Restaurants near Santa Ynez Canyon

Here’s the revised review: I had an excellent experience overall at Elena’s! The drinks were fantastic, and the atmosphere was perfect. The bartender was awesome—super attentive and friendly. The busboys were amazing, going above and beyond to make sure we had everything we needed. Honestly, they gave me better service than my waitress, who wasn’t quite on the ball. While her service left something to be desired, the rest of the staff really stepped up and made it a great night. Big thanks to the team at Elena’s for making it memorable!

We go as often as we can -- definitely at Christmas. This time we were in a cozy room with a fireplace. Dinners was DELICOUS as always. Everything included -- just a few choices to make and drinks aplenty! Great martinis and service that is beyond (Trevor and our carver were fantastic). A San Francisco institution!

We LOVED this restaurant. We sat inside so we couldn’t see the movie, but that wasn’t really an issue. The restaurant itself was stunning. Our server David was absolutely lovely. He really made our experience. The food was great, we got the smoked salmon, burrata with pears, sesame chicken, and pork chop. Everything was delicious. For dessert we got crème brûlée and a sort of chocolate mousse. Fantastic. It’s an expensive date but you pay for the food and the experience. Would go again!

The holiday experience is in full swing at Joes of Westlake. It’s beautifully decorated. The waiters were bustling around, very busy. We had a 3 pm reservation and they seated us by a lovely open fire pit. The only drawback was that our waiter left and as far as we could tell, a new waiter did not take his place until we called someone over to us to ask about our waiter. We were told he left, and two other waiters came to help us. So it all worked out in the end.

This is a local wine bar owned by lovely and gracious people. Low-key and located in a neighborhood setting, it's the perfect place to grab a bite and a nice glass of wine.