La Bruschetta Restaurant
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
32 Reviews for La Bruschetta Restaurant
I wont go back. The food was ok, not worth the price tag. There is much better italian food in the area and I'd rather spend my money there.
$100+ meal for 2 is practically considered fine dining. Fine dining restaurants and their servers know better then to serve your wine in a hot glass and your salad on a hot plate. Hell, even the Olive Garden serves there salad on chilled plates!
I would say the service was excellent however, the server was the one who poured my RED wine in the hot glass and brought out the salads on the hot plates. Therefore it was just pathetic.
I went here yesterday for my friend B'day! I was so excited because the review said that the food was excellent or awesome but I don't really think that they have the best food, I think I can find better than this place.
Well, I agree that they have a really nice place, the atmosphere is great, you can choose to sit indoor or outdoor. I choose to sit outdoor yesterday and it was really nice and beautiful.
The service was great, they have really nice stuff. (base on my experienced)
So I think if you want to go for special occasion and eat at wonderful place maybe you can choose here but I won't go here for the food!
I will go back on a nice day to enjoy the place and atmosphere.
A lovely, lovely retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains....
Came here with the husband and another couple on our way to an afternoon wedding. It was a beautiful, warm day, and we dined outside amidst the redwoods. The servers were beyond accommodating to our requests, and the food was just wonderful. I had a panino, and everyone else had pasta dishes. The portions were generous and flavor was delightful! I am already plotting a return visit to try out their dinner offerings!
The absolute best Italian food I have ever had!!! Great prices and an awesome DOG FRIENDLY patio, which is very hard to find. They even have great service! Their servers were extremely prompt and very accommodating. Everything was so good and fresh. Check this place out and don't forget desert it was great too!
I went here recently for breakfast around 10:30am on a Saturday.
The weather was great, and the patio area is great. It was a really nice setting for sure.
No one came to our table for .... 20 minutes at least. There only appeared to be two servers and a busser working, and I don't blame them for not being able to give us two seconds. They were running their pants off. I have patience, but it was annoying.
The food was definitely worth the wait. It was awesome actually! Though - our servers were too busy to ever come by and see if I wanted another Mimosa (yes I did!) and they forgot our toasts/muffins. Really - i'm OK without it, but it would have been nice.
I will go back... the food definitely deserves another go. If the service blows again - or blows me away - I will change my rating....
My birthday almost always falls on the memorial day weekend camping trip and every year we wait until we're back in San Jose to go out to dinner. This year though, we decided to try La Bruschetta.
It was around 5:30 pm when my relatives got there to get a table and they were seated immediately.
My cousin and I arrived maybe 5 - 10 minutes later and we were one water short, so after a short wait we were able to get the attention of our waitress who also noticed we hadn't gotten any bread yet and brought both things out really quickly.
The sliced focaccia bread was good. The kalamata olive tepenade and roasted garlic / olive oil that came with it were tasty as well. We also ordered the calamari appetizer and although I didn't have any it was consumed fairly quickly.
Our waitress came back and told us about the days specials and took our order.
I ordered the gnocci di casa with the tomato basil sauce. It was very good and would have it again for sure. My group of 7 was very pleased with everything they ordered. Not one complaint and that is rare. The portions were good.
We tried several of the desserts. I myself had the chocolate cake. It was very rich and very good. I had to keep myself from eating the whole thing.
Over all, our experience was very good. There was a mix of diners - both dressed up and in casual clothes like we were. The wait staff was pleasant, but not overly friendly. They were attentive as we had our drinks refilled several times without asking and the food was brought out in a timely manner.
I would definitely visit again.
This is the best restaurant in Felton. We love La Bruschetta. We have had dinner, lunch, and even breakfast here many times. We have brought out of town family and friends here, and everyone loves it. We were just there about 3 weeks ago for dinner with some friends and it was great.
I would have to say, I don't understand what happened to those other people who gave this place bad reviews. Weird.
After reading multiple reviews on Yelp a friend of mine who is Sicilian were visiting Felton and I suggested that we try La Bruschetta.
We arrived 20 minutes early and were greeted at the door by owner Chef Judd Anthony who invited us and stated "I'm the owner and we have no rules".
Our conversation centered around Silicy, the imigration of family members and the love of food.
Judd shared with us house family photo's and it was felt as if we had come to a family reuinion.
My Sicilian friend Frank Grimaldi ordered veal and myself the Raviolis, we shared a salad, a bottle of house wine and during diiner Frank announced that he would be returning with a future date.
The food was delicious, fresh and thanks to Yelp reviews, I will have a future restaurant destination while in the Santa Cruz-Felton neighborhood..
I posted a few photo's
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I used to think this joint was great. However I went there this past weekend for brunch and was rudely dissappointed. We arrived at 12:10 and after we were seated, told that the chef/owner had decided he was done making breakfast and we would have to order off the lunch menu. However when friends of the owner walked in several minutes later, they were offered a full breakfast. Our waiter told us there was nothing he could do about.
