Cafe Mare - Santa Cruz

Heard great reviews from colleagues and decided to make a reservation. Cute set up and atmosphere. Waitress was friendly but a mixture when it came to the other staff that was waiting on us with no customer service skills and a gloomy presence.We ordered our meals and after less then 10mn our meals were served... Much to our surprise how fast they made our food. Unfortunately both of our meals were luke warm and the meat was room temperature. We both tried to be polite but we both were highly dissatisfied with our few bites that we had. So much so that we both had our food boxed up and handed it out to the homeless so it wouldn 't be a complete waste of a costly meal.Definitely bland, poorly made food.Nothing to it. We ended up going to Kiantis just a few blocks down to have dinner and we 're extremely happy there. More of a laid back scene but way better pasta and would highly recommend that establishment instead.

The food here was good, nothing impressive but still good quality. Nice ambiance and good service as well. Calamari was great, I ordered pasta and meatballs that were good but I wish their sauce was a bit more herby and aromatic. The other pasta we ordered was a penne with a more interesting flavor to it, Id particularly recommend that one over the traditional spaghetti. Restaurant is worth the visit.

The food was above average but not exceptional. The bread was burned, dry and old. The Ravioli Mare was good but lacking. The service was great though. The Host and Server brought the review from a 3 star to a 4 star.

Last night we went for an early 6pm dinner at Cafe Mare. There were some hits, but also some misses. We were seated immediately. Our friendly server greeted us promptly offering us a basket of bread and waters while getting our choice beverages. The bread was inedible. It was thinly sliced and unbelievably stale. When our server returned with our drinks, we ordered the calamari appetizer. It was delicious. The breading was not too heavy and it was not at all greasy for being fried. I would have liked cocktail sauce and opposed to marinara. But it’s an Italian restaurant so I get it.For entrees, my bf ordered the fettuccine alfredo with shrimp. The fettuccine was cooked well but the Alfredo sauce was thick and clumpy like eating thin oatmeal. The shrimp were over cooked and very tough to eat. I ordered the crepe with butternut squash, walnuts and brown butter sage sauce. It was incredible. The crepe was cooked perfectly and the balance of the squash with the sage sauce was absolutely amazing.For dessert we ordered two americano coffees that came piping hot, the chocolate soufflé and the lemon meringue house made ice cream. Both desserts were fine. Not bad, not great, basically mediocre.Overall, the service was excellent, the appetizer was delicious, one entree was incredible one a total flop and dessert we could have passed on and not known the difference. We’ll go back again. But not anytime in the near future.

They have a pretty standard menu of nicely executed food, but outside of pasta the variety is pretty small. The dining area is one large circular room, which I personally disliked, but some may enjoy. Music is played fairly loudly from the bar, and it rarely fits the mood. If I recall correctly they played mostly pop and pop country.