Top Korean Restaurant in Santa Barbara
Kimchi Korean BBQ
3132 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, United States
Kimchi Korean BBQ was frankly a disappointment. Despite the relatively high reviews (4.1 as of this review) the food and atmosphere did not reflect it score at all. While the staff and waiters were polite at all times and provided excellent service, nearly all the food we ordered was terrible.The side dishes they offered was likely the worst Ive had at a Korean restaurant with the macaroni salad sickeningly sweet, the kimchi--their namesake--bland, and their seasoned bean sprouts were limp and poorly seasoned. While I could go on about the side dishes, the meat courses were worse. The pork neck (목살) was extremely salty and I was unable to eat more than a couple bites. The bulgogi (불고기) tasted as though it had been left in its marinade for a week. The marinated brisket (차돌배기) was likely the only meat I enjoyed from the selection. The spicy marinated chicken was overly sweet and cloying.Regarding the rest of the food we ordered, the soybean paste stew (된장찌개) was bland and watery, although the steamed egg (계란찜) wasnt bad. However, the rice, the foundation for Korean cuisine, was likely the biggest insult. There was no fluffy rice to be found here. The rice here was hard, dry and inedible.At $18 a person for the first selection of foods, it was definitely not worth it and I cant imagine the pricier selections being any diffferent. Perhaps those unfamiliar with KBBQ would enjoy it but anybody thats grown up eating Korean food, I advise them to steer clear.
Top other services in Santa Barbara:
SB Pho
1221 State Street Suite 10, E Victoria St Lot 5, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
This place also sells bulgogi and the rice noodles are delicious.The staff is friendly too.If you are a Korean and looking for a restaurant, give it a try!
The Stonehouse Restaurant
900 San Ysidro Ln, Santa Barbara, CA 93108, United States
I tried resolving this by emailing the restaurant directly to chat about our experience, but our email has gone completely unanswered (though they had no issue whatsoever responding to our initial email requesting a reservation within literally 10 minutes). Below is my email to the restaurant detailing our more than disappointing experience at Stonehouse on our wedding night:Yesterday evening my husband and I came to dine at Stonehouse to celebrate our wedding earlier in the day. We were extremely excited to visit Stonehouse but were ultimately sorely disappointed in the experience we were provided.After being sat, we largely felt neglected as guests and did not receive the level of service we would have anticipated from such a well regarded restaurant. Our waiter, Richard, neither introduced himself to us by name or offered to walk us through the menu. We consider this to be a standard at all dining establishments, let alone for this particular fine dining restaurant. From there, it was a full 45 minutes before we had even received our drinks.It was very noticeable to us that our service in particular was slow. We watched as other diners were being checked on consistently, were receiving beverages and their meals, or were otherwise being engaged with. In truth, it nearly felt targeted.Small things were missed, such as never having received refills on our water, which went completely empty. We were disappointed further when my husbands steak arrived and it was not seared on all sides.Overall, we felt it important to share with the team that this was a rather disappointing experience for an occasion we were very much looking forward to experiencing at The Stonehouse Restaurant for months.
