Chocolate the Restaurant

Name: Chocolate the Restaurant
Address: 1522 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, 95060
Telephone: (831) 427-9900
Price range: $31 to $50
Rating: 4.6

4.6

99 Reviews

$31 to $50

Californian

Make a booking

2 people

24 Feb 2025

19:00

Booked 2 times today

Neighbourhood gem
Great for outdoor dining
Charming

Now celebrating 25 years, Chocolate the Restaurant provides an attractive dining environment for couples on dates, friendly meetings, and special occasion meals. Dine outside on the heated garden patio. Celebrate special occasions with up to 25 guests in the private street-side party room. Maybe start with a Chocolate Martini or a Passion Fruit Margarita. Chef David Jackman's fresh baked pasta rosettes, slow-roasted meats, and delicious seasonal organic vegetable dishes are all a prelude to our many chocolaty desserts. Our wine list focuses on local and on Italian wines. Our cocktails are all made from scratch; often using locally distilled spirits, and always using fresh house-made mixers. We are at your service for dinner every night! Afternoon walk-up cafe' service Friday thru Sunday. . We are open for dinner every holiday except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Additional information

Dining style
Casual Elegant
Price
$31 to $50
Cuisines
Californian, Mediterranean, Dessert
Hours of Operation
Dinner Daily 17:00–22:00
Phone number
(831) 427-9900
Website
http://www.chocolatesantacruz.com/
Payment Options
AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
Dress code
Smart Casual
Executive Chef
David Jackman
Catering
Offsite catering for up to 150 guests. Weddings, or any other kind of occasion. Wedding cakes, or other special desserts. Chocolate mousse truffles. We can work with you to design a custom menu, based on your comfortable budget parameters.
Private party facilities
Rehearsal Dinners, Graduation Parties, Birthday Parties, Anniversary Parties are our specialty

Location
1522 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Area
Santa Cruz
Cross Street
Cooper Street
Parking details
Large multi-level public lot one half block away. Also, several parking spaces in front of restaurant on the street.
Public transit
Metro bus station with links to San Jose, three blocks away.
Additional
Banquet, Beer, Cafe, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Dog Friendly, Full Bar, Gluten-free Options, Non-Smoking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Private Room, Wheelchair Access, Wine

What 99 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.6

4.6 based on recent ratings

4.5Food
4.5Service
4.5Ambience
4.4Value

Noise • Moderate

Loved For

Santa Cruz / Capitola / Aptos
Best Overall
Santa Cruz / Capitola / Aptos
Best Value
Santa Cruz / Capitola / Aptos
Innovative
Santa Cruz / Capitola / Aptos
Healthy
Santa Cruz / Capitola / Aptos
Neighbourhood gem
Santa Cruz / Capitola / Aptos
Great for outdoor dining

