Bantam

Dude, this place is legit 👌🏼. Bantam is my go-to for killer pizza 🍕 super authentic and packed with flavor. Threw some anchovies 🐟 on there and man… total game changer. Pizza 🍕 was fire 🔥. Tried the fried chicken 🍗 too crazy juicy, crispy, just straight-up delicious. And the bread 🍞 with olive oil 🍾? Bro… next level. Like, simple but perfect. If you’re in Santa Cruz 🏄🏻‍♂️ and not hitting up Bantam, you’re seriously missing out.

Our recent dinner at Bantam restaurant in Santa Cruz was a delightful and memorable experience. From the moment we walked in, we were impressed by the trendy and cool vibe of the place. Even on a Tuesday night, the restaurant was packed with diners, which added to its lively atmosphere. To start, we ordered a salad that was loaded with fresh vegetables, including crisp pickled cauliflower and tender asparagus. The flavors were fantastic and left us eager to try more. We opted for two pizzas - one with peppery arugula and Brigita cheese and another with creamy ricotta cheese and roasted eggplant. Both were expertly baked, with thin crusts that had just the right amount of chewiness. For dessert, we indulged in Bantam's famous booty pudding - a rich and decadent bread pudding that left us feeling fully satisfied. One highlight of our meal was how small but thoughtfully curated their menu is. We felt like every item on it was there for a reason, carefully chosen to showcase Bantam's focus on fresh ingredients and bold flavors. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Bantam and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an exceptional dining experience in Santa Cruz. We look forward to returning soon!

Really unique pizza toppings and always delicious! They have a rotating menu so there’s always something new to try. Great desserts as well! Pizza + fine dining + Santa Cruz beaches. ❤️We’ve been here 3 times and will visit again.

TLDR: overpriced, better places to spend your evening in Santa Cruz. Hostess was very nice, seated us quickly. The bartender refused to make a negroni with lillet: I was told it was “not possible” even though lillet WAS on the menu and there were 2 Negroni variations on the menu. The Caesar salad was DROWNED in dressing to the point where you could taste nothing except for the dressing. It was made with radicchio (not listed on description) impractically sized breadcrumbs. We took our pizza to go, only to discover it was slightly burnt.

Food was great! I think if the cocktails were all about 4-5 dollars cheaper and the food was too then it would be a hit! Hard to justify having to pay an extra added cost to have cheese on some of the pizzas, but maybe that’s just me 🤷🏽

Great meal all the way around. They don’t do reservations so dropped in at 5pm when they opened for an early dinner. Filled up quickly - was rainy no outdoor seating - good vibe inside. Our waiter Spencer was fun and great service. Everything we got pretty darn tasty. Their bourbon specialty cocktail “The Professor” highly recommend. Chicken with sweet potatoes, pepperoni pizza, bread and butter and caesar salad all highly tasty. Going back for sure.

Customer service was amazing!! Great communication and they would correct their estimate times, if they accidentally stated a shorter wait time. However, the food was mediocre and I would not come here again. Pizza was the main problem, which is their main dish - funny enough. Consistent issue was that all 3 pizzas ordered here were really soupy aka the toppings would fall off really easily. There was essentially no undercarriage in the crust and it would fall apart. We ordered the Endive, pepperoni, and sausage. The endive was not good and the whole lettuce chunk would be difficult to bite into, so you'd end up eating massive lettuce chunks and leaving just bread left on the second bites. Flavor wise - I do not recommend. Pepperoni was OK flavor, not my personal favorite. I've had significantly better from other places like A Mano in SF, but this pizza was the most structurally strong crust. The toppings did not threaten to slip when you pulled the slice. The sausage tasted the best out of the three options ordered, but nothing mind blowing. I've definitely had better flavors elsewhere and the crust had the same issue as the others. Dessert was decent. I think the blood orange ice cream itself was delicious.

Fun atmosphere. Went for a good pizza and got it. Felt weird ordering the fried chicken here but it was the best I ever had. Highly recommend this place. Our waiter was attentive and friendly.