Saturn Cafe
| Address: | 145 Laurel St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA |
| Phone: | +1 831-429-8505 |
| Site: | santacruz.saturncafe.com |
| Rating: | 4.1 |
| Working: | 10AM–12AM 10AM–12AM 10AM–12AM 10AM–12AM 10AM–3AM 10AM–3AM 10AM–12AM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
EL
Eliza Yanik
Overcharged, Rude Service, and Bland Food: As a vegetarian I was excited to hear about this cute, local vegetarian friendly diner. I had previously tried Dharma and Cafe Gratitude and been quite happy with the results. My husband and I (both newly moved to Santa Cruz) went there for the first time when I came in on a late flight from across country. I ordered the Mushroom sandwich with the soup of the day and a 1/2 order of sweet potato fries. The server didnt mention anything about additional charges and the menu says "each sandwich comes with one signature item: soup, fries...." and "premium items can be added for $2.99: sweet potato fries,"...etc. So I thought I would be paying for my sandwich which comes with a cup of soup, and then an additional $2.99 for the fries (the server didnt say anything about this not being the way it works). The bill came at the end of the meal charging $3.95 for the soup in addition to the $2.99 for the fries. When I tried to talk to someone about it, a very snappy waitress (not our server) butted in and told me that each sandwich only comes with one side item (like my soup) but since I wanted to pay for the sweet potato fries i was charged for both...... because that makes sense how? Then she told me that if I had wanted to order a full-order of the sweet potato fries that I would have been charged $5.50 since you cannot order 1/2 orders of the fries for $2.99 and the server just rang it up charging me for both to make it more economic... Lets see, if I had been rung up properly I would NOT have been charged $3.95 for the soup, and I would have been charged $5.50 for a full-order of fries, thats a total of $5.50 vs. the $6.94 I was charged and I supposedly would have received more fries. NOT COOL! In addition, I the soup of the day I ordered was "Coconut Curry" and it was anything but a curry. It was bland, watered down boiled vegetables in a watered-down coconut milk broth with barely a hint of what I can only guess as a pre-mixed curry spice blend. It was so flavorless I only ate it since I was starving and it was hot. My sweet potato fries were obviously from some pre-made, frozen, bulk variety and were soggy when brought out (not terrible for sweet potato fries but certainly not worth $5.50). My husband ordered the vegetarian omelet and he said the omelet and the "flavored" potatoes were the blandest things hed ever eaten. This is from a man who is quite content with iHop, fast food, and nearly every place weve ever ordered omelets. How do you even make a flavorless omelet?..... In summary, I do not think my husband and I will be returning to Saturn Cafe in the near future. The patrons sitting next to us agreed that the charges were bogus and also found their food bland. Its like a vegetarian steak n shake, but more expensive, with worse service, and no reason to return.
A
A Private User
If you’re new to the area, vegetarian, or new to Saturn, you will probably like it. If you look at the reviews, most people who have gone here for a while eventually become disillusioned like I have. I used to love Saturn. My girlfriend and I were regulars. Im really frustrated with their shrinking menu. Service can be slow, but the atmosphere and the waiters easily make up for it. But I have a hard time when we go to a restaurant for a specific meal, and it has disappeared. It seems every time we go there theyve lost more menu items. Things they got rid of that we used to order: Tuno melt, Stuffed French Toast, Vegan Donuts, RC Cola, Chix Parmesan, changes to their ice cream menu, etc. From other people: Graham cracker shake, discounts for wigs, cheap pabst, etc. Also, prices have steadily climbed. I understand they have rising costs, shrinking margins, and overhead problems. I know we pay a premium to eat out in a niche restaurant. But shrinking the menu means that they lose our business to the Santa Cruz Diner and the many Mexican restaurants in town. Finally, it is bad practice for a waiter to say that they no longer carry an item because "nobody orders it." Especially when we just tried to order it. I guess we were the only people to ever order Chix Parmesan or the Tuno Melt? To be fair, it seems often that the waiters are as frustrated with the shrinking menu as we are. Maybe poor management is hurting a Santa Cruz tradition. Maybe they changed suppliers, but why would they do so if the new supplier could not meet their old food requirements?
IM
Imperator Furiosa
We werent informed a single time that this restaurant is completely vegetarian. It took thirty minutes to be told the kids had to change their order because they were out of corndogs. Little sister got black beans in her "cheeseburger" and was disappointed to find out shed been tricked. The black bean taquitos were dry, the salsa was good, but not much of it. French fries were cold. Soup was pretty tasty, small portion. We were charged for juice pouches that didnt come to our table. We asked for them on the way out. They turn the lights off here to sing happy birthday, its overkill. I left my service dog in the car, as it seems like the restaurants in this area arent service dog friendly. This place was unbelievably expensive. The chocolate madness dessert was big enough to be shared by three adults and three kids, though. Fairly clean bathrooms, not easy to access for my specific disability. Touch screen pass code doesnt work for everyone. Skip this place and the Taco Bell across the street. It is a rough few blocks with a lot of homeless purple trying to fight you or scream in your face.
JO
John Hale
I wasnt very impressed with this restaurant. Our vegan burgers were good but we were charged $3.98 for a supposed organic lemonade with no free refill and a paper straw that didnt last long..the lemonade to be honest tasted like kool aid lemonade possibly with organic sugar but definitely wasnt authentic lemonade. Plus on top of that this restaurant has signage saying their a sanctuary restaurant meaning illegal immigrants are safe there. Plus there was also a sign saying its refugee and immigrant friendly.. heres my bc question..why dont they include veteran and police officer friendly?? I feel like this restaurant is pushing its own ideology and thats not necessarily smart..Plus on top of that youre violating federal law by protecting illegal immigrants and refugees. That comment has nothing to do with race its a matter of everyone in the US coming here the legal way and keeping our country safe. Overall if youre a vegetarian or vegan I think you might want to look elsewhere.. their lemonade isnt true..
LA
laura gee
Didnt realize it was VEGAN until we looked at the menu, didnt want to be rude so we gave it a shot. The food was ok considering it was vegan. Our service was another issue altogether. Either the waitress/waiter, Im not sure what they prefer, was having the worst night of their life or they were really that much of an (insert expletive). It took her/him over ten minutes to take our order, and another 30 to bring the food out, I actually timed it. Not once did they apologize or explain, actually she/he seemed irritated at being there altogether, angry at us! At the end of the meal, I wasnt sure what to think when she THREW a pen to sign with at us. The service was the worst service Ive ever experienced, aside from my adventures in countries where there are cultural/communicative barriers. I would never return to this place.
