Great food Great service, 3/9/2013
Reviewer: Susan
from Santa Barbara, CA
Excellent food and service
Had the spice avenue special which was just out of this world
Remi our server very professional and and courteous
Mental case in previous review
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worst indian food ever, 3/3/2013
Reviewer: goodwill
from Santa Barbara, CA
This place is a prime example of why location and marketing means NOTHING if your food is garbage. I do not mean this vindictively but good riddance, I tried the three incarnations of this restaurant with hopes of finally good indian in/near santa barbara. Every time it tasted like that inedible canned indian food we try in hope, inedible slop thats bad even by cheap catering standards. In santa barbara with incredible cheap Indian places, specially the downtown, this place had no business existing except for tourists. It is very sad as good Indian is nonexistent in this neck of the downtown, atleast we have a pretty good thai place.
If you think this place was good, you must be one of those two pack a day people who thinks we have good mexican
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Good Server, 8/18/2012
Reviewer: Nicole
from Santa Barbara, CA
I've eaten at this restaurant somewhat regularly and enjoy the buffet lunch and prefer it to the dinner here. The chai is of high quality and the naan is always good. The atmosphere is very pleasant. However, the main purpose of this review is to mention that there is one server here (his name is Ben) that gives stellar service and also seems to keep the rest of the operation and employees running smoothly. I've noticed this a few times and thought it was finally worth mentioning. He does 3 times the work of your average waiter and, as a customer, I just wanted to recognize his efforts.
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Could have been in India
Reviewer: Louise
from Santa Barbara, CA
Wow ! I spent a month in India last November and arrived back in Santa Barbara just after a fantastic holiday of eating Indian food . So in the new year I started to check out all the Indian restaurants in Santa Barbara who do good Indian food , after being disappointed three time at other restaurants it took me to my last restaurant spice avenue ........fantastic traditional Indian food , vegetable samosas , vegetable pakoras , popudums and pickles followed by butter chicken , lamb rogan josh and spicy paneer all which I would highly recommend full of flavour and fresh taste . The service was the best . Great food thank you .
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Pretty Good Food, Dinner Buffet available
Reviewer: Glenn
from Buellton
Not sure if there are other Dinner Buffets available in town but this has one. Pretty good and you don't have to wait for your food. I would probably rank this place third behind Flavor of India and All India Cafe. The wait staff were not perfect but good enough for me. Same owners as Naan Stop in IV. This place much better than Naan stop as a wider selection of food here though Naan stop works for eat and go in IV.
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what service! NO ENGLISH!
Reviewer: charlotte klein
from goleta
So today I took my kids to Spice, we like the the buffet,it's a good value if you are an adult but for a kid, not so much. Kids just don't eat that much and they would not allow them to share! So that was a bit of a rip! The Chicken Tikka needs more heat but everything was very good. My biggest gripe is that the front of the house DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH but they pretend to and I waited 20 minutes for a glass of Chardonnay, I kept reminding the several waiters buzzing by me and they nodded, yet nothing! So I go into the back into the kitchen (where the lovely Indian owner, yes dressed in a sari and all, was busy folding napkins whilst the front of the house was LOST in translation!) Why wasn't she at the hostess station greeting, seating and overseeing her floor staff? People were walking in and then out because they were ignored. I finally got my drink after asking 3 different waiters and 20 minutes and then I got a chai!!!??? Do I have to go into the FR@#$%* kitchen myself and pour myself a glass of wine and pay $7.00 for it and tip?? They better get their act together if they plan to make it Goleta, we don't have tourists and we work hard for our $$$!
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Avoid this place like the plague
Reviewer: Dan
from Norwalk, CA
The food and service sucks! Avoid this place like the plague. The food tastes horrible and the portions are tiny. The hostess is extremely rude and we waited for an hour for our food. The Chicken Biryani was cold and tasteless. Never again to this horrible place. Avoid it.
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Best Indian food in SB! Wonderful service!
Reviewer: caroleen
from Santa Barbara, CA
We've been going here regularly (atleast 2-3 times a month) for a few years and love it. A few months back we decided to be fair and give the other Indian buffets in town a try and after some pretty good meals we are more confidant than ever that this is the best place for Indian food.
The negative reviews about the service are very surprising to me - I've never had anything but lovely and attentive service by all who work there.
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Very poor greeting by hostess
Reviewer: Judson Kinch
from Santa Barbara, CA
We were excited to try another Indian restaurant after having recently visited southern India recently. In India we were always greeted and made to feel welcome at a restaurant by the first person after the door. The hostess at the door did no such thing and just said go on in. We stood there in the middle of the restaurant until a waiter came out several minutes later and got us menus. We are fond of muligitaney soup which was on the website menu. It was not on restaurant menu. I had to go to the kitchen to verify this. We got up and left the restaurant do to their indifference and lack of care. I do not recommend this restaurant .
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Bad.service, will never eat there again.
Reviewer: Thomas
from Santa Barbara, CA
I was there a couple of days ago with 3 friends. We went in, talked to the host, and got a table in the outside area that is closer to the street. After we got the table I headed to the restroom to wash my hands. An Indian lady that was eating in the inside area stopped me and said do you need something? I told her I was going to the restroom. She told me I could not use it because it was for customers only.
I walked back to the table, waited for my friend to come out of the restroom and we all left. We are never going back to that place again. I'll be sure to tell all my friends and relatives not to eat theta either. My constructive criticism: treat everybody equally.
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Very small portions and very little meat!
Reviewer: Gary & Christy Jacob
from Santa Barbara, CA
We were hosting some friends from out of town the other night and decided to order take out from Spice Avenue. What a big mistake! Portions were less than half of what you would normally get if you were seated for dinner. When we got home we openned the HALF PINT containers only to find three pieces of meat in the Vindaloo and very little chicken in the Chicken Curry! Our visitors were very polite about the situation. Needless to say we were all disappointed!
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The food was perfect!
Reviewer: Sam
from Santa Barbara, CA
Wow!
The food was delicious! Perfect.
Pass my compliments to the chef, the service was great, except one minor comment but otherwise it was perfect!!!
We will come again.
I recommend this to all people.
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