La Paloma Cafe
702 Anacapa St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
Mediocre at best. This is a step above The Chicken Ranch and clearly a profit driven restaurant. I took the rude hostess suggestion to order the pepper poppers(?) appetizer and that sucked. The menu claims to have a chef. Is La Paloma joking?! The chicken was above average with little meat but the presentation would lead the patron to think they were getting a meal. The tri tip tasted good but forgot to place most of the meat on the dish that came to our table. I ordered the bean, cheese and rice burrito as a backup plan for my young daughter. She tried the burrito and looked at me with the facial expression, dad are you going to make me eat this poor excuse of a burrito! I ordered three of their $15 cocktails to discover a glass in front me with mostly ice and four sips of a cocktail. If I wanted excessive ice I would of asked for a cup of ice. The restaurant atmosphere was mediocre at best with wait staff wearing aprons my Montecito barber wears. I was so disappointed that when it came time to order desert. I told the manager that since my daughter did not eat dinner. We would pass. The truth was, I did not want to experience another complete fail and be ripped off more. If Yelp had a Poser Restaurant Section. I would elect La Paloma to this categories at the top. This is clearly a profit driven restaurant and they are not concerned about repeat business. Apparently this group owns the Lark and now I understand why my experience was the way it was. We ate at The Lark about a month ago and forget what we had. Thats how memorable The Lark was. I do remember not to be in a rush back to The Lark either. Just another mediocre and over priced restaurant in Santa Barbara! Update three minutes from when I wrote the above review. Im sitting on the toilet with diarrhea now. Thanks La Paloma for charging me $150 to have diarrhea. Had to lower the Star Rating to One Star. Yelp please allow a 0 Star rating.
East Beach Tacos
226 S Milpas St, Santa Barbara, CA 93103, United States
Small, easy to miss stand with tiny parking lot connected to a batting cage business. All Covid precautions were in placeQuite busy for a rainy weekday afternoon. Famous for their tacos, the menu includes burgers, salads, fish and chips, and ceviche. Choose from ten different types of tacos. The deal everyone was ordering was the choice of three tacos called the Triple Play. Wife and I both decided to jump on this. Our six tacos were-three grilled shrimp, the band mi taco, the grilled fish, and the ahi poke taco. The poke taco was served in a fried wonton shell and was really tasty if a bit spicy for me with the wasabi aioli. Fish was fresh and flavorful. Very unique and wish I had more. The shrimp tacos were also very well done and the shrimp tasted fresh. Banh mi taco used pulled pork which had a bit of a kick too it but on this day was a little tough. The fresh crisp veggies with the hoisin aioli added a distinctive flavor. I'd try again on a different day. The grilled fish was our least favorite. The fish portion seemed small and it was over cooked. The fresh made tasty pico de gallo added flavor but was juicy enough to shorten the life of the tortilla, causing it to fall apart. Additionally, we ordered chips and pick and loved every bite. A darn good meal for the price and I'd go again without hesitation.Add on-time & opportunity put us here a second time this week. Bit better experience. Chose ceviche starter that while IMO not traditional(I think fish precooked not actually “cooked” using the citrus acid) it was delicious. Wife did triple play of three shrimp tacos and loved every bite. I changed it up with two carne asada tacos-served on my preferred flour tortillas-and another ahi poke taco. This time left off wasabi aioli and asked for lime vinegarette from the fish taco. Perfect for me and tasty. The beef tacos came with a slap of guacamole and really complimented the meat. Never know, we could be back soon.
Daves Dogs Grill
149 S Turnpike Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93111, United States
Horrible service. Food takes forever to be made, rude employees. And if you call ahead to order for pick up they won't make your food until you get there and pay, this defeats the while point of ordering ahead to skip the line.Edit: after i left a complaint and a question as to why i cant order over the phone, have my food made, pay & pick up at the same time, management left a very rude and condescending answer to my comments. They basically asked why i feel entitled to “skipping the line” as in skip every body in line and get my food when i get there. I never asked to skip the line, what i wanted was my order to be made and ready for pay & pickup like at any other normal restaurant, as in after I pay, I WILL NOT have to wait around for another half hour for my order to be made. This is the last straw and I will personally never get food from this place again. Food is always made incorrectly, entire staff (employees and management) is VERY RUDE, not to mention it's borderline expensive. I'd rather spend my $ somewhere else and get the treatment a paying customer deserve.Edit2: lol owner finally wants to sound reasonable on the platform everybody can see but answer so rude on the direct message that was sent to me. Nobody came in the store screaming, granted I was upset coming in the store to order as the employee were super rude to my boyfriend on the phone saying if he cant pay they aint gonna make the order, when all he wanted was to be able to pay in store. They really want to flip the switch and blame anybody but themselves. The behaviour of this owner and the entire staff is DISGUSTING and should not be in business.
