Conscious Creations Cafe Catering

We hired Conscious Creations to cater and staff our small wedding, and it was one of the best decisions we made!
Joshua was very patient with me, as I spoke to him several times and went back and forth on whether or not to get a caterer or just order food from a restaurant. In the end, we decided to hire Joshua to make appetizers and the desserts, as well as a server and bartender, so the reception would be less stressful (and tastier!).
Let me tell you we were so happy we did it! The appetizers were delicious. He even made us a little extra so we had leftovers — the bruschetta was delicious in the egg casserole we made :) The cupcakes were also amazing!
The server and bartender were professional, friendly, outgoing and very helpful. They even stayed a little extra to make sure everything was cleaned up.
Thank you, Joshua, for making our day even better!

I came across CC Café from a groupon I purchased and wow, what a find! My husband and I aren’t vegetarians but we had the yummiest meal. I may even convert to vegetarianism! The entrée was full of flavor and we left feeling satisfied. The back area is setup with umbrellas and patio furniture. We had our 11 month old daughter so it was nice and private when we came in. My vote is actually 4 ½ stars. The reason for only 4.5 was that we were a bit confused when we walked in. There wasn’t anyone to greet us so we were sure if we were to order at the counter or sit down. The owner was busy serving so we waited a bit. The wait was worth it though. We had a great meal and will be back again.

fresh organic ingredients and creative options. great service also. fun atmosphere and nice patio outside.
we will definitely be back!!!

LOVE this place. completely addicted to the Chameleon! The chef/​owner/​mgr is super cool and always makes you feel welcome… so glad its back…

I love conscious creations! The food is fantastic. The best and most creative tacos in town! The service is friendly and relaxed. Nice ambiance too. I highly recommend checking out conscious creations.

I have eaten here twice and enjoyed both meals. They also have excellent beer on tap. The service is certainly laid back and as far as I could tell the owner cooks all the meals. It is a small place but they are very nice and the food is local. I would certainly suggest giving it a try.

Where to begin? We had previously attempted to go there but were turned away because there was a large party of people that had booked the place. I had visited their website just a few minutes before arriving. What would have been nice if they’d posted some notification of them being not open to the general public on their website if they were having a large group take up the whole place on a particular day. It was rather inconvenient to drive all the way down there and discover that we couldn’t get in.
But to try and ensure that this wasn’t going to occur again, we called in advance on our second attempt to eat there. Except for the fact that they didn’t pick up their phone. At all. I called five times within a two hour period before just deciding to head over there because we needed to use the groupon up and all I got was their answering machine after several rings. Got there and discovered that there were at least four employees working. And none of them could be bothered to pick up the phone for a moment to answer my question about seating availability? Not very impressive.
When we finally got there, we were the only new customers in the place. But we were not given any acknowledgement from any of the four or five said employees after coming through the door. We finally approached someone, who instructed us to wait for the cashier.
We sat down and ordered several minutes later: both my boyfriend and I got the tortilla soup, a salad, and an enchilada. It’s probably the first time we’ve ever both ordered the exact same thing – we usually like to get different things and sample each other’s dishes – but after explaining that my boyfriend’s a vegetarian and I’m a vegan those dishes were the only ones that were offered to us. Now, if this had been a typical local restaurant that would have been no big deal because I would have called in advance to ensure that there was something we’d both enjoy, but this restaurant was advertised as being veg friendly. Usually that means I’ll be getting more than one choice without having to give the chef ideas. The lack of options was a disappointment.
The food wasn’t great. Admittedly tortilla soup has never been my favorite, but my boyfriend wasn’t impressed either. It was rather bland and definitely needed the salt we specifically had to ask for. Speaking of which, this place may be the only one where salt is not provided on the table and where they evidentially take your water glass back to the kitchen to refill it. But I digress… The salad probably would have been okay except for the fact that it was completely drenched in dressing. The enchilada itself was the best thing about the experience there, and the one reason I’m okay with this place actually getting one star. It was different (coconut shreds are certainly not the first thing I think of as an ingredient in enchilada…) but seasoned well.
The service that I’ve already mentioned, however, didn’t get any better once we’d been seated. I tried to catch their staff’s attention for the aforementioned salt several times, including when one staff member was cleaning the table next to me, but never received eye contact until I practically shouted at him.
Granted, the shouting was in part made necessary by the live band that was playing so loudly that my boyfriend and I literally had to resort to text messaging to understand each other. The band itself was playing quite pleasant jazz music, but it definitely should have been quiet enough so that I could have had a conversation. This place is also the first sit down restaurant I can remember visiting where I was never asked about how my food was during the meal. The staff also never smiled at us and didn’t say goodbye or seem to recognize when we left.
All told, with tax and the one beer my BF got, our total for both of us would have been $ 60.00 had we not used the groupon. For mediocre food, a loud environment, and terrible service, this place was definitely not worth that much.

