The Buttery

Grab a number, ask for a box and then proceed to fill it up with amazing baked goods of all different kinds. The pecan bar is sinfully delicious and their cookies are perfect. Stock up on some fresh and cheap sourdough bread (good luck driving home without taking a bite). I couldn’t even look at their cold case filled with cakes, custards and cupcakes… ahhhh maybe next time! It was all so beautiful! Definitely a must if visiting Santa Cruz.
Breakfast is pretty good here too, had the eggs Benedict but was more impressed with the bakery side.

The buttery has good pastries and some nice lunch menu items but it’s always so crowded and way over priced but I guess if people keep
Coming you can charge what you want to for your items. I found the soups to be lacking in seasonings and the sandwiches are pretty skimpy on the meats but if your not super hungry then it will most likely work for you just grab salt and pepper if you’re having soup.

This place is super cute. Known for their pastries more than their food I think, which I have not tried. Tried a couple of their sandwiches and wasn’t super impressed. Want to try their breakfast. They also have a coffee bar.

My cousin and I came here from San Mateo for a little Santa Cruz get away, and we decided to stop here for lunch. The environment is very cute and quaint, and clearly we came on a busy lunch, so we decided to opt for take out. The girl at the counter was very friendly and polite. We ordered the Joe’s Favorite, and the torta de jamon with a side of potato salad, and it was delicious! Of course we weren’t going to leave without taking home some baked goods, and we bought a francese baguette, two ollalieberry puffs (which we have yet to try), and a pecan sandie, which by far is AMAZING. I’m almost tempted to drive back down and grab another one! So definitely worth the visit for the great food.
The only qualm I have is the limited seating and how it fills up quick, so that should tell you this place is a great spot to be for your lunch fix. In a perfect word, I wish some people could be a little more polite to any staff member in the food service industry. My first experience here was soured by this snobby lady who was absolutely rude to a girl behind the counter who at first asked if she could have a said of arugula that was supposed to come with her special. At first she was seemingly polite to the girl, but then once she had her back turned she started muttering loud enough for me to hear that she wants her arugula now and to hurry up. Accidents happen, ingredients are sometimes forgotten, it was a busy day, and if you can clearly see everyone is busting their butts to accomplish ticket orders, and that there’s no seating available, it’s busy and you need to get your head out of your ass and chill. Please. This lady wasn’t satisfied with the amount of arugula she received, asked for more, but while the girl was grabbing it for her, that lady continued to make more under her breath sideline comments about how it wouldn’t have been a problem if they just remembered it, and rude remarks about the girl who is getting her lettuce to hurry it up, and acting as if she was responsible for her sandwich missing her arugula. Like let’s all stop the world for this one person for some damn arugula! Here’s a lesson to be learned people, don’t be like that lady. Be nice to people who are handling your food. Mistakes happen, not tragedies. It would be nice if we could treat each other like adults, but that’s just me I guess…
Overall, I would definitely recommend this place. The staff are friendly, the food is great, sitting down to eat is determined by chance, but you’ll have a nice time here.
Ps. The ollalieberry puff is

This place lives up to all the local hype!
Purchased a beautiful carrot cake for my daughters birthday back in November. i ordered and paid for the cake online. My daughter, a self proclaimed carrot cake expert, said it was the best carrot cake she has ever had.
Pick up was smooth, fast and effortless. Parking was a bit of a pain, but that is only becuase this place attracts a lot of customers and I can work around parking for something worthwhile.
I haven’t had anything else besides the carrot cake, but we drooled at the bakery displayed in the cases while we waited for our cake to be brought out.

Awesome spot to grab a sandwhich, a dessert or hang out and research/​study.
Got the trip tip on foccacia. Was a great spot to stop by for lunch.

