Food was delicious. Deep fried artichokes were perfectly crispy, spiced and the dip was tasty. The artichoke pesto omelet and country potatoes was perfect. The clam chowder had plenty of clam, spiced nicely, potatoes were perfectly cooked but my preference is a little less "cheesy" flavored and more creamy, but it was delicious. Crab cakes were nice mix of crab and veggie-spices, very crisp, tartar sauce seemed home made and delicious. Mushroom burger was good. Big, huge fries were tasty and crispy. Only negative, our Monday salad and burger fixings might have been left over from the weekend, there were too many oxidized brown streaks and a couple slimy edges. Service was outstanding. She recommended great stuff and checked on us often. Great bar, beautiful interior and lots of outdoor space!!! read more

I have been here twice for breakfast on a weekday and both times the food and the service were excellent! The first time I had an avocado tostada, which was a delightful and on the lighter side for breakfast and it had a green salsa that kept me thinking about it for days to come. When I returned for my second visit, I had the Chilaquiles, which was phenomenal. Also, I added avocado and asked for some more of that delicious green salsa. It was delicious and satisfying. I will definitely be returning again soon to try more items on the menu. read more

This place opened up recently. I had heard negative comments about service but since it's down the street from us we decided to give it a try and i must say it was a great experience. Yes they are still figuring things out but service was fast and they were very attentive and friendly. Food was good. Inside is well decorated and patio has a good view. We will definitely be back as this is a one of the few places in the neighborhood with legit weekend brunch menu. Hope they can extend their hours and stay open for dinner soon. read more

Whale City - Corn beef - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Aptos, California

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Awesome breakfast!!!...Crabcake Benedict was fresh and hot!...Biscuits and gravy same!...Superb Service...Stephanie was great...big fan!

Went for the Fish & Chips Lunch Special. It is the best in Santa Cruz area for sure. Made Fresh to Order! I am going back for the Calamari lunch special TODAY. Super friendly Server! This will be our regular go to. Also the Taco Thursday night special. read more

I was very impressed with this restaurant. The service was amazing, the waiters were kind, they were quick with service and cooking, and they refilled my soda multiple times. I ordered the lumberjack special and it came very quick. The waiter kept coming around and making sure that we were good. My pancakes were delicious and fluffy, some of the best pancakes that i've had in a while. They gave me a lot of potatoes and cooked my sunny side up eggs perfectly. The bacon was delicious and not over cooked like you see in many of these diner-type restaurants. I was incredibly happy with this meal and my whole party was very pleased, which is why I give this place 5 stars. There were no issues. read more

My husband and I recently stayed in Santa Cruz for a week celebrating his birthday. We had a fantastic time AND we left something at our hotel so a week later we made a trip down to pick up our item and then head to Atascadero for a family gathering. On route we stopped for breakfast at Whale City and were super happy with our experience there. Naomi, our waitress, was top notch and so was the young lady who brought our beverages. Husband ordered the basic breakfast and on Naomi's suggestion I got the crab cake Benedict. So delicious and satisfying, we both walked away very happy diners. Naomi was so friendly and efficient. We sat outside on the lovely patio and even though we were in the "outback" the service was heads and tails above most restaurants. Food came out quickly and it was piping hot! The cooks know what they are doing in the kitchen too. They serve breakfast, lunch AND dinner all day long so it's like an old fashioned diner that way. The Whale is clean and has a cheerful ambiance. It's an interesting building as it's on two levels AND it is wheelchair accessible. Even the bathrooms were clean. They have an extra "perk" for folks who've just been at the beach, a place to rinse your feet off (in the bathroom). Hats off to the whole crew at the Whale, we'll be back next time we are in Santa Cruz. read more

Great place....we are so happy with the food. The service, by Naomi was spot on. We tried a little bit of this and that....I like the idea that the calamari sandwich wasn't the traditional ground up calamari steak that other restaurants serve. The onion rings were gone in a second. We will definitely go back. This will become a favorite place of ours. Kay read more

6/7/25-The service from Naomi was fantastic and the food was amazing . We thought she was the owner with the pride she displayed with the food and drink. We recommend the Brussels sprouts and crab cakes ! We also split a pesto burger which was great. Arguably the best food in Aptos . read more

Jimmy, Stephanie, Mia and all the other hard working staff made our brunch for 73 people most incredible! The food was delicious and the service was beyond expectations for such a large group! Thank you Whale City Bakery Aptos for all your hard work and delicious food for our large group! We will be back when in Aptos in the future! :) read more

Incredible!! The food was incredible fresh and flavorful! Wonderful service and ambiance. Highly recommend!!