Monys Mexican Food
217 Anacapa St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
I have lived in San Diego my whole life, lived in Santa Barbara almost 2 years. And this is this place is in my top 3 for favorite taco shops, that includes street tacos I have had in numerous towns in Mexico. This place has the best carne asada in my opinion. Its nice and juicy and flavorful, mixed with the onion/cilantro blend, then add just a little bit of their avocado salsa and habanero salsa and a couple drops of lime....im telling you just try it. I recently tried their fish taco and was pleasantly surprised to find out that is is grilled and not battered like most places. No matter what type of taco you order you pretty get two tacos worth of meat or fish or chicken...i use the meat that falls out to make nachos with the chips they give you for free. I have had their carnitas once, but where I come from carnitas is a big deal....so I will say their carnitas is not nearly as good as some that I have had...its still really good, but its nothing like their carne asada.The head (cabeza) taco is SOOOOO good. Its like the super tender part of a steak. Just try it! It sounds scary but I am telling you, its fuego family. $2 tacos all day, everyday! They also do nachos, burritos, and tortas for $10 bucks but they are massive.Salsa bar is the best in town and probably best one until you get to San Diego. They have peanut arbol sauce, whaaaaat!?!??!?!
Sun Sushi
3631 State St, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, United States
Service is great, really attentive and friendly staff. 5/5That being said... Id recommend giving this place a pass. The prices are not reflective of the care put into the food. While the fish was good quality, most of the cuts were very amateur (most nigiri had one pristine and one mangled piece), and the special curing offered in the 6-ways specials seem to be more of a gimmick than something additive to the fish and experience. 2/5The tamago was not made in house and I suspect that the miso was not made to order (firm tofu instead of silken and very soggy seaweed being a major indicator). While previously prepared tamago and a miso soup base are common at most Japanese restaurants, the tamago should at least be made in house and the soup should be dressed and reheated to order. 2/5The biggest offender of the night was the sushi rice. We were served what I suspected was the end of a batch, given its dry, flavorless, and crunchy texture. If the restaurant was slow I would understand, rice can dry out easily when few orders come through but a busy dinner service with dry sushi rice implies issues in the back of house with the preparation of the rice for service. 1/5The udon was passable, but again, not worth the price of admission. The tempura pieces were cooked fine, but the onion ring was 5-6 rings of onion friend together, creating an oil drenched, soggy ring. 3/5.If you are stuck on upper state and must have sushi, I guess Sun Sushi is a fine place to go. However, the trek a couple miles to Edomasa, or literally anywhere else (barring some obvious exceptions) in our small town, will be worth the trouble. We spent $80 all said and done (with a $7 item stricken from the bill) and we left hungry and dissatisfied.I write this with some trepidation simply because I dont feel that Sun Sushi is particularly terrible or offensive, it was just disappointing and amateur. I hope that they get their act together and succeed where Ahi could not, but given the apparent popularity of the place I doubt they will make any big changes until it is too late.
Chois Oriental Market
185 S Patterson Ave D, Santa Barbara, CA 93111, United States
Choi’s is a small Asian food market and a Korean food restaurant. Choi himself is usually working the register, and is always so friendly, happy to answer questions and offer recommendations. We are limited on Korean food here in Santa Barbara, but Choi’s is my go-to when I want some soondubu jjigae (tofu soup).
Oku
29 E Cabrillo Blvd, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, United States
Truthfully not a huge seafood nor sushi fan, but heard great things. My companions loved the sushi. I thought the Korean fried cauliflower and yakisoba were pretty tasty. The latter isn’t the best I’ve ever had, but id still give it 4 stars. Restaurant has nice lighting, great views, and fast and friendly service. Pretty standard sushi pricing for an upscale place in Santa Barbara