This place never disappoints me, ever! You do have to be very hungry to eat a meal here, or be really to take home leftovers! Â Their signature burger is really awesome. Every plate, Breakfast too, they serve a small pice of chocolate cake, which is heavenly. :-) Â The portions are huge, the service is friendly, and I will continue going back. This place is my guilty pleasure! :-)
Review Source:I was in the Watsonville/Santa Cruz area on business and this place was close to my hotel. It was a little hard to find at first, but once I was inside, I liked the place right away. The bartender was good and I ordered a NY Steak dinner to go along with a cold beer. Â They have a couple of big screen tv's and I was able to catch the Giants game which was also a plus!
Review Source:I've been wanting to try this place for a very long time but I don't make it out to Watsonville very often. Several people have told me that they make the best burger around. Not sure if I would give it that title, but it certainly did not disappoint. It was big, the toppings were great, and I liked the roll that they serve it on. It comes with an enormous pile of pretty tasty fries, a small cup of cole slaw that I didn't eat because I don't like cole slaw, and a tiny piece of chocolate cake. About two bites worth which is perfect because there's no way in hell that I could have ever thought about ordering desert after what I had just eaten. Probably not a good idea to try to finish this meal for lunch unless your afternoon plans consist of a three hour nap and a bowel movement. Didn't sit in the bar, but it looks like my kinda place. I'll definitely be back to check that out, and have another burger.
Review Source:Good food, good service. Our table had a variety of entrees - everyone enjoyed what they ordered. Â I knew about their burgers, so that's what I got. Cooked the way I ordered it. Came with a brownie (!) -a surprise...
Nice local atmosphere. Got really crowded as they lunch hour wore on. Go early.
Normally I like thus place but lately the service has sucked. I hate hearing employees bitch about there work, which I over hear a lot at this place. Today I sat and listened to them bicker for 20 minutes while waiting to order a beer. 20 minutes. No 'hello' no 'one minute'... Let's step it up wooden nickel!
Review Source:I took my parents for lunch here, despite their reservations, they always thought it was a biker bar. Â Now there is the occasional biker, but they are there for the same reason as the rest of us...a great steak and cold beer! Â To my parents surprise they loved the place (live Piano man played) they totally loved the food, and found the portions to be good for lunch and dinner. Â The food might seem pricey, but it really is tasty and well worth it and count on it being 2 meals worth.
Review Source:This place may not have the exterior decor you would use to impress a new boyfriend/girlfriend, but the food MORE than makes up for it. The staff is friendly, and helpful if you have questions on the menu. It's a place to relax and have a good time, not be uptight and stuffy.
I ordered the Caesar salad with skirt steak and my date had the teriyaki skirt steak. I absolutely loved my dinner - wouldn't have changed a thing about it! The steak was cooked to perfectly and the bread was fresh and wonderful.
I can't wait to go back again and try more things on the menu.
WOOO!
Got to say I was a little afraid to try this place. You don't really hear people talk about it. I was told to believe that it was a total bar scene. Well half of it is. But being that I am not 21 I can't comment on that...
ANYWAYS... Lets talk food, and amazing food at that! I had the patty melt, and it was heaven on toast! oowy goowy cheese on nice ground patty and those onions!
The place is great too, friendly waitress, good games on, and fun music.
Most def going back, and often!
My friend Butch has been telling me about this place for ages. Â An old school bar with a great kitchen, my kind of place. Â Glad I finally got to go for lunch today. Â
We started with cocktails, the perfect thing on this beautiful sunny day. Â I had a cheeseburger with grilled onions and cheddar. Â The burger was huge...perfectly cooked and juicy. Â I asked for no mayo, but got it anyway :( Â hate the stuff... Â The fries were crispy and had the skin on, just the way I like them. Â Butch got a patty melt on rye with fries. Â The patty is so huge and juicy, the bread started to shred a little, but Butch managed just fine. Â Â
I will definitely be going back to the Wooden Nickel next time I'm in Watsonville. Â It was worth the drive.
I decided to stop here on my way to wine tasting in Watsonville. It had a western look on the outside and inside. It has pictures and memorabilia all over the walls, including the ceiling. I sat at the a bar and chatted with a really friendly bartender, Miguel, I think. Â Based on Yelpers' reviews, I ordered the "Nickel" burger with home fries. It came out in about 10-12 minutes. My first thought was "whoa, it's huge!" Â And it's delicious! Â Everything on the plate was good and it was cheap for the amout of food they give. They added a small portion of coleslaw, pickles, a slice of orange, and a small piece of chocolate cake on the plate. Â I don't eat coleslaw, but I love theirs. Â It had a sweet taste to it that I really liked. I almost finished the burger and had to togo the homefries cuz I was too full. I would totally come back if I'm every in the area.
