What an amazing and historic restaurant to be in, and there we were celebrating Fiesta amongst all the other beautiful Santa Barbara People. We had a comfy booth facing the bar, and it was the best place to eat, drink, and enjoy some fun people-watching. Most people were in some sort of Spanish Days costumes, so we felt a little underdressed. Our server Eric was exceptional at keeping an eye on us, making sure we were well tended to, and made some great food suggestions. He made sure we were served the best of everything. Steak, Fried Chicken, Pasta, and some very hearty cocktails. All exceptional. read more

If it was not for our wonderful waitress Hailey O., we would not have eaten here. Upon arriving the hostess at the front desk asked "How can I help you?" What a silly question to ask of someone coming in to eat. How about a "Are you dining in?" etc. Hailey more than made up for their rude greeting by being friendly, responsive, welcoming and the best. She was great and should give a lesson in hospitality to those up front. read more

Had lunch here today. Not my first, nor second. I can't tell just how many times I've enjoyed this place over the past..... 45 years? Bar: very nice, fun and great cocktails! You get what you pay for and it's reasonable. Bartenders are seemingly always busy but, attentive. Food: just fine. Old flair offering a decent menu. French dip, Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, yummy. Good steaks. Nice dinner salad and I really like the complimentary bread, butter, sour cream and yes salsa. Try it you will like it. I hope. Service: is always good. Sometimes a bit slow but, no big deal it's a fun place. Ambiance: love it! Big Red booths, sound levels just fine. Old pictures hanging everywhere of Santa Barbaras' history, actors old/new etc. read more

Upon a recommendation, checked this place out. Totally an old school sort of place. All baby boomers should come here. Super fun place, and as many others have commented, solid drinks, and delicious food. read more

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Every time I walk into this place, I like to pretend I am one of the "Goodfellas". The place is very fancy in that nostalgic way, with a lot of photos and memorabilia on the walls. It is very ....red with a lot of seating, especially in booths. The food is Americana with some fusion on its menus. There is a daily rotating specials menu always with something nice on it. In fact, every time I think I am going to order an item off the normal menu, someone on the daily specials catches my eye, and I go for that instead. For the most part the food is great. I don't think I've seen any other place that gives bread and salsa. I am embarrassed also to say, I can't leave without ordering a mud pie. Its a fun place to eat alone or bring family and/or friends. Most of the staff are incredible friendly, I sadly have to take one star off because there are one or two servers seem to not want to be a server, and some others that get sidetracked to easily and take to long to fill one of my requests. That being said, food here is a must. you really need to visit this place. read more

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We had dinner at Harry's tonight. The cocktails were great, the food was delicious. Our waitress was absent! We had to catch her attention to order, once our food arrived she never came back to ask if everything was ok, or if I wanted another glass of wine. I caught the eye of a busser & asked for a to go container for my leftovers. Finally caught our waitresses attention & asked for our bill. We had noticed her most of our meal within 20 feet, usually chatting with other employees, which is 100% fine, but she should have checked on the diners too. read more

We had to drive to Santa Barbara to get M's phone fixed, apparently Cox Cable is in Las Vegas but not the central coast of California. Well let's make a day of it (2 hour drive each way) and you can buy lunch...Okay! After a new sim card was installed we were done. The store manager suggested Harry's it's right across the parking lot, cool. Mid day Saturday, they were busy but not slammed, the bar had most of the action with all the games on. This is as "Old School" as it gets these days, Wow! This is great! We were sat in a high backed red cushioned booth. The walls were covered with the good old days and lots of important people that aren't remembered much anymore. Would you like to start with an appetizer? Potato Skins, the way it was back when...M had a breaded chicken salad and I went with a roasted turkey breast club sandwich. Both were very good, in fact we both ate half and had the leftovers for a dinner snack. What a treat to experience this establishment, the real deal. It can only be truly appreciated by those of us who were dragged by our parent's to their favorite dinner spot when the "good friends" came to visit. Good Times foodguy-martin read more

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Just had dinner at Harry's Plaza Cafe in Santa Barbara on Mother's Day. Even tho the restaurant was packed, with a constant flow of traffic coming in, the service was great and the food absolutely delicious. I had the beef dip with the roast beef piled so high I could barely get my mouth around the sandwich. It was excellent. I'm so glad it's still the Harry's I went to as a kid. And the decor had pictures all around. What a great atmosphere. Thank you Harry's staff. Debbie read more

Walked into a time capsule. This is so my kind of place. Loved, loved, loved. So much personality and truly good food. Went for breakfast so the menu was limited but I completely understand why. I hope to come back for dinner. I have no doubt that is when this place really shines. read more

