Chuck's of Hawaii — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Wow. I was greeted by welcoming staff who were honest and lively and was seated promptly in a nicely dark but lit room and in all honesty it was very relaxing. I had a beer while I awaited for my order. It was great to hear people enjoying their meals with family, giggles, silverware clanking on plates and waiters and guests coming and going like an orchestra of order and chaos. I could hear a distinct hand held heavy brass bell ringing when an order was ready, although I couldn't see such bell I could feel and hear it from afar, judging by the tone of the bell I was able to perceive the weight from afar. I was hungry upon arrival and the beer and ambiance made me feel at ease and hungrier. I could have waited much longer for my order as time was not the main component at play here. I suddenly realized that I was in no hurry to get my food on my table, because I could perceive that if you want a great meal, you have to wait on the chef and I could tell the chef was not stressed out as he took his time to get my steak to perfection. And I am grateful he took his time because outside of my own mother's kitchen, that is thee best steak I've ever had. I had my meal around 7 pm and it's now 10:51 pm and my mouth is still savoring the flavor of this great steak and pardon the forwardness but my mouth is still salivating. Ladies and gentlemen, please don't show up expecting a quick dinner, slow down and enjoy your company, the ambiance, the orchestral manoeuvres going on around you and enjoy a good wine or beer like I did and I pro.ise you that you won't be disappointed. I have a theory that if you're in a rush you will somehow ruin the taste of your meal and miss out on the experience of this special meal you're going to have. I had to tip generously and have word sent to the Chef of my gratitude for gifting me such a remarkable and unforgettable meal. Thanks to the great staff, you are doing a good thing here and please keep up the good work. I'll be bringing my family here soon. Good tidings and gratitude on my behalf to Outback Steak House I tip my hat...

I hope I can choose less than one star as a rating, the service was horrible. We have been in this restaurant about 8 or 9 times in this year and this is the first time I have experienced this bad treatment from one of the waitress at the restaurant, I am not going to explain how bad was the experience since the beginning but what made us leave is that we found a hair on the salad and explain the waitress just as a precaution that they should be more careful, we didn’t ask for anything else but them checking the salad bar. This rude long brown hair waitress (I don’t know her name) answered that she has no control of the people in the salad bar, that is not her hair so it’s not her problem and then she start walking away. It was four of us including my mom and my grandmother, the hair was blonde so obviously not hers, all of us have brown hair, I am in hospitality industry, I have worked in a lot of restaurants but this is by far one of the worst experiences I ever had on a restaurant as a customer, all the times we came food was amazing and service was great! The manager was also there and she did not even said a world to us, she was also laughing with the server while watching us. At the end this lady follow us in order to paid for “the food” which was the complimentary salad we took from the salad bars and one lemon drop cocktail. She is really rude and she just apologized saying that she had a long day and she thought the comment was personal as we were blaming her, that she just was protecting herself, that she was tired, all of this is just a nonsense. We will never come here again and I hope for you that if this lady serves you, you can switch the server, not me in my longest day working 14 hours ever answered that way to a guest. Even worse to a whole family, I have never felt so offended in a...

Husband chose Chucks of Hawaii for our 20th wedding anniversary. We were hopeful that there would be a strong tiki vibe combined with great cocktails and tasty food. None of which were the case. Was it awful? No. Was it fantastic? Also, no. Let's start with the positives. The service. Very quick, very efficient... could possibly be overwhelming for some as we had 3 people serve our table all within minutes of sitting down. The waitress, the water boy, and the beverage girl. It was in rapid succession. However, it was nice not to ever ask for a water refill. The food. It was edible but not memorable. Would I go back for the filet? No. Not sure how Chuck's has the "best salad bar" in Santa Barbara. It was an odd mix of salad toppings and pickled salads. Personally I'd rather get a salad from Toppers in Ventura (the one with rooftop bar) over this place. My filet was d-r-y. Like oddly so. Mealy. Husband's teriyaki rib eye was a soy sauce ribeye eye. Again, all edible just nothing I would return for. Now, the negative. The cocktails. Quite possibly in the top 5 worst cocktails we've ever had. The Strawberry Lemon Drop was recommended (they don't have a cocktail menu) and not sure the beverage girl has ever had a quality Lemon Drop of any kind because if this is her favorite, she needs an intervention. No sugar rim. No fresh lemon (pretty sure no lemon period) just vodka mixed with a cheap strawberry mix. Blegh. I didn't finish it. We were told they're famous for their Mai Tai. Uh. Okay. Then I suggest they drive to Ventiki in Ventura and try an actual Mai Tai. Or Strong Water in Anaheim. THOSE are memorable Mai Tais. This one was left at the table unfinished. All in all a pretty mediocre experience at Chuck's. Feels like a lot of missed opportunity to be something...