Restaurant Review: The Dish Cafe in Goleta California (Santa Barbara)

This is a review of the Dish Café restaurant in Goleta, California. My husband and I love dining out, and the Dish Café is one of our favorite places to eat in the Santa Barbara area. We highly recommend it!

Address:

The Dish Café
5722 Calle Real
Goleta, CA

Location, and Directions to the Dish Cafe:

The Dish Café is located in the Calle Real Center in Goleta, California. Please click here for directions. The restaurant is just a short drive away from UCSB (The University of California, Santa Barbara.) It is also close to downtown Santa Barbara.

The Dish Café's Hours:

The Dish Café is open from 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Monday through Saturday. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant is closed on Sundays.

Parking at the Dish Cafe:

There is plenty of free parking in the parking lot that serves the Calle Real shopping center. During peak hours you might have to cruise the parking lot a bit to find a space, but we've always been able to find a spot.

The Dish Café's Atmosphere:

The Dish Café is situated in a mini-mall, but please don't let that scare you away from eating there. The atmosphere is casual, but not too casual; original art decorates the walls, and dinner is enhanced by candlelight.

For a restaurant that is relatively small, you have plenty of choices for places to sit; there is a patio outside, and there are tables inside, plus there are seats at the counter. During the dinner rush the restaurant is usually busy, and we have seen the main dining area fill up; however we have never yet seen the place packed to such capacity that we were unable to find a seat.

The Dish Café's Pledge:

"To make healthy food taste great
To never use microwaves
To support our local organic farmers
To use organic, unsprayed and hormone free products...whenever possible
To make you healthier!"

Free Samples at the Dish Café!

On our first visit to the Dish Café, my husband and I asked the cashier several questions about the soups. They both sounded so good that we were having a hard time making up our minds which soup to order. We were pleasantly surprised when she offered to let us try free samples of the soup so that we could get a better idea of which one we wanted.

Well, that didn't help much because both of the samples she gave us were delicious! But after trying the free samples we happily made our selection, confident that we would really enjoy the soup we'd ordered. I thought that the free samples were such a customer-friendly thing for them to do; they really went the extra mile to make sure we'd enjoy our food. I was favorably impressed before even having taken a seat in the restaurant.

The Dish Café's Food:

Appetizers:

We've loved all the appetizers we've tried so far! I already mentioned the soup; it's been consistently good every time I've ordered it. I also enjoyed the chips with homemade guacamole.

Organic Salads:

The Dish Café offers a fantastic selection of fresh organic salads, including both dressed and undressed salads. There is also a great selection of dressings. My favorite is the Lemon Herb, which I enjoy so much that I order it every time; I haven't even tried any of the others yet. My husband loves the jalepeno ranch dressing.

Our Favorites:

The vegetarian pizza is delicious!
"Not Your Traditional Macaroni and Cheese"- This is indescribably yummy.
Veggie Jambalaya 'Dish Café Style'.
The Sweet Potato Fries! If you ever go to the Dish Café, you simply must try them!

Those are pretty much our favorites, but we've enjoyed almost everything else we've ordered, too.

My Least Favorite:

The Tempeh Potato Cakes have been the only thing so far that I didn't really like. I suspect that my reaction was largely based on my dislike of the Ranchero sauce, which is not the Dish Café's fault; I don't like anybody else's Ranchero sauce, either. Since several other items on the Dish Café's menu also include Ranchero sauce, I have steered clear of ordering those items.

For Vegetarians:

Vegetarians have so many delicious choices at the Dish Café. I'm not sure if you noticed that my favorites listed above are all vegetarian dishes. I think that says a lot, considering that I am not even a vegetarian! Vegetarians have choices that go well beyond the usual salad and garden burger combination- although you can, of course, order a garden burger and salad at the Dish Cafe if that is what you are in the mood for. Overall I think that vegetarians will find plenty of enjoyable choices in this restaurant.

(Note: both the veggie jambalaya and the macaroni and cheese can be served either as vegetarian dishes, or with the addition of meat. Please be sure to specify which way you want it served!)

For Raw Foodists:

The Dish Café's main emphasis does seem to be on serving cooked food. However, for those who prefer a raw food diet, the Dish Café does offer some choices, in the form of salads, fresh squeezed vegetable juices, and fruit smoothies. Please be aware that some of the salads do feature cooked ingredients. For example, the spinach salad has roasted beets, and the wild salmon arugula salad contains grilled salmon. So make sure to read the menu descriptions, and when in doubt, ask.

