Top Five Lunch Places in Ventura
Urban Caf�©
Urban Caf�© is absolutely the choice for those who want to eat healthy without compromising taste and variety. Unique to Ventura, this quaint caf�© has a huge selection of sandwiches, soups, and salads. I work at the Ventura County Star just around the corner from Urban Caf�©, and practically everybody orders from there on a regular basis. The most popular salad seems to be the protein salad, while the sandwich favorite seems to be the Italian. The best part of Urban Caf�© is the bread. The sandwiches are made on delicious foccacia bread, which comes on the side if you order a salad. It is so good that I could probably eat 10 pieces of it alone for lunch!
Urban CafÃ?© is located in the shopping center with Barnes and Noble and Kohl’s, off of Telephone and Main. The only downside about this restaurant is that it is priced like a sit down restaurant, but it is really only set-up for take-out. There are a few tables, so you can take your food and sit down, but at lunch time it is so crowded that it is hard to get a table. However, if you are willing to pay about $10 (approx. total of meal and drink, with tax) then this is a great place to go- especially if you are taking it back to the office. Call ahead to save time, (805) 654-1619.
Acapulco
The Ventura Acapulco Mexican restaurant is sort of hidden among some office buildings on Victoria, 725 S. Victoria Ave., to be precise. Their lunch buffet is an excellent choice for a sit-down lunch with co-workers or friends. For less than $10, you get a full Mexican buffet, including enchiladas, tamales, soup, salad, chicken, a taco bar with freshly made tortillas, and more. There are even cookies and brownies for dessert! It is usually not very crowded, and the servers refill your drink and serve tortilla chips and salsa. This has always been a favorite among my lunch group.
Casa de Soria
This is another great Mexican restaurant in Ventura. This small family operation has been a favorite of people in Ventura for ages, and thus it is often crowded. Lunch on a weekday is a great time to go, because it is not as crowded as dinner times and weekends. They are best known for their excellent margaritas, but the food and atmosphere make it an all-around awesome eating experience. The service is not incredibly, but they get the job done. It is located at 1961 East Thompson Blvd, near the downtown area of Ventura.
Presto Pasta
This take-out Italian restaurant is a great choice for good food fast at a reasonable price. If you call your order in ahead of time, they almost always have it ready within five minutes, just enough time to drive there. While Presto Pasta does have a huge menu of salads, subs, pastas, and Italian favorites, the best deals for lunch are the pasta combo or the sampler combo. The pasta combo comes with a pasta dish, soup or salad, a drink, and delicious garlic bread. The sampler combo gives you Lasagna, Chicken Picatta, and Fettuccine Alfredo, with soup or salad, a drink, and garlic bread. I really do not recommend the pizza; it tasted like a frozen microwave pizza. Presto Pasta is located on Telephone Road, off of Victoria, in Ventura.
Go to the website for a full menu and contact information:
http://www.prestopasta.com/
Latte 101
Latte 101 is a cute coffee bar and cafÃ?© that definitely has that neat local feel, not like chain coffee bars. Located in the Vons plaza on Telephone and Victoria, the comfortable cafÃ?© is a great place to go for a quiet lunch alone. They have wonderful sandwiches, stuffed croissants, and quiche, that you can enjoy along with one of their tasty smoothies or coffee drinks. Not a huge variety of choices, but it is definitely the welcoming type of place where “everybody knows your name.”
Go to the website for a full menu, and for a 10% off coupon:
http://www.latte101.com
