Char West — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Char West is a no nonsense casual eatery located on Stearns Wharf. This place ain't fancy. It's counter service. The summer hours are 7am-7pm. Breakfast is served until 11 am, after that lunch is served. The menu includes coffee drinks, breakfast, burgers, fish n chips, clam strips, Clam chowder, fish sandwich, and salad. They even have a kids menu.

It's a small place with limited seating with a few tables outside. The interior dining room has some windows, try to snag those tables for the view of the ocean. If you sit outside, watch out for the birds. They have no qualms of helping themselves to your food.

Onto talking about the food... Char West self proclaims that the blueberry wheat germ pancakes are famous. It was past 11am when I visited, so I missed out on their claim to fame. Instead Hubs and I shared a cheeseburger and fries. $12.50. The patty was of a substantial size and pretty tasty. Moist and flavorful even fur a pre frozen patty. The bun was substantial and the fixings (sliced tomato and shredded iceberg lettuce) were fresh. sClassic, simple burger done right. I got no complaints about the fries. Served hot and...

I’ve lived here in Santa Barbara for 20 yrs and by far the worst experience ever. My husband and I went around 10am on Sunday, June 4th. Left without even ordering anything. We were sitting outside, on one of the Stearn Wharf’s many public seatings and tables. Looking through the menu online, we didn’t want to walk up to the register and not know what we wanted to order. When 2 older white women with like 3-4 dogs, walk up to us looking annoyed and bothered that we were there. They asked us if we were going to stay because this is the table they use all the time. We brush it off because there were 6-8 other open and available public tables around us. A few moments later, they come back with the server, a Mexican woman with an accent, and asked us to move because THEY wanted to sit here. We just surprised and responded, isn’t this a public seating ? and there are more tables around us? They asked us to leave. Extremely disappointed and not surprised by that service. Again, we didn’t even get the chance to order. They obviously only serve certain types of...

Excellent casual beach grub and DOG FRIENDLY!! If you’re traveling with your pup and enjoying some time on the pier this is a great little spot for lunch. Lots of open seating patio tables to choose from. We went on a Monday so it was easier to find a table. Assuming the weekends are more crowded. Batter on the fish and chips was crispy and delicious. Clam chowder was excellent! I love that they don’t ruin the clam chowder by adding bacon. And we got a steak sandwich which was fine but we’d swap that for a burger next time. Overall really good spot for lunch! Keep in mind this place is super casual and counter service only. That was perfect for what we were looking for. However, there’s plenty of other options on the pier and in Santa Barbara if you want to sit down and have higher end service. If you’re looking for a quick, yummy, a casual lunch then this is def a great...