Stella Mare's Santa Barbara.com

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Stella Mare's 50 Los Patos Way, Montecito Phone: (805) 969-6705 Category: Californian, French Hours: Tue-Fri Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm, Dinner 5pm-9pm, Sat-Sun Brunch: 10am-2:30pm, Dinner 5pm-9pm Chef: Gael Lecolley - Daniel Orozco Price: $20+ Serving: Lunch & Dinner Reservations: No Map Web Site Menu Write a review of this location!

Reviews by the General Public

Amazing Waiter, 7/29/2012
Reviewer: Chase from Santa Barbara, CA
My waiter, Lucas, was absolutely amazing. He served us very quickly and efficiently. He kept us entertained through out dinner. I would go back just to have him wait on me.

Great food & Service! Good for company parties
Reviewer: Rachel from Santa Barbara, CA
I planned my company Holiday Party this past year and had a wonderful experience. They were very helpful along the way, and the party turned out amazing. The food was all delicious and the service was even better! Everyone loved the ambiance in the green room and the decorations looked very nice. Definitely recommend for a regular meal or planned party!

Where's the crab?
Reviewer: Marie from Santa Barbara, CA
My mother and I went for lunch. I ordered the crabcake trio. All three cakes were very uniform - as if they had been pressed out of a die. The consistency was that of mush; no lumps of crabmeat. No accompanying sauce which, in my opinion, made for a dry dish. I asked for a side of the aioli they make (epic!!!) and that assisted in getting them down. I will say this: We have been here many times and the food and service is typically very good. I kinda feel bad about not writing good reviews and I will start to do so going forward. I just wanted to put in my opinion about the crabcakes.

Come on, Ixchelle.
Reviewer: Richard Lambert from Santa Barbara, CA
So you went in with an open mind? If you are determined to find fault, you certainly can. I've always enjoyed the meals I've had at Stella Mare's, but then I guess I expected to.

Disappointing, overrated, and stale
Reviewer: Ixchelle from Santa Barbara, CA
I finally decided to try this place after hearing about it for so long. My husband and I made dinner reservations for Valentine's Day but I decided to try it first a few days earlier with my dad. I was immediately disappointed to see how close the restaurant was to the train tracks. Only a few dozen yards separated us from the roar on the Union Pacific. Not really the experience I was hoping for. The first evening we sat in the greenhouse and I must say I immediately noticed the cobwebs among the glass ceiling shining in the setting sun. For a place that charges $35 for entrees and $12 for cocktails I expect a cobweb free environment. As for the decor, "country french", the consensus was you either love it or hate it. To me it felt old, stuffy, and stale. The crowd here was a mostly "very mature" bunch. So I figure this is who the restaurant is catering to. As for the food I really expected to be blown away given the prices. I've had some amazing culinary experiences and this just wasn't amazing. The portions varied from adequate to very small. My entrée showed up with two tiny pieces of fish and a few green beans. Offensively, the fish was overcooked. Seriously for $30 at least give me a moist piece of fish. The crabcakes were decent but again I've had much better. My dad had the escargot and again the conclusion, "I've had much better". Notably, the service was very good. I came home and warned my hubby that we should cancel our reservations for Valentine's Day but he wanted to decide for himself. So again I went. This time, and with a new server, the service was just ok. I could see our server light up at his other more mature customers, and just give us the bare minimum. It was very obvious. I suspect we were judged and determined to not be worth the extra effort. Insulting and disappointing. The shrimp appetizer was tasteless. The crab cakes were both burned (black) and the burned side was placed on the bottom so we wouldn’t notice. The spinach salad was decent. The sea bass was a bigger portion, had a nice crust, but again was overcooked. The lemon cake was super lemony, inedible to anyone who doesn't adore a very sour lemon flavor. The "ding-dong" -stupid name by the way- was a dense chocolate cake with chocolate ganache, again way too much chocolate and nothing to cut it with. A bit of whipped cream or ice cream would have helped but was it was just too rich. Overall the service was biased, the food mediocre, the ambiance was sleepy, and the experience was disappointing.

Disappointing
Reviewer: Sarah from Santa Barbara, CA
I went to Stella Mare's this past weekend with my family for the first time and we were pretty disappointed with the food and the service. The atmosphere and decor of the restaurant are great and it has a lot of potential. I ordered the steak au poivre which is a classic French dish so I had high expectations for a $30 dinner. I ordered it medium rare and it was well done. It was pre-sliced and served over asparagus with a few potato chips stuck between the meat slices and a few roasted onions on the plate. The sauce was really good but the steak was way too salty and I didn't see any sign of a pepper crust on the steak. I'm not sure why my dinner made it to the table since I specifically ordered it medium rare and the steak was sliced in the kitchen so they knew that it was way over cooked. Every one else's food was also very salty and mediocre. Our waitress would disappear for long periods of time and it took a very long time to get our bill. The drinks were great but I won't be returning to this restaurant. Dommage!

Absolutely Incredible!
Reviewer: Lyndsi from Santa Barbara, CA
Stella Mare's was an absolutely incredible dining experience! We aren't from the area and have never experienced fine french dining before. Mercedes was our server and did an exceptional job; everything was prompt and executed to the tee with a wonderful attitude. Never having escargot before, it was amazing; buttery and almost like a pesto flavor. The presentation of the food was gorgeous. I would insist that anyone I know, has to experience french dining at Stella Mare's. You won't know Santa Barbara until after eating at Stella Mare's.

Stella Mares for lunch
Reviewer: anonymous from Santa Barbara, CA
Last week a few of us went to Stella Mares in Montecito for a > special birthday celebration lunch. > The service was slow and the waiter was disinterested. It would help if he looks or acts friendlier. The food was ok. I don't think we will go back soon because of the service there.

Great food and service
Reviewer: Roby Price from Atlanta GA
This was our best dining experience in SB because of the wonderful ambience. The restaurant is in an old house and is very tastefully done. By design it was not at all noisy, as most restaurants are and this made the experience very pleasant. Our waiter was excellent - a true professional (not college age). A very good experience.

delicious french bistro..
Reviewer: Ryan from Los Angeles
Great food, professional servers. We had a lovely dinner, per our server we tried the artichoke and the mussels then the scallops and coq au vin. We didn't order desserts but we were invited to sit by the fireplace to enjoy our coffee. A very nice place.

Best Brunch! a nice respite from crazy Fiesta.
Reviewer: M.Kaplan from Santa Barbara, CA
Visiting from San Diego we were told about this place by the hotel we were staying at. We had an amazing brunch this past weekend! They have unlimited mimosa's and we delightfully stayed for almost 5 hours, we were the last ones there!!! The food was really delicious (I had Lobster Benedict, my friend french toast) and our server was on the ball about refilling our mimosa's the entire time. I'm not sure why others have had unfortunate customer service, but our server not only called us a cab but chased us down in the parking lot when my friend had left her new iPhone on the table (woops, too many mimosa's!). Stella's truly a gem!

Revision to previous review--good food and service!
Reviewer: Christine from Santa Barbara, CA
After sending the manager a message about the customer service issue (outlined in the previous review), I am happy to report that he has responded in a kind and considerate manner and was quick to correct the error. I am very impressed that a restaurant with such great food also demonstrated such admirable integrity. So, 5 stars for food AND service!

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