Bar Lou — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Went for brunch, was quite slow.

We had the fruit plate, smoked cod toast, tomato/cucumber salad, burger. Food was awesome across the board, my only feedback is the tomato salad needed a lot more S+P and consider topping with an herb salad, chili crunch, dukkah etc just something to give it a little more texture and interest. And I would have liked a bit more classic aioli with the fries and not the dijonaise it came with. Very minor quibbles. Quality of all the product is very high and we thoroughly enjoyed everything.

Just a word of advice, even though there are classic breakfast items on the menu I think some of the esoteric items might scare off some of the local old country club inhabitants (as you can see by some of the comments). I can imagine them seeing “smorrebrod” and never setting foot in the door when you can just call it an open faced...

Creative food menu with generous portions. The "small" plates are not small at all and everything we had was delicious. We didn't share any large plates, but the prices felt reasonable for the small plates and snacks.

What impressed me the most was that I have an (unfortunate) avocado allergy. While there isn't a ton on the menu, they do use avocado oil in the kitchen. The staff was so attentive and flexible with me, offering us great suggestions and alternatives. I did not feel like my allergy was an inconvenience at all and I appreciated the level of care.

Only thing stopping me from hitting 5 stars is that I wish the wine prices were a bit more approachable. Great selection including many unique local options and imports, but hard to justify the cost of a second glass.

All and all though, would recommend especially for a...

Had a wonderful dinner in the outdoor patio at Bar Lou Sunday night that was wonderful. Beautiful setting, excellent service, and we all really enjoyed the food, particularly all the "small" plates we shared. Had a few salads that were outstanding, such as the Lardo salad and the salad that accompanied the lamb Kafka dish. The only disappointment were the "greens" which were not hot and somewhat tough. We ended the meal with the apple fritters and whip cream which I couldn't stop eating. Somewhat pricey, but feel we got our money's worth. Will...