Alderwood Santa Cruz - Restaurant in Santa Cruz - 155 Walnut Ave, USA

Excellent food with very high quality ingredients. Beautiful presentation without being pretentious. Wide variety of dishes, in all price ranges (from more casual burgers and fries to more high end stuff like dry aged ribeye). Menu changes frequently so you can always try new things. They have a happy hour until 6pm. Service was very good and friendly.

Do yourself a favor and visit this lovely restaurant. The service is unmatched. The staff truly cares about your experience and the atmosphere . The food is absolutely amazing, well balanced, – everything we tasted melted in other mouths. The atmosphere was fantastic, as were the lighting and table settings. I felt relaxed and picked up on all of the wonderful vibes from the chef to each and every member of the crew. Absolutely the best tasting menu so far. My phone was stolen, and all images and names of meals were lost but I was able to recover pictures from my google drive. Enjoy.

Excellent all around. Fantastic cocktails, great food. Easily the most polished place in SC, clearly drawing on the experience of having restaurants elsewhere. Can’t wait to go back. Been back several times, food continues to be superlative. The Western Bacon Cheeseburger with mushrooms added on is the best. Ever. Props to Alex for suggesting this. Update 2/2024 Still excellent. We tried the inaugural Wednesday 3-course tasting menu, and I have to say I felt as though it was a good value. Salad and a popover, main course, dessert for $65. I thought the duck leg confit was excellent, and paired very well with the barbecued carrots. My wife and a friend had the mushroom rigatoni which although had good flavor, was about 30 seconds shy of being al dente everyone agreed. So, that dish would have received a better rating if the pasta was cooked correctly.

We had our new year's eve date here. We were visiting them for the first time and it was impressive! The menu was curated for the special occasion and I believe it is very different from their regular items. We had a special five course meal and we loved the scallops, poached egg, pork belly and mushroom dishes.The sauces were exceptionally good. The filet mignon was little bit of a let down and the cocktails were good, but not great. Unfortunately, the desserts were just ordinary. The service was good but had some delay in between, and that's understandable, considering it being one of the busiest days of the year. The special meal with drinks came to a total of $500+. I feel it was overpriced for the new year's eve dining experience, but overall, great choice of place for a weekend date/dinner.

My son and wife went here and wrote the review. An upscale American Bistro with an attention to detail. They change the menu daily and combine lots of different flavors. We sat at the bar and the bartender was very engaging. They started with the old fashion and an order of oysters which were delicious so we order another round of oysters. They served them with a champagne and chili sauce. For the main course they ordered the Waygu burgers and added egg and bacon. Delicious but they wished they were served with fries. For dessert they had a classic cream brûlée and a chocolate ganache cake with edible gold on top of it. It was a very elegant dessert. Overall a great experience.

Definitely a top quality restaurant, food is amazing. Drinks are great with lots of amazing cocktails mixes to choose from . Their bartenders and wait staff are very knowledgeable and experienced. Menu is filled with amazing/interesting dishes. My only complaint is the prices , a steak meal starts at $145 leaving you with a $500 check for 2 having a good night out . Worth the money but still.

Wonderful place, amazing food (calamari was our favorite) excellent service ( thank you Marlene) and calm, pleasant atmosphere. I recommend this place , it's a don't miss!

I absolutely loved everything about this place! My boyfriend and I drove from an hour away just to go here for our 1 year anniversary, I found the restaurant recommended in the Michelin Guide. I'm so happy with my experience, everything was delicious, the atmosphere was great, and it was such a treat to be seated right by the kitchen and get to watch the chefs in action through the glass walls. I've always wanted to try hen-of-the-woods since I'm a mushroom fanatic, and the dish we got as an appetizer did not disappoint at all. I would love to come back sometime for another special occasion!