I was really excited for the whale city because I love the whale city bakery in Davenport however, I went there. I like really early in the morning and there was someone there to help me, but he was more busy on making his coffee or making the coffee for the store rather than getting me out of there and helping me all I wanted is pastries and it seems more like a restaurant. The pastries are exactly expected, but the service was horrible. read more

My husband and I had dinner at Whale City in Aptos last night. We had so much fun with Angela our server with tasting the wine selection. I had grilled salmon with buerre blanc sauce with capers and my husband had the Stagnaro Alaskan cod fish and chips. Both were excellent. After we decided on a bottle, Angela continued to pour our bottle for us throughout the meal ( a lost art ). Tiger the chef came out to see how the food was-it was excellent! Will go back for dinner again. Hope they start live music like in Davenport. And maybe get the bakery there too! :-) read more

We met with friends to have brunch. The service was mostly attentive, although the staff seemed stretched thin. The atmosphere is ok, clean (except for the cat walking around the tables and seats). The menu is fairly extensive. Our choices varied from a tuna melt sandwich with sweet potato fries to an omelet. Nothing stood out as excellent. Note: There is a 3.5% charge on ALL credit card payments and a minimum 20% gratuity. read more

The morning we went, there was a cat cruising through and hanging out. I heard it was feral and had kittens outside. The food was just okay. We won't be back. read more

Came in today, hungry as a horse after working. Wanted something filling, but not in a burger mood. Chicken Pesto Sandwich with a Caesar side salad. The salad was 5 bites of lettuce if I stretched them out. The dressing wasn't bad, just a meager salad. The bread on the sandwich was pretty good, but that was it. The chicken was thigh, but strangely chewey. Roasted red peppers and the usual burger accompaniments made up the sandwich, but it just wasn't that good and wasn't very filling either. There's a gas station one exit away that does a WAY BETTER sandwich for $10. Not typically the kind of guy who touts gas stations with delis during a restaurant review, but it's really good and deserves some praise. The patio looked pretty nice. Might come back to try it out for breakfast. This place is used to tourists on the 1. Maybe the breakfast is phenomenal. The bread was really good. Gonna have to do better for 4 stars. read more

I know they got off to a rough start, but my friend and I went there yesterday morning, and it seems that things are back on track! We had a delicious breakfast, with excellent service. I love the space. I have never been there, and didn't realize how incredibly beautiful the view of the canyon is. If you tried it before and were disappointed, I would definitely give it another shot! If you haven't tried it yet, give it a go! read more

Whale City - Yummy fresh pastries. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Aptos, California

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I am happy that the whale bakery in Davenport has come to Aptos.The menu is the same in both locations.I got the eggs benedict with country potatoes which was YUMMY .The baked goods I was told were temporarily sent from the Davenport location until they get everything squared away . The resteraunt parking lot is small but its across the street from the ranch Delmar shopping center read more

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The worst service I have ever come across. Nobody at the host stand, so they yelled to come in. The waitress was rude upon seating us, took our order with an extreme attitude, and then came back serving us raw eggs. This is not what we ordered. We asked for the condiment basket every other table had, but the waitress literally did not come back. We had to ask another server to bring the condiments, and cook the eggs. Additionally, our water was empty for an extended period of time with the waitress never coming back. We had to ask yet another server to give us water. This should be a standard of any dining service, water is a necessity, and it should be an expectation to check in at least once to see how the food was (it was bad and RAW). I am normally not one to be critical of service workers, but the attitude and lack of care we experienced today was truly disheartening. read more

Bad experience two days ago with rude waitress telling us we had six minutes before kitchen closed, then become indignant when we got up to walk out and would not stay. Prices are ridiculous and we will never return! read more

Great food for breakfast and wonderful staff and service! 1st time going here and I recommend it.

