Eat This Shoot That! — Attraction in Santa Barbara

I don’t think I have ever been so disappointed with a business before I am even able to visit.

I saw a Groupon for this food tour and was thrilled because I had looked into them in past and wasn’t able to fit it into my trip at the time. Knowing third parties like Groupon take such a high fee for advertising, I wanted to reach out directly and ask if they would prefer I purchase directly through them rather than Groupon. Kinda a win win for both of us to save some money. But instead I was told they were unaware they had a Groupon offer at the time and asked if I could hold off on purchasing so that they can further look into it. I know things happen and was willing to wait since the sale price wasn’t expected to expire for another few days, and I had time to purchase if that’s how they wanted to handle it. They called me back 2 days later to tell me I could purchase through Groupon if I wanted and was definitely under the impression they would honor the original advertised price. Considering they were unaware, it was a good thing that I pointed it out to them before there was a real problem they had to deal with.

I go on to purchase through Groupon and realized the price has now been updated and there is ZERO discount from there website price. I took screen shots of the groupon that stated the deal should still be good, and was clearly changed after they investigated and contacted groupon.

I called again in hopes to purchase tickets at the price that was advertised and spoke with Tara, the owner of the business. I absolutely can not express the amount of disrespect and demeaning comments she made to me. While speaking to her, she laughed and then tried to tell me that I should have purchased earlier before the deal was gone…. Uhhh I waited per there request to look into things. As if to make matters even more uncalled for, she even apologized that is was “outside my budget” and recommended waiting until they have another sale….. I couldn’t believe she was talking to me like this. The audacity and demeaning comment.

Clearly a disappointment after hoping they would do the right thing and looking forward to this tour…. But things happen for a reason I guess. I found a much better food tour and booked with them instead.

Oh, and I paid full price with no problem Tara, my budget wasn’t the problem, it was about you honoring a listed price as advertised. Thank you for your more than your rude attitude and saved me from paying for a disappointment.

Pics of some of the chat conversation is posted for the record. As a lot of the conversation was also through phone calls I clearly...

Was this worth $79? NO! Should you get this for your spouse/friend who likes eating and photography? NO! My wife got this for me since I love taking pictures.... read details if you'd like.

We were there over the memorial weekend 2015. Guide was friendly but he wasn't really informative and nor good at getting people together. Selection of wine and food was very limited and restrictive so if you don't like what they have selected for you, tough luck. Of four people, two of them opted out in turn because we weren't happy with drink options. Who wants just sparkling wine three glasses in a row? And food was good but definitely not enough. We were hungry so went to eat afterwards.

The WORST part is that this was misleading. This was eat this, drink that tour if anything else. Entire time we were talking, I was thinking, they're going to take us to some awesome spot where we can take some good pictures!!!! I should have known when the guide didn't even have a camera on him. I brought my D3200 with wide lens and 300mm lens so that I can be prepared for any situation. At the last stop, couple of us asked about what about 'shoot that' portion? And then guide said take out your iphones and take picture of your food... which really isn't photography unless you're one of those people must post every food you eat! When another lady at the tour asked about tips we were supposed to get, the only tip provided was 'turn on HDR on your iphone'...... SERIOUSLY..... lol What if you got Android or Nikon D3200? I don't think it comes with HDR....

If they presented this as eat and wine tour, they would get gotten 3~4 stars.... 4 stars if they had more food and 5 star perhaps if they had flexibility on the drinks. It's not hard to say 'choose between two pre-selected options'. in fact at the last stop, they had bloody mary & sliders. My wife & another member in my group hate tomatoes so she asked for Sprint instead since no drink substitution was allowed. And they refused to even give her tiny slider we are supposed to get. So we ended up sharing tiny sliders we got... what a rip off! LOL

This was worth maybe $40~$45. And completely misleading. They did have couple good spots and decent drinks but not worth $79. They need to set people straight on their expectations and put up the menu so that we can expect what we'll get and that you won't be taking real photography pictures, just food pictures...

If you're doing a food tour and you're walking through the city, you should definitely have some hands sanitizer or have spots along the way, picked out to be regularly washing your hands. You also should  refrain from touching people's plates and cups as you discuss and show them the food items. I understand it's a food tour, but especially when you don't have clean hands, it's highly unsanitary!

It's also a good idea to not greet dogs and let them lick all over you  ... your hands.... your arms AND your face while you're interacting with people who are eating food, bringing them food from the restaurant & leading a tour.

It's a good idea to give people space after you give them the information about the tour and the food and the art and let them socialize with the people that they came with. We should not have experience the person who is giving the tour or learning how to give a tourist next to you constantly asking you questions about what you're eating, what you're trying, where you're from or other questions that are really irrelevant .. it is pretty annoying & doesn't allow you to enjoy the experience fully.

It's not a good idea to take shortcuts, because it's easier for you as the tour guide. One of our group members ate meat. The other 2 are vegetarians, but to keep it simple or make it easier. She was repeatedly offered vegetarian options and not given the opportunity to try the meat options along the tour. This was frustrating as you were very clear when setting up the tour, what the food restrictions were, we reminded them again when we got to the beginning of the tour and also reminded along the tour. How often will we need to say it in order to get the full experience.

Although the tour guide and her trainee were very nice & social, it is not likely not an experience...