The 25 Best Restaurants & Bars In Santa Barbara

"Santa Barbara Shellfish Co. was founded on the pier in 1980 as a place for local fishermen to sell their freshest catches of the day. Slowly, they started taking the seafood being sold and cooking it into clam chowder, crab cakes, and lobster pasta until SB Shelling became the full-fledged restaurant that it is today. Come lunchtime, this tiny place is a certifiable tourist magnet, but if you bypass their regular menu and go straight for the daily specials, you will be rewarded with the freshest seafood in Santa Barbara. We wish we could eat their uni-topped scallops every afternoon for the rest of our lives. " - brant cox, nikko duren, sylvio martins, garrett snyder