Barbareño — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Barbareño is a BBQ joint like no other, and comfortably sits in the upper end of dining experiences that Santa Barbara can offer. Even if Barbareño's menu is focused around smoked meats, calling Barbareño a "BBQ joint" is probably a huge injustice. The owners have a stated aspiration for Barbareño to represent the micro-regional cuisine of Santa Barbara, similar to in French or Italian culture where each town or city of the country has its own distinct style of cooking based on the bounty of the region and the local traditions.

Head Chef Justin Snyder, who has cooked everywhere from immensely-popular "George's at the Cove" in San Diego to duo-Michelin-starred "Ta Vie" in Hong Kong, has assumed chief kitchen responsibilities from co-owner and original chef Julian Martinez, bringing additional refinement to an already solid dining operation. Martinez and Snyder's menu is built around leverage of an outdoor Santa Maria grill, a style of grill common in this region that evolved from South American asado-style grilling of meat over an open flame. What gives the Santa Maria grill a distinct look is its turn-wheel apparatus that allows precise heat-control by enabling cooks to easily raise and lower the cooking grate over the flaming coastal red oak that burns below. Barbareño takes it a step further and adds a smoker, an enhancement that one can taste in the rich, slow-cooked meats served here, which are more heavily-smoked than typical "Santa Maria"-style BBQ.

The featured meat of the "Santa Maria style" is 'Tri-Tip,' a relatively lean but flavorful cut of beef from the bottom sirloin that responds well to indirect cooking. The BBQ Tri-Tip at Barbareño is the dish to order here -- smoked for 2 hours, then cooked sous vide for another 12 hours, and finally finished on the aforementioned Santa Maria grill. A barbecue fusion of the old methods and the new, this multi-step journey results in what is definitely the tastiest, smokiest, tender chunk of Tri-Tip I have ever dreamt about.

I know what you may be thinking, kind reader: at $27, this is REALLY pricey for a barbecue dish, even if it is as spectacular as this reviewer claims it is. But know as well that it's served by pleasant people in a delightful setting, and that Barbareño is serious about sourcing. Their avocados are grown on-property. The Angus choice-grade tri-tip is sourced from local butcher shop Shalhoob Meat Company. The creamy (but not mushy) pinquito beans that form the legume bed on which the Tri-Tip rests come from Rancho Gordo, a local grower of heirloom beans that I've been ordering from for years. The gorgeous deep red tomatoes on the Tri-Tip plate have been lightly roasted so they've started to caramelize and become sweet -- providing a nice balance to the savory beans and beef.

I'm sure there are better "Santa Maria"-style tri-tip BBQ restaurants around the Central Coast, but Barbareño's presence in downtown Santa Barbara means that a great rendition of this style of barbecue is close and convenient for city-dwellers, tourists, and business-travelers like myself. Also, BBQ aside, Barbareño is one of the best places to dine in Santa Barbara regardless of cuisine. The owners have achieved something very special here, creating a successful restaurant that is very much 'Santa Barbara' while keeping the venue and prices...

I feel really sorry I chose this place to celebrate my birthday! What a ruined evening, that was supposed to be special! We had reservation and when we arrived the host was not at the entrance, after waiting for a while finally somebody came and said he is going to look for host (!). That's so unprofessionall and doesn't give positiv impression of the management! Finally, host seated us and she was pouring water in our glasses in a way that she was leaning bottle on the glass! Waiter arrived soon after asking if we have a question or need help with the food menu. We said that we need some more time as we just got seated. We liked to order our drinks first, but he didn't come back to ask if we would like to order drink first. He was having attitude the whole time and it was so akward to be there and I was just hoping that it ends soon! We had constaniously different people coming over our table, to bring dish by dish, to take empty plate, to take order etc. That's another unprofessionall characteristic of this place. One of the plates was brought by the waitress who quickly dropped plate on our table saying quickly something (I couldn't understand) and leaving, without giving eye contact and giving us a chance to ask anything. I asked the waiter with the attitude about the wine from wine list that I didn't know about and his response was what do I want to know about that wine and started with it's white wine and making me feel super uncomfortable and regreting asking. I finally ordered the other wine that I was familiar with. After that I saw him giving me looks from the bar and gave me the impression that he avoided coming to our table after this. We were not even asked if we like another glass of wine, eventhough there were so many employees working there (chatting at the bar and not paying attention to the guests) we felt unattended for the good part of the evening. Finally I felt like not ordering the dessert, because I didn't feel good there at all. I did, at the end, as I felt bad for my boyfriend who made the effort to make nice experience for my birthday. When we were leaving noone cared to say goodnight or to anyhow acknowledge that we are leaving!!! That's something not acceptable! There are many people with the attitude and without basic code of behavior, but such a people should be taught that if they work at such a jobs and such a restaurants or else they should not be at those places! I didn't mention food which was pretty good (except lamb that had that typical after taste that could be neutralized with certain cooking techniques). Food didn't matter anymore at the point where I felt so uncomfortable, unwelcome and praying for that to be over. I want to believe that this was some extraordinary situation, where they lost their manager suddendly and are forced to organize themselves as they...

The vibe is good. But I don't like that the people seated next to us were served their food prior to us, even though they got there 30-35 minutes after us. I get the girl "Christina's friend" works at this place but they got their mussels instantly but we waited 30 minutes for a Caesar salad that consists of half of a head of small romaine? I haven't got our entries yet but I will update the review then. Definitely not happy with the price point for the service thus far..

update The grilled Caesar tastes horrible. The romaine tastes so foul that I don't even want to continue eating it. It taste like chimney soot. Portion size of the chicken and ranch is ridiculous small same with the black cod. Cut into the chicken and it was raw... I asked the server, Colin? If he thought it was cooked and he replied "not at all." I think it was the manager that returned to assure me that the chef said it was cooked. But was still firing another one for me. 35-40 minutes later I get my meal..this is after my date had already ate her meal. Extremely disappointing, especially since it was highly recommended. Had to take mine to go but I doubt I get to eat it before leaving town. I come to town for work and my girlfriend doesn't get to come down with me due to her work schedule. The one time we make it happen, almost every restaurant was going above and beyond for us. Not just because we were from out of town but because that's how they do business. This place after the employee that worked there arrived made sure that their coworker was a priority over us. Everyone rushing over to her table to try the wine she brought while we're sitting there waiting for my re-fired food to show. After all this I was told by my gf that she had waited years to try this place and this was the service we got? Idk who the owner or GM is but that place is not ran how other restaurants are in the area and they should be ashamed to have people acting so entitled when it's giving their business a bad image.

Been two weeks at this point and have yet to hear back from the GM. Their “manager” told me I would hear back from him in a few days. Yet to have been reached out by him. Honestly it just shows how little he cares about the things happening in his absence and how little he cares if someone had a pleasant experience or not....