Sushi by Scratch Restaurants: Montecito — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

I should clarify that this rating is in the context of the price we paid for the restaurant. If this was a $100 meal, it would have been, perhaps, a four star meal with some minor complaints (with tip and no add-ons, we paid about $360 for two). Further, because this is a Michelin star restaurant, the experience should be on par with the food.

I am definitely less wealthy than the average Montecito resident and from the clientele that is being served in general by this restaurant; after attending, it is clear that I am not the target market here. However, I am very familiar with Japanese food and have eaten at a few Michelin star restaurants, including omakase sushi restaurants in Japan (all very special occasion foods for us) which were mind-blowingly amazing and worth every cent. It is impossible to not compare Sushi Bar Montecito to Michelin-star omakase sushi we have had, and, unfortunately, the former fell short on absolutely every metric.

We were greeted in the relatively unappealing lobby of the Montecito Inn, where they were clearly trying to ensure that all members of the seating arrived at the same time. They served drinks (nonalcoholic available), which were fine (but overly sweet) but were not served elegantly and were spilled on the table in every pour we received.

We were seated about 15 minutes after our reservation. You are seated at the sushi bar, which is L-shaped such that a percentage of people seated cannot view the food being prepared. It’s a very chatty setting, which is a very American presentation of omakase.

I wasn’t quite aware of how corporate this restaurant was— it’s a part of a restaurant group that owns a range of properties and appears to have priorities in line with this. I don’t want to include identifying information for fear of getting employees in trouble but I came away with the strong impression that the folks working were not particularly interested in either this location or in sushi in general and that corporate structuring was the driving force behind who was there and why and that employees did not have much choice where they were located or what cuisine they were serving. This is not a complaint about the folks making our food but rather about the ownership and managerial style.

We were served 17 courses including dessert. Our food was delicious. I do not drink alcohol and thus did not do a wine or sake pairing, which meant that we were having the alcohol announced and described alongside the food even though we were not consuming it, which felt like an inelegant solution in this situation. (I should note that I could have paid for a mocktail pairing.)

It is unusual for me to have a restaurant experience where I feel that the parties around me affect my experience so substantially, but that was definitely the case here. If nearby people are unpleasant, it will make a noticeable difference in your meal experience. This is not the fault of the restaurant per se, but was really stark in our visit. We may have experienced things differently in a different group.

Finally, the thing that left the most substantial bad taste in my mouth, personally, was the end, when we were asked if we wanted to pay additional money for additional courses, which ultimately left us as the only people in the restaurant sitting there, ignored and doing nothing, while more wealthy people ate. It left the entire meal on a sour point. I imagine there is little reason for the restaurant to change this practice— they clearly did make a buttload of money during this period of time and our obviously wealthy dining partners appeared unbothered. But it felt crass, contrary to the concept of omakase, and extremely money-centric right at the end of our meal. I feel that it is unacceptable for a Michelin star meal to leave you feeling left out and like you don’t belong at the table, which is how we experienced this. The food was not good enough to justify this experience at this price point.

I would recommend this restaurant to people with more...

You get there early and start with a cocktail (or a mocktail) in the lobby. You're then welcomed into the restaurant, and you find your name written in chalk (I used a magic eraser to erase mine for privacy). Chefs were welcoming and very professional. Every sushi was good, though I prefer less seasoning. You can check out the photos to see what kind of sushi you get, but I think they change their menus every now and then. The entire setlist was well organized, and some sushi combos were impressive.

We went there to celebrate a special day, and we had a great time. But with previous omakase experiences I've had, there were a couple of eyebrow-raising moments.

1. Preparation. Sushi pieces for each course are prepared altogether, and other chefs start their prep perhaps to provide sushi in a streamlined fashion. I would've preferred if each party was catered to separately. There are many chefs working on sushi already, and I would've loved if each chef handled 2-4 customers at a time to pace differently. We were seated right in front of the prep board and got the best view of the performance (sushi-torching and final prep), but some seats seemed a bit too far from the show.

2. Peer pressure. 1) It felt as if getting a drink wasn't optional, because the head chef introduced a drink specialist whose job was to make you cocktails. I personally prefer drinking water when I'm in for a big culinary experience, but everybody was getting a drink, and we didn't want to say no and make the drink specialist not have a job for us. 2) When the course ends, the head chef asks us whether we'd like to try two more sushi courses made by other chefs to give them a chance to shine, with additional charge. Of course you partake in the ritual because you don't wanna not give them a chance and you don't wanna ruin your special day. We were already very full, but nobody was saying no thanks, so we ended up signing up for two additional courses, feeling short-changed. If you're not brave enough to say no to "a chance for other chefs to shine," then expect to pay a lot more than the menu price.

We still liked the experience there, and we had a great time. But given that it was once a Michellin 1-star restaurant, I must say I expected a bit more from them. Probably...

My wife and I eat sushi A LOT. We enjoy cooking together at home most nights, but when we do go out, it is for sushi. We flew in from Ohio and are traveling up the coast, making stops along the way for … sushi, and seeing different sites, etc.

To be forward, we have never spent more than $150 on a dinner, let alone over $400. That being said- dining here was truly a non negotiable, and while after just one drink for the both of us brought our bill to $500- we would and hope to do this again.

Chefs were very kind, and delivered an incredible 17 piece sushi experience, with a very tasty dessert at the end. We weren’t sure what to expect as this was by far the most “fine dining” experience we’ve had- and didn’t know if in this intimate setting with 8 other people, it would be a room full of conversation and laughter, or quiet and intimate. Truly, i believe it will be whatever you make it. We love to get to know people when we’re traveling, and we were grateful the chefs enjoyed holding conversation.

We dined with Chef Sean, Chef Aluka, Chef James, and the Bartender/Chef Kevin. Incredible team, worked well together, and provided an experience my wife and I will long to have again.

We have restaurant experience, not fine dining, but still… it is similar in its ways- we can imagine in this world of fine dining what a lot of guests would treat the chefs like. I believe we had such an authentic experience because we were grateful to be there and treated them like the humans/incredible...