After a night of INTENSE partying (yes, you UCSB kids are crazy partiers), I realized I can't hang like I did back in college.. and I only graduated two years ago. It was a beautiful drive to Mesa Cafe, and all I wanted was to drink a nice glass of iced water and eat some breakfast food. Because it was nice and sunny, we asked to be seated outside. (Jelly of how wonderful the weather is, even in November!) - Fairfax Benedict ($10): a bit on the smaller side, but it was just like any other Benedict. The hash brown was a bit on the bland side. - Corned Beef Hash ($9): really salty for my taste. I couldn't eat more than a bite of that. - Biscuits and Gravy: it was warm, but nothing really special about the gravy. The service here is nice, and this restaurant is dog friendly. So obviously, half the time, we were just squealing over everyone's dogs, lol! :) It seems like this restaurant has a lot of regulars, which is always good to see. read more

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Great food, great service, and great COVID protocols. Sufficient social distancing and temperature checks every time we show up to get seated. read more

Came here for lunch on Sunday and had a delicious Cobb salad. It is perfect for any family occasion. The atmosphere is very comfortable and homey and the menu has an option for everyone! read more

Discovered the place while browsing through yelp for a good place for breakfast. The pictures looked so good we had to try it. This place gets PACKED but thankfully we only waited a few minutes and were seated. We sat next to a couple who were eating the Crab Cakes Benedict and they looked so good. The BF and I both decided to order the Crab Cakes and were were very pleased. The sauces and flavors were perfect. The crab wasn't to "fishy" they were perfect with all the flavors. I honestly have nothing bad to say. The waitress told us that that plate is very popular and a few of the regulars told us they always order them because they are so delicious. I'm glad that we decided to try this place out as it, hands down, has the best Eggs Benedict that we've ever tasted. The prices were good, the service was excellent and overall it was one of the best breakfast meals I have ever had. If you are looking for a good place this is definitely a must try! Do yourself a favor and try the Crab Cakes! read more

Mesa Cafe - Crab Cakes Benedict! AMAZING!!! - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

***3.5 stars*** This is a cute restaurant, inside and out. The only thing that could be improved on is the outside dining area. While very nice, it looks straight onto a parking lot. I know nothing can be done about that, and it's definitely not uncommon in SoCal, but it's not ideal. I have to admit, we came here for the free WiFi. Don't get me wrong. The Yelp reviews also drew us here, but the morning we came here, my son was playing in an important baseball game in Seattle that was broadcast online, so free WiFi was a must. We started off with a Bloody Mary, Strong and tasty, 4 stars. Chicken fried steak, 5 stars; hash browns, 5 stars Fantastic. Breakfast sandwich, 3 stars. Just ok. Service was really good. My husband said he felt like they were trying to rush us out of there, but we made sure no one was waiting for our table, and I kept ordering Bloody Marys, so I don't think they were losing money on the table. One other note, the bathrooms are unisex, so when I went in, a man had been in there before, so I had to put the seat down. Yuck. I don't want to touch a toilet seat anywhere, not even at home. read more

My new favorite breakfast food: the Fairfax. It is a variation of eggs Benedict that starts with a toasted bagel, creamed cheese, and cold smoked salmon. They then top each half with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce. Wow. I was sad when the last bite disappeared off my plate. Hubby had an omelet with tri tip that he said was very good. Kids had the egg, hash potatoes, and toast. This gets two thumbs up. read more

Great food and service from the moment we arrived and warmly greeted by Claire. So happy that this long term local restaurant is supported and open for dine in and take out. read more

Hi. I'm vegan. I have visited this restaurant before. It has always been great. Good prices. But this time I went for dinner and I felt cheated for the first time. I ordered a side of vegetables and they came out with three bites for $2.25. My appetizer was much bigger. They were over buttered and over oiled. My stomach and my credit card regrets this decision. Normally a wonderful place for breakfast but would not recommend ordering a side. They can do better than this. read more

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Outstanding ! Came for breakfast on Memorial Day ...super busy, had to wait maybe 10 minutes for a table. Service was quick and top notch. Food was delicious, I had the Garden Omelette, hubs had the Chilaquiles Verde. Best breakfast place in SB. We've had lunch here in the past and that was great too. This is a restaurant that's doing it right, great service, great food. Great Bloody Mary's too! Love Mesa Cafe! read more

5 minutes into our breakfast, a fat roach emerges from the coffee creamer and dances across the table shortly before my mom orders her coffee. Not really a complaint, but The hot chocolate I ordered is put into a glass container so I can't hold it in my hand and have to drink it with a straw, like a milkshake, so it's a little odd. The place also has a weird smell in the morning, so I'd recommend sitting outside. Other than that, the food is pretty good, I've been here a few times, but since this is my first time inside, and I saw a roach, I feel like I should report about this. read more

Great food, great service and greattt drinks! What more could you ask for?! I enjoy the off menu lox (which comes with a PERFECT amount of salmon) and my boyfriend loves trying new things every time we go in. The soup of the day is always a good go-to choice that's paired with corn bread or garlic bread and a side salad with your choice of dressing. Can't go wrong with Mesa cafe! :) read more

