The Set restaurant, the only hotel restaurant open for dinner, is ridiculously situated away from the kitchen, so that all of the food has to be carried by hand through the entire lobby, past people waiting to be seated. Only a portion of the plates are covered, making it susceptible to the germs of the people and animals moving throughout the area.We eat at Set two nights and both times the wait was inexcusable: 40 minutes, and then 130 minutes. The first night, the delay was blamed on the servers: three servers attending nine tables (30+ open tables.) The second night, the delay was blamed on the kitchen: 35 people seated, 70+ open seats. The host made a point to come to the table to lay blame on the kitchen and everyone else (sans apology) - except he was the one that told us originally 40 minutes, which turned into 2+ hours.At least 25% of the small menu was unavailable, so we ended up waiting for something that we didn't really want.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 1
Temmy
My burger was burnt all around. We were given a paper menu with just a few options and some of the menu items were not even available. They mentioned that they open at 3 pm but it’s self serve until 4:3, which means you have to order food at the bar and bring it to your table but still expected to tip? The blueberry dessert was disgusting. Drinks are good.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Shae
Sat us at 12:51 when they stopped serving at 1. Eggs Benedict came out in less than 15 minutes, drinks arrived in less then 10. Biscuits with honey butter are the only ones west of the Mississippi worth having. Would come here for brunch any day and the entire staff were so friendly and professional, will be back and starving for more as soon as possible.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mar P.
So I was a bit worried because this was the only restaurant on site and the reviews were in the middle. We decided to try it for dinner/late snack.Daughter had a burger which she loved and husband and I ordered the fish tacos to share. Both were great no complaints. Next night we had wings, fries and daughter ordered something from the kids menu. Food was good both nights. Restaurant is half inside and half out. Both times we sat outside so that we could have beach views. I think the only issue would be that they don't seem to have enough staff around so it did take a while to order but both days the servers were very nice just very busy.
Doreen M.
They should hire more staff. Service was a bit slow. Waitress was very nice and helpful. She was spread so thin tho. :( My friend's food was over cooked. Her poached eggs were boiled and my eggs were overcooked or looked dried out on the top for sitting too long before getting delivered to my table. She also said the hollandaise sauce was really just butter. The bloody mary was served with bacon bc it was a loaded bloddy mary vs a regular one with a celery stick. Beautiful view of ocean from patio tho.
Marc W.
As the flagship restaurant of Santa Barbara Hilton Resort, The Set has plenty going for it: an expansive beach view, a lovely interior of wood and glass and reservable fire pits. Enjoying a late dinner sans kids, my wife was able to snag one of the highly coveted fire pits (the hostess informed us she had to fight off other customers to hold it for us). After being seated, we ordered a very sea-centric dinner starting with tuna tartare with shrimp chips (awesome) and clam chowder (good but not worth $10 a cup). My wife had the salmon (overcooked) and I had the lobster roll (solid but small). All in all, solid but not earth shattering. For desert, we ordered a s'mores kit (how could we not with a roaring fire?) and a blueberry cheesecake tart (delicious). Service was sluggish all evening, as it appeared the staff was pretty thin and our server had multiple stations. It took about 40 minutes just to get our appetizers. Luckily, we were not in any rush and it was nice to enjoy a cool summer night with a fire-lit dinner--and pretty romantic to boot. (3.5 stars).
Serge
Nice. Unpretentious. Friendly.Simply a nice place to stop by on your way up to a room after a long day.Friendly guys and gals who will help you with their decent selection of booze…
Emily J.
The fried chicken sandwich was underseasoned, but the portion of chicken was decent. The salad came with no dressing to go, which was disappointing. The lobster roll was very small and underwhelming for the price. The mahi mahi tacos were decent. The cheese and charcuterie board was tiny and was in my opinion too expensive for the amount of food.
ZF N.
Super slow service, with a massively backed up kitchen Waited almost an hour for butter pasta, soup and salad. Wait staff was nice enough, but either hire more or set expectations better.
Jennifer M.
Very yummy. I had Mahi Mahi tacos and they were perfectly fried and seasoned. The fish was fresh and Camillo was fast and attentive! Caesar salad is also delish.
Don't waste your money. We had the clam chowder which was so thick and filled with potatoes that the clams were no where to be found. We also tried the bbq chicken, grits, greens and cornbread. One and done. One bite and we were done. Cold, flavorless and even the bbq chicken which shouldn't be hard to do was overcooked. Can you say tough? The bbq sauce was good and the jalapeño margarita was a treat. Other than that we would not recommend.
Anthony Luna
The restuarant is completely understaffed and the service shows it. We waited 35 minutes to even order.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 1
Tammy O.
Pay heed to the sloooowwww service! I was a party of one and it was an almost 2 hour dinner to get a glass of wine, a cup of soup and a salad. A party of four was seated behind me almost 30 minutes after I was and they got their food before me. The soup was good, not great: same with the salad. I don't foresee coming back and this was my first night of 7 at the hotel.
Rebecca Wingler
We dined there last week (on a Tuesday night) and the young girl that served us left us feeling like we did not matter and she just wanted to be away from us. We would ask her for things that wouldn't come until we asked her again. We observed others being served with no issue. Then my check was wrong and it took her "fixing it" THREE times before it was actually correct. Food was really good but poor (or selective) service says a lot.
