New owner has made a really honest effort turn the old slummy image into a community asset. Â It could definitely benefit from food service, but the overall atmosphere is good, and decor is tasteful. Â Lots of TV's with full RedZone package during NFL, XBOX games, new tables, pool table, jukebox, paint etc. Â Many props to the management team!
Review Source:Bob the new owner is the man. I live in the neighborhood and have been frequenting more now that I've met him. My packer fan friends and I have been watching games there and attending his free bbq sundays for football. He's a huge packer fan!! Each weekend if I pass by I notice it's more and more busy. Bob is very personable about visiting with customers but gets behind the counter to serve as well. I've been having a good time and really hope this becomes a hotter neighborhood spot.
Review Source:The Mediterranean has gone through some positive changes. Â New management, new customers, and some new bartenders! Â No more meth-heads hanging around, they were asked to leave. Â No more smoking, cleaner, nicer environment. Â Close to a few good restaurants and the walking distance to the beach. Â Great place to meet and greet with other locals, Â The old management is gone, as well as his followers. It is now a safe, fun, neighborhood bar where you can meet with friends for a beer and don't have to worry about stepping on a broken crack pipe.
Review Source:"I don't like jail, they got the wrong kind of bars in there" - Charles Bukowski.
The Mediterranean is Aptos' answer to the dive bar. The place is dark and smokey at times, and it definitely isn't trying to impress anyone. It's next door to one of the best restaurants in the Santa Cruz area (Manuel's), and walking distance to my house, so I end up here pretty often.
This place caters almost exclusively to locals. I normally head over here to drink some late night beers and play some pool. The table is actually in pretty good shape and there are plenty of decent cues to use. The table takes quarters and you normally don't have to wait very long before you can play.
The booze here is made just the way I like it, strong. When you order a gin and tonic don't be surprised if they forget the tonic half of your drink. If you feel like channeling your inner Bukowski this is a great spot.
To even start with this bar I have to go back to an earlier post... "The Med....its like sex with a dirty hooker, fun for awhile until you realize what you've gotten yourself into", it's definetly a bar that is a little rough around the edges, but I would say it's more like a Tiajuana strip club, You know that you don't want to get lucky, but the scenery is fun to to look at. There bartenders are fantastic (tonights was a lady named Michelle, super sweet and right on top of serving...wish I could remeber the name of my the last bartender, but she rocks fri and sat.). If you are one of those unfortunate few who have been handed a 2-step molly whomp (ass-kicking) in this place... you should go back to the Martini bar, order a bourbon instead and grow a set of nuts.
Review Source:The Med....its like sex with a dirty hooker, fun for awhile until you realize what you've gotten yourself into.
Pros- pool table, pizza close by, you can smoke, pretty strong drinks and two of the coolest bartenders in town. Heather is friendly and sweet and mixes a strong cocktail, just don't piss her off. And Clifford is a freaking rock legend from Bl'ast, Spaceboy, Gargantula and most recently Dusted Angel! He is super cool as well.
Cons-Tweekers ahoy! Nope, that weird vibe you are getting is not from the alcohol, its all the paranoid and aggessive meth addicts sweating around you. Be prepared, also, to have to defend your life. "Bro" types may try to beat your ass for no reason as happened to two of my friends. It's a little younger of a crowd than you'll find at the Windjammer, which is good.
If you like skanky bars you'll love this one. Go on a Fri or Sat night and find full-time local drunks, 20 somethings trying to impress eachother by buying the most expensive drinks and random professionals stoping in for a shot or a glass of wine. It's a nice mix of different folks with a great bartender named Abi.
Review Source:Gotta be one of THE seediest bars around. Now I love a dive bar myself. Others aren't as fond of the things that make these kinda places full of personality. The belligerent, hammered senior shouting how much she loves the polka dots on your dress (number of polka dots on said dress = zero), the rough biker dude on the next bar stool blowing cigarette smoke in your face as you're trying to down your shot of Patron and the scary looking gals on very wobbly legs abusing a pool table (don't ask). All this action and more at two in the afternoon. This is what dives are all about and the Med is a classic.
Minus a star because hey, I ain't a smoker and I just can't stand cigarette smoke inside bars.