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The most iconic bloody Marys ever S hangout for interesting character!!!! Great food also!!! read more

This is one of our new favorite places to eat. The food is great! The French Dip is the best we have ever had. The staff is friendly and you can't be the atmosphere. When you walk in the door your are transported back to another time. read more

Tip: make a reservation! When I get a hankering for steak, but don't want to pay $40 for one, I come to Harry's with a neighbor and we get the steak bites, rare. I advise that if you want them medium rare. They are seasoned perfectly and and for variety you can dip them in one of the two sauces they come with. I prefer the not-too-sweet barbecue sauce... The big red booths are retro and you feel very comfortable in them, and there's a lot of space to spread out. Harry's brings a hefty portion of sliced sourdough bread with butter on the side, along with sour cream and their pico de gallo. Let me say something about their pico de gallo: I don't like tomatoes very much, and I don't care for salsa unless it's at El Rincon, but I have become addicted to the sourdough bread with Ashmere of sour cream and a spoonful of their pico de gallo, which is very mild and Fresh. I have to be careful because I get full very easily and I could just sit there and eat the bread and and be perfectly content. So my friend and I order the appetizer size steak bites, but really it's a full meal. I don't know how they do it. We order a side of baked potato with everything on it, which they bring on the side. It's perfectly cooked and yummy. Even though these steak bites are an appetizer, the portion is very generous, and I always take some home along with half of the baked potato. Two meals in one! I don't eat a lot of red meat anymore, but when I do want it, this is where I come. It's the best bang for your buck! read more

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I give this place a 1 star review, based on the Hostess's service. After NOT getting greeted by this rude little girl who was told by her supervisor to seat us. She reluctantly did so, to my surprise she looked me up and down as if I was not worthy to be in her presence. She rolled her eyes at me . I let her supervisor know she was being rude and the woman apologized but the young girl was still argumentative. Most of the wait staff was nice, food was okay. I have eaten there many times ... But...what happened to great customer service? I feel the people they hire to be the first impression of the company has definitely gone down. Standards are low. My experience with the hostess and the one manager Kevin ....made me NOT want to come back to this establishment. As we were leaving I asked to speak to their manager . A smirky know it all guy by the name of Kevin spoke to myself and my husband. He was not apologetic by any means. He basically just dismissed us. I will definitely NOT be coming back to give my hard earned cash to people who don't care about their patrons. read more

Harry's Plaza Cafe - The crappy so called manager "Kevin" he didn't wanna be photographed because he probably realized he was being rude to us. - American Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Came here with my close friend last night and had our best experience at Harry's yet - I had to Yelp about it! It was our first time having Jessica as our server/waiter and she was amazing! My friend ordered the fried shrimp, I got the steak bites, we split an order of garlic bread, and each got a side Caesar salad. Jessica was on it! Consistently refilling our waters, making sure we had every sauce and side we wanted, food exactly how we wanted it, and so on. Our food was delicious!! Cooked perfectly and sooo yummy! With the hustle and bustle, Jessica had forgotten to put in our order of garlic bread. She was so kind and apologetic, and even gave us a free mini hot fudge sundae to split as an extra apology - with extra hot fudge too! We loved it. We also loved watching how absolutely adored Jessica is by other patrons; moms were bringing their babies by to say hello, other folks wrapped her in a grand, stylish coat she wore for a bit, and other folks gave her a little gift and a hug. It was lovely to see the connections she's made in this town with so many people; it made us smile! We truly enjoyed having her as our server - I wish we could have her as our server every time we come in! She made it an extra special and genuinely wonderful experience. read more

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Harry's is fun for socical get together's, the food is pretty good, but the drinks are ridiculously strong and untouchable as far as im concerned. I love a good Margarita or Mai Tai, but at Harry's its impossible to drink even when I ask for it less strong. We still do go to Harry's once a month but now I have to order a Mimosa because its the only thing I can actually drink. read more

Always the most wonderful dining experience! Old school booths and high back roomy chairs. Lovely wood and the pictures of famous people everywhere. The food is beyond delicious with a wide variety of options. We've been coming here for over 20 years and have never been disappointed. Tremendous food and specialty cocktails that are beyond stiff. It's worth the try, you won't be disappointed and will find a new favorite spot! read more

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Always has been good food - previously! Seems like it's gone downhill. We were very disappointed with several of the food choices my family of 8 received last night! I ordered the Beef Stroganoff, which was NOT tender beef chunks - they were well done - chewing leather! My daughter ordered a Caesar salad which was drowned in dressing, couldn't eat more than half; my other daughter ordered the grilled cheese with tomato, which previously came as grilled cheese with tomato soup, but now it's a slice of American cheese! and a tomato slice on toast !!! The lasagne two others ordered was unremarkable and I was sorry, we brought visitors from Minnesota there because we'd always had such good food there! Great atmosphere but wow the food has gone downhill. WE should have returned half the groups food, but we didin't. read more

