••• Uptown Lounge on upper State Street appears to have closed—it was shuttered all week, the patio is gone, and someone involved in the music programming posted online that it was done for good. The business is listed on Loopnet for $450,000, which “includes sought after Type 48 On-Sale General ABC license (no food requirement.” The immensely popular Brass Bear Uptown can’t have helped, and Lama Dog’s San Roque branch is on the horizon….
••• The Montecito Country Mart confirmed that Oat Bakery is opening in the courtyard.
••• 1114 Sports Bar & Arcade in La Arcada Plaza is now Pizza Mizza, even though Mizza, on the State Street side of the complex, also serves pizza.
••• Crumbl Cookies in Goleta opens September 15. —Restaurant Guy
••• Rodeo Room now has a private patio that seats up to 35 people, with no fee to reserve it.
••• Donnachadh Vineyard is opening a tasting room in Los Olivos this fall. —805 Living
••• The former Fresco Cafe space on E. Canon Perdido will be shared by two wineries, Lieu Dit and Tyler, reports Restaurant Guy. No disrespect to the wineries, but I was hoping for a restaurant, particularly given the location next to the Lobero, rather than a tasting room that closes at 6 p.m.
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I was hoping for a restaurant, too.
I am glad to see that the restaurant space in La Arcada has gone more casual. High concept ideas just didn’t jive with the casualness of the space. I actually still miss the Acapulco in the spot.
The Pizza Mizza change is interesting – same owners from when it was the burger place just recently (and also served pizza) and was a taco place before that. Tried the previous iterations several times before giving up – service was lacking, food was average at best and several of the tables feel like they are 2 or 3 inches too high for the chairs they use.
We will try again to see if they fixed some of the things as part of the re-naming.
I hear that the uptown is temporarily closed for a scheduled remodel.
One of the musicians that used to play there said it is closing. He said it is going out of business and closed for good
There hasn’t been a successful restaurant in that location since the Acapulco. It is too bad the owners don’t pick up on that concept again. It was quite the fun place during fiesta and always the go-to place us locals would bring our visitors to back in the day. We don’t need any more pizza places.
Pizza Mizza still at it, wow.
I went to the brass bear about two months ago, I was really looking forward to to it, and the friends that I was with live in San roque , and REALLY wanted to love it…but very sadly disappointed… It’s a playground for families/parents with kids, outdoor patio, which is great for them , menu was OK we had appetizers and wanted to stay for dinner, but appetizers / food were just mediocre… Ordered two glasses of wine and 2 cocktails, and decided to order a bottle of Chardonnay…, after 15 minutes the server finally came back and said they were out of (their only) Chardonnay – one rosé and
One S. blanc on the menu and one or two reds…
they’re out of it? (Their only chard on the list) WTF, I hope they get it together. I guess they mostly expect people to order beer but some people would like a glass of wine.
Oh, the humanity!
Days later and I’m still upset and shaken about the lack of a Chardonnay at Brass Bear….this should be keeping us all up at night.
I love supporting local wineries, & I hope that Lieu Dit & Tyler make it in that location. Prior to Fresco being there, a wine tasting room did very poorly there. I hope that Eric & Justin come up with a way to draw folks in, there’s not a lot of foot traffic during the daytime there.
Pizza Mizza Owners have a dubious history and are currently in hot water again for sexual harassment. Leopards do not change their spots! Santa Barbara Case Number 23CV0378 filed August 31, 2023.
Thank you for sharing this – we keep wondering why they are changing their name every few years instead of trying to consistently serve good food and provide good service. The marketing around this name change is silly – saw it in a few other newsgroups as well.
Oh no! Not again.