We were so excited to see this finally open after driving by the sign for so long! We had low expectations after reading the poor reviews but were pleasantly surprised by great service and delicious food! We could tell why it took so long to open because the inside ambiance was greatly improved from the former dark and dank Burger. The inside was bright & clean while still embracing the character of the space. We started with 2 pastries (chocolate puff pastry and a pesto pastry) which were delicious but would have been better if they had offered to heat them up. We both had omelets, the Mediterranean and the artichoke which were both delicious and came out very fast and very hot. The potatoes were nice and crispy and just needed a little salt. The omelets were fluffy, flavorful, and jam packed with veggies. Excited to go back for lunch! read more

Whale City - Mediterranean omelette - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Aptos, California

The tuna melt is just perfect-- fries are nice and crispy too! Love both locations-- we are regulars because the servers and manager are always so personable and attentive and really go above and beyond to provide excellent service. read more

It was my first time eating at Whale City and the food was delicious. The atmosphere was very pleasant and welcoming. Our server Naomi was such a sweetheart. She was very punctual and attentive to us and went above and beyond to make sure we were taken care of. She is definitely a keeper. We plan to make Whale City our weekly go-to. read more

We had the fish+salad (vs chips) , huevos rancheros, calamari and a burger patty for our dog Husky /Chow mix). Service was great. Food was Awesome! We will for sure go back. NOTE: The patio is dog friendly but they have 2 cats on premises (too cute). Evidently, they came with the purchase of the property and have zero fear of dogs or people and they do not beg for food at all, they just chill out. OH! I was blown away by the tartar sauce--It was fantastic! (I am super picky about tartar sauce) . Highly recommend but if you have a dog with a cat issue or strong prey-drive, then I'd recommend leaving them behind as the cats will for sure be present. read more

AVOID Ordered steak and eggs, the whole plate was underwhelming, most things tasted under seasoned. Ordered sunny side up eggs, yolks were overdone but parts of the whites were raw, mucus-like texture. Overall still edible but not at all worth the price. Service was just okay, I had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come up to me. Coffee was okay as well. Definitely won't be coming back, I had high hopes. read more

Naomi was amazing! So friendly, diligent and polished. I had the salmon bowl which was wonderful and my husband said the breakfast burrito was the best he's had and has remarkable house made salsa, we will be back! read more

Second time we have tried to give this place a chance. The food was kinda gross again. My pickle had mold on it. The ketchup (which I put all over my food before tasting) was completely fermented and spoiled. Only redeeming factor are the cute stray cats that hangout in the restaurant read more

Went for Sunday morning breakfast. Service was friendly, food was decent. Bakery is delicious. Definitely will return and recommend

We were unsure of what to expect because of the previous reviews, but we had a great meal at Whale City. They seated us right away and were really attentive the whole time. Augustine was great, letting us know more about the menu. We asked if we could change the chilaquiles to red sauce and he said no problem. They were really good. It's hard to find good chilaquiles, where there's good flavor and the chips don't turn to mush. It was just the right level of spicy too. They had it perfectly cooked. The eggs were just right on top too. The black beans on the side were delicious. We brought our dog and sat on the patio. It is a nice sunny spot to enjoy your morning. We'll definitely be going back for the good service and good food. read more

I've been there for breakfast and lunch. Great food and super service. Ruben sandwich is awesome!

The food is fine but nothing memorable, we ordered a burger and a tuna melt, felt like something we could have made at home just as good. The onion rings were the best out of everything. Service was lackluster and menu was a bit expensive. read more

I was excited to try this place but damn, this was disappointing. On top of being served bread with a bite size piece of cardboard, most of the food was brought to us cold. read more

Whale City - Would you eat this??? Burger bun with a side of dry meat and cheese? - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Aptos, California

Great food. We ordered the crab cake meal with a salad. We think the crab cakes were made with snow crab. The server was friendly and our food arrived promptly. The interior was the same as when the place was owned by Burger. read more

Enjoyed brunch on their lovely outdoor patio. Good food and very friendly service. Glad to have a nice breakfast spot in town! read more

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

Service and food were exactly what we were looking for. Service was awesome. Nice place for Brunch:)

Walked in no one at the hostess station for about five minutes a young Latina girl behind the counter was looking at us and never said anything we grab menus and walked in as we did we ran into the hostess. We chose to just get pastries and not be seated, but once again waiting to order something, no one ever acknowledged us said anything again the young Latina girl behind the counter pretty much ignored us. She wasn't doing much. Ended up leaving such a disappointment for your first experience specially when I'm in walking distance, the whole experience was awful. Will not be back. read more