Review Source:Came here last night with a friend and family ... 3 Adults and 2 Kids.
Short & Sweet Review :
Roast Beef Dip - Dry Meat, thank god for Au Jus
BLT - Nearly carbonized bacon
The third Adult and 2 Kids BURGERS took at least 10 minutes longer than the other meals to arrive at the table. When they were delivered, no words from the waitress, no apology, nothin.
One waitress had enough time apparently to sit down (multiple times) at a booth with some people she knew. OUR waitress had plenty of time to be texting her friends and chatting it up with the cooks.
Not a chance I'll ever come back here.
Willie Nelson doesn't get the respect he deserves. Â I write this because Willie and the Wooden Nickel will forever be intertwined for me now. Â They were playing his greatest hits the whole time I was here for breakfast recently, and that somehow only enhanced the experience...
I ordered the Spanish omelette on a recent visit, which for them is a ham and cheese omelette topped with salsa and sour cream. Â This comes with home fries and toast, and makes for a helluva meal for the price. Â I hear the lunches here are good, and plan to come again...
This place is indeed a bar with a kitchen, so if neon and taxidermied animals aren't your thing, then maybe you should head elsewhere. Â If good food in big portions at fair prices are your thing, then this is your place. Â An tell Willie that I said hello...
Cool. Â Lots of good food and cold beers for cheap. Â Burgers are HUGE. Â Fish and Chips are HUGE. Â Sandwiches are HUGE. Â Eat half of your lunch and take the rest home for dinner. Â This in not healthy food. Â It is artery clogging greasy pig and beef with lots of gravy. Â If you are looking to pork up, do it here. Â Yeah! Â I got the baby burger and I was glad I did. Â After eating that, I could NOT eat any of the 1/2 order of fish and chips that my wife could not eat. Â I am not kidding.
Review Source:Two YUMMS up! The hamburgers here are amazing. They are grilled over an open fire and topped with lots of cheese, avocado and other good stuff. My honey and I always get the Nickel Burger and spilt it. The restaurant divides it into two plates  for a mere $3.00 and we each get a ton of delicious fries, awesome coleslaw and a small slice of chocolate cake.
They also make the absolute best Caesar salad I have ever had. Sorry. I have to go now. I need a Nickel Burger!
A place that has the atmosphere of a roadhouse in a sleepy little town. Â Guys that look like the bikergang types you don't want to mess with hugging each other, asking you politely "where you from" and "do you want to watch something else" instead of the silly strongman competition that they were watching on the plasma televisions. Â That weird jaegermeister refrigerator thing that let's you know the place can get down like crazy at night, but a relaxed vibe in the afternoon. Â
The food was great, big and several courses were on our large plates. Â Cake, we even got a slice of cake. Â Fries awesome and plentiful, a side of slaw, and some fruit complemented my patty melt. Â I can't recall the exact price, but I know two great sandwiches and two pints with about a pound of fries each aNd all the above was less than 25 dollars. Â Affordability gurus, take notice.
I am not in the bar business, but if I was, I think I would model it after the wooden nickel.
Today was the first time that I went to The Wooden Nickel in several years, and I remembered what I had been missing. Â This place holds a lot of nostalgia for me, as I used to come here with my family when I lived in Freedom.
It's not the usual place that I would frequent. Â I now live in the San Jose area. Â The country bars that are around here are not known for their food. Â The Wooden Nickel in good old Watsonville (that will always seem like the country to a city girl like me), is a novelty.
This bar/restaurant is tiny. Â It's personable. Â The waitress was attentive and pleasant. Â You don't find a lot of places like that, and I echo the sentiment from an earlier reviewer that this would be the perfect place for Diners Drive-Ins and Dives to visit.
The food was as good as I remembered it.  I had the chicken sandwich.  It was juicy, and had the biggest slice of cheese on it that I have had on  a sandwich in recent memory.  The french fries haven't changed.  They have the freshly made texture akin to In-and-Out's fries, but with some potato skin to remind you where they came from.  Yum!
The chocolate cake is always the perfect size to top off the meal. Â It's not a huge slice, but it satisfies the craving for dessert. Â It picks up the flavor of the orange that it's set on, which adds to the appeal of the cake.
I highly recommend the place. Â Five stars for taste, portion, and the cordial staff.
If u r in Watsonville and looking for a "home style" burger, the wooden nickle is the place to go!
I grew up in the what was once a small farming town. I moved about 8-ish yrs ago.