Harry's is the kind of old school establishment that glories in its roots and traditions--and invites its patrons along for the celebration. This is not haute cuisine but it is good honest comfort food--served with a smile and VERY generous portions--with a stiff drink on the side. Shout out to Jamie who mans the bar with admirable charm, charisma and competence and makes every experience feel like coming home. Gotta give this one a try! read more

Sadly, this restaurant has gone downhill for me. Easily the worst meal & service of 2025. My parents were introduced to Harry's more than 25 yrs ago when they started coming to Santa Barbara and purchasing art from one gallery. The gallery owners took them to Harry's and a tradition was established 2-3× a year my parents would go to SB and Harry's once or twice each trip. I've been there a few times but tonight the meal was truly awful. 1) For one person, dinner service (soft drink, entree, dessert) should not take nearly 90 minutes 2) I was neither served nor offered water 3) I was not offered their signature bread and salsa starter 4) I was left with an empty soda glass for over 20 min and had to ask for a refill 5) I ordered 2 apps (combined price over $30, more than half the menu items) and my "fried" zucchini was cold and hard. I finally concluded it had actually NOT been cooked 6) A generous portion of 8 fried calamari sticks came with a 1/8 of a lemon wedge 7) my server never checked on me, I had to flag him down finally for a soda refill and then to get a dessert menu 8) Instead of giving me a menu, he rattled off the choices- but not prices Took another flag down to get the check. Sooo many other choices in SB, this will be my last visit to Harry's read more

Harry's Plaza Cafe is an old family favorite. It is a classic in its style, including the large red booths and tons of photographs of locals covering the walls. The food is consistently tasty and imaginative and their alcoholic beverages are known to be very strong. This huge restaurant has been here at least as long as I can remember (the 1970s) and I hope it keeps going! Harry's is definitely a Santa Barbara classic. (It is located in the corner spot of Loreto Plaza with plenty of parking.) read more

Dining at Harry's has always been consistently satisfying. Some of the best comfort food in town. Always the best "go to" eatery when getting together with friends. Though did have one bad experience recently. Ordered a steak sandwich expecting the same quality of food as usual but the "Sirloin Steak Sandwich" turned out to be a chunk of meat on a dry piece of toast, very disappointing! Would have sent it back but our friends were treating us and we didn't want to make a scene but be aware that the menu can be deceiving. Order the "Burnt Ends" sandwich instead, one of their best meals! read more

THE THREE MARTINI LUNCH IS BACK! Best restaurant in Santa Barbara. Grab a steak, martinis, and leave with some merch. This place is an old school gem full of historic photographs. Brilliant service and solid food options. The burnt ends sandwich is not to be missed. read more

While in Santa Barbara we stopped at Harry's for dinner and cocktails. We missed the 4:00 reservation cut off so we had to wait about ten minutes for a table (I would have preferred a booth) but they were all being used or reserved. Our waitress was friendly, large dining areas, and the walls were covered with people and places of the pass. The restaurant atmosphere felt historic. Maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was the style of the booths, but it gave me the feeling of the Al Capone era. The food was good the drinks were better but I would definitely like to try more of their food selection in the near future. 2023(35) read more

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It was disappointing and the hype by no means reflected the reality. We made a reservation for three via a friend who grew up there. They stuck us by the kitchen and toilets. When we asked to be moved to a vacant table a few tables up they said it had a long standing reservation by a local. I asked for a burger, fries and salad. The waiter forgot the fries order. The burger was a flat less than quarter inch grey, flattened patty that was raw on the inside. My wife's white fish was swimming in an unidentifiable sauce and the waiter slammed the dish on the table. Mess hall cuisine. We were nice. We asked the waiter's name to try to better our situation and he warmed up to us. I think he knew he could have done better and to his credit gave my wife and friend a complimentary glass of wine. When leaving, there was no one at the special reserved table. Not again. read more

If I could give 1000000 stars I would. The chairs were made of REALLY fancy leather but it doesn't feel too fancy. They have steak, salad, soup, and spaghetti and meatballs. P.S this is the kid with the root beer float. That's Me read more

Harry's Plaza Cafe - Best root beer float - American Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Everything about Harry's was wonderful. Great atmosphere, amazing food, friendly server!! read more