My wedding cake was absolutely beautiful and looked even better then I thought it would. The cake was absolutely delicious, I had carrot cake on two tiers and chocolate on two tiers. When I went in for the consultation I was given eight small slices of cake! It was so much! But they really want you to know what you want. I went to other places and they gave me a piece of cake on a tooth pick for each flavor! The Buttery went above and beyond to make sure I was satisfied. Jill even gave me a carrot cake cup cake to take home to my fiancé for free! Amazing guest service. It is more expensive here but The Buttery cake is the best in Santa Cruz County!

Stopped in with the family on a recommendation from a friend. We ordered the PBnJ for the boy, BBQ tri-​tip and stuffed avocado me and the asian chicken salad for the lady. Overall we loved the food, flavors were great. I think $ 4 for a thin spread of PBnJ is steep and the tri-​tip sandwich needs more than two slices of meet for $ 8.50. The salad and stuffed avocado were on point and clearly the best part of the meal.
Also as I am thinking back on it my double espresso may have been a single but that’s my fault for not noticing. But I really did enjoy it.

They give good cake.
I was going to give them 3 stars and just say «They give good cake» but their SM platform would not allow me to actually voice my opinion. I was literally unable to complete my review. Fugazzy

Great croissants and coffee. If you go on a Sunday it gets extremely crowded. The outdoor seating is communal which makes visiting with the friendly locals easy and fun. Great place to relax with friends.

The short: old-​fashioned bakery with ultra sweet chocolate dessert
The place has several places to sit (I saw people enjoying sandwiches, too). I came towards the end of the night and of course there were not too many pickings left. I asked the lady behind the counter what things were and how much they were. How come there are no name placards?! Thankfully, she was willing to divulge the details.
I ended up getting the:
— Petit four: ultra-​sweet
— Chocolate mousse: nice coffin box made of chocolate, with mousse on the inside and chocolate pieces on top
+ Devils food cupcake with ganache: very moist and one bite of the ganache was plenty
For my parents who I shared the treats with, they enjoyed it. I enjoyed them too, but found myself overwhelmed with the sweets and the chocolate after a couple bites. Chocolate lovers will rejoice and I will stick with one chocolate piece next time.

Last two pies I bought were lousy. First was a pumpkin pie with a very, very thick sloppy crust. On one side of the pie, the crust had sagged about a half inch over the side of the tin. Taste was overwhelmingly spicy, with a very strong lingering aftertaste of cinnamon. Called to report the poor quality, the person I spoke to was not interested in replacing it with a decent pie. Also a very ugly pie due to cartoonishly thick crust.
Second pie was pecan. Nice crust, but pie was baked too long. Dark brown crust, crust on bottom of pie baked to tin. Worst thing was was how greasy/​oily this pie was. Literally oozing oil. Texture of filling was pulpy with it, and left our lips greasy. Really a nasty pie.
I will not take any more chances on their pies.
Pastries are often great, but inconsistent. Blueberry muffins can be fantastic, moist and full of plump berries, but on occasion muffins are dry and stiff. Croissants are really great, almost miraculous if you manage to get them warm, but again are occasionally dry. On one occasion I had a pumpkin cookie (soft cookie with raisins and walnuts) that contained two uncooked beans (!), and some walnut shell. Happily, they refunded the purchase and gave me two free. Again, good pastries, but inconsistent.

Someone isn’t minding their store.
Hiring unpleasant employees isn’t a good plan. I no longer want to give this place my business.

Underwhelmed entirely. I think Safeway croissant are much better than the ones
We got for breakfast ! REALLY.
And we also got a chocolate chunk macadamia cookie. The nuts were over cooked & very HARD — wasted them least I chip a tooth. I am NOT in the habit of wasting macadamia nuts. Oh — and the cookie tasted «flat» almost «stale»
Wanted coffee but waited around for a while & when no one, anywhere in site, was taking orders, I just took my pastry & left ., meh .
They seemed clean and tidy, maybe just bad timing ?
I had heard good things about this café — disappointing.