The last time i was there visiting my aunt. Â I was soo craving a hamburger, but the only choices (that pop into mind) are icky fast food crap, and mexican food. but my aunt, residing in the ville for the last 61yrs, suggested we go to the wooden nickel.
Duh! i was like 8 (21yrs ago) the last time i went in. Â
Big servings (enough to take home for lunch the next day), yummy flavor (i had the burger with sauteed onions and mushrooms, hold the cheese), light on the salting (which is great, u can salt to taste), and a cute little brownie on the side.
our total bill came to 28 bucks and some change. that was two BIG meals and two pints of beer. what a steal!!!!
the only down side of my experience was the restroom (was a bit sad in there), but then again it is a bar too.
The Wooden Nickel is a great little restaurant that has great atmosphere, beer, and food. Â Great staff and bartenders that will make you whatever drink you want. Â Customers who assume you are local and introduce themselves to you. Â Walls loaded with mementos of American culture and newspaper clippings.
The plates of food come with a dish of fresh coleslaw, a slice of orange, and a small slice of moist chocolate cake, so ordering just a burger and fries turns out to be a whole meal - no appetizers needed. Â The Nickel Burger is the best, and the fish and chips were good with a little lemon and pepper on them. Â Kinda boring by themselves.
There is apparently a karaoke night and a trivia night, but I've never been on those nights.
I probably hit this place on a bad night because of all the stellar reviews... but it wasn't good. We called for 2 to-go orders of the nickle burger (because of rave reviews) I ordered one medium and one well done... I also ordered two sides of fries.
The gal on the phone failed to mention that the burgers come with fries, so we ended up throwing away a few pounds of potatoes, but the worst part was that our burgers were both unedibly rare. YUCK!
I might give it another chance but would definitely dine there next time ~*~ but only if I didn't have the time to schlep my butt to carpos in Capitola... STILL my favorite burger around.
One of the greasiest spoons I've been in. I made the mistake of
using the bathroom before lunch. The worst stench of urine and
funkiness. Avoid the rest room and your lunch maybe better. A real
dive for locals and tourists. Food OK but very greasy. I'll pass on this
friendly dive! Sorry to be opposite all the  five stars but it's the pits!
This is one of those reviews that you write wishing that there was some way you could add a bonus 6th star. Don't get me wrong, The Nickel will never get any stars with zagats or anything like that, but it will forever cause multiple orgasms upon the sheer though of entering the door. Hear that ladies? If your man isn't pleasing you, head to the nickel and get what you've been missing. Shit, I never even knew I could have em, but hey The Nickel is quite special in that special kind of way.
    The Nickel is one of the few places in Watsonville to get anything other than mexican food and fast food. It's definitely got a down home style and if peeps aren't feeling it, they can eat spurs. I almost always order the Nickel Burger. The Nickel Burger is a monstrosity. The Nickel Burger has avacado, bacon, and mushrooms as well as the usual characters sitting on an over half pound patty. It comes with more fries than crayola has colors and they're damn good too. Think in-n-out style fries, but bigger, more fresh, and better. It also comes with some coleslaw which is probably the first coleslaw that have ever sincerely liked. They use pineapple juice and it gives it a nice sweet flavor that I've never really noticed anywhere else. Also, if you're azhiaziam and your eyes are as red as the sunrise in Vietnam a little bit more room left in your belly, they hit you with a nice little 4 bite piece of chocolate cake to seal the deal.
     Right now, you probably think that I'm a liar or enjoy exagerating. Shame on you and all you stand for. This is the real deal holyfield, 2 legit to quit, too hot to handle burger of your dreams. Only burger I've met that I would challenge it with is the awful awful up in Reno, but I spend a lot more time in the ville than in the biggest little city. If burgers are for some reason not your thing, like your job in the summers growing up was operating a machine that grinds beef, I would suggest getting the skirt steak sandwich open faced. Say it with me now, open faced. Very good! If you don't eat beef, you're kind of a pussy, but they do have some fantastic fish and chips. If you don't eat any animals, I would suggest you sit outside and listen to the sounds of satisfied customers, because this place just isn't for you.
P.S. Vegans and veg heads, I have nothing against you. I only said what I said in order to shield you from the temptation of abandoning your strongly heald beliefs and falling off the wagon into a big juicy burger. They might have a salad or something you can munch on, but be forewarned, temptation is abound up in hurrrr!
This place is a cute little old-style, rustic bar and grill place that offers only the tastiest food!! Everything from the salads to the burgers (ohh!! TRY a burger, just TRY... even the 1/3 lb. was juicy!!) is served in ginormous portions with their signature slaw (with raisins and pineapple mmm) and moist, delectable chocolate cake. I mean, everything. And it is soooo good!! Even the "house" salad is kicked up a few notches here at the Wooden Nickel.
