Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch

The chicken here is very juicy and the skin is crispy– the perfect combination. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the tri tip in comparison to the chicken, but it seems to be a popular item on the menu. I could live without the beans and the flour tortillas, and would love to see something like a side of sweet corn or other steamed vegetable. Also, I appreciate the prices, as I feel like they’re very reasonable.

My family and I love it here! We eat pick up from here a few times a month. My toddler LOVES it. They’re guac has improved a lot! I’m a fan

Worst customer service I have experienced in a long long time. They participate in
with a coupon. I pulled up the coupon on the app and showed it to the counter when ordering. They wouldn’t honor it, said it had to be printed out. It’s an app! The employees response was «I just work here». She actually said that. Pathetic attitude and I will never eat there again.

Ordered catering for office lunch. Classic central CA fare: chicken and tri tip were great. Marinated onions and guacamole just icing on the cake! Delicious and very affordable!

Simple basic fire grilled chicken and tri-​tip; served with pinto beans, rice and tortillas. Oh, and the salsa bar is good also.

You can’t go wrong with anything you order here, I usually get the chicken burrito or ¼ chicken plate with a breast and wing. The chicken is obviously what they are known for but their friendly customer service is what makes me love going.

Pretty solid chicken burrito. Around $ 9 and it’s everything’s packed in there with some pretty good chicken. A couple TVs and a mellow atmosphere make it a good lunch stop.

Best place in town for a quick plate of delicious tri-​tip. Their house salsa is also amazing and they have good beans, chips and tortillas, too. Love this place so much, we often take visitors who want a quick bite here and they always enjoy it, too.

I was looking forward to our catered lunch from the Chicken Ranch, I was told that they have good tri-​tip and chicken. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. They had grilled the life clean out of the tri-​tip AFTER cooking it, to the point that it was a tougher than my ex-wife’s heart. It had good taste but there was gristle running through the slices which didn’t help much. The chicken also had good taste but the drive to our location must have dried it out.
I’m looking forward to going to the restaurant so that I can give it another shot. Hopefully it’s better in person…

My first time at Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch was pretty pleasant: we came around 1:30, and the restaurant had patrons but was mostly quiet. It’s located in the Fairview shopping complex near Vons, Starbucks, Michaels, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Panda Express.
The way it works is you order up front at the counter, you can sit wherever you like, and you pick up your food from the counter when it’s ready. There’s also a salsa station with sauces and pico adjacent to the ordering counter for your needs. From what I understood from the menu board, you can order more sides as you see fit.
My boyfriend ordered the ¼ tri-​tip plate, and I ordered the ¼ chicken plate. The set-​up of these plates are pretty simple: you get your choice of meat, a pretty good scoop of rice, beans, and tortillas (either flour or corn) that come wrapped in aluminum foil. The tri-​tip was pretty tender and juicy as was the chicken; so we both left feeling pretty satisfied. They were pretty good portions so everything was just right. I think more than anything, we enjoyed the simplicity of the food. It was nothing too fancy or too out there, just really good food with simple presentation that hits the spot. So it’s definitely great for a weekend lunch or even for ordering out.
Would we come back here? Probably. I think it’s definitely a place everyone living in the area should try at least once. I think there’s definitely other places in the area that are more elaborate and have more options on their menu. But I think if it’s simplicity and grilled chicken or tri-​tip are what you’re craving, then this would be the best place for you.

Ordered the tri tip burrito which was delicious and very filling! The burrito came with chips with a salsa bar. Overall I was very satisfied with my meal and can’t wait to return to try the rest of the menu

I like the flavor of the chicken more than the tri-​tip, but don’t get me wrong I order tri-​tip today. The only thing is that today it seemed to me that they were giving smaller portions than usual. Even another customer in front of me told the cashier that the chicken drumstick was really small (and it was). She just told him «yes that’s the quarter plate». I thought to myself «Girl, he needs to eat, he is a construction worker and he will be hungry the rest of his day». I should have asked him if I could have taken a picture.
In any case, I love the food and their Salsa Asada to me is the best.

Pretty good food. Had the tri tip burrito which came w/​tortilla chips. They have a self serve salsa bar. The salsa was just ok. The tortilla chips were a bit on the salty side. The burrito was huge. My husband had the chicken burrito. If we could do it over again, we would have split the order. Overall, decent for fast food.

Perhaps it’s just because I came an hour before closing, I’m not sure, but my chips tasted like they had been in a plastic bag too long and my burrito was tasty, except for the fact it hardly had any beans in it. The chicken was good, but I wanted a burrito for the beans more than the rice. The décor of the Goleta location is better, but I think the Santa Barbara location makes their food better and more fresh.

Good burritos with either steak or chicken. Both are excellent. But you don’t get many chips on the side. They should be a little more generous with the chips, especially for the price you pay.
But they have some of the best burritos in the area.

Great food and service. Cashiers are almost always friendly and the food has been consistently good over the years.
I like the brc burrito or the combo burrito. The 4 stars is because I think the burritos have shrunk recently but I don’t notice a change in price. So that’s unfortunate but not stopping me from going. I just used to count on eating half of the burrito and having half for later and recently myself and others noticed that’s wasn’t happening anymore because you’re given less food.
I’ve recently been enjoying the chicken plate with the wing and thigh. The interactive experience with the chicken on the bone and the beans and rice and warm flour tortillas is incredibly satisfying.

I used to love the burritos here back in high school and remember their salsa being super spicy. I came in last week (been about 6 years since my last trip) and was very disappointed. .the burrito is a child’s size! The salsa is very mild. Overpriced in my opinion. For the same price you can get some bomb burritos around town that are much yummier and bigger.
The chicken and steak were good. I remember it better though. Maybe I’ve lost the desire for chicken ranch throughout the years of discovering better places, either way I don’t think it’s that special, which is a bummer bc it’s an sb local.

I haven’t visited the actual restaurant, but ordered food through
and was very happy with everything. The barbecue chicken was delicious and even though it’s just me, I ordered the full chicken with enough beans, rice, tortillas and delicious salsa to last me a couple of days. Everything was top notch, especially the salsa.

I love Santa Barbara Chicken Ranch, I don’t know why I didn’t write a review for this place when I was here for graduate school. I always get the ¼ chicken plate with extra chips which go very well with the delicious salsa available at the Salsa bar. The meat is just smokey enough and very tasty. Simple restaurant where you pay at the register and they bring you the food. Wet naps are available to clean up but sometimes they are dried out.
The only real negative that I found is that the chips are not my favorite. A bit dry in my opinion.

Decent food at a decent price.
The setup of the restaurant itself (at least in Goleta) is a little awkward, but I liked the ‘ranch-​y’ décor.
They have a condiment and salsa bar, and everything I tried on it was good.
I wasn’t terribly hungry, so I got the cheese quesadillas, which came with chips and salsa. They were good — not the best I’ve ever had, but far from the worst.
The chicken looked good, and I’ll be sure to try that out next time.