I enjoy the Mesa Cafe and always have. It's a great locals spot, good food and nice bar. I like to get myself a spicy bloody mary on the cold days and sit outside on the patio under a nice heater! I prefer the lunch/dinner compared to the breakfast. They have a delicious Mediterranean pasta with yummy artichoke hearts, tomatoes, olives and chicken that comes with garlic bread. (It's filling!). My favorite dinner appetizer are the avocado egg rolls that come with a chipotle dipping sauce and a spicy wasabi sauce, they're delicious! The prices here reasonable and the staff are always very friendly. I recommend that you check them out for yourself if you have never been. read more

Mesa Cafe - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

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Service was great for our group of 18! It was a busy morning yet our food came out promptly and together. The waiters are awesome and attentive. Cooks make this place happen! Delicious food and great portions. read more

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Very nice cafe with a family feel. They have friendly photos posted all over the walls and multiple TV sets. The service and food were really good. It did get loud though as some of the customers were watching a hockey game. Overall, I recommend. read more

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really good service and the waiter was really kind, their food was really good as well! highly recommende!

I'm glad I found this cafe, food was great, 5 stars service. This will be my go to breakfast spot when I'm in beautiful Santa Barbara. P. S. Try the corned beef! read more

We had breakfast here on a very busy Mother's Day. They sat us right away and the service was fast and friendly and the food was terrific! My husband had the Huevos Ranchero and he was not disappointed! I treated myself to a short stack of pancakes and was glad I ordered them, they were cooked perfectly. Highly recommend this place. read more

Firstly, COVID safety needs to improve by ton. They have people seated so close it made me a bit nervous. Their overall hygiene during such time is questionable. Food wise - I ordered Santa Barbara omelet with egg white but got with yolks. The server lady was kind to fix it. But this next omelet was barely cooked. But it was too late to request to fix it again as it was so busy. I wouldn't want to come back here. read more

I've heard great things about Mesa Cafe so Ryan and I were very excited to try it out this past weekend. I opted for one of the specials- ribeye benedict with a side of crispy hashbrowns. The ribeye was cooked perfectly and so tasty!! I throughly appreciated the crispiness of my hashbrowns as well. Ryan got the meat lovers skillet- needless to say he devoured it all! Service was so quick and friendly, we got seated right away on sunday around 10am. read more

The Mesa Cafe is about 5 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara. It is a quaint family restaurant style/cafe with a full bar, but a better relaxed decor than most diner style restaurants. We had a patty melt and a bacon burger. We thought the food was consistent and good; however, not spectacular. The service was average; however, fast and efficient. I would return if I was in the mood; however, I would try other places first. read more

We love Cody's, which used to share ownership with Mesa so we assumed we would have a similar experience. The menu is still identical, but the service and quality couldn't be further apart. After three tries we've given up and will never go back. Every time we've been the order has been screwed up, we've had a long wait, the food wasn't delivered at the same time in our group, or the food wasn't completely cooked. Not a single visit was satisfactory, and the food was poorly cooked every single time. We'll make the trip west to Cody's in the future. read more

Decent food and service until the owner decided he had had enough of my 9 month old playing with spoons(no mess being made). It was busy and loud in the restaurant so I didn't think much of it. I run a restaurant up in Washington and would way rather have a happy playing baby than an upset one. The owner came over and asked me to give him the spoons. When my grandma jokingly asked "is he being too loud for you" he replied with people are trying to enjoy their food and once again asked me to give him the spoons as I was trying to gather them for him. I am VERY aware of being respectful in a restaurant, my baby was no louder than any conversation at any other table. We felt so awkward I ended up getting up and leaving while my family asked for the bill. I guess moral of the story is don't bring your young kids here.... They might be too loud ;) read more

Remind you customers to wear their masks coming in and out! Some seating is way to close! Too many people closely grouped at the bar. Diners shouldn't be seated so close to them! Love your restaurant but we all need to be safe especially with the rise in Covid. read more

Fantastic place. The breakfast is awesome. Great menu. The staff is friendly and fast. At times the place can be overcrowded (we visited the place before COVID-19 of course), but that is understandable considering the quality of food. Going forward it will be our place to go whenever we come to Santa Barbara. Highly recommended! read more

Awful Experience! Today Sunday December 17th around 6:00 pm I went to this old cafe and the bartender ( he is on the picture) I asked him to clean my table because it was dirty and he didn't clean it . He just ignore me! Then I ordered a mojito and he added anise on it of course I didn't drink it and he decided to ignored me and my friend ( and older lady that was evacuated yesterday) we are on Christmas time and under the circumstances that we are going through? How can someone treat and older that way? I asked to talk To the manager and the hostess refused to letting me talk to him.NEVER AGAIN! read more

Mesa Cafe - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

Carolyn our waitress was amazing! The food was amazing, the pancakes where so delicious. The Santa Barbara omelette was so good :) Carolyn was really nice and made sure our coffee cups where always full! I will definitely be a returning customer :) read more

