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Cava Restaurant & Bar
1212 Coast Village Rd, Montecito
Phone: (805) 969-8500
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Reviews by the General Public
Excellent Lamb Shank & Empanadas, 6/10/2010
Reviewer: Brendon
from Santa Barbara, CA
I went to Cava for the first time & was very impressed with the food. Service was average but the Shrimp Empanadas were perfectly crisp on the outside & molten on the inside. The lamb shank was tender delicious. Very generous portions & solid cocktails...Well worth a visit.
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Great Restaurant, 5/12/2010
Reviewer: Donna
from Santa Barbara, CA
My friends and I were there for 5 de Maio and again last night, we were lucky to get the same waitress and everything was great, as usual. I don't think I have ever had such a delicious Spicy Ribs anywhere. I recommend Cava to everyone looking for a great place to eat amazing food.
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The best Mexican Restaurant in Montecito!!!!, 3/20/2010
Reviewer: Don Wilson
from Ontario, Canada
I have to say that before my wife and I went to Cava I went online to read reviews about the place and almost all of them say nice things about the food and bad things about the service. The food was just amazing but so was the service! Our waitress (with a beautiful accent) had just the right recommendations for food and had extended knowledge about the wine and cocktails they served. It was a friday night and the place was very busy, but our waitress took her time to explain everything throughly, her attitude was really great and it felt like she owned the restaurant. We loved it!
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Excellent Bartenders!!, 3/6/2010
Reviewer: Laura Williams
from Santa Barbara, CA
I dine at Cava Restaurant quite often with my husbund. We love to seat at the bar, to watch the games and exchange good laughs with the bar staff and clientale.
Esteban is my favorite. He is always with a big smile when he sees us coming in.
The food is great, the ambience is excellent.
We love Cava!!
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Above average food - poor service, 3/5/2010
Reviewer: Arthur
from Santa Barbara, CA
Cava offers some fair to good dishes, the ambiance is nice, decent cocktails, generally over priced and some of the servers are good but most are just fair to poor. In my opinion, one of the bartenders(shorter guy) is one of the worse servers I've experienced in SB-how he stays employed in the food service industry defies my intelligence. If they ran specials and managed the staff better we would go there more.
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False advertising - what's your experience, 9/17/2009
Reviewer: Judy
from Santa Barbara, CA
PLEASE CONFIRM OR COUNTER THIS WITH YOUR EXPERIENCES. I purchased a Cava Gift Certificate online at restaurant.com. When I presented it to Cava they refused to accept it even though it was their certificate that I had PAID for. They explained that they were in a disagreement with restaurant.com and basically asked me to write and fight their battle for them. CAVA CAN FIX THIS. ACCEPT THE CERTIFICATES WHICH WERE PURCHASED FOR YOUR RESTAURANT.
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Do not complain!
Reviewer: Jocelyn
from Santa Barbara, CA
I've only eaten here once, and we had quite a large party. We definitely received excellent food and great service. However, I would also like to respond to the previous reviewer's complaint about not receiving a complimentary birthday dessert. Restaurants do NOT owe you a free dessert for your birthday! It may happen sometimes, and that should be graciously accepted as a gift. Like a gift, though, it should be neither expected nor demanded.
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good food
Reviewer: Ellen
from Cupertino, CA
The food was very good, but no complimentary birthday dessert (few people mention this in their reviews). Maybe, our waiter wasn't that attentive... And, maybe, $20+ for an enchilada is a little too much?
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Absolutely love Cava!
Reviewer: Tricia
from Ventura, CA
We dine in Santa Barbara fairly often and we absolutely love Cava with really fantastic servers and great food. We had lunch today on the patio and ordered our favorites, the chicken mole tacos and the halibut ceviche tostada. We love the mango margaritas, which are amazing. Our servers have always been very professional and helpful, especially Carlos and Juan. Next time in Santa Barbara, we'll be eating there for sure.
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Cava: Not Coming Back :(
Reviewer: Drea
from Santa Barbara, CA
Just got back in from lunch. I've been to Cava a few times before, usually after the lunch rush. The service was pretty good, but the food a bit dodgy. This time we came around 12.30. The little salsas are delicious but lunch? ahh, no. I had the Huchares [which I spelled wrong, I know] Its handmade tortillas [yummy] under refried beans [generic] grilled steak or chicken. [I had the steak: nice flavour hidden under burnt taste] topped with soggy chopped lettuce [including stems!] avocado, radishes, powdered cheese & sour cream. It was squishy. it was BLAND. I had to dump the last of the salsa over the top just to eat it.[with much pepper shaking] On the other hand my friend had the mole tacos & declared them "good". The waiter ignored us- thankfully the water-servers didn't.
Oh- & did I mention pop is 2.50$ with no refills? Not Impressed.
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Restored my faith in good value for a good buck
Reviewer: Shelby
from Santa Barbara, CA
Lunch for my wife, young son and I the day before we head up north for Christmas. So happy with our choice of Cava. The service was spot on. A rare thing for me to say these days. The food was yummy. Calamari(what my son eats if there is no Edamame) is better here then Holdrens . Waiter was always around but not intrusive. It's not hard to get great food in this area. But great service is a real find.
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Will not go there again...
Reviewer: Patricia
from Manchester, England
After being to this restaurant several times as our son lives in Montecito although we are from England, and having enjoyed the food and the ambience, we recently made the huge mistake of going as a large group.
We booked for a party of 15 and were seated outside without being advised of this when we booked. The waiter was very efficient although rather arrogant and he seemed displeased that we did not immediately order lots of drinks.
When the food came, one meal had been completely forgotten and it took so long to come that the diner went in to cancel it!
Overall, the food was good, but not as good as when in a small party but that is probably to be expected. The shock was the bill! We had been charged $80 for water when no-one had actually asked for any!! We had ordered wine, beers etc as well.
We had also been charged a huge $90 for service although again, having been there before and regularly visit California,we expected a service charge, but we certainly weren't happy with the amount charged.
The trouble really started when we queried the bill and found the staff very unhelpful and even extremely rude. We had asked to speak to the manager but that didn't happen and when pressed, were told that he didn't like confrontation! After some very unpleasant dialogue with the staff, the waiter became very rude and suggested that we probably had never had such good food before!!! We were extremely offended and told them so, whereupon he apologised and said he never meant to offend, but I'm afraid the damage was done. We have never been treated so badly anywhere else and we have dined all over the world, not just in the US.
We shall not give them our custom ever again, there are lots of other very good restaurants in the Santa Barbara area to choose from.
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Disappointing
Reviewer: Kathy
from Santa Barbara, CA
Went to Cava for my mother-in-law's b-day. The food was very mediocre, waiter unattentive, restaurant looked tired and dirty. The highlight were the very good busboys/water servers. In addition, the waiter added an 18% gratuity to the bill for our party of 5 and didn't bother to mention it when he brought the check by. I guess he felt he didn't need to provide good service since he knew he was getting a nice tip. I would not have left 18%! This was my final visit to Cava.
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