The Nook Santa Barbara — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

As a Santa Barbara local, I've been to the Nook a few times. I've always thought the food was overly ambitious and short on delivery, but convenient. Well yesterday is the last time I will ever purchase food from there again. I went with a group of people to Llama Dog to celebrate a birthday. When we got there, we thought we were in luck, because there wasn't a line at the counter. 2 by 2 our group ordered, got our buzzers and went to grab some beer. About 20 minutes, buzzers started going off and we started grabbing our different orders. Finally, our entire group had received their order, including those that had ordered after me, so I went to the window to check in. I could see my order ticket, and the guy took a look at my buzzer and just waived me away. Finally, the entire group had finished their food, and one of our group's stragglers who had ordered about 15-20 minutes after me, receives a page that his food is done, so I go over there again. This time the guy working the counter deigns to speak to me. His response to my question about my food was "why are you in a hurry" and "we're working on it". No apology. No explanation. Just a guy who shouldn't work in the service industry trying to make me feel like I'm being unreasonable for expecting my food within 40 minutes. An apology with a brief "hey there was a mistake in the kitchen and we're working on it" would have worked wonders. I finally received it about 5 minutes later. And the standard chicken tacos that I waited over 40 minutes for? Yeah, they were ok. Not bad, not great, just ok. Definitely not worth dealing with the entitled attitude of a guy that works a restaurant counter. I'll never return, and will be telling everyone I know who lives here my experience. SB is a small town with a lot of restaurants. Enough of these types of experiences, and the restaurant...

This is a tough one. As a reviewer I want to be as candid and honest as possible because I know others will be reading this and this could be influencing business.

Here it goes.

You know the feeling you get when you see a menu that hits all your flavor buttons? Yup, this one does that. As you look upon the calk clad wall your imagination will conjure up all kinds of mouth watering day dreams that are just moments away from becoming a reality.

Why am I giving this place 3 stars? Like I said it's not easy to give a review on a new place because food is a very emotional topic.

It comes down to expectations. For me $16.00 seems a little steep for macaroni and a little lobster, but with the right presentation I can excuse almost anything. So here's the thing...

Flavor - Pretty damn good. I loved every bit of this heaven kissed cheesy goodness. Mixed with the perfectly cooked lobster it was set to be a home run. Presentation - Meh. Definitely could have been better and thats about all I'm going to say about that. Portion size - The killer. This culinary delight was barely deep enough to cover the bottom of the dish. I know we all live in Santa Barbara but this is definitely a reminded that the "value sliding scale" is being slowly inched towards unnecessary ruffness. Upon delivery I almost felt like I had asked to have the portion split, so I could share it with a friend. Closing in on $20.00 for mac and cheese. I'm just sayin.

By the way... I've also had the rockfish tacos. They taste fantastic, but again same issue. They're so small that the three of them were barely an appetizer.

Quality ingredients and a sprinkle of creativity are one thing, but please, don't leave me looking in the fridge for the leftovers of...

Whether to hold it against them that they serve foie gras? (2/5 green stars) On a recent trip to Lama Dog taproom I ordered some truffle fries from the Nook. They were $7, which is definitely stretching it, pricewise. They were very good though, so on the basis of the fries alone (and service, which was friendly and fast) I’m giving them 4/5 regular stars.

I’m also giving The Nook 2/5 “green stars” for social and environmental impact, based on these reasons: • They have a couple of vegan specials. • The rest of the menu is pretty heavy on meat. • They don’t have any info (on site or online) on sourcing of meat and fish. • They do mention using organic greens and local berries on one dish. • I didn’t see it until afterwards that they serve a foie gras burger. Foie gras was banned in 2012 in California because the force-feeding was deemed to be cruel. It was overturned in 2015, based on claims that the CA law violates federal law. It’s currently under appeal. • The Nook management told me that their foie gras supplier is Hudson Valley. After reading about HV, watching their videos, reading some discussion articles (including vet opinions) I would have to say that there are worse conditions that animals have to endure (in factory farms). But I’m still against the idea of foie gras because it involves force feeding to create a diseased state. Find out more at Green Stars...