Breakfast and Lunch:

I've only eaten at the Dish Café for dinner, so I cannot comment on what breakfast and lunch at the restaurant are like. Sorry!

The Dish Café's Beverages:

Shakes & Smoothies:

The Dish Café offers an outstanding selection of shakes and smoothies. We've tried quite a few of them, and so far I have loved all the ones I've tried.

The smoothies are all made using 100% fruit, with an occasional non-fruit ingredient - such as honey. We've tried several of the smoothies, and so far the "Hang Loose" is our favorite. The "Hang Loose" smoothie is made with apple juice, papaya, coconut, mango, and banana. It is sweet but not too sweet, and not too tart either- just perfectly yummy tropical goodness. My husband thought that the "Rio" (made with acai, orange juice, berries and banana) was too tart, but I thought it was delicious.

The shakes are fantastic, and they even have cute names. My husband's favorite is the "Monkey See Monkey Do", which combines peanut butter, chocolate and banana with vanilla ice milk. I like that one too, but now that I've tried the "Chai Me", I rarely order anything else. It is sooooo yummy! The "Chai Me" consists of vanilla ice milk, milk and organic chai. As of right now it's my favorite shake ever. I have also enjoyed the "Mocha Madness" and the "Let's Go Espresso". I am sure the other shakes must all be good, too.

I should mention at this point that the shakes have not been totally consistent in the way they have been served to us. Sometimes they serve them with whipped cream, and sometimes not. So if you have a strong preference either way, it's probably a good idea to let them know up front which way you'd like your shake.

Fresh Organic Juice:

The Dish Café offers a selection of vegetable juices. You can order a fresh-squeezed juice combining any mixture of carrots plus your choice of celery, beets, spinach, apple, ginger and garlic. Either that, or you can order a 50/50 mix of carrot and orange juice. YUM!

Organic Coffee & Tea:

The Dish Café offers a good selection of coffee, including espresso, cappuccino, latte, mocha, and Vietnamese iced coffee. The coffees, dairy products, and soy milk served by the Dish Café are all organic. I don't drink much coffee, so I cannot comment intelligently about it other than to say that my husband seems to have enjoyed the Dish Café's coffee on the few occasions he's ordered it.

There are also other hot drinks on the menu as well, such as hot chocolate and organic hot tea. If you're a tea drinker you'll find an enjoyable selection including jasmine peach blossom, peppermint, earl grey, and others. Under the "Specialty Drinks" section of the menu, you'll find even more tea, including an "Organic Paradise Iced Tea" which I've never tried. I have tried the Dish Café's Thai iced tea several times, though. It's tasted different each time, which leads me to suspect that different employees have different ways of making it. While I did like the Thai iced tea, there are other drinks I enjoy more from the Dish Café, so I doubt I'll be ordering it again. There's just too much other good stuff on the menu!

Beer & Wine:

I am not a drinker, so I cannot comment intelligently on the beers and wines offered by the Dish Café. I know enough about beer to recognize that the beers offered are ones that appeal to my "beer snob" friends- I noticed that the Dish Cafe offers beers like Guinness and Gordon Biersch. It seems to me that beer drinkers would enjoy their visit to the Dish Café.

Price Range:

We think the Dish Café's pricing is both reasonable and affordable. As of August 2007, the appetizers range in price from $3.95 for a cup of soup, on up to $5.95 for a grilled whole artichoke. Salad prices start at $8.25. Main course items mostly range in price from around $8-$12 each. If you're not too hungry, you can get a single taco for as low as $3.50 (or a pair of tacos for $6.75.) Daily dinner specials are also available, but I have noticed that these tend to be more expensive than the regular offerings on the menu.

The Service:

If you insist on full service, this is probably not the best choice of restaurants for you. Upon arriving at the Dish Café, you will get in line to order your food. After ordering, you will be given a number to place on your table. When your food arrives, the server will have to ask you and your companions who ordered what. You will probably also have to get your own water and condiments if you want them. Personally we like it that way because we drink a lot of water, and in the past we've been frustrated with restaurants where the wait staff doesn't keep our water glasses filled. The Dish Café's setup suits us perfectly. In my opinion, the service we've received from the Dish Cafe has been satisfactory. However, if you are expecting the wait staff at this restaurant to anticipate your every desire, you will be disappointed; the Dish Cafe just isn't that kind of place.

Why We Keep Coming Back to the Dish Café:

We are repeat customers at the Dish Café because of the combination of delicious healthy food, fantastic selection of beverages, comfortable relaxed atmosphere, and affordable prices. We are happy to recommend the restaurant to others, and we hope you will enjoy dining there as much as we do.