Came here for the first time while visiting Santa Barbara. It was close to our Airbnb so we decided to check it out. Lots of outdoor seating but they're not super distanced from one another. They also have signs that they take temperature checks but didn't see that happen at all. We waited about 20 mins which wasn't horrible. The food was just okay. It's just a casual brunch spot but nothing special. There was also a group of people without masks waiting for a table and were talking to one another directly next to all of the people eating. Not necessarily the restaurants fault but you would hope they would enforce some COVID precautions and make sure people are wearing masks and distancing, even while waiting. read more

Ordered a bacon cheeseburger with fries and salad and an order of wings today. When I got to the restaurant they informed me they no longer have the wings. Would of been nice if they told me that when ordering. The burger was so overcooked and cold, it must have Been cooked and sitting under heat lamp for hours. Not sure if I will give this place another try. Salad was nothing special just lettuce and shredded carrots. read more

The staff is super great. Fun festive Cafe food The best Juevos Rancheros in town. Great drinks at normal prices. Always try the "Grilled Cornbread!!!" Put some honey on it.....heaven on the Mesa! read more

My first time here. I ordered the crab cake benedict. The eggs were poached perfectly, soft and creamy. The crab cakes were excellent. So many times, crab cakes taste like the filler. Either bell pepper or celery etc. That was most certainly not the case here. The crab cake tasted like crab. They used a Chipotle hollandaise sauce which I was dubious about but was very surprised at how tasty it was. They make their own Hollandaise sauce in house and the Chipotle flavor went so well with the crab cake. Their hash browns are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I'm hard on hash browns as so many of them are greasy, or they taste like onions or some other flavor or worst of all, they are simply dry. These hash browns were very good. They have a full bar so you may indulge in a mimosa, a bellini or in my case, a bloody mary. Their well vodka is good and the bloody Mary was very good although not the best I've ever had but still good. The service here is excellent, the restrooms are very clean. This morning they had the open golf championship on TV. I hate it when bars have something other than sports on the tv. I haven't had anything else on the menu but if the crab cake Benedict is an indicator, I highly recommend this place. They're open for breakfast lunch and dinner. read more

Bad bad experience. First time eating here. Didn't have anyone come to our table for 45 minutes so we had to tell the host that we needed a server and he sent out the bartender to take our order. Half our table got our food 15 minutes after the other half. One of the dishes had a hair in it. It was just one thing after another. The only positive was the bartender. At least he was a nice guy. He was thrown into a situation that he was not used to and dealt with it really well. I don't usually write yelp reviews but felt it necessary to say something. read more

My family has been coming here for years... continued excellent service and great food. Never been here in the evening; so I can't vouch for the nicely stocked bar - but breakfast and lunch have never dissapointed. Menu selection is not large - typical Tex-Mex-California cuisine; everything we've tried has been over-the-top excellent. Highly Recommended. read more

Love the food here and service ! They are on it Delicious coffe , great biscuits of man I can go on and on,,, they are Not like flakey Chad's ! Chads is horrible , don't go there unless you want to be forgotten , they will walk by you tons of times and say "oh I'm not your waiter " chads is flake city !! This is the best place for Breakfast in Santa Barbra. read more

The Bartender was yelling at this poor man in a wheelchair. So rude. I have never seen anything like it. I will never go back. Who treats costumers like that! read more

Such a good cafe! Not only was the staff fast and friendly but the French dip sandwich I had was outstanding! Whoever is making the drinks has a heavy hand and made me the strongest and most disgusting tea John Daly I've ever had and it was glorious read more

First time at this cute little cafe and it was such a good experience! The food was great and our server Michael was so patient with our group as we had many order substitutions and requests! Definitely will be going back soon! read more

Ramiro has done great things since taking over. The food and atmosphere have improved greatly. I can take my family or my co workers and be very comfortable and enjoy good food read more

We were struggling to find a place on state street that was still serving food at 8, we drove away disappointed.... Thankfully we stumbled upon this restaurant next to Von's. My boyfriend had a burger and salad, he said both were very yummy. My vegetable soup was a bit salty. But the Mediterranean pasta, forget about it. It was so delicious; ridiculous good. My boyfriend kept diving in after I asked if he wanted to try it; I couldn't keep his fork out of my meal if I tried. The pesto was very mild & lovely; My boyfriend started dipping his fries in it. read more

Mixed review. Went there for a relaxing meal and a couple of beers. Both hubby and I ordered the Monday fish taco special with 2 beers. High points: Beer was cold and food arrived promptly. Fish tacos were very good - grilled, not fried which was a pleasant surprise. Low points: As soon as we finished our beers, the waiter took our empty glasses and left our bill without a word. He didn't ask if we wanted another round of beers (we did) or if we wanted dessert (we did). In case you're wondering, we are a middle-aged couple, not loud but we do like to laugh. We are not rude or demanding. We always say "please" and "thank you". We showered and smelled nice. We leave nice tips. Not sure why the waiter wanted us out of there. read more

Checked this place out with friends and had amazing service! I must name drop Greg our server was on top of our refills and food. He even jogged to the kitchen to check on one of our dishes! The hustle read more