West End Tap & Kitchen

One of the best places to go in Santa Cruz is the West Side. A walk along West Cliff, a jaunt through Natural Bridges, a bike ride to Wilder Ranch... what could be better? Food! West Side has some fun, little places here and there and one of the most recent additions is West End Tap & Kitchen.

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Located in the Swift Street Courtyard, it's across from the SC Mountain Brewery and besides a couple winery tasting rooms. That's tall company to keep! How does it measure up?

My brother Mike and sis-in-law Diane met me there for lunch this week. Diane had been a couple times last week and wanted to go again. They have two large dining areas, a good-sized bar, a fireplace with comfy chairs and a small patio as well. We sat along the wall at some high tables.

It was cold and cloudy that day, so I started off with something to warm me up - a small French-pressed coffee from Verve ($3.50). It was strong and good, but I would have preferred it served in a smaller cup. It looked dinky!

After scanning the menu, we all decided on an appetizer, fried calamari with jalepenos ($9). It was served with homemade ranch and garlic oil. Yes, those are big slices of jalepenos battered up with the calamari. Yes, it was a crunchy, spicy sensation. We all dug in with happy smiles. The server said it's even better during happy hour (M-F 3-6pm) when it's only $5.

Diane said there's lots of things she wants to try on the menu, but keeps coming back to the bleu cheese burger ($11.95 + $2.75 cheese). It comes on a large tray with crispy french fries. Even though I consider a lunch burger and fries over $14 a bit expensive, she went on and on about how good it was. The bread was from Gayle's in Capitola (why not Kelly's next door?).

I got the Chicken sandwich with a side salad ($11). The chicken was buttermilk-coated and fried and was nice and flavorful. It had a tangy coleslaw and marinated onions on top, which was a good contrast to the slightly sweet bread and salty chicken. The side salad was just dressed with a mild vinaigrette, which was sadly bland. I should have gotten fries!

Mike's burger lunch came with bacon ($11.95 + $2.50 bacon) - how could you go wrong? It was gone in two shakes of a pig's tail. Man, that guy can eat!

So, West End is a nice place for a good lunch, but I would have like to have seen more choices on the menu. Sandwiches, burgers, flatbreads and salads are about it. Maybe there were daily specials I missed, but our server didn't mention any. The prices were a bit higher than I like to pay, but the food was quality. This place would be good to impress a date or your parents. Happy hour sounds like a deal too.

Scores out of 10:
Food: 7
Service: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Value for price: 6
Overall: 7