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Roy
7 W. Carrillo St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 966-5636

  • Category: American
  • Hours: Mon-Sun 6pm-Midnight
  • Price: $20+
  • Serving: Dinner
  • Reservations: Yes, but usually not needed
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Reviews by the General Public

Great Food with ok service, 11/19/2009
Reviewer: Ixchelle from Santa Barbara, CA
Recently my husband and I decided to visit Roy's for the first time. There are notoriously few late night options in this town so we decided to give Roy a try. The ambiance is a bit strange, it was late about 10PM and the entire place was VERY dim, the menus are hand written in quirky scribble and there is this giant neon Jolly Tiger sign above the bar. It was like a romantic restaurant mated with a guy's sports bar and they made Roy's. The food however was fabulous! I had the chicken marsala and my husband had the seafood pasta. Both were outstanding and we kept stealing food off each other's plate. The meals were served piping hot and tasted as if a lot of care went in to them. The seafood cooked perfectly, the chicken moist, the pasta oh so yummy, even the vegetables were crisp outside and tender inside. I addition we had soup and salad that were included in the meal and both were equally as savory. The freshness in each dish was distinct. The typical $25ish for each plate in this town suddenly became a competitive $25ish as each entree included soup salad and the ever elusive HOT bread. Not to mention decent sized portions. The service however seemed almost typical Santa Barbara, the server was a bit aloof (though it seemed like he was doing it purposefully). In his defense he did bring our food hot and noted the beverage refills...and eventually at the end of the meal he did hint at a smile. Overall we can't wait to go back and help ourselves to another serving of Roy's.

Same poor service... Good food, 3/5/2009
Reviewer: Justin from Santa Barbara, CA
I don't know why...but there's always only one server in here everytime I come. It is soooooo slow it's painful. Waitress is overwhelmed and makes mistakes. She is curteous and I wait 15 mins for a martini and 35 mins for a salad. Sigh...I'm there now. On my iPhone.

constructive criticism, 1/29/2009
Reviewer: Stomach from Santa Barbara, CA
For the awful angry critics, constructive criticism: criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions. Patience is a virtue. If you want fast food go to Dennys, a block away! Roy's food is good, home-made and made with fresh local ingredients.

Very disappointing, 12/9/2008
Reviewer: Kat from Santa Barbara, CA
Roy is incredibly noisy and was not a good choice for dinner out with my husband. The service was very, very bad - the guy was trying but the restaurant was VERY understaffed and our waiter was acting as host and bus boy in addition to waiting tables. He seemed to have no help. The food was mediocre and uninventive. I think Roy needs to decide if he wants to be a bar/hot spot or a good restaurant. He seems to be trying to be both and it doesn't seem to be working. At least not for me. I will not be back for dinner but would consider stopping in for drinks.
Lunch Stop for Soup $5, 11/21/2008
Reviewer: Elizabeth from Santa Barbara, CA
Had some of their soups yesterday for lunch & they were excellent-made by scratch. My mom raved about how Roy's soups were just as good as her recipes. For an easy lunch, stop over at Roy's for soup & salad. By the way the salad was flavorful & delicious with a great assortment of vegetables. I'm now a regular.

Awesome!
Reviewer: Jason from Santa Barbara, CA
I've eaten at Roy a few times over the years and always liked it good enough but last night I ate there again and had the best meal. The steak was cooked to perfection and the potato cakes and vegetables were the best they've ever been. The tomato soup was incredible and the cocktails were excellently poured. Kudos to everybody at Roy.
very impressed
Reviewer: Trina S from Santa Barbara
Hands down, the best seabass dish I have ever had!
Roy's service hits a new low
Reviewer: Marianne from Santa Barbara
As many of the other reviewers have pointed out, Roy has never had good service. But locals often make allowances for bad service since there are so few decent late night eats in Santa Barbara. Last night 3 of us made an allowance to eat just after 10PM at Roy. When we came in, rather than greet us, the servers avoided making eye contact. The restaurant had other customers, but was not particularly busy. After eventually being seated, our food and drink orders were taken. Our drinks were delivered in a reasonable time along with some bread. Unfortunately, that maked the end of our service at Roy. All entrees at Roy come with soup and a salad. After waiting at least 45 minutes, we had not even received our soup. I tried to flag a waiter. He made eye contact but ignored me. About 10 minutes later he came over and I mentioned that we had ordered long ago and were still waiting for our soup, salad and meal. Without any explanation he turned away and eventually brought our soup. It was small and nothing special. After waiting another 45 mintues without service, my husband got up and brought a waiter to the table. We explained that at this point we had been waiting more than an hour and a half and had only had soup. He made no effort to explain or apologize. At that point we decided to cut our losses. We asked for our meal to be cancelled and to ring up the rest. They did so, without question, remorse or explanation. When they charged us $33 for 3 cups of soup, 1 beer and 1 cocktail without making any attempt to rectify such a negative experience, they permanently lost three customers. I will never make the mistake of eating at Roy again.

