Killer B’s BBQ Bar and Grill

This place really made my hemorrhoids flare up. The food came pretty quickly but unfortunately for me it wreaked havoc on my stomach. Within one hour of finishing my food I found myself sitting on a public toilet in downtown Santa Blahblah between a movie theater and a Marshells. The porcelain toilet shone in the way that only a toilet used by countless homeless men, as not only a receptacle for their excrement but also a handy place to nap, could shine. That being said when I left that not so holy of throne rooms it was stained with with the dark blood of man who hasn’t been comfortable on a toilet for far too long.

My fiancée and I frequented Killer B’s at their State street location, and I would have given it a 3.5 star at that time. It was always so-​so. A good place to grab a quick drink, or a quick bite when you want something quick and easy, nothing fancy. The servers were always rather annoying and not very friendly or quick, and they always spent more tine talking to each other than to their tables.
We finally decided to try out the new Killer B location with the intent of using our Axxess card there, and we left without even ordering food.
We sat at a table inside, and was greeted by the bartender who was EXTREMELY rude and unfriendly. He literally walked away from me mid sentence. He tried everything possible to avoid eye contact, and he had absolutely not hustle in his step. That however was even the last straw. We went ahead and ordered two drinks, a beer for me and a cosmopolitan for the lady. the cosmo was GROSS! I honestly think that he forgot to put he alcohol in the drink. It was watered down and tasteless.
Bad service, bad drinks… we decided not to continue and order what we can only assume would be bad food.
Will never be returning here by my own decision. Too many other good restaurants to waste time on this place. We walked over the Santa Barbara Brew and enjoyed a delicious dinner and drinks that actually had alcohol in them.

Such a shame!
This review is not based on the food at this establishment, rather on the lack of service and attention.
I was in Santa Barbara for the day on the weekend of Cinco de Mayo. It was a Sunday around 2pm and I had been looking for a place to eat when I searched for a BBQ joint nearby.
When I got to the place I walked into the courtyard where a band was setting up and a few people were gathered.
As I walked into the place there was a sign that read something like please wait to be seated.
The girl behind the bar was talking with some other girl and when I asked whether I could sit anywhere there was no response, not even a glance.
The possible owner of the place (An older leathery looking fellow) walked in and ushered a server outside to do something and again, no attention to the new walk in what so ever.
Finally I asked the guy behind the line what’s going on and he finally told me that they are offering a Cinco de Mayo menu and no BBQ in sight.
So… this place get a 1 star from me and a promise that I will NEVER come back again!
When I worked in the restaurant business back in NYC there was NO SUCH THING as letting a walk in just stand there unattended within 30 seconds or less. At least acknowledge the person and let them feel like you gave a S!
I had high hopes for this place… alas!

Without the ambiance of State St (read: fun drunk people) this place is pretty depressing. Its basically just an open kitchen and half a bar and totally dead. The only sounds you hear are the loud fridge. They only have 4 beers on tap now, which I remember being much more. Food is better when there are other people around enjoying it and on this Friday night it was completely dead. The pulled pork was decent and we appreciated that there was a chicken salad option. Overall the experience was awkward and disappointing. Something went wrong here.

Being new to santa barbara i was craving bbq and decided to come here. I was very impressed with the presentation an taste of the food. The ambience definitely caters to a younger crowd but what do you expect. Most definitely i would come back to eat here.
The burger and fries i ordered were delicious absolutely worth every penny. Everyone. Else that has rated this place low have expectations way too high. Snooty pricks lol

The last time I came here I was so excited that there was affordable BBQ in Santa Barbara, so I decided to give it a try again. I really wish I hadn’t. Let me start by saying there was a rat crawling by where their kitchen exit on the outside is. That’s right a RAT! I informed a staff member he said there were traps outside and not to worry. I couldn’t get it out of my mind the whole time so I couldn’t enjoy my food and lost my appetite quickly. Service was incredibly slow and horrible. We had to ask for knives and forks and for ranch twice. It’s unfortunate that we had this experience because we liked it previously. It’s safe to say we will not be returning.

I wish I could give a better review but I can’t. In fact the one star is for the patio. They were out of so many things on the menu it was embarrassing. I couldn’t tell if my ice tea was tea or water and when I asked they said «sorry we ran out and had to make this up.» What the heck did they do? Great location and great concept but I wouldn’t come back due to the food and service.