They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and this place would not complete without a full bar and only the best beers on tap (i.e. NEGRA MODELO, WIDMER). The staff are very friendly and they WILL remember you, if come back :) The prices are reasonable so have no fear.
The only thing I could complain about the Wooden Nickel is the pictures and newspaper clippings of the owner's daughter. You can find her on almost every table. Um, I would not be plastering her face and her life story everywhere like that... even if you do know your regulars... too many creeps.
Now here is a great little hidden gem!
The Wooden Nickel in Watsonville serves BIG portions of QUALITY food and good prices.
Why is it that most good food comes from dives?
Who cares, as this place rocks!
The French Dip is big and satisfying, and they give you a TON of french fries as well.
Very friendly staff, and EVERYTHING is good from the BBQ, to the main courses at dinner time, and lunch sandwiches.
AWESOME!!
This is a revered local dive, where old couples walk in and are heartily greeted with hugs and kisses from staff, where bearded old men sit on the bar stools they haven't left since 1984, and a piano player sits in the dining room, staring off into space while his fingers fly over the keys.
The dining room is a mish mash of thrift store dining tables and chairs, all squeezed in together to provide enough seating for the patrons who wander in. Â The menu offers nothing jaw-droppingly spectacular, but one word describes each plate: Â GENEROUS.
I ordered a hamburger with Monterey jack cheese, mushrooms, and sprouts. Â The plate came with a Mt. Everest mound of fries, and a smattering of cole slaw, fresh fruit, and yes, even a little sampling of chocolate cake all for about $12. Â Like many others, I could barely finish half of my plate, so don't be surprised to be bringing home leftovers. Â Everybody around us was doing the same.
Can't wait to come back again.
Note: They are only open dinners on weekdays, not Sat / Sun.
Two things tipped me off that this was certainly the local watering hole...
1. When we entered the music stopped and everyone turned around.. (ok not really but I am trying to set the visual here)
2. We sat down in our booth and were politely greeted by the drunk guy in the bar stool to my left that promptly farted, grunted, and had another shot (this really happened...figure out your own visual here)
Aside from the stench of the guy's fart next to me, and the 3 random power outages, this was one of the best damn burgers I have had in a long time. And the salads were great too! I wolfed down my meal, drowned my sorrows in only 2 glasses of chardonnay and left winking at the farting drunk.
I will be back for more good eats and local amusement!
This is a busy place on a Friday night. Our Ami learned that this was our first time in the Nickel and she was happy to explain the wine selections and the menu items. The open faced skirt steak sandwich was delicious and I highly recommend it.
A piano player entertained us during dinner but it was the sign near the door about the first Thursday of the month being open mic night that will make us come back again!
OMG! Yelpers were right! The burgers are crazy awesome! I had patty melt that I could have easily split with my friend which is saying a lot as we're both big eaters. The patty was over an inch thick, and about 5" in diameter. It was cooked perfectly, and tasted delicious with 2 slices of swiss, grilled onions, and delectably greasy rye bread. If you've ordered fries from In'N'Out before, you'll be familiar with the fries served here, except that you get twice as much!
Another friend had a half order of fish and chips with the house made cream of tomato soup. There must have been at least two full cups of soup in the bowl, a huge mound of fries, and four pieces of beautifully battered fish. The soup was to die for, and the fish was a taste sensation.
Prices are totally reasonable; $9.50 for a honkin' huge burg, to $12.50 for a whole order of fish and chips. You'll have to add $3 to split an order, but I'd only do that if you wanted equal portions of fries, cole slaw, and choco cake. Honestly, the portions are just huge!
Service was a wee bit inattentive, but hey, this is Watsonville. It was a cold, clear day, and inside, it was freezing! But for these two small issues, it would rate five stars.
I'd say THE BEST burgers on the planet! When I'm feeling like blowing my diet, this is where I'm going to do it. Along with the burger (it will feed a family of 4) you get a PLATTER of freshly made french fries that are better than Carpo's. And if you like fish & chips, OMG, this is the place for you: REAL battered fish, not that frozen junk you get at other places.
Other menu items like salads are huge as well. The little square of chocolate cake on every plate is so cute and just enough to satisfy that "I need something sweet" feeling since there's usually no room for dessert after eating here.
True, this is a local "watering hole" but because it's mostly locals, it's a great place to meet for a drink. The wooden booths in the bar fill up fast though, even at lunch time, so get there early.
Would like to try for breakfast but starting time (9am) is a little too late for me. The wait staff are friendly and remember you when you come back...and you will.
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