We had our son’s 16^th birthday dinner at this place. This restaruant has a hip and friendly atmosphere, and the food was great! I was impressed that they use only organic ingredients but their price was so reasonable.
My son, a typical teenager who loves humbergers, enjoyed his chichen pot pie, brown rice and salad, and finished every single bit on his plate. I had a fish poki taco dinner, which was very flavorful and yummy. It had a unique international taste of Mexican and somewhat Asian. It’s strongly recommended. I also had a bite from my husband’s lavash, a vegan dish, which had exotic flavor and was delicious.
I wish we had a conciencious restaurant like Conscious Creations in our town (near Sacramento). We will definitely stop for dinner again at this restaurant whenever we visit Santa Cruz.

first off, not only is this place dog friendly but my dogs were well loved. treats and pettings and even a pumpkin for my dog to busy himself with, while we decided on what to order. amazing table service! AMAZING! can’t remember the last time i went out to eat and felt so well cared for. tasty food. great vegan choices. fresh, wonderfully crafted dishes, organic– even the doggie treats, and at one point or the other the entire staff asked us how we were, how was the food, and if we needed anything. love this place will def be going back. my Hard cold cash was well spent!

Great décor peaceful Buddhas, quin yin, cool bamboo, fountains kinda Zen beachy Hawaiian interior and back garden patio. Amazing salad with Kale, I think dirty girl baby greens, cucumbers and a good dressing. Also nice presentation on the salad. Pepper soup had a really tasty salsa on top also nice presentation with a chip artistically placed. Entrees tasty interesting flavors I had some veggie pasta I usually hate pasta but this was good but I wish to there would have been more veggie options varies every night so call if you’re a veggie vegan and get the menu. I want to go back and try the burrito/​muffins looked really tasty. Very impressed with artistic display of food and quality of local organic vegetables. Also local clover organic dairy yes I looked in his fridge. Wish him the best of luck… a true hidden gem. Oh also my friend at the Farmer’s market said she’s eaten a lot of stuff these catered and it’s amazing. Josh/​owner seems to be very engaged in this business which shows in the food presentations./cool décor. The food server was a treat Brazilian guy…

I had dinner and breakfast at Conscious Creations this weekend and all I can say is YUM! I loved my vegetarian enchiladas. The salad was super fresh and delicious and the soup was good too. The breakfast burritos are not to be missed. This restaurant lives up to it’s promise of delivering healthy, organic, delicious treats. I will definitely be coming back.

My girfriend and I ate at Conscious Creations earlier this evening because I got a Groupon for a dinner for two for $ 17. I’m going to list the reasons for my two– star review.
1. The food is a 6 out of 10 at best. I had a salad, soup and a vegetarian «enchilada.» The dressing on the salad was good, the soup was bland and the enchilada was full of tofu and didn’t taste remotely good– or like an enchilada.
2. If we hadn’t used a groupon, the prices for each item would have been ridiculous. The salad is $ 7 and is simply a small plate of greens with dressing. The entrees run between 10 and 12, and really aren’t worth it.
3. Josh, the owner/​manager, who was also somewhat our waiter is not the friendliest or most agreeable person. I asked if any of the food we ordered had peanuts, since I’m allergic and he looked at me like I was making some big request. He acted like most of the things he did were him doing us a favor, which exactly the opposite of how you’d like to feel going out to dinner. I ended up having an allergic reaction to something in my food, even though he told me my food was not made with peanuts.
The ambiance is somewhat nice, and everything is pretty fresh, but even with that, I’m sure there are better vegan/​vegetarian places out there.
If you have a nut allergy, are not trying to spend a fortune on a meal, are looking for something other than vegetables and tofu in your food, and like friendly service I suggest looking somewhere else.
UPDATE: I originally gave my experience one star, but came back to give it another because Joshua sent me a sincere message apologizing for my nut reaction and for the service, and offering a refund for the money I spent on the groupon.

Just went into the new café on Soquel Ave for breakfast, the breakfast burrito was amazing! Best I have ever had, ordered it ‘with everything’ which included avocado, bacon (BEST bacon I have ever had) and a chipotle aioli. I also ordered a latte, it was piping hot but very good. I will be back for dinner soon, I know it will be good because everything is so fresh and a wonderful fusion of flavors.

Joshua is fantastic! I’m so glad we picked him for our wedding. We wanted all vegetarian, mostly vegan, some gluten free food and he came up with lots of creative ideas, never acting like we were limiting him. We received tons of compliments on the food from our (mostly non-​veg) guests. He even made our wedding cake, which was delicious! Joshua and his people took care of practically everything, including setup and tear-​down, and got it all done efficiently and professionally, for a reasonable price. Also, he is just an all-​around nice guy and a pleasure to work with!
Joshua made our special day even more special. I highly recommend him for your next event. Also, go check out his new restaurant on Soquel — his food is great!

Joshua catered our wedding this July and we were blown away by his amazing organic meals and professional service. I heard the chicken was delicious, while I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh in-​season fish dish, rice pilaf & colorful goddess salad. His bruschetta was the best I’ve ever had! Josh’s calm attitude and years of experience definitely put my stressed bride-​brain at ease and left all my guests with delightfully stuffed bellies. Highly recommended!!!

Second year in a row that joshua catered my birthday party and it rocked… bloody mary tri-​tip to his bruschetta to a haupia banana strawberry cake. it was the bomb… all the guest raved about how professional and organized the service was and how tasty and healthy the food was… the freshest of ingredients always… highly recommended…