoes had sauteed mushrooms and spinach and were seasoned really well… so good! The breakfast sandwich totally hit the spot… The coffee is pretty generic/​standard, so if you want coffee, I recommend checking out Java Junction – the coffee place right next door.
There are a number of tables outside. I had my dog with us so we sat outside. The beach is literally right there next to the sidewalk/​tables, so we walked along the beach after our meal.
Great little place – would definitely go there again.

I’ve been coming here for years, lived in Santa Cruz my whole life, and my last experience there was absolutely terrible.
I’m really sad to be writing this bad of a post but what a terrible experience. Went there on a Friday night that wasn’t that busy, put my name down for 2, went to the bar to get a couple drinks and come back and the hostess seated another couple and completely skipped us making us wait a half hour.
After ordering we waited for an hour as we watched two tables that were seated after us get their food and eat it. The waitress told us the kitchen was slammed and then came back out and told us that our order got messed up somehow.
The manager was nice and gave us our food for free which we had to get to-​go after already being there for so long. And when we got home they only gave us 2 tortillas for two plates of food.
I mean come on… I’d expect this from some amateur crappy restaurant but not El Palomar. I guess they get enough tourist traffic that quality doesn’t matter.
Won’t be going back again.

They have the best view by the window that gives you a perfect view of the sand and waves crashing on the beach.
They have very good HH on drinks and food. Half off appetizers and 2 $ tacos.
Their service is always good too. They have a small bar area that can get very packed. You’re not allowed to take drinks on the beach but that’s completely understandable.
Their chile Colorado plate, fried fish and chile verde plates stand out to me the most outside of HH.