Had breakfast here today. Service was friendly and efficient. French toast was very good and the Benedict was excellent. Nice selection on the breakfast menu. Decor was brightened up from when this was a burger place. read more

Consistently amazing breakfast burrito. This is 1000% my go to now for breakfast; take out or dine in, it's all really good. Love everyone who works there as well they're all so kind read more

Whale City - Ham Breakfast Burrito - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Aptos, California

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I went to this restaurant with my family, We all loved our meals we ordered. I loved how you can order breakfast lunch and dinner at any time! Personally i would recommend and one of their omelets! The service here was top notch, We had a very nice waitress who was always one step ahead. It was also a very clean, calm, and nice restaurant. I would recommend this place coming into town! read more

Excellent breakfast- got the Mediterranean omelette and pancakes. Very reasonable prices, a nice new place for a weekend brunch. Not overly crowded or noisy- it was refreshing. read more

love the OG in Davenport sad to report this location has none of the same charm and coziness Service wonderful but ambiance and food leaves a lot to be desired We've lost cafe sparrow and gained a Denny's read more

Staff were excellent, friendly and our waiter Joe was amazing!! The food was just like I remember when I go to Davenport location. I had the crab Benedict. All I can say is that the hollandaise sauce was spot on! Yumm. We sat outside on the patio overlooking beautiful views with our pups. Joe made sure we had water for them. (Don't even need to ask!) Thank you Joe for your professional yet super friendly service. You really made us smile today and reminded us that everyday is a good day. read more

Whale City - Our view from our table out on the patio. - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Aptos, California

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I was so excited about this place opening. Must be new ownership? Davenport used to have amazing baked goods ... it's a bakery right? These were terrible. Worse than if I bought from Safeway. Old & stale with no flavor. Went with a party of 5 and all of us barely ate our food. It just wasn't good at all & the service was pretty much nonexistent. This location is awesome & has so much potential. I want this place to do well so we can have a good breakfast spot. Maybe hire a chef who's passionate about good food? A baker who's passionate about baking? Seems like that would be step one. I'll give it another try if things sound like they've turned around. read more

I am updating this review, went back to whale city this morning. I am tentatively impressed. The service was infinitely better than last time. Our waitress was very friendly, very pleasant and very attentive. We received coffee almost immediately upon sitting. By the way, the coffee mugs are huge and apparently coffee is complementary before 9:30am. This is amazing, I'm unaware of any other breakfast spot that does this. Now, the food, I had the country fried steak again, it was factually 100% better than the last time. The country fried steak was light, nicely battered, the gravy was very tasty and the potatoes were very good. The only negative, I ordered my eggs over easy and they came out scrambled. I told the waitress and she was apologetic and offered to have more eggs made, I declined because it was that big of a deal. My wife breakfast was very good, she had an omelet turned into a scramble at her request. The homemade bread for the toast was really quite good. My kiddo actually ate some of the pancake! The ambiance is still very nice. All in all this a well earned 4 star update. I will be back, it is quite possible that Aptos now has a wonderful breakfast spot. I'm cautiously optimistic. I suggest you try it out! read more

I have seen negative reviews on 2 social media sites concerning this restaurant. My daughter and family tried Whale City in Aptos and said they would not go back. Today I thought I will give it a chance. The waitperson was very attentive and helpful. The coffee tasted harsh maybe not fresh. The chilaquiles were a B rating and at this point all was OK until I bit down on something hard. I pulled a 2 1/4 wire out of my mouth. Thank god i did not break a tooth. I flagged a wait person who apologized and took it to the kitchen. It looked like a wire that probably came from one of those twist ties that you find on produce. I have had a metal taste in my mouth ever since and it's been about three hours. They did bring a muffin over for me to come home but unfortunately it was like a Costco muffin and not even that good. I didn't really expect a refund but I don't think I'll be back. read more

