The Cook House

Great little hole-​in-​the-​wall breakfast place. We got lucky and we’re able to be seated almost immediately. Unfortunately it’s so small (usually NOT a bad thing as I LOVE these types of places) that it’s not really good for young kids (we have a 1 year old and a 4 year old) who need a bit more space. Overall, if it was just me and my wife it would probably have gotten 5 stars. The food was good, comfort food, just how you’d expect it to be from a small home style breakfast place.

Wonderful hole in the wall breakfast spot. Very warm and homey atmosphere. Friendly, talkative, attentive staff. It feels like you’re stopping at a friend’s house for breakfast, and it just so happens that your friend cooks a mean plate of hash browns and eggs. I had the lumberjack, which consisted of a well seasoned and juicy piece of ground steak, light and fluffy scrambled eggs, and excellent hash browns. I definitely look forward to my next visit here!

A hole in the wall with only 25 seats if you are lucky. It always get full around 9 AM. The CFS (country fried steak) is my husband’s favorite. For 10 bucks you get 3,000 calories of CFS, bread choice, eggs and lots of gravy. The pancakes are always fluffy and the bacon is always crispy. The servers always are stellar and service is truly with a smile. My other favorite thing is their boysenberry syrup. Prices are decent, and coffee cups are always refilled. Highly recommend!

I’m new to Santa Cruz and Capitola and was driving around Capitola and found The Cook House on Unilocal and saw it’s great reviews. I got a California Club sandwich to go and the host and waitress were both incredibly nice and the food was made fresh right in front of me. The sandwich was very good on sourdough and I highly recommend. Will go back again :)

Great place for breakfast. Great service, great food. We have a family vacation home in Capitola, we are a 5 minute walk, the adults and kids love it. Best bacon.

Stopped into this little ol’ greasy diner because we were overwhelmed by the crowds and parking in Capitola. Couldn’t get within 5 miles of parking near the beach, nor could we even find a simple place to eat, since we were starving, having come from a long weekend road trip. Came upon this little place and stepped into a mom and pop operation if I’ve ever seen one. Obviously a place loved by locals, as we got some sideward glances because we were obviously out of towners. I knew if the locals loved it, it must be good, so we stayed and ordered, especially since it was already 1:00 pm and I hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet! I was surprised by how good the coffee was, seriously… I am so sick of gourmet and Starbucks, etc… this was great coffee.
Service was friendly and prompt and reminded me so much of my husband’s parent’s restaurant they operated in an extremely small town, for many years. Right down to the one server, one cook, one dishwasher, who knew the crowd and actually talked to each other about the happenings of their daily lives. Nostalgic brown coffee cups and silver creamer cups, just an old fashioned, unpretentious but hospitable place to get a bite to eat.
I ordered a patty melt, and one of my daughters ordered a cheeseburger, the other ordered an stack of pancakes. This was seriously the best patty melt that I ever ate in my life. The bread was grilled perfectly, the cheddar was generous and it was perfect. I know it’s so stupid, I’ve had tons of patty melts in other places, but this was the best ever. My daughter’s even kept talking about this place, the whole 3 hour ride home, about how good the food was. Seriously, it was just pancakes and burgers, but it was something unlike any other place you can get real, I mean, real diner food.
Could use a good scrubbing, and maybe another open window but it was a great place to eat and I would definately go there again. Thanks for a great meal!

Best little local greasy diner. Loved it!

I love this place. It’s great, quality American breakfast foods. They have all the standards down pat, just how pancakes, omelettes, and hash browns should be. On our most recent visit, on a whim one Sunday morning we decided to walk over for brunch and were seated promptly. The waitresses are the best, so friendly, and keep the coffee flowing. If you want a great, casual, sit down breakfast– this place is for you. Recommendations: banana pancakes and the avocado/​bacon/​cheese omelette.

Great food, reasonable prices & friendly, attentive staff. The place is small and tucked away. It is almost always packed, but worth the wait. A real local treasure.

Standard breakfast comfort food. Wasn’t busy for a Saturday considering Gayle’s is right aroung the corner. But then again, the Gayle’s crowd probably wouldn’t patronize this place. I had the chicken fried steak, eggs, and hashbrowns. Pretty tasty and not too greasy. My friends had the biscuits and gravy. Bicuits were pretty small and didn’t have much flavor but the gravy was good. So, skip the biscuits if you go. Nice and friendly staff :) I’ll be visiting again.

