If you believe this charge was not adequately advertised, contact the DA's office. They have begun the process of cracking down on hidden fees in restaurants and requested information from the public.
To those complaining about the fee added for taking care of their staff, you should be thanking them for their transparency. Everyone has increased their prices to do the same thing. Either it’s just rolled in to the items purchased and everything, or it’s added as a separate fee. I like to see the breakdown, and the reminder that this is an establishment that is committed to paying a living wage to their employees.
One of our fave SF hotels is Hotel Drisco in Pac Heights. Not really in a walkable neighborhood, but close enough for those are able bodied to hike up/down a few blocks.
Tomorrow?
Do you know why the San Roque post office closed before 5p.m. on Monday 10/2/23?
Ace Hardware on Gutierrez (Santa Barbara Home Improvement Center)!
All the houses but you missed the best part. The Dali egg and breakfast bar…you can go back, retrace your steps then find it!
That would be a massive undertaking for one person—and then it would have to be updated constantly. The better way is to create a Google document that anyone can add to.
What happened to the wonderful wooden street sign on the corner of Mountain Dr and Los Olivos/Mission Canyon. It is a real mess there, with fallen tree branch, sand bags, and general poor maintain.
Erik, is there a way you can provide us with a list or restaurants in Santa Barbara that add on this extra charge?
I’m not going to be visiting either place again. I didn’t see the charge until after got home.
I don’t believe they are the same owners at the chase and via maestra.
via maestra and the chase, have the same owners
I work in a high end children's shop in Solvang- half of my visitors are day tripping from SB hotel stays....I never hear negative about SB other than "its foggy!". My personal experience agrees with you, but visitors love it- and the traffic coming in of folks just passing thru are on their way or coming from SF- most report enjoyable visits there, though they were/are weary of cars being broken into- with the latest being while stopped on freeway ramps- getting hit then!
We went out to dinner last night at via maestra and we were hit with one of the additional charges that some restaurants are including. I think the chase is also including this additional charge of 4%. ( to pay for employees insurance )
Are any other restaurants in the area doing this same charge ??
Janice
We bought the stucco house on Emerson Avenue (corner of Orena) and were the third owners since being built in 1913. We lived there for 26 years and raised our two girls there. You questioned why we would have a screened in porch in Santa Barbara, where there are no bugs. You are correct in assuming the porch wasn’t originally screened. The sole purpose of screening it was to allow our two indoor cats, Millie & Lucy, a place to lounge “outside” without being munched by coyotes. That porch was a beautiful little aerie up among the rare eucalyptus trees (a rare species, the only two in SB), and we enjoyed many evenings out there with a glass of wine. People would walk by and not even know we were up there. All great memories of a wonderful house that we loved and cared for.
I think Maggie Gallant sold the Pagoda House a few years ago and someone else is restoring it.
Ditto Patricia on the wringer on the washing machine. We owned a resort for 24 years and used one of these, a bit newer model, to wash all the sheets and towels for the beds.
My grandparents used to take me to the Treehouse Restaurant back in the 80's. I'm amazed it was open all these years. I'm glad a new place is popping up!
Erik, I fear that hotel rates are not down in SB because of a general fall across that market, but more that there is less interest in visiting Santa Barbara. We’ve tarnished our long held brand of a crown jewel beach community wedged between the mountains and the sea. Downtown has lost its charm and elegance. In it’s place is a dirty and vacant mishmash of a ‘pedestrian promenade’. I think there is less appeal for people to spend their hard earned dollars here.
that’s a bummer mokutan had great food and the chef ken made the best cooked japanese food in town
Fifty years ago, my partner and I lived in Santa Barbara near the Arlington Theatre. We used to walk up to to lower Orpet Park and picnic there. About ten years ago, we visited the park and found that its state of neglect hadn't changed much.
Because the property owner wants to put one in and the government arbitrarily denying one property owner the ability to build something when it isn't prohibited by law would be a takings in violation of the Fifth Amendment. If the city wants to stop hotels being built, then they need to rezone the zone districts or change what those zone districts allow to be built within them to exclude hotels, rather than picking on one property owner and telling them they don't get to build a hotel, when the land use codes say they can.
The minimum lot size for that area is 2 acres, so they are splitting off the smallest chunk possible outside of SB 9 lot splits. After checking the permit history for the parcel, no subdivision has been applied for as of yet. Maybe they're waiting for a buyer and will use some of the proceeds from the sale to fund the subdivision.
The County Planning Dept. will need to bless a lot split for them to sell these two acres. It is likely in process and any sale would be contingent upon a successful split. You can check the zoning for this area specifically but most of Montecito has a minimum lot size larger than 0.1 acres.
I'm pretty new to your site, and sure appreciate what you post every week.
Lots of work.
I can't afford to buy that much land in Montecito but I looked at the Assessor's map and that $6MM lot isn't even shown as a separate parcel. Can land owners carve off a chunk of land and sell it? Maybe they would consider selling 1/10 acre pieces. I'd consider that.????