We went in around 7am for breakfast and had the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon and poached eggs, and coffee. Coffee was nice and strong, food was delicious, came super fast and the waitress was really nice and helpful. They did a great job of redecorating after the abysmal Burger (went there once and felt like I was in a basement where an overgrown encel was still living with his mother, and it took them 45 minutes to make a raw burger and greasy fries), and the views are fabulous. I hope those that had a not-so-hot first experience will give them another chance and chalk up the first experience to growing pains. I'm sure they'll live up to the stellar reputation of the Davenport location. And (at least for now) they have a 20% senior discount, and I'll for sure take advantage of that! read more

5 STAR delicious breakfast - great food, fast service, enjoyable dining areas both inside and outside! I went with my family on New Year's day so it was busy, yet our waitress Stephanie made the whole experience fantastic. She was very professional, kept checking on us and she brought out our hot food very fast. I got the breakfast burrito with onion rings and lemonade - all of it was excellent and I highly recommend this place. read more

We went for breakfast on Thanksgiving Day and I ordered the California Benedict. I thought it was very good, and, the service was very good as well. There were only a handful of people there eating, so no problem finding seating. I do plan to go back and try other items on the menu. I really hope they stick with it there. It is a nice location. I would like to make a few suggestions that might make the whole experience better: First, walking in the door, the odor of cleaning fluid was too strong and it permeated the entire restaurant i.e. at the table. It would be better if they could find something with a more pleasant less in your face odor. Second, the stairs going down to the dining room would look much better with a new paint job they reminded me of stairs at a subway station. (but, then, maybe that's the look they are going for). Third, the windows were not clean and with the bright sunlight streaming through, with the glare it was hard to see out. Lastly, if they could spring for a little better flatware service, I would find it a big plus. They have only been there for 5 months, so the server told us, so hopefully it will improve. read more

Food ok, not great, service sketchy, couldnt find our waitress to pay bill. Rueben sandwich greasy, Albondigas soup good, but one in our party ordered a bowl of it and it came in a flat casserole dish. Weird. I bought day old pastries and they were not good, even for day old. Patio area is pleasant. Menu okay, not exciting, maybe I will try for breakfast read more

One star is a stretch. Had Corned beef hash- terribly salty. Could barely eat. Waiter lacked basic listening skills. Ordered one coffee, two waters. Brought two coffees. Asked for silverware, forgot. Asked bus boy- said out of silverware - we're working on it (?). Waiter brought toast as we were almost done with meal. Cold toast. For 9:30 on a Sunday, only 3 other tables, some occupied outdoors. Won't return. read more

We've been going to this place since it opened as we were fans of the Davenport location. Aptos is much closer so I was thrilled. I must admit I haven't tried everything on the menu but I can tell you that the omelettes are delicious. It's almost impossible to get a normal ham and cheese omelette but you can here along with corned beef hash, another of my favorites and other normal hearty meals. Pancakes are great too. Another friend gets the salmon benedict every single time also. Staff is always great but it seems to be really hitting its stride lately. It was packed Sunday due to some popular wharf to wharf walk but the staff handled it perfectly. If you're looking for good food that the Chefs don't try to put their personal creative touch on everything they cook thus ruining it, this the place is for you.... read more

Very slow service. Only one server during rush. Understaffing. Food sat on warmer for 10 minutes.

Decided to give this place a try and we were very glad we did. Great food, great service, great atmosphere. We will definitely be repeat customers. read more

