Best Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in Soquel

This is our favorite local restaurant. Great food, great service.

Our table of seven for lunch choose three Asian Chicken salads, which my wife declares the "best" she has had, and she is a San Francisco foodie. Another had the Eggs Benedict which resulted in a clean plate, and I had the Mahi Mahi sandwich which was perfectly cooked on a wonderful roll. Oh and we started with the Fried Calamari that was crispy and tender. (Much better than the calamari we had two days later at a pricy Pebble Beach resort!) IF YOU'RE HEADING UP OR DOWN THE COAST STOP IN CAPITOLA AND FIND ZELDA'S!

Beautiful newly remodeled space, right across from the Rio Del Mar beach. We had a great friendly waitress who served everything smoothly and promptly. All was good, from the cocktails and appetizer (crab hush puppies) to our entrees, and then coffee and dessert. An excellent experience.

Beautiful setting out on the veranda, gorgeous view and sunset while having dinner. Just loved it! And the food was absolutely delicious.

Intimate, but casual atmosphere. Small jazz trio played in the corner (at a sound level where we could still talk at our table). The food was just incredible. We each had different entrees and planned to go elsewhere for dessert, but the entrees were so amazing that we tried the dessert as well and again - amazing. Staff was super attentive and we even spent a few minutes chatting with the owner/pastry chef. Best food in the Aptos/Capitola/Santa Cruz area in my opinion.