Third time having breakfast here and every item was just excellent. Had classic breakfast of two eggs, country, potatoes, toast, and added, bacon-3 strips. Coffee just as I like it, rich and fairly strong. Potatoes nicely crisp, and tender inside. Bacon, thick and crispy, wondered if it was from Corralitos market. I would've sworn the toast was baked in house, but heard waitperson explain that they don't have their ovens for it yet. But it was wonderful; nice swirls of rye and thick somewhat do with almost a challah texture to it. Loved that the butter was whipped and not little packets I have to struggle to open. One companion had the artichoke omelette and said really enjoyed that it had artichoke plus pesto plus spinach in it. Other companion had short stack and the pancakes looked beautifully fluffy and took up the whole 9-10" plate. Service was wonderful and they checked back at least 4-5X for food, quality, and water and coffee. read more

I want to give this new location 5 stars because I absolutely love the Davenport location but unfortunately they didn't meet the mark. Hospitality wise they were all 5 stars but the food earns them 3 stars. The food was so late to service the server comp a cinnamon roll and our coffees because how late it was. And when the food did arrive all 3 of our poached eggs were hard boiled read more

Giving 3 stars cause staff was very nice. But the prices for the food is way over priced for 3 overly cooked hard chicken straps that were so tiny and a small handful of fries for $15 is crazy. I should of gone to sno-whit and paid less for way more. I was really hoping it would be good. I mean I get I got chicken strips but sad when u could go to fast food and it come out better. read more

My husband and I had breakfast here this morning. I ordered chilaquiles and my food had a piece of wire. I'm glad I didn't swallow it and rapidly spitted it out. My husband started inspecting his meal and also found a piece of wire. I was given a muffin for compensation. We were still charged for our meal. First and last time we will ear in this establishment read more

Went with a group of six and ordered the salmon and various sandwiches, which all came with huge salads or French fries. Very friendly service, reasonably priced, open atmosphere, lovely patio. Thumbs up! read more

We had such a great brunch here today! The staff were so welcoming and accommodating for any special request and the restaurant is quite clean. Their burgers are made with Quality Meat and quite large and it seemed we could have shared one Burger instead of taking half of them home! Fresh lemon for the really great tasting iced tea seems so simple but a lot of places don't have great tea!! The french fries are freshly cut potatoes crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with a wonderfully fresh side salad with assorted vegetables. We ordered a side of their steamed vegetables which were very tasty! Even their homemade salad dressings were wonderful . An added bonus was the welcoming comments when we brought our little fur baby with us as the waitresses let us know they were dog friendly. They didn't have the variety of Bakery items as their Davenport location but did have a nice selection and it's always fun to drive up the coast if you're ever craving an Amazing apricot croissant. It's wonderful having our own Whale City Bakery in Aptos! read more

Rounded up to a generous three stars-- mostly for our sweet waitress and a sincere hope that this place can improve. We need more casual restaurants in this area. We spent 15 minutes just sitting at the table, waiting to order. Several staff were about, but they were busy making espresso coffees. Literally 15 minutes of watching them make coffee for other customers while we sat waiting and hungry. I nearly walked out. I think they need to decide if they are a restaurant or a coffee place? Definitely need more staff. And where are the bakery goods? I saw a tray of them near the bar, but nothing on the menu. Very strange. Once we ordered, food was delivered fairly quickly, but my omelette was very greasy and included cheese, even though I ordered without. read more

the food was ok but the service was fabulous. Naomi was wonderfully attentive friendly and kind.

Great spot! Tasty eggs Benedict and great breakfast potatoes, crispy and well-seasoned, but the highlight was the warm and friendly service from Naomi, who was totally lovely! Would definitely recommend whale city, they also have a beautiful outdoor seating patio read more

Everything was fine other than the fact that I unfortunately found a long hair embedded in my sandwich which was off putting.