S.Y. Kitchen — Restaurant in Goleta

My husband and I are SYV locals who have eaten at Santa Ynez Kitchen numerous times in the past with great pleasure. Our recent dinner there was a disappointment compared to our previous experiences. It was my birthday, on a Monday night, and we had reserved in advance and requested a particular table in the front patio. We were told it could not be guaranteed, but that they would do their best to accommodate us. When we arrived at our reservation time we were told the people sitting at that table were just finishing dessert, and that we should be seated there within ten minutes. We said fine and waited off to one side out of the way. When the table was cleared and the new setup was being completed we approached the table, and to our surprise another couple was brought to the table right in front of us and seated there instead. When we approached the hostess she just looked blank and said that she could seat us at another table in ten minutes. We waited and eventually were seated. At that point everything continued to feel off that night. In the past the food, the service and the presentation had all been stellar. On this occasion everything was a little erratic. We had to remind the servers numerous times for lemon slices for our water, for a second cocktail, for additional water and for wine. The dishes we ordered did not show the care in either the preparation or the presentation that we'd experienced in the past. Most disappointedly the beautiful plates that the food had always been served on had been replaced by generic white restaurant china. Only one item was brought on one of the beautiful handmade plates. The flavors were not the same as we'd experienced in the same dishes in the past, and the presentation looked careless. We skipped dessert and coffee and left earlier than intended. All in all, a disappointing special occasion, and we're not...

We were first time customers when we walked in. Place was absolutely empty when we got there. Yet we were told they were booked. Not sure I would dine in a place that doesn't take customers when it's empty. In any case, if it was even booked, we could have been provided some options. We were just told "sorry." I heard good things about this restaurant, but it is always good to check the service for yourself since I found out otherwise just based on how first time customers were shut out. Not a very good impression

I am now responding to the reply made by the business manager about us being offered the bar and lounge area. To answer your question, S.Y. kitchen deserves my one star review because we were in fact not offered the bar or lounge area. If we were, you would not see a one star review. This is where I was mentioning about being offered options although your restaurant was booked, which we were NOT offered. To conclude, in this case, you do not offer ALL your customers the lounge and bar area because your front desk staff did not do so with us. I also read another review about how other customers were treated 14 days ago on Yelp and they also did not mention anything about the bar or lounge being offered. Same experience with us. Thanks for the reply anyway. If you do offer the bar and lounge to everyone, first time customers will not know that. The least the staff can do is offer this, especially when customers drive three hours just to get there. What your staff can also do is ask us how we were recommended this place. I would have told her that we were told S.Y. kitchen has good drinks to try. So although you might have been booked, there is no way you would have known we were not going to stay long without, again, offering us the...

Wonderful Valentine's Day dinner despite them being extremely busy. We booked a couple of weeks ahead when visiting this beautiful area. It's a rambling old wooden building with lots of character. There's a covered porch and patio, but it was a chilly night so we were happy to be seated in a cozy well-heated inner room that looked liked an enclosed sunporch. Even though the restaurant was crammed full, it was fairly quiet and intimate, unlike the entry room which feels more casual, with a bar and TV

The food was delicious, inventive, fresh, and perfectly cooked, even on such a busy night. I had two specials: a comforting squash soup which wasn't too sweet and squid ink pasta with tender chunks of lobster. The homemade pasta had a delightfully appropriate very slight resistance rather than being mushy. My husband had the shaved yellow beet salad and the signature sliders, both of which he proclaimed superb. Our syrah was flavorful. We'd read a few comments that servings were small but we found them to be generous and passed on dessert. We ended with a cappuccino and an espresso which were much appreciated.

The staff were uniformly pleasant and efficient and seemed unharried even on a very busy night. Our table wasn't quite ready when we arrived, but they were very quick to clear tables so we were seated within 10 minutes. Our orders were taken promptly and wine and courses arrived at appropriate intervals.

Yes, this isn't a cheap place, but the quality of the food and the impeccable service...