Go Figure.
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Great food, VERY friendly service..chef even came out to welcome us. the focaccia bread and two dipping sauces was a great start. I had one of the evenings specials, a delicious penne with asparagus and some other veggies... very very very tasty.
this is a great date spot...off the beaten path, and right on the way to Santa Cruz!
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Simply fantastic! Drove here on a whim from San Jose based on Yelp reviews. Well worth the drive!
The service is great, the food extremely tasty, and the setting fun. We were a large group and everybody agreed their food was first rate and portions generous. Our server managed everyone's orders and special requests with aplomb. We left with full tummies and smiles on our faces.
The only thing that keeps me from adding the final star is the high bar set by another small Italian restaurant up in San Francisco (Mescolanza). But when heading north or the idea of parking hassles just has no appeal, you would be hard pressed to top La Bruschetta.
I've been here twice and enjoyed it immensely both times. As far as authenticity goes, this is probably as close to a Sicilian l'osteria as you're going to find in the area.
I did once experience the extremely long wait times on entrees, but they were nice enough about it and I was in no rush so it didn't bother me.
Excellent. Nothing else needs to be said in an area (Santa Cruz) that has maybe 5 "great" restaurants.
Excellent sicilian italian food. They use organic ingredients and have fantastic bruschetta. Nice wine selection. Family friendly outdoor seating. Melt in your mouth filet mignon. Good date night choice also.
One of my all-time favorite Italian places and believe me, I have cruised the world far and wide in search of the proper food representation of my peeps. This is it. They use only the most fresh and local produce and it is family run and feels like it. Of most note in my book is the penne rustica, it comes complete with Delicious smoked almonds and their tiramisu. Tina and her brothers know how to make their consumers smile! Grazie Mille!
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Excellent food. Fresh ingredients and well prepared. Service was good, however interruptions were more than necessary. The chocolate lover's cake was excellent and tiramisu was not impressive. Good wine selection. Friendly people. Comfortable place and cannot wait to go back for a long lunch outside during the warm season.
We are staying the night in Scotts Valley and searched yelp for a place to eat and found La Bruschetta; the reviews are good and I also keep in mind a negative reviews that had to do with the amount of time it took for food to be prepared.
Driving to this place made it obvious that this is a locals restaurant; if I didn't find it on yelp I don't think I would have even driven by it. For a Wednesday night there were about 4 tables of customers but space for plenty more; we choose to eat outside with the trees.
I had the gnocchi with tomato and basil and my wife had the penne alla contadina; both dishes were delicious. The bread served was a focaccia that was great on its own; it came with 2 dipping olive oils, garlic and chopped olives. For desert we had the tiramisu which was just ok; it was a large slice big enough for 2 people but not as rich as we were expecting; the cream was light and almost whip cream like.
Dinner for 2 will run about 50 bucks with tip.
Thanks again Yelp!
We wouldn't even have driven through Felton today (although we'd been there just yesterday), but before heading down for an afternoon of tidepooling we yelped for a dinner plan, and picked this place, and it was not disappointing.
Everything was really well flavored, and service was great. Our youngest was being grumpy and didn't order food until we were getting appetizers delivered. The chef brought his food out as soon as it was done (while our server was with other tables).
Our favorite dish was agnolotti stuffed with ricotta and caciocavallo cheeses and wild mushrooms with a sage butter sauce. All the various tomato sauces (on two appetizers and two entrees) were really bright and flavorful, the best I've had in recent memory. We had a surprisingly good bottle of wine in the $30-35 range.
Four entrees, two appetizers, a couple of soft drinks, a kids entree, the bottle of wine, and two desserts came to about $170 with tax and tip.
We will definitely return, not only when in this area, but taking a short detour on our way back from Santa Cruz or other points especially north on hwy 1.
Last year I said this about this place:
This restaurant is wonderful. I'm not terribly fond of the prices, BUT it's due to the fact that it is an upscale restaurant, with very nice food, wine, and atmosphere. Definitely an impressive "date" restaurant. We went with a big group, of about 18, and I don't think i'd do that again, because when the 700 dollar bill comes, it's so difficult to figure out who had what.
But I'd go here again, for a lovely special occasion dinner, because I'm just that cheap.
**UPDATE**
Maybe this place just isn't good for big groups. We got there before 7, had reservations, and we ate around 10. Which, I suppose is understandable, since there were eight of us. I don't know, seemed long. We DID get to watch the rest of the restaurant revolve through it's customers. Food is great, but somehow the bill never adds up right. Don't know why. that has nothing to do with the restaurant though, that was the group. Once everyone is paid, how are we still a hundo short?
I hate when that happens.
Seriously though, I was kinda bummed about the wait, and I don't usually mind a wait.
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Have to say, one of the best Italian restaurants around Santa Cruz. Delicious food, excellent service, very authentic.
