Paloma — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

Mediocre at best. This is a step above The Chicken Ranch and clearly a profit driven restaurant. I took the rude hostess suggestion to order the pepper poppers(?) appetizer and that sucked. The menu claims to have a chef. Is La Paloma joking?! The chicken was above average with little meat but the presentation would lead the patron to think they were getting a meal. The tri tip tasted good but forgot to place most of the meat on the dish that came to our table. I ordered the bean, cheese and rice burrito as a backup plan for my young daughter. She tried the burrito and looked at me with the facial expression, dad are you going to make me eat this poor excuse of a burrito! I ordered three of their $15 cocktails to discover a glass in front me with mostly ice and four sips of a cocktail. If I wanted excessive ice I would of asked for a cup of ice. The restaurant atmosphere was mediocre at best with wait staff wearing aprons my Montecito barber wears. I was so disappointed that when it came time to order desert. I told the manager that since my daughter did not eat dinner. We would pass. The truth was, I did not want to experience another complete fail and be ripped off more. If Yelp had a "Poser Restaurant Section". I would elect La Paloma to this categories at the top. This is clearly a profit driven restaurant and they are not concerned about repeat business. Apparently this group owns the Lark and now I understand why my experience was the way it was. We ate at The Lark about a month ago and forget what we had. That's how memorable The Lark was. I do remember not to be in a rush back to The Lark either. Just another mediocre and over priced restaurant in Santa Barbara! Update three minutes from when I wrote the above review. I'm sitting on the toilet with diarrhea now. Thanks La Paloma for charging me $150 to have diarrhea. Had to lower the Star Rating to One Star. Yelp please allow a 0...

We had an incredible dining experience at La Paloma Café before heading to a show, and I'm so glad we made reservations--this place gets busy! Thankfully, we were seated on the top patio, tucked into a cozy, secluded corner with a perfect view of Santa Barbara's bustling nightlife. It was such a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere. Patio is dog friendly.

Our server, Bobby, was outstanding--attentive, accommodating, and genuinely friendly. Great service can make or break an experience, and Bobby made sure everything was seamless. 10/10

Now, let's talk about the food! Instead of standard chips, they serve Churritos--light, crispy, already spiced, and absolutely addictive (pro tip: ask for a side of lime!). Then came the Crispy Brussels Sprouts--charred to perfection with oak soy porcini sauce, pickled red onion, and cotija cheese. Hands down, the best Brussels sprouts I've ever had. 10/10.

For the main course, we had the Pork Shoulder Carnitas, served with comal roasted tomatillo salsa, peanut macha, black beans, and warm flour tortillas. The pork was melt-in-your-mouth tender, bursting with flavor, and incredibly satisfying. 10/10.

If we lived in Santa Barbara, we'd be regulars! Everything--from the ambiance to the service to the food--was top-notch. Highly recommend making a reservation and treating yourself to an...

5 de mayo and they had a big advertising about "brunch and live music" so we decided to make a reservation. The brunch was a joke! A table station with 2 types of tacos and 2 saladas, tortillas and rice, that's all, the other table, with 2 guys making eggs. The worst part and we were very disappointed when we ordered 2 micheladas, that were water with tomatoes juice nd pepper! We asked the waitress to send it back to the bar. The waitress came back with a new one that was a bloody Mary! So we aked the waitress what's going on? Doesn't the bartender know how to prepare a "michelada"? So he said "is the way we prepared like bloody Mary! Wowow 2 complete and different drinks! Bloody Mary is made with tequila or vodka as the menu says, michelada is made with beer!!! At the end they didn't charge me with a can beer I ordered. The live music ended when we arrived at 2:00 pm. We spent $100 for 3 tacos, and 2 glasses of water!! We should it go to a truck food and for sure the food would it be much better! $45 per person for a brunch where the only 2 tacos options it was chicken or carnitas! Change the bartender who obviously he doesn't know how to prepare a drink! What kind of mexican restaurant doesn't have guacamole!! Shameful!! Never again, please go to somewhere else, Santa Barbara has great restaurants, but not this...