Honor Bar — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

During my first trip here, I ordered the "Crispy Chicken Sandwich." I wish I had more fried chicken like this in my life, but I can''t afford to. Yes, this is one of the best chicken sandwiches I've had anywhere, but is it worth the $18 price tag? Probably not. I am confident, however, that the juiciness of the chicken, the sturdy and well-seasoned fried batter, the creamy cole slaw, the earthy swiss cheese, and the fresh sesame-coated roll combine to make this almost as perfect as a fried chicken sandwich can be.

Not satisfied with charging $18 for a sandwich, Honor Bar peculiarly doesn't even provide any sides with the sandwich. I ordered some french fries, which were quite crunchy, perhaps a bit too much so, as my tongue yearned for some soft potato guts that simply were not in Honor Bar's plans. Still, my dining partners were big fans of the fries, so this is just me being picky because I feel I was overcharged for everything.

We also had the "Chips with Dips" (guacamole and a deliberately cold spicy cheese dip) -- which is alright, not special. Someone else in my party ordered this. I wouldn't have, nor would I recommend you order it. Instead, you should order the "Smoked Trout Dip," which was another highlight for me at Honor Bar. It is rich and creamy with crunchy bits of vegetables like celery and hot peppers. I found that mixing with the jalapeño tabasco on the side made for the best bite. Honor Bar does not provide enough saltine crackers with this appetizer in my opinion -- but admittedly I didn't ask for anymore either.

Lastly, I had the "Honor Burger" on my second visit, which is a burger topped with a condiment mix that reminded me of Burger King's Whopper, but produced by a professional cook. The meat, ordered and prepared medium rare, had plenty of life in it and is not entirely overwhelmed by the melted cheddar, mix of slaw, special sauce, and tomatoes, but I feel they could scale down the condiment-to-beef ratio just a tad and have twice as good of a burger.

Overall, the Honor was mine, Honor Bar. I'd be back often enough if I lived in the Santa Barbara area as long as...

It was a Saturday morning and I had plans to meet a friend who I hadn't seen in years at the honor bar. The last time I was in town 2 years ago we went there and I remembered the burger being just amazing so this time we decided to go there again. We decided to meet there at 11:30 to beat the crowds. I arrived slightly early at 11:15 because I didn't know the parking situation and I didn't want to be late. They had just opened at 11 and the place was empty save a couple groups sitting inside. I asked to sit outside and told the host my friend would be arriving shortly. He asked me how long and I said 10 or 15 mins. He proceeded to tell me he couldn't seat me because he wanted to save room for "parties ready to dine". Remember they had just opened and not a single table outside was occupied. He must have been expecting a lot of people to show up all at once. They had me sit in the waiting area and brought me an espresso. My friend arrived not 2 minutes later. Is this standard practice for empty restraints in montecito to not let people sit at a table until their full party arrives? What if I was eating alone? My only conclusion is that I was not montecito dressed and they really did not want to serve me. I guess jeans aren't acceptable. It's too bad that the snobbery stops them from treating people fairly. The food was good but it should be for the prices. I would want to go back for the burger but I will not after this treatment. No doubt had I been wearing a suit or arrived driving a bmw this would not...

Stopped in on a Wednesday night a little after 6pm. They only take walk-ins so we put our name on a list and were told it’d be around 45 minutes. There are a few chairs you can wait for your table in out front- you are also able to order drinks and a few different apps here. The wait time ended up only being around 15 or so minutes. We were escorted inside to a small booth meant for two people and immediately asked if we wanted to order drinks. Two other servers checked in shortly thereafter to make sure we’d been helped. We ended up ordering drinks and a few appetizers as well as an entree to share- the deviled eggs, the chicken meatballs and the Pine Room Salad as well as the fries with dipping sauce. For our entree we ordered the omelette.

The appetizers left a bit to be desired in terms of taste and portion sizing. Both the deviled eggs and meatballs came as a serving of 3 which felt like an odd choice since all of the booths inside seat two people and the vast majority of people there were a party of two. The drinks were fairly good and arrived quickly. The best thing that we ordered was the omelette with goat cheese in it.

Overall- the service is excellent and friendly but the food left a bit to be desired. Fairly reasonably priced given its location...