Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz
Cafe Limelight
1016 Cedar Street,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060-3828
(831) 425-7873
| Cuisine | American, California, Eclectic, European, Italian |
| Dining Style | Casual Dining |
| Parking | Garage / Street, Nearby |
| Reservations | Accepted |
| Dress | Casual |
| Meals | Afternoon Tea, Dinner, Lunch |
| Payment Accepted | Visa, Master Card |
Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz - Summary:
(from Santa Cruz Sentinel Critic Review) - Lunch and dinner menus are basically the same, offering 10 hot panini
sandwiches (each $7.50) and half that many cold sandwiches (each
$6.50), plus several salads and housemade soups. All sandwiches come
with chips or salad.
Although fairly modest, the menu presents a number of delectable
choices — particularly the paninis, made on the restaurant’s two special
grills.
A ridged grill is used to create
thicker sandwiches, such as my
choice: Roast Turkey, Brie and
Pesto Panini, grilled on rosemary
foccacia. More delicate
sandwiches need the flat grill,
including a special grilled cheese
sandwich named "Monica’s
Favorite" after an 11-year-old
self-proclaimed expert, whose
menu testimonial states, "I have
had a lot of grilled cheese but
this is the best."
Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz - Reviews:
Positive Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz Review:
Great place for a casual dinner. Not an extensive menu but everything they serve is yummy. Big emphasis on cheeses though the wine selection to go with these should be expanded. It would be great to have recommended pairings of cheese and wine. The paninis all sound good so it was a tough choice and I loved my turkey/brie/pesto, especially when combined with the gorgonzola salad. They serve one of my favorite easy drinking reds - Bargetto Rosso - at a comfortable price of $6. Nice staff and easy going atmosphere.
-Donna P., Santa Cruz, CA
Negative Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz Review:
Judging by the other reviews here and how much my friends talk this place up, my experience seems to be out of the ordinary. Perhaps I'll try it again for dinner, but I was not impressed during my lunch visit. It was a gorgeous day, so we figured we would sit outside in the small patio. The place was only about 1/2 full inside, and after standing through a couple of employees saying they'd be right with us, the bus boy finally took pity and seated us. Not an auspicious start, made worse by the 8+ minute wait to get the attention of a server.
Once we flagged her down, I was then told one by one that the Italian soda flavors I wanted were out. Vanilla was my last choice it seemed. I then chose the roasted red pepper pesto, marinated artichoke hearts & mozzarella panini while my friend chose the simple grilled cheese. Fast forward 20 minutes. No food yet, and my soda was long since empty as were our waters. On two separate occasions the server promised she'd be 'right out' with more water. No such luck. Evidently the drought had extended from soda syrup to water itself! When our food finally did arrive, I found a thin, sopping, terribly greasy sandwich languishing on my plate. Thankfully the poor little guy was bolstered by the tasty side salad. My friend found no fault with his grilled cheese, but it would take epic incompetence to screw that up. That was the last we saw of our server for well over ten minutes, while our water glasses remained water free. Santa Cruz service at its best!
I'm willing to give them another chance, but this was easily one of the most negative dining experiences I've had in downtown SC.
-Brian B., Santa Cruz, CA
Average Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz Review:
Tonight was my first time eating at Cafe Limelight, and for the life of me i cant understand why this place is rated so highly. I love sandwiches, and Cafe Limelight definitely has some good ones, but good is not great, and definitely not worthy of four or more stars
The atmosphere is nice, very relaxed like a small coffeeshop or something. The chef toasts the sandwiches right behind the counter so you can see when your food is ready!
The service was very attentive, never an empty water glass or anything else neglected, but it was also a very slow, rainy night.
The menu Is kind of limited, mostly sandwiches, soup, salad, and of course, the gumbo, which i haven't tried yet. maybe that will earn them another star. I tried to order the BBQ Chicken Panini but was informed that they were OUT OF BBQ SAUCE?!?! strange considering it was only 6:00. so i settled on the Traditional Club panini, which was good but nothing special, and not worth the $12 in my opinion.
Overall a nice relaxed Santa Cruz cafe, i will probably go again to give them another chance to amaze me.
-B.D., Santa Cruz, CA
Cafe Limelight Santa Cruz - Photos:
