Mesa Burger - Santa Barbara, Mesa — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

It was a fine Tuesday morning that day. The day I ordered the burger I was craving from yesterday. I don't know what got into me but I knew all I wanted was one of those beautiful mouth watering Goodland Burger from Mesa Burgers. Woke up that day to go help a friend of mine. We went across town to pick up a couple cars he needed. We took our time, washed the cars, cleaned them up a little and just chilled for a couple minutes. It was hard work and man were we tired. I asked my friend if he wanted to get some burgers because, well the dream i had from eating that beautiful onion filled burger from Mesa Burgers was still in my mind and man did i need and i mean NEED to eat one today. Thankfully he said he was down to eat burgers. I brought up grub hub and went without hesitation to the Mesa Burger menu, drooling on myself looking for that delightful burger. I could almost feel it in my hands, my tongue was already tasting the sweet beautiful flavor of all those onions CRUNCHING on my mouth. With a tremor going down my thumb I added that burger to my cart of course with fries and a medium coke to end the delightful sensation I was about to encounter in 15-25 minutes. I could not take my eyes off my phone waiting for updates, looking at the delivery car vrooming across town just to get to my friends place. Without patience I waited and waited, almost hoping the delivery driver was speeding to deliver me the best meal of my life. In 21 minutes and 30 seconds the delivery driver rings the doorbell. My eyes lookup to the door with excitement, my tongue rushes out to its long awaited arrival of food, my legs jump up and run towards the door and my hand out and ready to GRASP a BEAUTIFUL BURGER. I grab the delivery drivers bag of food almost violently. Closed the door and rushed to the couch. Grabbing my meal as fast as I could and toss my friend's food at him. I told myself “This is it, this is my dream coming true, I'm going to eat the burger. THE BURGER” and I open the box. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes started to water, but not of joy but of disappointment. I couldn't believe it, I thought I ordered the wrong burger at first. I quickly grabbed my phone and looked at the receipt and now I ordered the right burger. I still couldn't believe It i had to pull up the pictures looking at the burger on the phone and the one I had in front of me. I still couldn't believe it. I was in shock, anger, frustrated, but most of all disappointed. Disappointed that the burger that i had a dream about, the one i couldn't take my mind off all day came without…. THE ONIONS. I WOULD'VE NEVER THOUGHT that a burger place that showcases a burger by having one of the most beautiful onion presentations I've ever seen would come WITHOUT THE ONIONS. I am OUTRAGED.

Don't worry, i got a refund through grub hub. I am an upset man with...

edit-new location not this address. Stylish little burger spot from star chef Cat Cora in the Coastal Village area of Santa Barbara. Outdoor patio with plentiful heaters to comply with current Covid restrictions. Numerous unique combinations of ingredients for burgers named for local area landmarks-Funk Zone, Leadbetter, Mission, etc. all served with fries. Things like pineapple salsa, goat cheese, and even sliced bratwurst loaded onto a burger makes the decision even tougher. Also serving chicken and fish sandwiches which can be inserted into any burger listing. Salads available and a nice option on sides such as onion rings, Parmesan truffle fries, sweet potato waffle fries to order a single size or a sharing size. We opted for two burgers, the Montecito and the Funk Zone which come on a locally sourced brioche bun. The former included glazed mushrooms, grilled onions, arugula, goat cheese, truffle aioli, and a single large onion ring. My wife-a goat cheese lover-pronounced this combination delicious. The goat cheese went better then she even imagined on this burger. She upgraded to the truffle fries with this and they arrived at a less than hot temp unfortunately. My Funk Zone came loaded with sunny side up egg, smoked bacon, roasted tomato, cheddar and bbq sauce. I could tell from the first look it would be messy. The ingredient combo was delicious and was like breakfast in a burger. Maybe better without bbq sauce next time. Loved it anyway. I chose to upgrade to onion rings which while delicious and fresh, were on the skimpy side for the added cost. Be aware. Our biggest disappointment was in the buns. Very nice brioche that just plain fell apart after starting to absorb any moisture from the burger. Wife ended up finishing with knife and fork. All of the staff we interacted with were really friendly and knowledgeable and seemed to want us to leave happy. I mentioned the bun issue and the female manager seemed to know right off that it was a problem. Hopefully soon to be addressed. Lastly, while our patties were served nicely cooked for us, we were not asked how we wanted them. If you have a preference, make sure to ask. Would definitely return again for a different burger hopefully on a different bun....

Sadly, my partner and I had a terrible experience at Mesa Burger tonight. We went to Mesa Burger on Miegs, the most convenient location for us and the location we frequent most often. We arrived at 7:45 not realizing the restaurant closes at 8pm. I didn't notice the hours posted anywhere but maybe they are posted. The very kind person who took our order was professional enough but probably should have warned us that the manager had already decided to start closing the place earlier than closing time. Instead he took our order which wasn't a terribly large order- one salad with chicken, one order sweet potato fries, one soda, one water. $30+ and we put $2 in the tip jar. We got our table number, I took my cup to the soda machine to find that the machine had been emptied of beverages. The counter person who took our order came over to tell me that his manager wanted us to know that we would not be able to eat in the restaurant as they were closing in 15 minutes (even though we had not ordered to-go and had been given a table number.) In hindsight, I should have asked to get our money back at that point and left. Instead, my partner and I sat at a table near another couple there, waiting for our 'take-out' which we would have to eat in my car ( not what we had planned). When our food was finally brought to us, it was not in a bag, no napkins, no utensils, no dipping sauce as ordered, and no to-go cups for our water. Eating in the car didn't appeal to me at this point, especially when I discovered that my fries were overcooked and had absolutely no seasoning on them. Pretty bland. My partner ate his salad right there in the car and said it was as delicious as we always expect from MesaBuger. At least dinner wasn't a total bust! We don't plan to return to this location. Bad management, bad service by the manager. If he wanted to close the restaurant before closing time the very least he should have done was to warn us before we ordered and were handed that table number! So disappointing and...