Seven years in the making and rebuilt from the ground up at a cost of $134 million, the El Encanto hotel at 800 Alvarado Place on the Riviera reopened today. The hotel has several eating areas including the dining room, the terrace, the lounge, the wine room and the bar. Chef Martineau’s menu offers contemporary California-coastal cuisine infused with Asian touches, French flair that you can enjoy at the only restaurant in town with a view of Santa Barbara. For more information call 845-5800 or visit elencanto.com.
A friend and I went to El Encanto Sunday night and tried a number of things on the menu – some of the seafood appetizers, entrees, etc., it was the most horrendously awful food either one of us has experienced – ever! The abalone was uncooked with some kind of parsley puree on top, unrecognizable, the salt factor is all-time high on the crab cake, all-time high on everything, salty bacon on top of pork loin? Ewwww. John Dickson, can you get up there and check it out? We think they need to do a radical and fast switch in the kitchen, the word will get out like lightning on this, and it will be too bad!