I should have gotten a lot more things at The Buttery, but my sandwich was quite tasty and I’d very much recommend heading there for lunch.
It was a busy Sunday afternoon at the Buttery, I somehow never stopped in when I lived here in Santa Cruz. You order at the counter and find seating, which can get pretty tight at this popular location. There are two areas, one for meals and the other for cakes and baked goods with two beautiful cases full of tasty treats. Service was a little spotty at the register, but not memorably bad.
I had a BLT on sourdough with some chips. It was pretty basic, but very good. Mixed greens, toasted bread, crispy bacon and fresh tomatoes went together very well. I should have had more pastries, but I have a hard time with dairy. It was my birthday, so I almost grabbed a chocolate cake, since they were only 20 – 30 bucks and looked delicious.
Head over to The Buttery for a nice snack, something sweet, or a fresh lunch next time you are near soquel.

Wow this place is super! Bread, cheese, dessert… what more could you ask for! Definitely a heavier place, don’t walk in these doors if you’re watching your carb and sugar in take but if you’re like me and need a splurge now and then… come on it!
This place was highly recommended to me by a friend who lives in the area, another friend recommended it to me so I had to check it out. The gal who helped me, I think her name may have been Linda was the friendliest lady ever, she was so excited to have me in as a first timer and told me everything she recommended. I settled on the veggie goat grilled sandwich on focaccia and the soup of the day which was curried cauliflower. I also got a diet coke and they have those cute little aluminum bottles.
My sandwich was delicious, perfect amount of cheese, warm grilled focaccia, sundried tomato aioli and lots of veggies, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was a little disappointed with the soup, I like my food piping hot and this was just luke warm, I find that quite common with most restaurants though and it still had a good flavor to it.
I didn’t have any dessert but I did admire them as they were so pretty and neatly designed.
I will say it’s pretty warm in here, I came in around 4pm, I know a very late lunch this day and I was pretty hot and sticky, they do have fans on but I was still hot.
But overall a cute place, good food, you’re able to buy bread to go, the staff is friendly and everyone in there seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their bites!

I don’t think I can ever eat a frosted cake, or for that matter, any other cake with as much satisfaction and bliss as I did a cake from Buttery. I’m sure I have tried buttercream cakes before but none made my mouth water as this one did, and none melted in my mouth as this one did.
I tried the hazelnut ganache cake at a friend’s birthday and I don’t think I can go back to regular cakes anymore! I want to keep coming back for more but I wish it weren’t so far.

****The Buttery****
Absolutely love the name. The little one could not stop laughing at the name because it has the word «butt» in it.
This café has two sides in the morning. You can order food or go to the other side and get bakery and coffee. They get busy but the hostesses were very nice and warm especially for it being so early and busy.
~Bakery Items-​4 Stars
We ordered a Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin, Thumb Prints and Iced Vanilla Latte. The muffin was a little dry and the latte had too much of a milky flavor. The Thumb Prints (little cookies with jam) were amazingly delicious. These tiny cookies pack a punch. If I would’ve only known, I would’ve bought a few dozen. The few that I got were so good and we’re an excellent snack for the road trip.
Overall, I am a fan!

Large bakery storefront with cases full of cakes, cookies, rings, and other treats.
Always crowded with a ticketing system like a deli, take a number! (machine is located by the door) Once your name is called step on up and choose your poison!
My favorite treat to share here are the the fruit rings — a little like a danish, but fruitier with whatever is in high season. If I’m looking for a snack for just me, I like the thumbprint cookies. If you’re more a chocolate lover — the chocolate pudding cupcake will do the trick!

Sandwiches and frittatas were good.
Now, on to more important matters, CARROT CAKE!
If I could give it 6 stars, I would. Even 10 stars. Or, 100… 8 gajillion stars it is!!!
What are you still doing here reading this!!! Didn’t you see that? I said 8 gajillion stars! Go buy carrot cake! PRONTO!