BAD ANIMAL - Santa Cruz (CA)

5 /5 K L: Dope spot. One of the most enjoyable dining experiences I’ve had in Santa Cruz. It’s a hybrid bookstore, bar, and restaurant—and the concept actually delivers. The rotating chefs keep the menu fresh and the flavors dynamic. I caught Chef Lailita Kaewsawang’s Thai menu (Summer 2025), and it was easily some of the best Thai I’ve had in a minute. Bold, balanced, and deeply flavorful. The menu small but intentional selection. You can revisit and try everything without getting overwhelmed. Operationally smart and encourages repeat visits (in my opinion). I enjoyed their wine— which they sourced from small production estates. It’s thoughtfully curated and designed to complement the rotating cuisine. The book store vibe was impressive within itself. Definitely an added layer of intellectual texture to the space. If you’re not into books - their selections will catch your eye. Overall: Bad Animal isn’t just a restaurant—it’s a whole mood. The rotating chef model keeps things fresh, the bookstore adds depth, and the food delivers. Thai night was a standout. Would absolutely return to see what’s next on the culinary rotation—and maybe grab a bottle and a book while I’m at it. The staff was warm, knowledgeable, and on point. Indoor and outdoor seating available—both cozy, both functional.

1 /5 Karen W: The bookshop/ambiance are lovely and unique. Unfortunately, the service was shockingly poor (not something Ive ever had a problem with before, and I generally have so much compassion/grace for service workers. This is the first negative review Ive ever written.) • We sat down and ordered at 8:15. It took until 8:50 to get our appetizer and until 9:15 for our entree. We gently reminded a waitress about our entree when several other tables who were seated well after us already got their full meals. The menu is small and we had a reservation, so there is no reason it should have taken a full hour to receive our order. It started to feel like we were being ignored/overlooked and were treated dismissively/rudely when spoken to. • We watched a waitress mistakenly give our appetizer to another table. Several minutes later, she came over, spoke to the other table (we could hear the other patrons saying something akin to "we were wondering what this was"), and moved the dish over to ours. There was no apology or explanation, and it felt a uncomfortable and unsanitary to receive food that had been on another groups table for several minutes. I was nervous about seeming impolite, and didnt speak up in the moment. • We were 75% through our entree (the tofu stew) when we fished out a small, gold wire-y object. I initially thought it was an earring, but we asked a waitress to come over and showed her. She immediately recognized it as a paper clip that Bad Animal uses, and took it back to the kitchen without saying anything else. We had already paid the full bill, so we sat there for a while (outdoor seating) waiting for her to come back to explain, offer some sort of amends, or at the least apologize. But it didnt seem like she would after a while, so we left. This was honestly such a confusing and sad experience. Again, I have never left a negative review before, and truly prefer to celebrate rather than criticize. But if any of my friends or acquaintances were curious about this spot, I would give them a strong, strong warning to stay away due to both food safety concerns and the overall disrespectful attitude I felt from the staff. I wanted nothing more than to have a good experience here (was celebrating a birthday), and was left feeling so disappointed. I will say that after we left, we received a call from the FOH manager (who we did not interact with in-person), and he was kind and apologetic about the paper clip. We were offered a gift card as compensation, but because we were just visiting the area, settled on a refund for our meal. It was great that they reached out, but it doesnt negate how genuinely poorly we were treated in the moment and how it left me feeling.

5 /5 Arielle Kincaid: Great book selection, awesome food, and ambience. Still unsure why there’s a disco ball and no one is dancing but me though. See you soon- hope to see some more variety in sweet moves.

4 /5 Lawrence Marcus: The Bad Animal bookstore rates way up there, having left with a novelette by one of my favorite authors of all time Rebecca West and my granddaughter left, with of all topics, Death and Greek Mythology. Im into Bookstores: including my favorite Clios Bookstore & Bar in Oakland and quite a few recently in Paris, Budapest and The Berkshires in Massachusetts. Bad Animal is a very classy and well endowed book lovers dream on practically a side street in Santa Cruz. Why I had not, up until today discovered it, probably because I kept walking by on a Monday or Tuesday, hmm. It would have been nice to try their wine bar and from what I heard, astonishing Thai food in such a beautiful dining space. But there will be other chances now that I know whats there. My only desire would be for a few more seating options in order to actually read a book and or converse with other literati.