Nightlife
When the sun goes down, Santa Barbara nightlife ignites. The afterglow from spending a day at the beach or on the water converts to social energy—and you’ll discover most of it centered between Stearns Wharf and the 1300 block of State Street. Even people who live in Goleta, Carpinteria, and Montecito head for downtown Santa Barbara just to be at the heart of the action.
Most dance clubs and bars catering to the younger crowd are located between the 300 and 600 blocks of State Street. As you walk north from there and approach the “arts and culture district” that extends to the 1300 block, you’ll find more restaurants, a few bars, theaters, and coffeehouses along the way. Santa Barbara’s cultural events calendar is busy every month of the year.
Overview
In this chapter we’ve included some of the most popular nightspots in the area. We begin with our favorite bars by geographic area. Then we list a few places according to their specialties: sports bars, dance clubs, billiards, coffeehouses, and movie theaters.
1. Bistro Eleven Eleven
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 730-1111
Address: 1111 E. Cabrillo Blvd.
Description: Bistro Eleven Eleven is a casual-to-slightly-dressy restaurant and bar at the Hyatt Santa Barbara (formerly the Mar Monte). You can dine and sip locally brewed beer while watching the sunset over the Pacific. Happy hour is 5 to 7 p.m. seven days a week.
2. Blue Agave
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 899-4694
Address: 20 E. Cota St.
Insider Pick:
Description: We’ve noticed more than a few Hollywood celebrities popping into this small, 2-story restaurant/bar with soft lights, contemporary decor, and a romantically hip ambience. This is a great spot to take a first date. On weekends the place is packed with chic singles and couples in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s. You can choose from various types of margaritas (Blue Agave has an extensive tequila selection) as well as excellent martinis. If you don’t like standing, we suggest you go early for dinner—especially if you have a date—so you can snuggle up in one of the coveted booths or on a cozy couch by the fireplace upstairs.
3. Cadiz
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 770-2760
Address: 509 State St.
Description: This newcomer is a lively “oasis” due to the Spanish/Moroccan–style interior. Serving tapas and entrees, you can cozy up to the bar or sink into the large lounge-seat section in the back of the restaurant if you are a big groups. Open until 1:30 a.m. on the weekends. Happy hour is 5 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday (closed Mon). All tapas are $7 each; select wines, including a sparkling Spanish cava by the glass are $5; specialty cocktails that are usually $12 to $10 are $7 during happy hour. Beers are $3 to $5.
4. Dargan’s Irish Pub & Restaurant
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 568-0702
Address: 18 E. Ortega
Description: Owned and run by some affable Irishmen, this bright, cheery, traditional Irish pub is one of our favorite bars in Santa Barbara. You can wander in here any night of the week and usually find a lively crowd chatting over a few pints and shooting some pool. We’ve also noticed people pouring in here after special events. This is the kind of place where anyone can wander in and feel perfectly comfortable; where the classic, foot-tappin’ tunes are loud enough to enliven the crowd but not so loud that they drown out conversation. You can come here and play a game of darts with your buds, kick back with a Guinness stout by the fireplace, and warm your belly with some hearty Irish stew. For easy access to Dargan’s, park in Lot 10 on East Ortega.
5. El Paseo Restaurant
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 962-6050
Address: 10 El Paseo
Description: In a historic building originally constructed in 1827 by one of Santa Barbara’s founding fathers, El Paseo scores our vote as one of the most evocative spots to sip a margarita. The restaurant and bar are drenched in the spirit of Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days, and the place gets packed during Fiesta with locals who come here to crack confetti-filled cascarones and dance on the tables. On warm summer evenings, the retractable roof rolls back, and romance hangs heavy in the air. Settle down in a high-back chair by the fountain, slurp some margaritas under the stars, and you’ll be howling at the moon in no time. Happy hour is Mon through Fri from 4 to 6 p.m. Appetizers are half off (they used to be free in the good ol’ days).
6. Intermezzo
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 966-9463
Address: 813 Anacapa St.
