A Fresh Santa Barbara Guide to New and Old-School Restaurants
In the last year, newer operators have also emerged in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and their posh neighbor, Montecito. With more openings on the horizon, the result is clear: with local produce and seafood, Santa Barbara remains one of the best places to eat in all of California. This guide celebrates Santa Barbara's longstanding restaurants that have fed locals and tourists for decades, along with recent additions that have emerged as excellent places to dine.
Eater produced a guide on how to spend 24 hours in Santa Barbara. For a map of restaurants both young and old, click here.
Joe's Cafe. Mona Holmes
Joe's Cafe
Open for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Price range: $$
Open since 1928, Joe's Cafe resides on a central corner on Downtown Santa Barbara's State Street. It's one of those joints that opens at 7:30 a.m. for pancakes, omelettes, and huevos rancheros. For lunch and dinner, opt for the classic Cobb salad, lasagna or ravioli, a New York steak with garlic butter, and an open-faced tri-tip sandwich. Daily specials can include beef stroganoff, pot pies, and chile rellenos. Cocktails are available at all times of day.
Know before you go: Breakfast runs until 11 a.m.
Tee-Off Restaurant & Lounge
Open for: Dinner
Price range: $$
The Tee-Off Restaurant & Lounge is Santa Barbara's kitschy golf-themed steakhouse, lounge, and bar. This is not a dive bar-restaurant. Tee-Off is a full-on hole-in-the-wall that prepares an excellent grilled chop, whether filet mignon, rack of lamb, or bone-in ribeye. It also serves fish and chips, lobster, Alaskan crab legs, and cheesecake. Diners can sip a classic martini from the 1950s (Tee-Off opened in 1956), an Old Fashioned, or something from Tee-Off's extensive collection of single malt scotch. The vibe is old-school and fun, right on down to the leather accents on the bar and sparkly string lights.
Know before you go: The prime rib pot pie is an underrated dish worth ordering.
La Super Rica Taqueria
Open for: Lunch, Dinner
Price range: $
This endlessly charming taqueria is a Santa Barbara local legend, not least of which because Julia Child proclaimed it as one of her favorite places to eat on the Central Coast. With La Super Rica Taqueria's trippy Caribbean blue awnings and makeshift chalkboard menu, this 45-year-old restaurant continues to delight locals and travelers with a vibrant array of Mexican dishes served with supple homemade corn tortillas and tangy salsas. Don't leave without an order of the Super-Rica Especial, a plate of al pastor blanketed with rajas and molten cheese, and the queso de cazuela, which merges fresh tomato salsa with a melty fondue base.
Know before you go: The spot is cash-only, so come prepared.
Ca' Dario
Open for: Lunch, Dinner
Price range: $$ - $$$
Santa Barbara's local chain, Ca' Dario, began in 1997 when it became one of the first Downtown restaurants that served a Northern Italian menu. Find fresh local produce throughout chef Dario Furlati's menu, especially the salads and appetizers, including a wonderful bruschetta, various egg dishes, panini sandwiches, and imported pasta for classics like pappardelle bolognese. For dinner, most of the lunch menu applies with an expanded secondi course: Think grilled rack of lamb with shaved roasted garlic, or a 20-ounce grass-fed veal short loin sauced in rosemary and sage butter.
Know before you go: Ca' Dario's has locations in Downtown Santa Barbara, Montecito, the Santa Barbara Public Market food hall, and Goleta.
Silvers Omakase
Open for: Dinner
Price range: $$$
Right in Downtown Santa Barbara's Funk Zone is the Michelin one-starred restaurant Silvers Omakase. Chef and owner Lennon Silvers Lee (his older brother is Sushi by Scratch and Pasta Bar founder Phillip Frankland Lee) opened this hotspot in 2024, where he makes good use of the local seafood for his tasting menu, which might be nigiri, hamachi, or sliced bluefin tuna. There are only 10 seats available in this intimate space, which sold out 1,110 reservations one month before Silvers even opened.
Know before you go: Reservations are required, and the omakase is $235 per guest.
Jonesy's Fried Chicken
Open for: Lunch, Early Dinner
Price range: $
Slightly north of Santa Barbara off the 101 is Jonesy's Fried Chicken in Goleta. The casual restaurant opened in mid-2024, where its Southern-inspired menu showcases deep-fried buttermilk wings and chicken tenders, buttermilk biscuits with honey cayenne butter, chicken and waffles, fried mac and cheese balls, and a Korean chicken sandwich, but done Nashville-style. Banana pudding and an ice cream sandwich are for dessert.
Know before you go: This is a mostly daytime spot and open until 8 p.m.
Tina's Pizza. Katie Katz Photography
Tina's Pizza
Open for: Lunch, Dinner
Price range: $$
Bettina owners Rachel Greenspan and Brendan Smith debuted their Carpinteria outlet, Tina's Pizza, in late May 2025. It's located inside the charming Linden Square, one block away from Little Dom's Seafood. It serves a pared-down menu from the original location with whole pies, sourdough loaves, wine selections, and some grab-and-go items for those camping at the nearby Carpinteria State Beach.
Know before you go: Conduct a lap around the food hall before settling into a table.
Coal-fired chicken and spicy rigatoni a la vodka at Marisella. Wonho Frank Lee
Marisella
Open for: Dinner
Price range: $$$
Acclaimed chef Danny Grant debuted Marisella in late June 2025. Derived from the Latin term for 'star of the sea,' it embodies what one expects from a California restaurant perched on a stunning seaside cliff. Grant's resume includes opening Chicago's Maple & Ash, but here at Marisella, he uses the freshest fish catches of the day and produce from local farmers. It's an expansive space inside the Ritz-Carlton Bacara that overlooks the Pacific Ocean with one of the West Coast's best unobstructed views. Sample coastal California cooking with prawns with salsa verde and a Calabrian emulsion, raw oysters, roasted California lamb rack, and a stunning chicken piccata.
Know before you go: Reservations are not required, but highly recommended.
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