Dean: a coffee shop — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Edit: I wish to inform the owner that I am not the person they are referring to in their response. I find my comments to be a review of my experience and not a rant. At my time at this cafe, I have never spoken to any manger/owner and have never brought in outside food. I don't wish to have someone else kicked out of your establishment for being confused with myself.

I’m a student and Dean is one of the nearest coffee shops. The quality of the coffee and food does not match the standards of the surrounding coffee shops. I’ve tried various drinks such as their cappuccino, mocha, and “Vietnamese” coffee. Their mocha was the best of their drinks, but still not good. The cappuccinos I’ve had were overly bitter and left an unpleasant aftertaste, making me question the quality of their beans.

The drink that I have the most issue with is their “Vietnamese” Coffee. I recently watched an Instagram post that highlighted the “Vietnamese” Coffee as the best in all of SB. In reality, that is far from the case. The first time I ordered it, I was expecting a beverage that tasted similar to an actual Vietnamese coffee. Not only was the drink far too sugary, but I think what Dean serves is wildly unauthentic and culturally insensitive. I say this because after tasting the beverage, it is in no way remotely similar to Vietnamese coffee. After ordering, I asked an employee what was in the Vietnamese coffee. Their reply was a list of ingredients that are actually not even in Vietnamese coffee (e.g. espresso shots, caramel, whole milk) with the exception of the condensed milk. This leads me to believe that the beverage was only named Vietnamese coffee due to the condensed milk. Being Vietnamese myself, I find the naming of this drink highly inappropriate. While I understand that Robusta beans are hard to come by in the US, Dean’s “Vietnamese” Coffee doesn’t even slightly resemble Vietnamese Coffee. I would highly suggest that Dean rename this drink to include the words “inspired” or “based off of” as that is more accurate. In my personal opinion though, I think the whole beverage should be renamed and shouldn’t be remotely related to Vietnamese coffee. I wonder if the person who made this drink has ever even had an authentic Vietnamese coffee.

The recent events that took place at the cafe that made me write this review were the owner’s reactions to the banning of outside foods. I completely understand businesses not wanting outside food, but I find the owner’s reactions to two different Yelp reviews I’ve read, Dean’s Instagram posts, and the numerous signs plastered throughout the store overly excessive. On Instagram, I’ve seen posts referring to customers who bring in outside food as animals. Checking Yelp reviews, two reviews come up in particular stating how they bought in a snack after purchasing beverages but received “condescending” responses from the owner. In the response, the owner even mentioned the beautiful space with natural lighting. I think most Starbucks locations have better interior design and lighting as at Dean, there is no one chosen theme, and the decor seems all over the place. Overall, with the recent events of the owner and considering how the space actually is, I do not feel welcome as a student to study here for multiple hours.

Dean promotes itself as a coffee shop on both Yelp and Google, and it is within the name. People come in with the thought process of purchasing a beverage. If Dean wants to market itself as a place that sells food, it should do this better than excessively going after people who are bringing in small snacks...

You can get toast instead of a bagel if you ask for it. Some toppings work better that way. Still a fun, friendly busy shop.

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Knocking down a points due to their sudden menu change. If you want bagles and meat this is your place now.

Did try the date and goat on a bagel (since its still offered in this new form.) It's also a big NO. Very messy and sticky, unappetizing, everthing falls off. The greens were actually wilted and tasted bad. The flavors did not go well. I wanted to enjoy this new venue could not. 😟

.......... I used to love their sourdough toasts, piled high with fresh greens and tomatoes, esp the bean toast which was unique and great with some avo added, It's been discontinued along with the Mediterranean.

I also tried the pesto artichoke on their new no gluten bread. It was a big NO for me.

The spread was very thin, too salty and garlicky. The bread quickly turned soggy so I won't ever order this.

.......... Prior 5 Star Reviews .......

Still love this coffee shop. They've added a hot breakfast sandwich and sometimes have other offerings in their cold case like turkey on a croissant... yum.

Am fond of this coffee shop. They will cheerfuly add something, like a few bits of tomato to their smashed bean toast or some beans to their date and goat cheese toast. They are more expensive than others but have been consistently good and are warmly dog friendly. Expressio drinks have been great,...

Dean seems to be a place for the young and the woke. A coffee shop it is not; at least in the traditional sense. It's a simple, coffee house with simple food, though neither the food or coffee is memorable. However, I would imagine that it's a great place for the upwardly mobile to meet and discuss their latest ideas.

The decor is industrial; large, open, clean, and sterile. Fitting since it's in an industrial area. Lots of people inside and out hunched over their laptops. Which reminds me of it's best feature; the large outdoor patio. Plenty of fresh air, but you'll be hearing the woosh of Hollister Avenue, and trying to keep the rickety old patio table from spilling your London Fog tea.

Dean's food is easy to prepare, but not the fare you're likely to see at a Panera's. My spouse got avocado, red cabbage, tomatoes, and pepitas on sourdough toast. She said it was kind of good, but the over-toasted sourdough cut her mouth. This Boomer ordered the most basic dish they had: a breakfast sandwich with sausage. Though, I doubt the sausage ever belonged to an animal. It was OK, but the greasy butter covered it and required many napkins.

Maybe I was wrong to describe Dean's as Woke. However, their website devotes as much space describing their "Vibe", "Playlist", and community partners as it does...