Winner of the Santa Cruz Weekly 2013 Gold Award for Best Dance Club and Best Fancy Cocktails, Motiv expertly slings tapas-style eats and a wide selection of drinks in a lively lounge space. Tucked along Pacific Avenue and Pearl Alley in a stucco building with a corrugated-tin roof and flowering window boxes, Motiv’s serene Old World–exterior belies its energetic dance floor, sleek wooden bar downstairs, and intimate restaurant-lounge upstairs. Half pound grass-fed burgers, skirt steak dinners and Jorge's famous tacos populate the shareable menu, and top-shelf liquors are mixed into specialty cocktails. Nightly live music delivered by a stable of DJs encourages diners to extend evenings by shaking a leg or showing off neon puffy-paint monograms under the colorful disco lights.

Customer Reviews

4.7

based on Groupon 62 reviews

100% Verified Reviews

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Noemi

Top reviewer

7 ratings|6 reviews

Motiv has great tasting fish tacos at a very reasonable price. We also like their sweet potato fries. Atmosphere is casual and the servers are always friendly and very accommodating. This is one of our favorite casual dining places in Santa Cruz. A great to visit on Santa Cruz's "First Fridays" for eats and sometimes, music too.

Susan

Top reviewer

13 ratings|9 reviews

Great swing dancing on early Wednesday evenings. Yummy tacos and great drinks.

Roanne

6 ratings|3 reviews

This was a terrible experience! I had to go there 4 times just to be able to use the Groupon and get FOOD there! It was very frustrating and ridiculous. The bartender's attitude was like, Oh well that's the way it is. I would never recommend this as a restaurant, very limited menu, but their fish tacos were good but took a long time to get them. This is a bar.. although the drinks we got were not very good. Good quiet atmosphere for talking.

Tim

Top reviewer

32 ratings|26 reviews

The happy hour tacos and burgers are GREAT !!