Ever since opening Lama Dog in the Funk Zone in 2016, Pete Burnham has been searching for a second location in greater San Roque. He actually found what he was looking for two years ago; some of the delay is due to the usual Santa Barbara stuff, but it’s also because the storefront—predominantly the former La Rumba nightclub—got a major revamp.
Kevin Moore Architect and Southwest Construction, both of whom worked on the Funk Zone original, blew the space out: garage doors now open to sidewalk seating, and the ceilings are sky-high. The spare, industrial bones are jazzed up with murals by Peter Horjus and Daniel Sulzberg and signage by Michael Matheson.
At 5,000 square feet, with capacity for 175 people, Lama Dog Uptown is far larger than the Funk Zone outpost, with many more TVs. And there’s more beer: 30 taps (as opposed to 20 in the Funk Zone), along with eight wine taps, sake, plentiful N/A options, and slushies made with hard kombucha. As at Lama Dog proper, the establishment also functions as an extensive bottle shop for to-go sales.
In an exciting development for the area, the food is by Sama Sama. For Sama San Roque, Ryan Simorangkir and Tyler Peek have devised a menu (below) more akin to the one at the Topa Topa taproom in Ojai than at the State Street flagship. You order at the kitchen window or via QR code, and then you pick up from the window when it’s ready. For dessert, there’s a freezer stocked with treats from Rori’s.
Lama Sama, as everyone has been calling it since the initial announcement, is at 3435 State Street (between Broadmoor Plaza and S. Ontare). The hours are 11:30 a.m to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; during football season, the Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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This space looks great, I’m looking forward to checking it out!
Fantastic addition to the hood. Glad to see the crispy rice salad made the cut .
The addition of Lama Sama and validation Ale are such a huge gift to our beloved San Roque neighborhood. Thank you to the restaurant owners for opening these establishments.
R.
I think this is gonna be a huge hit (considering how busy the Brass Bear, old Cafe Stella location is) — and welcome evolution for this area of town.
Second minor nit: My only fear is that place is gonna be noisy with all the concrete and non-sound absorbing siding. Let’s hope they keep the garage doors open to help!
We just came from there. Mid-afternoon Saturday and it was packed and definitely noisy. No sound baffles in there. Still had a good time, it’s a nice space.
We went last night (Saturday) to have dinner. It was super crowded and so noisy that we decided to go elsewhere. We’ll definitely try again when it’s a bit less crowded – I’m happy to have them in the neighborhood.
Never in the history of restaurant’s has the opening week crowd numbers keep going after the first week, it will mellow out and the noise will get better ,but no matter what someone will complain about the noise ,ahhh you are at a crowded bar what type of noise do you expect?
I think brass bear is in for some quality competition. I think they will definitely slow down now that these new places are opening.
My daughter’s name is Samantha. Her nickname is Sama Lama. I gotta try this place now.
Looks fantastic, can’t wait to visit!
GOOD LUCK PETER! The article & pics are GREAT!!!! You’ll do well!!! Love, Hazel🇺🇸❤️
Please add soft pretzels to the menu. Thanks!!
Very excited but I hope they can offer more vegetarian items on their menu!
$3.00 for rice?? C’mon man
Seems that local Chinese restaurants charge $2-3…
Stopped by yesterday. It’s just too expensive to be a neighborhood family stop. $30 for a burger and fries. $10 for a tray with a handful of tater tots (literally $0.25 per tot). And of course, the quintessentially Santa Barbara $10+ pint. Love having this in the hood, but I think they missed the pricing mark to make it a regular go-to for nearby families.
You mean people living in 2 million dollar homes cant afford $30 burgers? ;)
So, they’ve already increased the price of the $16 cheeseburger and fries?
The menu posted above shows the burger is $18, fries are $5 …I guess with tax and tip it would be pretty close to that
i stopped at the bank friday afternoon and there was absolutely no parking. 6 car backup waiting for a space to open up. that’s going to be the challenge.
Yes this was certainly anticipated. Everyone who can, RIDE YER BIKES!
I love your news letter. It is so informative. It keeps the locals well informed on so many levels. Altho’, I feel like it gives away so many of the local secrets trails, walks etc. to the tourist, who also read it. And well, leaves me feeling, there is nothing sacred anymore.That makes me sad. It takes away the magic of discovery.
Totally agree! I like the newsletter too, but also treasure local secrets, which are becoming more and more rare because of online sites. Traffic and crowds are not so great.
More power to these people, but grumpy old guys such as yours truly (not really but nevertheless!) would appreciate more comfortable seating than those aluminum hipster chairs… and as far as I’m concerned, without a full license, repeat business isn’t too likely —