Harry's Plaza Cafe - American Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Harry's Plaza Cafe is a local icon.Its has everything a great restaurant needs,great food excellent service a bar f ull of regulars because of the delicious and powerful cocktails.Menu changes often but there are many perennial favorites like the Omaha sandwich, the great steaks and chops.i am partial to the New England clam chowder. Seriously Harry's is pure Santa Barbara. If you're a local or visitor don't miss Harry's!!! read more

Unfortunately we made a mistake coming to Harry's after snacking earlier. I ordered a short beer and got 16oz. Sandwiches are generous, more than I could eat. Harry's is very popular; the two rooms are packed and noisy, like one big birthday party. Next time we visit SB, we will make Harry's a special stop. read more

We love to go to Harry every time where I Santa Barbara it's one of our places we look forward to going to for dinner. Great atmosphere!

Menu options good, old school part good, food is good and of course the drinks are great Service pretty bad. I had lipstick on my water glass, outdoor table run down and dirty. Asked for ketchup for my sandwich which was brought after we had finished our lunch. Ordered Club Sandwich with Swiss Cheese (ok with extra charge) but sandwich was missing cheese. Told server and he brought me 1 slice on a butter plate. Young servers are trying but they need some leadership on the floor. Ive been coming here since the 1970s but its now becoming dirty and in need of an urgent deep clean and refresh. read more

Just recently stopped by to watch the SF/LA game and it was awesome! I didn't realize that the bar wraps around to the back which is pretty neat! Great service, vintage vibes, the best bar neighbors you could ask for! People around me were ordering food and it looked so damn delicious but I had just ate. I had a great time and it was especially great because SF beat LA 15-0! And to the cook and waiter who were coming out from the back intermittently to cheer for SF... you're both a couple of bad@$$e$ who deserve a raise! Haha! Cheers! I will definitely be back! read more

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This happened awhile ago, but when I ordered the Burnt Ends Sandwich I was overcharged. When I picked up the sandwich, there was no receipt included, and I was going by the Take Out prices on their website, but was charged dine in prices. I called and spoke to a manager and they lied about the take out page existing, and refused to refund me the difference. I checked the website later and they had taken down the take out menu page so clearly they knew what I was talking about yet refused to honor their mistake. Don't go here, the management is incredibly and the sandwich was subpar. read more

They forgot about us at the end of the bar. After going to the restroom, I came back to an empty seat. I had not finished the food or my drink! Never coming back. read more

Harry's lemon drop martini and caliber on Wednesday night best ever you better be hungry thirsty to get your moneys worth read more

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Once a longtime resident of Santa Barbara, I had never set foot inside of Harry's Plaza Cafe. What a wonderful restaurant and experience. Our party was the 50-year reunion of our 1974 graduating class from Our Lady of Guadalupe School. Invitations were sent, but only seven arrived. Still, the management set up for 24 (see pic), and set us up so that it was easier for the restaurant to convert tables back for other patrons. The ambience was perfect, an old-time feel for a reunion. The food was mixed; my wife hated the ravioli, but I liked the open-faced turkey sandwich. Others enjoyed the French Dip sandwich. Harry's allowed us to bring in a cake from Gelson's to celebrate our reunion. Harry's stored it in the refrigerator and even cut it for us. Overall, the service was superb. There is ample free parking outside in the Loreto Plaza parking lot. We parked and spent 45 minutes at Chaucer's Bookstore before walking over to Harry's for our reservation. read more

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I've loved this place since the 70's. i was saddened by my visit today ! 2 hostesses would not acknowledge me ! reservations were not acknowledged i went outside to wait ....... reservation were a problem. manager said he needed to keep the place full. i over heard him talking ! he seems like a prick ! eventually, getting seated , waitress acted like she was not giving a shit. terrible service ! LAST TIME FOR ME ! read more

Our waiter was Emilio and without him only 3 stars. My husband ordered a pastrami sandwich whichwas so greasy he had to eat it with a fork and knife. The meat, however, was dried out and awful looking. My turkey sandwich was fine although not a lot of turkey. The girl who took our reservation was not very professional and sounded like she was about 12. Ugh! read more

Ambience was great the blonde hostess upfront very young courteous, sweet girl and very helpful. The food was absolutely delicious. Will definitely return for the food!! read more

Loved it all, prices were very reasonable and the old style pictures of SB were great!!

There is a reason that they are usually booked up for dinner. I have been here at least a dozen times and only one or two things have been as low as average. Love the spaghetti/meat sauce, fried chicken, small pies, steaks, hot, fudge sundae, seafoodd pasta, Cobb salad, sautéed vegetables, and the drinks! Service is always very attentive and helpful. Can't say enough good things. read more