Have never had a bad experience here at all! A definite must-try!
Amazing Italian food in the middle of the redwood forest!
I drove through the lovely Henry Cowell Redwood State Park via Hwy 9 from Santa Cruz and the restaurant sits at the north end of the park. Outside, the atmosphere was serene and the fresh air smelled of sweet redwood trees. You can dine outside but it was a bit cold the day we went. Inside, the restaurant smelled of delicious pastas and was cozy, friendly, and warm - perfect for a chilly December day.
My sister and I had the Proscuitto Bruscetta, Meat Lasagna, Clams with Linguini in White Wine Sauce, and finished off with tiramisu and chocolate gelato infused with a gelato cream center. Boy, it was a heavy lunch but it was so worth it!!!!! It's one of the best reasonably priced Italian meals I've ever had and we got to enjoying it nice and slow. It totally beats having to deal with snooty LA waiters who can't wait to turn your table over for the next diner.
The restaurant is also only 15 minutes from the Bonny Doon Vineyard so it's perfect for some wine tasting if you can drag yourself away from the restaurant.
CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK!
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The food here is just really delicious and flavorful; you can taste the ingredients. I had a pasta with a tomato-based sauce and salmon, and I loved every bit of it. My dad, who accompanied me, also scored with a great fettucine dish with seafood in a creamy mushroom sauce. The sauce was truly excellent - creamy without being too heavy, and you could really taste the mushroom. Since it was my birthday, they gave me a free slice of Tiramisu, which was softer, had a more delicate texture and a stronger flavor than the slice I received at Avanti a few days before.
The atmosphere is cozy and inviting, but still formal enough for a nice date or birthday dinner. Plus there's a huge carved wooden topless woman on the door to give the building some character. The prices aren't bad at all, either.
All in all, it's the best Italian I've had so far in Santa Cruz County. Better than Avanti.
I've simply never had a bad meal here. Real Italians, real Italian food, real good. The location is beautiful - "nestled in the redwoods" like a real estate agent would say. It has a warm, friendly ambiance - there's a big open dining room and tables outside for when it's warm. This is a great date restaurant and it's also a good place for a family dinner or friends from out of town.
The wine list is short and not very imaginative, but it's made up for with all the delicious pasta dishes. Leave room for dessert.
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The redwood tree atmosphere surrounding the place is only the icing on the cake. The two times I've been here i've had amazing authentic italian food. It is also not as busy as other Italian places in Santa Cruz, and rivals the food of other restaurants in more urban settings.
Great food and a great dining experience! I've visited La Bruschetta for lunch and dinner on several occasions, and had a wonderful experience each time. The menu is truly authentic and the staff is friendly and knowledgeable. It's definitely not as "polished" as the typical trendy restaurant, but that's exactly what makes it so charming!
This was our favorite restaurant when we lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The food is always fresh and delicious, and the service is excellent. Outdoor dining in the summer is fabulous - being surrounded by the beautiful redwoods!
La Bruschetta was something me and a friend just happened upon as we were driving around exploring...everything from the food to the wine to the service was wonderful. She had this amazing pasta dish and I went with another and both were just immaculate. The atmosphere was nice and it just rocked all around...I loved it!
high quality, organic food for very reasonable prices.
however, the "fresh squeezed "oj that they sell for $3 is odwalla.
service is always slow. i think they are understaffed. but they are friendly and the restaurant is a gorgeous place to chill so if you are with friends and at least have your drinks, just be patient and enjoy yourself. word of advice, order your drink to whoever seats you so that you have something to tide you over during the inevitable wait.
really awesome food. very very good and authentic. wine's good too. the only reason i'm giving it three stars is that it is pretty pricey, and i have had a terrible service experience here.
i brought a large group of people to this restaurant, and upon making a reservation, they made me put $100 down to save my table! i was willing to go for this, because i thought it would be worth it.
well, when my group arrived, we discovered that it was way over crowded, we had to wait over 20 minutes, and then there was a fixed menu with limited options for vegetarians and people iwth dietary restrictions. our waiter was not helpful and unsympathetic. apparently they were hosting a wedding in the back... overpriced, they forgot our wine, noisy, and they CLEARLY knew that they were going to have a limited menu and a busy night... they should have given me this information when i had to put $100 down for the reservation.
great food, but i will not be back.
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The most amazing place to take your clients for seafood salad at lunch time, or dine and wine on a Saturday night with your honey, or Sunday brunch on Mother's Day, or kick it and burn a bowl out back first with your homies on a family style Sunday night dinner with the kids. Casual, authentic, only 2 blocks from my house. A local gem, a rare treat in the rain forest.
We were not impressed with the taste of the food here. There are many Italian restaurants which serves better food for better price. The pasta was over-cooked.
The food is consistantly fresh & well prepared. The service is very good. The back room can be damp & cold in the winter-try to sit in the main dining area. I have never been disappointed when I have dined here.
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