We ate at the restaurant on May 27. This was Memorial Day. Sorry in advance for the long read.... We really like the Davenport location. However, this review is for the Whale City in Aptos that recently opened. Hopefully management will read this and make some changes. We are not of the mindset to bash a place. The decent number of patrons was a good sign that Aptos residents want this place to succeed! We knew the place had recently opened, and had read some of the mixed reviews, so we understood there might be a few glitches. We went there for brunch. We found that it has a ways to go before they can meet the standards for service and food quality set at the Davenport location. When we arrived, it was pretty quiet (it got busier by the time we left). We were the first to be seated in our area with 6 tables. It took about 10 minutes for a server to come to us. We started by ordering a beer. About 10 minutes later, our server (who was very nice) came back to tell us they were out of that beer, so we ordered another beer option and asked for it right away. Our server left to place the revised beer order. When she came back, we were definitely ready to order some food, but she went to every other table in our section first (which now had several tables seated) and asked for their food orders before she came to us. We finally ordered our food. About 10 minutes later (definitely not right away as promised), our server returned with the news that the second beer we requested was also out. At that time, we were ready to leave. Our server convinced us to stay and offered us complementary beers (which we did receive after another five+ minutes). Our food came out fairly quickly after it was ordered, but that was still about 40 minutes after we were seated. It was busy, but not THAT busy. Seemed like a lot of confusion between staff as to what their individual tasks entailed. Some were wandering with seemingly nothing specific to do. The area in front of the kitchen window is small, and way overcrowded for the number of servers that need to get their food orders. Now, on to the food. I ordered the Chilaquiles with Chorizo ($23 with the addition of the meat). It was tasty. Decent amount of Chorizo, crispy tortillas, moderately spicy sauce. I enjoyed it. My wife was disappointed. She ordered an omelet from the menu with cheese, onions, and spinach. It was way overcooked (dry, flat and hard), and barely any cheese. The "home fries" had zero seasoning and were nearly burned. She had leftovers but didn't take them home. We can cook much better. The ambiance was fine, nothing fancy. Inside seating has an open floor plan with one side room where we were seated. Some windows have a nice view of the forest. There is an outside patio and some limited bar seating. We may come back again in a few months. Hopefully by then, this location will be closer to the standards set at the Davenport location. We really do want this location to succeed. read more

Just tried brunch at the new Whale City in Aptos. The chilaquiles were yummy, but the real standout was the supremely excellent service by Stephanie! She is a true professional, kind, friendly, knowledgeable, and with a great sense of humor, too. Thanks for being awesome, Stephanie! read more

We were so excited to have a whale city in aptos after years of driving to Davenport to grab breakfast. unfortunately we had the worst experience I've ever had going out to breakfast. Our table was dirty with food, 20 minutes for a waiter to come (they were not full), the milk they brought for coffee was sour, my daughters potatoes were so cold they seemed like they were just out of the fridge. i thought she was joking until I tried them. my chorizo scramble was some how bland, and the tortillas they served were old and falling apart. We hardly ate, paid and made breakfast at home. i hope we were an unfortunate exception. read more

I came here for lunch and the food was great. I had the crab cakes, which were perfectly cooked, not greasy or heavy. The landing burger was a good choice. The service is nice and friendly. I will have to stop by during breakfast and try it out again. read more

This was one of the worst breakfast experiences I've ever had. Showed up at 10am, asked to sit at the bar (assuming it was open seating like every other bar). Was told no. Okaaay. Wait 20 min then they say ok and they walk us to the bar. The pastries are sitting out in the open on the bar with nothing covering them. To go customers come up at sit at the bar 6" away from the pastries. Gnarly. We wait over 20 minutes nobody asks to take our order or even drinks. Eventually I flag down a waiter walking by and ask is there someone servicing the bar? He says ok he'll take our order. The "organic" lemonade is Costo lemonade and is $4 for a tiny glass. The food is not good. Tiny omelet, soggy French toast. Potatoes have way too much rosemary. Have to ask for refills of water. Have to ask twice for the side of salsa I requested. Quickly finish our food, have to ask to pay and for a box. Should have tipped $2 but tipped 15%. I want to like the place as I enjoy the Davenport location but it was terrible. I understand its a new location but the staff and food sucks. Maybe ill try again in a few months when they've had time to fix thier issues. read more

Service was good - pleasant, orders were right, and good follow up. However, the main downside is the food, unfortunately. It seems that the problems that others have posted have not been solved. Out of 3 meals that we had, only one was OK, shrimp louie and clam chowder. The biggest miss was my friend's calamari meal - it must have been intended to be reheated before serving, but when she got the meal, the calamari was cold inside and out, and quite hard and extra chewy. My crab cakes benedict was not great - seemed like frozen crab cakes that had been reheated in a pan. And I asked if I could substitute some fruit for potatoes, and the server said yes, for a small fee. My bad that I didn't ask price - the fee was $5.25 for a couple of strawberries, a couple of pieces of pineapple and a couple of melon (same as if I had added a cup of fruit, instead of substituted) . So the total price of 1 meal was $27.24!! This seemed like it could have been a promising place for locals. But not great food, high prices, added to having to park across the street at Rancho Del Mar because of a lack of parking spaces -- there won't be a return visit. read more