This is the kind of diner you would want to go to when you’re starving. It’s a small operation, with a limited number of seats, but it’s hearty filling food. It seems that a family runs the place and is frequently by locals.
It took us a while to get food on a Sunday morning, but it was delicious.

this was a good place for mother’s day
not too fancy
wait staff attentive

Good old breakfast spot. This is the place you come for flat top hash browns and simple cooking. Nice family run place. Carol and Cathy are fun folk.

Definitely a greasy spoon. I smelled like the deep fryer when I left. The cook did do an amazing job managing so many orders by herself, but I was disappointed to see this place is not vegetarian friendly (fries cooked in same oil as bacon, reused pans). I was also really surprised that my avocado was cooked in my omelette. Who cooks avocado? Yuck. I won’t be going back.

The omelette was tasty but the eggs were overcooked. I don’t mind it but its something take note of.
Food price is good.
You can see them prepare your food. Not that it matters to me but it gives you an idea on how big the place is.
The service itself is awesome. One great thing about small towns.
I am honestly a food snob, being a self-​confessed foodie in SF, so this place food-​wize isn’t that great. But I still love it.

It has the diner feel to it and it is not pretentious. The pancakes are thin and the syrup like sugar water. The bacon is like burnt leather and the whole place feels like it is covered in grease. The ladies are hospitable and give you a welcome smile. But at the end of the day, it is pretty low quality food made using low quality ingredients in a messy kitchen. Some people love it. Some people think it is cheap. Actually it is not. I hope they can improve the quality of food and not be we have been this way for 30 years and our customers love us. Please give your customers an upgrade.

I’ve been on the hunt for years for the best chicken fried steak. This place ranks in my top ten joints.

I’ve lived in Santa Cruz my whole life and never knew this place existed until about 3 weeks ago. My boyfriend kept telling me how good the breakfast place behind Gayle’s was and I had no idea where he was talking about.
The first time we went together, I began to doubt his recommendation. The chairs and tables were kinda old and funky, and the interior looked like it hadn’t been updated in years. That being said, a second after we walked in a woman came over to us with a huge smile and told us it would be couple minutes for a table to open up. We walked outside where there was a collection of chairs lined up and waited no more than 10 minutes when she came out and offered bar seating. We said yes and headed in.
The bar faces a small open kitchen with a single chef who was making breakfast for the whole restaurant. I ordered the Maverick scramble (a scramble with green chilies and bacon served with toast and hash browns) and my boyfriend got the chicken fried steak. Not a long wait for the food, and watching the chef work was impressive.
Our food was served to us quickly, and that first bite made me let out a moan that was on the edge of inappropriateness for the general public. I have NEVER tasted bacon that crunchy, especially in a scramble. There was a solid 3 minutes where I don’t think I said a single word, I couldn’t stop shoveling the scramble into my mouth. I may have stopped breathing for a bit also, it was all a blur… it was hands down the best scramble I’ve ever had. The hash browns and toast were just average, but the Maverick was incredible!!!
For the first time ever, I finished my meal before my boyfriend (who I commonly refer to as «the machine»). I’ve been back there once more since and ordered the same thing, it was just as amazingly delicious as the first time. The woman who was working both times (I think she’s the owner) is such a sweetheart. The service was great, the food was awesome, and the Cook House is officially my new favorite breakfast spot :)

I love this place for breakfast :-). It’s like a cup of sunshine in your coffee even if it’s foggy. Small but not too small. The food is great from bacon waffles to omelets loaded with fresh spinach, fresh cut fruit cups, a few different sausages and cheeses. Great friendly service, what’s not to like like about this breakfast diner, nothing! It’s not a fancy coffee donut house but those are nearby.

New to the area and first stop for my «go to» breakfast place. Menu is typical of most diner type places. One server and one cook for the small joint which gives it a nice hometown feel.
Service good was good, but the food was just ok. Chicken Fried Steak is my standard for a good breakfast place and theirs was just ok. Eggs and hashbrowns were standard and nothing special.
Got the feeling a little bit here as a newbie I wasn’t so welcome (same is true with people who work at the liquor store across from here) just from the looks from the locals, but hey I am a local too now so screw them.