Santa Barbara Restaurants

At San Ysidro Ranch—one of the most idyllic hotels ever—Stonehouse Restaurant is gorgeous in every way. It’s housed in a 19th century building that was once the property’s citrus-packing house; now, it’s sought after for romantic evenings and special occasions. Executive chef Matthew Johnson sources from local farms, Santa Barbara fisheries, and the hotel’s own organic gardens. Stonehouse’s 14,000-bottle wine collection is unreal, and a reservation here is an opportunity to try something rare. (Perhaps one of the world’s most expensive and sought-after sweet wines, an 1811 Château d’Yquem, which Stonehouse acquired in 2024.) And the servers are exceptional—helpful, thoughtful, and there when you need them.

Sushi by Scratch is a 10-seat omakase bar where you’ll eat some of the best nigiri of your life, sip fantastic sake, and enjoy warm and thoughtful hospitality. It’s a social atmosphere that’s great with extroverted friends, for date night, or solo.

When Broad Street Oyster Co. debuted in a Malibu strip mall in 2019, we had a feeling the word-of-mouth phenomenon would become a common-knowledge spot. They have several locations now—this one’s on Santa Barbara’s State Street—each doing lobster rolls, seafood towers, and tuna tartare on tortilla chips just as excellently as the last. They lean into retro surfer kitsch and it feels just right.

Chef Daisy Ryan and her husband Greg Ryan run Michelin-starred Bell’s, which serves à la carte lunches and prix fixe dinners, focusing on locally-sourced ingredients and French techniques. The menu changes daily, depending on what’s fresh at the farmers market and what Daisy feels like making. That said, you can expect some killer seafood. The service here is warm and inviting, and the vibe is immaculately low-key—the kind of fine dining that works perfectly in Los Alamos.

Go to Bar Le Côte to sip Spanish and Santa Barbara wines, slurp east and west coast oysters from the half shell, and dig into scallops, paella, and whole grilled fish. Once you try the saffron buns and uni butter, you’ll want to spread uni butter on everything you eat, forever.

Inside Rosewood Miramar Beach, AMA Sushi does fantastic sashimi, nigiri, and cut rolls alongside larger plates of black cod and braised pork belly. Ask to sit on the brick patio, which is intimate and pleasant, or sit at the 13-seat omakase counter and let the chef take care of you. Finish things off with tea and dessert—houjicha ice cream and chocolate mousse or pan-roasted mochi cakes.

A local friend let us in on this cute tasting room in Montecito’s Lower Village, a short walk from the Miramar. We like to drop in for a glass after lunch. The family-run Folded Hills winery grows its vines—organically—in the Santa Ynez Valley. Staffers are just as charming as they are knowledgeable, and after tasting a flight or two, signing up for the Folded Hills wine club (expect two six-bottle shipments annually) seems like an entirely reasonable idea.

Saturday nights are ripe for pizza and a beer, so Montecitans tend to agree. Bettina’s white subway tile and olive-green shiplap interior hums with chatter and a low-key raucousness that half convinces you you’re in a pizzeria in Brooklyn. (The owners are New York transplants, and the vibe follows.) Call us purists, but we’re partial to their simple margherita pie. Blistered edges, sweet-sour tomato sauce, flecks of basil, and a drizzle of grassy olive oil is even tastier with a green salad and robust glass of Brunello. In our book, a restaurant is only as good as the sides and snacks (or, in this case, spuntini) on the menu. No meal at Bettina is complete without an order of the cacio e pepe arancini to get the Saturday night going.

Before she opened Merci in the lovely Montecito Country Mart, chef and owner Elizabeth Colling cut her teeth at the Ritz Escoffier School in Paris. She followed that with stints at Spago and Bastide. And now, every Saturday, dozens of locals line up to indulge in Colling’s resolutely French brown-butter-soaked waffles Suzette. The café itself is a blush-colored cocoon of wicker seating, marble tables, and the welcoming scent of fresh bread hot out of the oven. Roll up early, commandeer a table, and slowly work your way through the patisserie case alongside what feels like half the town. Our standing order: Merci’s Cali spin on breakfast brioche and runny eggs.

Fresh, California cuisine meets American classics at Finch and Fork, where the dishes are prepared simply (think only a few select ingredients each) to perfection. There are different daily specials (i.e. burger and beer, pork and cork) and just-caught seafood on the menu. Although the brunch line-up is particularly awesome, this is a solid choice for any mealtime.