Chase Restaurant and Lounge — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

We're locals and we don't leave bad reviews for nothing. Not to mince words, tonight was the worst restaurant experience we've had in Santa Barbara. The bartender was so young and had more ego than skill. When my wife said her lemon drop was salty, he begrudgingly made her another -and he was rude when she said it was still salty. He refused to taste it and made a face as if wanting a decent $17 drink was too much to ask. She in fact had to enlist a stranger at the bar who knew the bartender and he tried the drink and nearly gagged. Only then was he receptive. He made two more drinks the same way all the while insisting that his lemon drop was loved by all. With the help of the regular who came to my wife's rescue did he eventually taste the drink and then he and Warren (owner and not very engaged with customers) finally figured out that the the sweet and sour mix was accidentally made with SALT water instead of SWEET and sour. They laughed, and the bartender who formerly said it was "his bar" (he's 22 years old) suddenly blamed everyone else for making that mixture with salt instead of sugar. No apology! We were halfway through a poor dinner of very over dressed and VERY wilted salad and my wife, twenty minutes without a drink and pleading for a simple vodka which they would not give her even after the discovery of SALT instead of sugar in the drink -duh... are you a bar? But still no apology. Instead we heard the GenZ blame: 'someone must have mixed it with salt... I've been out for three days.' After all that, they said they would comp the drink, but didn't -full charge on the bill -I didn't bother to argue. Figure this true review will cost them more. I understand mistakes - hell my wife was a waitress when she was young and no one has more empathy, but no offer of apology for the patron -is not okay. And this is a cocktail bar. It's all cocktails, there were only two wines by the glass (at nearly $20 a pop) and the flatbread was no better than frozen and well darn.... it's just sad to see the death of a long time local establishment. Sorry to see it go, but Warren Butler has run it down. It used to be a cool local bar with lunch specials and a chalkboard of local wines by the glass. Now the owner shirks the patrons who identified (with pain) the egregious mistake of salt instead of sugar and then needs to witness the scolding the bar tender and listen to that young man making excuses all without a word to the client to the client....makes three strikes. Sadly guilty of the most elementary of mistakes in the service industry... bad service, bad food, bad management and (4) no apologies - yeah, sorry, you're out. Even a long time name like Chase won't survive that....

I made special reservations 2 weeks ago and requested the 1st booth past the bar on the left. This is an annual tradition that I take my assistant out for a holiday luncheon. Last year we were told we could not sit in that booth because there were only two of us, but while we were eating, they seated two people at the same booth. I was a surprised since I was told, we couldn’t sit there. This year, I specifically reserved that booth (booth #1). So when we got there today at 11:50am I gave this person name Heidi my name, and told her about my reservation. She told me I could not have that booth. She took us in and was going to sit us where we sat last year. I explained that I specifically asked for the booth and reserved it. She said we could not sit there because there were only two of us. I said there isn’t anyone else here. She said people could walk in. I said, what do I care if people walk in, I have a reservation for that booth. She said absolutely not. You cannot sit there. So I had to get other people involved and some nice fellow who works there said to Heidi, just let them sit there. So she escorted us to our table, looked me straight in the face and said you will never sit here again if there are only two of you. Let me tell you something…i don’t appreciate being threatened and I do not appreciate being treated like a criminal for sitting in a booth that I had previously requested and I spent $140 for the two of us to have lunch. Just poor form and it put a damper on the entire experience because she and the other girl who seat people were walking by giving us looks. The guys who worked there on the other hand, were totally friendly and accommodating. And I should mention the food was absolutely delicious. Will I go back there next year? I would be apprehensive. There are probably a couple of restaurants in town that wouldn’t mind if I went in with my assistant and spent $140 at their establishment to have...

Beware of the tip scamming. This restaurant seemed to be fine accepting my family of 6 + dog to outside seating later on a Friday night during Fiesta time. The food was nothing to complain about nor was the service till my bank alerted that I had left a 41% tip. I did not. I only marked 20% on the receipt they handed me. This had no room to interpretation with bad hand written numbers. I also don't leave tips with decimals, so when I saw they charged me $71.18 for the tip, I had to reach out. The owner was first accommodating and apologized and requested to correct the issue. Although there is no easy possibility for someone to fat-finger 2 as 7 in any number board, she acted like it was an honest mistake and offered to give credit or a check. Then I never heard from her. Three weeks later, I asked for the status on email, there was no response. I stopped by the restaurant three days after the email and the staff took my name and number saying that the owners are not there on Sundays. There was no reach out the next day. I sent another email to ask for the status and if no follow-up, I pointed out that my next actions will be reporting the transaction to the financial institution as fraudulent activity and file a complaint with BBB. The owner's response was that I was being ugly. Now she responded somehow... And instead of investigating why her workers are trying to steal, she had the nerves to call a customer who was calm , communicative and responsible ugly. The issue has been resolved, but they are not gaining me as a return customer. Our local friends called this place a tourist trap and we have this unfortunate story to tell. Sad way to...