Description: The acclaimed Wine Cask Restaurant (which has a more upper-crust ambience) opened this relaxed, next-door bistro in 1997. It caters to the late-night crowd and offers bistro-style dining, a full bar, and fine cigars, which you can smoke on the patio. This is the type of place you go to before or after a concert or theater performance. Order a gourmet cheese platter or tasty flatbread, curl up on a leather couch, and sip a port by the crackling fire. Great wines from the “on tap” wine system—no corks, no bottles, but reusable kegs. Open nightly from 4 p.m.
7. The James Joyce
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 962-2688
Address: 513 State St.
Description: In this cozy bar, you can order a pint of Guinness just as Joyce’s Bloom would have done in 1904 Dublin. The James Joyce is a very popular, traditional Irish pub with a stone fireplace and a good selection of Irish whiskeys, single-malt scotches, and cigars. It serves up a heartwarming Irish coffee, too. Come here to shoot some pool, spark up the jukebox, play darts, or relax and chat with your buddies. The James Joyce also hosts live Dixieland jazz provided by the popular Ulysses Jasz band some nights of the week as well as karaoke nights. Call for details.
8. Joe’s Cafe
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 966-4638
Address: 536 State St.
Description: Joe’s has been around forever (since 1928) and is said to be the longest running restaurant and bar in Santa Barbara. As a restaurant, it delivers mom-and-pop-style steak, seafood, and Italian meals to your table. The bar, however, is another animal. The bartenders are known to pour the strongest cocktails in town, so the bar is nearly always packed. Joe’s is also a popular meeting place for native Santa Barbarans who come here to catch up with old friends, spin some tunes on the jukebox, and prime themselves for a night on the town.
9. Milk and Honey
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805 275-4232
Address: 30 W. Anapamu St.
Description: This tapas bar (small bites) provides a tasty start for your night on the town. Though a bit pricier than other bars, Milk and Honey’s cocktails are worth the cost. The lounge’s modern, sultry decor is seductively inviting. Vintage black-and-white cartoons are screened above the bar, and rotating artwork lines the walls. They make a mean mojito and are open until midnight.
10. The Press Room
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 963-8121
Address: 15 E. Ortega St.
Description: The Press Room, named for its location next to the News-Press building, is where local bartenders head as soon as they’re off work. This small, cozy Brit-owned bar has a European feel and a great selection of beers. You’ll find more than a dozen brews on tap here, including Guinness and West Bombardier. Best of all, the Press Room opens at all hours of the morning for big international football matches. It’s popular with locals and foreigners and a great little spot to chat about sports
11. Roy
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 966-5636
Address: 7 W. Carrillo St.
Description: Roy is one of the few downtown restaurants that serves meals late in the evening (until midnight). It also offers late-night entertainment occasionally, featuring original compositions by folk, jazz, rock, and blues musicians. The food is delicious and inexpensive. Drinks are a bit less of a deal, but they’re still affordable. Roy has a full bar, beer, wine, and coffee. Get here early if you plan to eat on the weekend.
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Address: 1221 State St.
13. Velvet Jones
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 965-8676
Address: 423 State Street
Description: Velvet Jones is a smaller live-music destination that’s worth checking out. One of the more intimate venues, Velvet Jones is still large enough to pack a crowd when big acts perform. Genres of bands vary from metal to pop and nearly everything in between. There’s a comedy night most Tuesdays as well.
14. Wildcat Lounge
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 962-7970
Address: 15 W. Ortega St.
Description: This old locals’ favorite still attracts a flock of artsy college grads and hip 20-somethings. The dimly lit ’50s decor is saturated in deep red and black, with a few prized plush booths and a spacious smoking patio out back. You can also play pool, but you need to get here early to score a coveted table. Call for a schedule of events, which usually includes live local and national touring acts and social nights with various drink specials. Every Sunday is Gay Night, and some Sunday nights even feature a drag show. Call for details.
15. Elephant Bar
City: Santa Barbara, CA
Category: Nightlife
Telephone: (805) 964-0779
Address: 521 Firestone Rd.
Description: Elephant Bar is a lively, safari-style restaurant just off Hollister Avenue near the airport. It serves a varied menu for lunch and dinner, but at night most people come here for the action-packed bar scene and the jumbo-size drinks, like the African Queen Martini and the Jungle Colada.