Happy Hour Sunday - Thursday 5pm - 7pm
$4 Draft beers, well drinks and wine
$7 Specialty drinks
$5 Appetizers
Cafe Mare Website
______________________________________________________________
Jo’s review
Café Mare (Mare in Italian means the Sea), is a beautiful little restaurant located in downtown Santa Cruz. It located off of Front Street in a slightly sunken building near a small mall. The outside is surrounded by a beautiful garden lush with colorful flowers and plants. Once inside there’s a good size open area, a lovely table-clothed dining area with a small patio for outdoor eating, and a good sized bar. The owners of the place Andrea and Jean Pierre are all smiles and very welcoming to their Café by the Sea.
It has been a
while since our last blog entry; we need to step up the pace now that summer is
on the way and there are so many happy hours to be had. I always enjoy coming
to Café Mare. Personally, I enjoy the handsome European men who own and work in
the place. They are always attentive, and there’s just something about foreign
men, but maybe that’s just me.
When I
arrive, Julie is already there with this fantastic looking bloody mary in front
of her and looks too good to pass up, so I order one for myself. The drink, made
with fresh tomato juice, has a skewer of some of the best garnish I have
encountered in a bloody mary- 2 types of pickled onions (the traditional one
and one pickled in Balsamic vinegar), an artichoke heart, olives, tomatoes, and
a celery stalk to finish it off.
The drink was spicy, just the way I like it
and the fresh tomato juice really made it. Café Mare uses only the finest fresh
organic ingredients. Happy hour is Sunday – Thursday 5pm – 7pm and consists of
$4 drafts, well drinks and wine, $7 specialty drinks and $5 appetizers. We
start looking at the menu and end up picking 3 items, Polenta Grigliata, a
Margarita Pizzetta, and Ali de Pollo ala Diavola (chicken wings in hot sauce).
Julie and I
are enjoying our bloody marys and laughing it up with Andrea when the food
starts to arrive. The Polenta is grilled and topped with a choice of Bolognese,
marinara, or marsala & mushrooms. Julie opts for the marsala &
mushrooms and she is not disappointed. The Polenta, shaped in triangles has a
nice light crunchy grill on it and the marsala with mushrooms is great with it.
The chicken wings are plump and juicy with a slightly crunchy skin to them,
slightly breaded and the sauce is a little sweet but tasty. The plate is decorated
with thin slices of celery, and cherry tomatoes cut in half, a lovely
presentation. The pizzetta was good, I like more sauce on mine and less cheese
but it was good. It was a good size though and I’m glad we shared it.
While we’re
munching away, Julie orders something different this time and goes for one of
the specialty drinks, a ruby red Cosmos, which was very pretty in color and
very refreshing. I decide on wine and go with the Negroamaro red, nice full
bodied Chianti styled wine. Well the food is going down, the drinks are going
down and the happy is going up!!!!
All in all
Café Mare is a great place for happy hour. I like that they have it on Sunday,
always looking for weekend happy hours, with good prices and great food. The
main thing I like though is chatting it up with our bartender/owner. We got to
meet the cook and the wait staff and it gave the place a very friendly and
homey atmosphere that was warm and inviting and I look forward to going back
soon.
Jo’s review:
4.5 shots
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Julie’s Review
Café Mare is conveniently located downtown on Front
Street in the Galleria. The outside of
the restaurant is surrounded by beautiful flower beds. They have Happy Hour Sunday through Thursday
from 5 – 7 p.m. I’m always thankful for
a happy hour extending past 6:00, since it’s nice not to rush to make a happy
hour after work and a Sunday happy hour downtown is extremely convenient.
During happy hour, well drinks, beer and wine are $4.00,
specialty premium cocktails such as Ruby Red Cosmo, Berry Lemon Drop, Ginger
Island or an Old Fashioned are $7.00.
The food options for $5.oo are Bruschetta, Pate, Pizzetta, Polenta Grigliata, Chicken Wings,
Fried Calamari, Fried Zucchini and Mushrooms and Meatballs. French fries are $3.00. There is no take out
on the happy hour menu, a $10 credit charge minimum and happy hour may not be
on holidays. All very reasonable.
I arrived at Café Mare after a hard day at work and was
ready for a drink. The interior of Café Mare is cool, dark and inviting. I was quickly greeted by Andrea, one of the
owners of the restaurant. Andrea started
working at Café Mare in 2002 when he arrived from Sardinia; he became a
co-owner with the other owner, Jean Pierre, several years ago. He is a friendly and attentive bartender. He explained Café Mare uses all local,
organic ingredients, even in the Bloody Mary mix! He takes a lot of pride in his restaurant, as
he should.
Jean Pierre Andrea
I asked if I could get a well bloody mary on the Happy Hour
and he was very accommodating. That Bloody
Mary was a sight for sore eyes and thirsty throat. I always judge a Bloody Mary by the garnish
and this was a garden to with celery, olive, onion, artichoke heart, tomato and
a special pickled onion marinated in balsamic vinegar. It had the right level of spiciness and hit
the spot. When Josephine arrived she
liked the looks of mine so much she ordered one herself.
I ordered the Polenta Grigliata which is grilled organic
polenta in Marsala and mushroom sauce, Jo ordered the chicken wings and we
decided to split the Margherita Pizzetta.
We chatted with Andrea about running the restaurant, we met Jean Pierre
and even the multitasking chef even came
out to meet us.
I decided to try one of the specialty cocktails so I
ordered the Ruby Red Cosmo made with Absolut grapefruit vodka, fresh lime
juice, orange curacao and cranberry juice.
It was delicious. Jo ordered a
glass of red wine. I noticed that Andrea
let the couple next to us taste the wine before ordering, again a nice level of
service.
The food was wonderful when it arrived. I particularly enjoyed the polenta, two
triangles of grilled polenta floating in the mushroom sauce. It’s a treat to find grilled polenta and the
Marsala sauce was absolutely delicious.
I liked Jo’s chicken wings which arrived artistically displayed with a
spray of finely cut celery sticks and “Pac-man” cut cherry tomatoes. I liked the smaller pieces of celery with the
ranch dressing. The wings were sweet and
spicy. I realized I’m not much for
cheese pizza, I want more toppings on it, but Jo was very happy with it since
she loves Margherita pizza.
I ordered a well cucumber gimlet to finish the
evening. It was National Dance Week and
I was enjoying this happy hour before seeing friends perform in the
street. I got the text message my friend
was about to perform, so Andrea quickly rang up our bill and I swiftly
departed. Too quick of an exit to a
lovely happy hour.
I was very impressed with Café Mare. It has a great location, the service and food
were wonderful, and it’s a nice atmosphere for quiet one on one
conversation. Having happy hour on
Sunday and until 7:00 on weekdays is a real plus. I like the attention and care that was given
us. Andrea really showed us “what they
got” so I will give them 4.5 shots!!
Julie’s rating: 4.5 shots
No comments:
Post a Comment