The Black Sheep Restaurant + Bar — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

One of the best restaurants on the central coast - bar none

An excellent perfect sized menu offering something for everyone, yet not overwhelming. I believe this helps ensure the restaurant provides high quality ingredients while reducing waste (How thoughtful)

Come for their 5 to 6 PM incredible special menu. Forget about happy hour at most restaurants. So one better: A three course meal which may include bananas, foster for dessert and 30% off wine for just 39.95

French bistro with a modern touch is the vibe. The service is fabulous. The decor is great. Cool Music at just the right volume and tempo. Come dressed up or come California casual.... You will feel right at home.

The upstairs room not only feels like you're in Europe with its skylight and wallpaper, it's the perfect place to have a special luncheon or special dinner. Just talk to Ruben, the owner, about setting something up. He is so easy to work with and had some great ideas We hosted a three course birthday luncheon- yes, he opened special for us. It was divine. Everybody loved the food, the space, and, of course, the great service. Ruben aims to please. He made some fabulous, mocktails too. The flowers were beautiful. The candles. Everything. Such a great energy.

The high ceilings at the restaurant lift your spirits. I love the big arched windows on the main floor. You can find parking at Santa Barbara's parking lot near world market.

They're open Wednesday through Sunday. Make reservations. If you come for the early bird special, you can often walk in at this point, but I don't know how long that will be- as they are becoming discovered.

Thank you Reuben and team. We are so lucky to have you back in Santa Barbara in what is a totally new Fabulous Black Sheep. Special shout-out to Asia. She is a top notch server- one of the best in SBA

If you have been to the previous one, this one is a whole new animal - modern fresh French vibes meet California fresh food purveyors with a great wine list and design to create an upscale chic yet not pretentious delightful evening out.

Nourishing for the spirit...

The Black Sheep is what you would call a "fancy" restaurant. It's decor, however, is casual, the wait staff are costumed in street clothes, and the menu is plainly printed on sheets of paper. They definitely try very hard to portray this air of effortless extravagance, but it almost feels too fake, especially since the wait staff are professional- it's like a fancy wolf in a street-sheeps' coat. The food is very good, which can be hard to retain once a kitchen gets too artsy with their dishes. The 8-12 beet slices in the beet salad taste good! The raw Scallop Crudo did not have that fishy smell (thank god). But the dish we are looking at today is the pan seared scallops. $27 for two scallops and $34 for three, it is definitely NOT cheap- but is it worth it? Let's take a look. The presentation is nice, and, as you can see, the scallops are served alongside a medley of cooked veggies: kale, broccoli, beet slices, and those mini onion things (whose name escapes me at the moment). The vegetables are nothing special, and serve solely as a way to break up the scallopy flavor inbetween bites. The three sea scallops are pan seared, forming a relatively thick brown crust. To be honest, they bordered on overcooked, but could get by based on preference. Don't get me wrong, they were good looking and well cooked, but the top and bottom was tougher than usual. They tasted good, but one key characteristic of scallops was oddly missing- the sweetness. That's kind of that- there's not much more to say. If you're a die-hard scallops fan I'm sure you will appreciate the flavor, but anyone more tentative; look elsewhere for a rock solid dish to wet your pallette. The Black Sheep just needs to start buying their scallops from Costco as opposed to wherever they get them now- I have, unfortunately, cooked specimens of much better flavor bought...

Our party of three each opted for the 4-course tasting menu that came highly recommended. For the first course, a roasted beet and goat cheese salad, and a tuna crudo. Both were good, but we only received the two small plates for the three of us. Next came hand rolled ricotta cavatelli with a lovely mushroom sauce, and a cow au vin. Again, both were good, the mushroom cavatelli ended up being my favorite dish of the night, and I would have loved more. I looked over at the party of two sat next to us and they were receiving the same two plates, which seemed odd given we were paying for three tasting menus I thought, not two. After a brief wait out came the desserts to our surprise. This time three plates, one for each of us. The crème brûlée, profiterole, and chocolate tart were all tasty.

Overall we were served 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, and 3 desserts. That's 3 courses out of the 4 we were supposed to receive. The tasting menu posted online on their website confirms that we were supposed to receive a 3rd course of fish and braised short ribs before dessert. I also can't help but feel cheated at seeing the party of two next to us receiving the same two plates for each course despite us being a party of three and paying for three tasting menus. The bill came came out pricey with three $72 tasting menus, of which we seem to have received 7 of the 12 courses. While I have no complaints about the quality of the food we were served, it is impossible for me to recommend this restaurant to anyone due to the food we...