Frank
Basic, boring and over priced. Very disappointing.
The Set restaurant, the only hotel restaurant open for dinner, is ridiculously situated away from the kitchen, so that all of the food has to be carried by hand through the entire lobby, past people waiting to be seated. Only a portion of the plates are covered, making it susceptible to the germs of the people and animals moving throughout the area.We eat at Set two nights and both times the wait was inexcusable: 40 minutes, and then 130 minutes. The first night, the delay was blamed on the servers: three servers attending nine tables (30+ open tables.) The second night, the delay was blamed on the kitchen: 35 people seated, 70+ open seats. The host made a point to come to the table to lay blame on the kitchen and everyone else (sans apology) - except he was the one that told us originally 40 minutes, which turned into 2+ hours.At least 25% of the small menu was unavailable, so we ended up waiting for something that we didn't really want.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 1
My burger was burnt all around. We were given a paper menu with just a few options and some of the menu items were not even available. They mentioned that they open at 3 pm but it’s self serve until 4:3, which means you have to order food at the bar and bring it to your table but still expected to tip? The blueberry dessert was disgusting. Drinks are good.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Sat us at 12:51 when they stopped serving at 1. Eggs Benedict came out in less than 15 minutes, drinks arrived in less then 10. Biscuits with honey butter are the only ones west of the Mississippi worth having. Would come here for brunch any day and the entire staff were so friendly and professional, will be back and starving for more as soon as possible.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
So I was a bit worried because this was the only restaurant on site and the reviews were in the middle. We decided to try it for dinner/late snack.Daughter had a burger which she loved and husband and I ordered the fish tacos to share. Both were great no complaints. Next night we had wings, fries and daughter ordered something from the kids menu. Food was good both nights. Restaurant is half inside and half out. Both times we sat outside so that we could have beach views. I think the only issue would be that they don't seem to have enough staff around so it did take a while to order but both days the servers were very nice just very busy.
They should hire more staff. Service was a bit slow. Waitress was very nice and helpful. She was spread so thin tho. :( My friend's food was over cooked. Her poached eggs were boiled and my eggs were overcooked or looked dried out on the top for sitting too long before getting delivered to my table. She also said the hollandaise sauce was really just butter. The bloody mary was served with bacon bc it was a loaded bloddy mary vs a regular one with a celery stick. Beautiful view of ocean from patio tho.
As the flagship restaurant of Santa Barbara Hilton Resort, The Set has plenty going for it: an expansive beach view, a lovely interior of wood and glass and reservable fire pits. Enjoying a late dinner sans kids, my wife was able to snag one of the highly coveted fire pits (the hostess informed us she had to fight off other customers to hold it for us). After being seated, we ordered a very sea-centric dinner starting with tuna tartare with shrimp chips (awesome) and clam chowder (good but not worth $10 a cup). My wife had the salmon (overcooked) and I had the lobster roll (solid but small). All in all, solid but not earth shattering. For desert, we ordered a s'mores kit (how could we not with a roaring fire?) and a blueberry cheesecake tart (delicious). Service was sluggish all evening, as it appeared the staff was pretty thin and our server had multiple stations. It took about 40 minutes just to get our appetizers. Luckily, we were not in any rush and it was nice to enjoy a cool summer night with a fire-lit dinner--and pretty romantic to boot. (3.5 stars).
Nice. Unpretentious. Friendly.Simply a nice place to stop by on your way up to a room after a long day.Friendly guys and gals who will help you with their decent selection of booze…
The fried chicken sandwich was underseasoned, but the portion of chicken was decent. The salad came with no dressing to go, which was disappointing. The lobster roll was very small and underwhelming for the price. The mahi mahi tacos were decent. The cheese and charcuterie board was tiny and was in my opinion too expensive for the amount of food.
Super slow service, with a massively backed up kitchen Waited almost an hour for butter pasta, soup and salad. Wait staff was nice enough, but either hire more or set expectations better.
Very yummy. I had Mahi Mahi tacos and they were perfectly fried and seasoned. The fish was fresh and Camillo was fast and attentive! Caesar salad is also delish.
Restaurantji Recommends
Don't waste your money. We had the clam chowder which was so thick and filled with potatoes that the clams were no where to be found. We also tried the bbq chicken, grits, greens and cornbread. One and done. One bite and we were done. Cold, flavorless and even the bbq chicken which shouldn't be hard to do was overcooked. Can you say tough? The bbq sauce was good and the jalapeño margarita was a treat. Other than that we would not recommend.
The restuarant is completely understaffed and the service shows it. We waited 35 minutes to even order.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 1
Pay heed to the sloooowwww service! I was a party of one and it was an almost 2 hour dinner to get a glass of wine, a cup of soup and a salad. A party of four was seated behind me almost 30 minutes after I was and they got their food before me. The soup was good, not great: same with the salad. I don't foresee coming back and this was my first night of 7 at the hotel.
We dined there last week (on a Tuesday night) and the young girl that served us left us feeling like we did not matter and she just wanted to be away from us. We would ask her for things that wouldn't come until we asked her again. We observed others being served with no issue. Then my check was wrong and it took her "fixing it" THREE times before it was actually correct. Food was really good but poor (or selective) service says a lot.
Basic, boring and over priced. Very disappointing.