Terrible Service & Terrible Food
Reviewer: Sean from Santa Barbara
This restaurant used to be great. The service has always never been great. They do usually have only two severs on so I have always been understanding. The Ahi Tuna was a great menu item which they no longer serve. To the surprise of my last visit.. the service has gone even further downhill and the food isn't worth spending the extra bucks to try. It wasn't busy... we had to find our own seating & the server never had any drink or food recommendations. We were left unattended when we recieved our meal... & the server never checked back to see if we liked it. It was disgusting!!! Wilted spinach dipped in bacon grease, with cold and hard fried chicken on top. After taking a few bites we had to flag our waitress down to return it. She said that she would get the owner.. who then came to say that we took more than two bites so he never wanted to exchange it for anything. After agreeing to remove the salad from the bill... because he could not return the remains of the salad we turned in, he later returned to our table with a house salad stating "this salad is $7.. do you think you can afford it & want it instead?"

USUALLY great food
Reviewer: Jeff Campbell from Santa Barbara, CA
People may not realize, as I certainly didn't at first, that Roy is not just a name, this guy runs this restaurant. He is the head chef, and the designer, pretty much everything you see in the place and on the menu is his creation.
That being said, I have eaten here about six times. Roy is a great chef, and if you show up here during the week where he is cooking by himself without a rush, the food is AMAZING. However, I have had three different waitresses, and they have ALL been bad. Slightly rude and the bartender we had the other night was hands down the worst bartender i've ever been served by. It took 10 minutes to get a drink (there were 2 other people at the bar and she was playing on her cell phone) and when we did, it was really watered down and just bad. (Stick with the wine i guess, they have a great selection).
The atmosphere is really great, and this would be a good resturaunt for a date or for hanging with friends. Avoid weekends however, where cooks other than roy are running around the kitchen messing his dishes up. HAVE TO TRY: the pork tenderloin with port-apple reduction, or the grilled chicken breast stuffed with feta.
Food is great, the service SUCKS.
Reviewer: Ginger from Orange, CA
My boyfriend and I went to Roy's tonight for a late dinner. First off, we had to wait several minutes before someone even told us we could sit where we want. Then we waited a very long interval of time before the waitress even acknowledged we existed. After FINALLY discovering we were there, she took our orders, and all she did after that was bring us our meal. She never once came in between those times to check up on us, and she never came to give us drink and water refills. Needless to say, she received no tip. We also had to wait at least an hour and a half for our dinner to arrive. I have never in my life waited so long for food to arrive. even at much nicer restaurants. The food was very delicious but that could not make up for the absolutely HORRIBLE service. Do not go here!!!
Another OUTSTANDING experience
Reviewer: Jason Rose from Las Vegas, NV
On Sunday 01/20/08, we made the lengthy trip in from Vegas again. Our experience was well worth it, and our friends who experienced a fvorite restuarant absolutely loved it. We all started with the Creme of Carrot Soup...damn tasty! I had the Sesame Ahi, my Wife had the Spinach Ravioli, Brad had the Pork Tenderloin and the "other" Jason had the Filet. All of us can be picky as hell, but we were all absolutely delighted by our meals, atmosphere and the whole experience. Thanks for keeping things real, and the same...you've got a great thing going. I do have a drink suggestion. Try making a dirty marting with the olives and juice from the Santa Barbara Olive Co.'s Chipotle Stuffed Olives.

Great Food & Great Location
Reviewer: Brenda from Camarillo, CA
I loved Roy's, the food was excellent! I would reccomend this place to anyone visiting Santa Barbara, it is one of the best places to eat. I've dinned there 3 times, anytime I visit Santa Barbara I stop at Roy's!
Great meals, great service and fun atmosphere
Reviewer: Holly from San Francisco, CA
We've been to Roy a few times, and think it's one of the better restaurants we've been to in Santa Barbara. It's not one of the typical oversalted food, touristy places. It's actually a value, since all meals are complete. It may take a little longer to get your main course, because it's not "fast food", but you get salad, soup and bread to tide you over. It's a fun, hip place for late dinner and music, but I brought my parents, and grandma for an early mid week dinner when it's not crowded, and they liked it too. They have a bar, which we've eaten at, when it's busy. The service was great, and the wine list was pretty good too.

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