288 Reviews

E
Eddie
VIP
San Francisco
18 reviews
5.0
18 reviews
Dined 2 days ago
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
02/21/25 weekly Friday dinner. Pasta rosettes and handrolled fettuccine with black truffles. Excellent and so fresh. Had foccacia bread basket and finished off with two slices of the special mocha mousse pie and Victoria hot chocolate.
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W
Wendy
San Francisco
2 reviews
5.0
2 reviews
Dined on 16 February 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
This is a spot where the food is ALWAYS well done. The deserts and meals are simply delicious. I’ve been going for years and I’ve never been disappointed
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E
Eddie
VIP
San Francisco
18 reviews
5.0
18 reviews
Dined on 15 February 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
Feb 14,2025. Full up with Valentine's Day crowd. Reservations highly recommended. We are here every Friday so we were prepared. Had freshly baked mini loaf with butter, main two meals of Oaxacan Mole chicken dish with salad and corn pie. Followed by chocolate desserts - ectasy sundae, special chocolate strawberry tiramasu, and Victoria hot chocolate. Always great experience.
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G
Gary
San Francisco
1 review
1.0
1 review
Dined on 15 February 2025
1. Overall 1
2. Food 3
3. Service 2
4. Ambience 1
This was the worst dining experience I have ever had. My wife and I came here for Valentine's Day. It was very cold and windy. We requested to be seated inside. There were empty tables inside, but we were told that we couldn't sit there because the computer system assigned tables. We were seated in the wind away from the outside heaters. We complained twice to be seated near heat at empty tables we were staring at, but were told no. After I requested to speak to the manager, we were seated at a table that had reservations for an hour and a half later. It was still too cold and we were unable to enjoy the food as we were freezing with the wind chill. I cannot blame the waitstaff for the this poor service policy from the owner or management. I have never experienced a restaurant not accommodating customers to sit at available tables. Unfortunately, they have lost any future business from us.
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A
Alyssa
San Francisco
1 review
5.0
1 review
Dined on 15 February 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
We always love going to Chocolate on special occasions - the new specials are always amazing, but we go for the dessert more than anything else. Treat yourself to come luxurious food at a very decent price (comparable experiences in Santa Cruz are always at least 30% more expensive than Chocolate)!
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E
Eddie
VIP
San Francisco
18 reviews
5.0
18 reviews
Dined on 8 February 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
2/8/25. Our weekly Friday dinner - pasta rosettes for 2, hand rolled fettucine with parmasan, foccacia bread basket. Finished off with usual sin cake and gelato, coconut cheese cake. Excellent.
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E
Eddie
VIP
San Francisco
18 reviews
5.0
18 reviews
Dined on 1 February 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
Weekly visit Jan 31,2024. We have our usual meal of pasta rosettes and hand rolled fresh fettucine with parmesan cheese. Topped with our usual desserts of hot chocolate, chocolate sin cake, dulce de leche torte. Great service as usual. Rainy day doesnt stop us from coming from San Jose tonight.
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J
Jennifer
Denver
12 reviews
4.0
12 reviews
Dined on 20 January 2025
1. Overall 4
2. Food 4
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 4
Fun, unique & really good selection of gluten free options. Awesome desserts!
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E
Eddie
VIP
San Francisco
18 reviews
5.0
18 reviews
Dined on 18 January 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
We make a 75 mile round-trip from San Jose to Santa Cruz to eat dinner every Friday night. Been doing weekly since 2018 (pandemic disrupted the frequency but still did take out during that time). Our focus is on the desserts and our favorites are great - chocolate fantasy sundae, warm brownie, sin cake, truffles, Victoria hot chocolate with oat milk - these are chocolate artisan designs with more cacao emphasis than sugar and chocolate aficionados like us really enjoy it. Dinners are great as well - my longest go-to dish was Oaxaqueño Mo'le chicken plate - literally ate that dish for YEARS from 2018 to 2023. Then I 'discovered' their hand-rolled fettucine and salmon dishes - those are my new go-to dishes for 2023 onward. We are not drinkers so can't comment on the choices involving alcohol. Lastly, I read some of the more negative reviews here and respectfully disagree with most of them. The puzzling one is the recurring mention of 'dry' focaccia bread. We get that every week AND we were one of first to enjoy their switch to house-made focaccia bread. I do not find this to be dry at all - for me it's fresh and has just the right amount of moist texture. However, I understand others have different thresholds of dry. Regardless, this restaurant clearly is our favorite as we vote with our frequency of visits from San Jose for years.
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E
Eddie
VIP
San Francisco
18 reviews
5.0
18 reviews
Dined on 11 January 2025
1. Overall 5
2. Food 5
3. Service 5
4. Ambience 5
Weekly visit 1/24/25 Pasta rosettes full order with marina Hand rolled fettucine with truffle oil and parmesan Amazing as usual - fresh pasta so tender. Foccacio bread was over the top - very soft and full of flavor Chocolate desserts - its why we make the weekly 80 mile round trip from San Jose every Friday or Saturday night. Sin cake with chocolate gelato and truffle Coconut cream pie with side of chocolate sauce Highly recommended. We vote with our weekly visit.
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FAQs

Chocolate the Restaurant is rated 4.6 stars by 99 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Make a booking

2 people

24 Feb 2025

19:00

Booked 2 times today

1522 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Additional information

Cross Street
Cooper Street
Area
Santa Cruz
Hours of Operation
Dinner Daily 17:00–22:00
Price
$31 to $50
Cuisines
Californian, Mediterranean, Dessert
Dining style
Casual Elegant
Dress code
Smart Casual
Parking details
Large multi-level public lot one half block away. Also, several parking spaces in front of restaurant on the street.
Public transit
Metro bus station with links to San Jose, three blocks away.
Payment Options
AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
Executive Chef
David Jackman
Additional
Banquet, Beer, Cafe, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Dog Friendly, Full Bar, Gluten-free Options, Non-Smoking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Private Room, Wheelchair Access, Wine

Website
http://www.chocolatesantacruz.com/
Phone number
(831) 427-9900
Catering
Offsite catering for up to 150 guests. Weddings, or any other kind of occasion. Wedding cakes, or other special desserts. Chocolate mousse truffles. We can work with you to design a custom menu, based on your comfortable budget parameters.
Private party facilities
Rehearsal Dinners, Graduation Parties, Birthday Parties, Anniversary Parties are our specialty

Chocolate the Restaurant

Make a booking

Additional information

Menu

What 99 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

Loved For

FAQs

How is Chocolate the Restaurant restaurant rated?

Is Chocolate the Restaurant currently accepting bookings?

Make a booking

Additional information