Sandbar Cocina y Tequila - Santa Barbara

We went for dinner this evening and felt from start that the atmosphere was off! The hostess at the entrance was actually rude unpleasant and very unprofessional. If I was a the manager she would have not had a job there anymore. We will not go back and don’t recommend going there with all the other choices that are available!

And across the street is a spot to charge your devices not many know about.

How I would love to leave 5 stars for this place. We've been here twice and on both occasions the service has been mediocre at best. Starting with the hosts, who are incredibly clueless, and then with the table service. We weren't sure who our actual waiter was, we had a couple guys come over. We never had our waters refilled and I wasn't asked if I wanted another drink, but my wife was?! Strange. That being said food is excellent and patio is a great place to sit. Definitely go here, just be prepared to be there longer than usual.

Santa Barbara go to spot , it's on busy state Street but locals love it..
three years later Sophia did a great job Telling you these

Let me start with the worst. The WORKERS were taking pictures of an unconscious disabled woman, PUSHED her wheelchair and joked about kicking her. They kept laughing at her the entire night. Mind you this is the person GREETING CUSTOMERS. I’m absolutely disgusted with how the workers “handled” the situation. Thank goodness a person called the ambulance and we waited. When another group asked if the lady was okay the worker pretended to care about her wellbeing and I called him out on his BS. Standing there for over half an hour making fun of this poor woman. Terrible staff/human beings and also my group ordered alcoholic beverages and they had three chances to check our ID’s to confirm our age but didn’t until we drank all the alcohol.

We were a party of 6 with a young kid and a baby and they could not get us a seat even after waiting for over an hour. The lady at the front asked us to wait for a table in the front since the only table available at the time were high tables that are not suitable for kids.

After 20 mins of waiting a dude in blue shirt and a baseball cap popped up from
no where and told us we cannot be seated outside, first he said there isn’t enough space on the table, when we said we can squeeze, he said servers won’t be able to serve?! When pressed harder he said its a fire hazard?!! He just kelt on making excuses for us to be not seated. When I pushed more, he said we are understaffed so we won’t be serving outside, when already 2 tables are being actively served…! We tried cutting him some slack and gave him some
benefit of doubt since he appeared overwhelmed. He kept on pushing us to take a high tables and we just kept on explaining how kids and babies cant sit there especially on an unstrapped booster.

After circling endlessly we finally told him that we would split into two separate tables of 2 and 4, and plenty were available at the time, he asked us to wait. We waited another 30 mins during which ateast 5 other parties of different sizes were seated. At this point we figured the guy has no intention of getting us a seat so we left after telling him how bad our experience has been but, to our surprise he looked completely unperturbed and unapologetic.

This was easily the worst experience we have had In Santa Barbara.

Wonderful service great food

Loved the variety of menu choices. The service was great. Our server was responsive to any requests we had.

Super cool place. Food was amazing! We were from out of town and decided to have an early dinner here. Great choice!

WHAT A FIND! Love this gem of a spot with outdoor seating, flavorful entree and salad options, fabulous drinks, and superior service. We'll be back!

Every time I try to use my Open Table rewards, the restaurant says they don't accept Open Table rewards even though I made the reservation through Open Table. Using Open Table rewards is a BUST!!! Not worth the time or effort to collect a $10 reward for2,000 points.

My boyfriend and I visited SandBar last night, and overall, it was a great experience! The atmosphere was cozy and welcoming, and we really enjoyed our time there. The raspberry margaritas were so refreshing. Definitely a highlight of the evening! I couldn't stop raving about it! We started with the bean dip, which was delicious... until my boyfriend bit down on something incredibly hard. It might have been a rock or something similar. It was a bit jarring, but the staff was very attentive, and they took care of the situation immediately. For the main course, I had the ceviche, which was mostly incredible, but I did find a few chewy and weird pieces of fish that weren't quite as fresh as the rest. Despite that, the flavors were spot on, and the dish was pretty refreshing overall. Despite the little hiccups, the food and drinks were still amazing, and the service was fantastic. I'd definitely come back and give it another try!

Great place all around. Beautiful outdoor dining. Free chips and salsas. Dog friendly!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Aurelio, Wyatt, and Gio made fantastic margaritas and shared entertaining stories.
The chips were fresh and the guacamole was excellent.
Can’t wait to visit again!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Guacamole

We came for a day in SANTA BARBARA and on our afternoon walk on the boardwalk, we liked it as a place and sat down. The flavors in everything we got were very good. Mainly my shrimp dish was very good. I was impressed that drinks we got that we didn't like them, they didn't charge for them. I would have given 5 stars if the girl who served us wasn't a little rude.

Parking: On the vertical main road you can park in checked spaces.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 3