Came to Santa Barbara for a day trip and looking to have some good BBQ with the family. Wow, one waitress and slllllllooooowwwww service. No hot sauce, burnt onion rings, Cesar salad had no taste, and the ribs were so so. Will not return to this place.

Today I decided to finally eat at the Killer B’s new location, and I must say I am very disappointed.
I used to come here for their delicious mac n cheese and amazing burgers. Today I realized that the food quality has changed (in a bad way), but the prices stayed the same. I ordered the tri-​tip plate from the few choices of the menu, which included 2 sides of my choice — a Caesar salad and mac and cheese.
To my surprise, they now serve the food on paper plates, the salad had no flavor and the mac and cheese tasted poorly. Being a restaurant specializing in BBQ, I was hoping the meat would still be good… But unfortunately I have a stomach ache and that is the reason for this review.
I am sorry to say it’s very likely I won’t be going back.

I am so disappointed with the new location and new owner ofKiller B. I used to love this place and they had decent food. Last night I got the worst «salad» and «fries» because they didn’t have a veggie burger. We refused everything because the service was so bad! five pieces of lettuce and smaller than Habit portion fries for ten bucks didn’t cut it for «dinner» I will never go back…

This place used to be my favorite spot in town for BBQ, but now it’s probably the worst.
Terrible service. Food was mediocre and expensive and served on paper plates. Sauce is bad. Meat was dry.
Really disappointing.
2 stars because the beer that I drank was nice and the place is still nice too.

Bring your pup and your appetite! Love the killer new location with huge dog friendly patio. Now I can catch my Trojans on TV while enjoying some brews and eating some tasty meats outdoors. Would’ve gotten 5 stars but I genuinely miss the sauce choices. But the meat is still as good if not better!

I was eating dinner with a friend and we were going someplace else, but they were full and had a wait so we came here on a whim. The bar/​restaurant inside didn’t have a lot of seats available so we sat outside. It was a really nice night out and the weather was perfect. Our server was attentive and friendly, which was nice, since often I feel like outside tables get kind of ignored in other restaurants. Not here! My husband got the pulled pork plate, I got the pulled pork sliders and a small Caesar salad and my friend got the tri-​tip plate. Our food was served on disposable trays/​plates for the most part. My friend liked her tri-​tip, but found the Mac N Cheese side to be pretty bland. She got BBQ sauce on the side and it came in a shot glass, which was cool, but in the end wasn’t enough for both the meat, and the Mac N Cheese. She had to ask for a second shot (she mentioned the BBQ sauce was pretty thin).
My husband liked his pulled pork. I bit into a slider and got a big piece of pork fat in my bite. Very gross. I took apart all three little sliders and picked out the big piece of fat in each. They still had a LOT of pork and were not wanting, but it was annoying to have to deal with the extra fat. Downside to the sliders is they were served on very fluffy buns, which very quickly became mushy and gross with the pulled pork. Even though there was no more fat in my sandwiches, the texture was almost the same because of the bread. No thanks.
My friend and I each ordered their Smoores dessert, which sounded fantastic but just turned out «okay.» Think about your classic campfire smoores. Now picture someone taking a plate, drizzling some chocolate sauce on it, putting four big fluffy toasted marshmallows on that, topping it with a very thin home-​made graham cracker sort of thing and then adding a small dollop of very light fluffy whipped crème on top with a tiny dusting of cocoa powder. Sounds nice, but the marshmallows were the only thing warm about this concoction, and they weren’t even that warm. The chocolate was WAY under-​represented, the graham cracker was somewhat under-​represented in terms of overall flavor, and the cold whipped crème on top had no relevance and detracted from the overall smoores tastes.
My recommendation for Killer B’s is to make it two crackers (just like in the classic), add actual melted chocolate instead of just a dribble of sauce, and ditch the whipped cream. Then serve the whole thing HOT and not mildly warm.
I didn’t order the Mac N Cheese because the server confirmed they do use onions in their sauce.
Overall I would not mind eating here again if my friends want to, but I won’t be the one to recommend it and I won’t get the sliders or the smoores again. Most of the food was pretty quick to arrive, though the desserts were very slow. I loved our server though. She was always checking on us and very professional and friendly.

Place is pretty good. Food was good and the price was right. Saturday night it was empty.

How can people say the food and service is good here? Really… unless you like tasteless, over cooked, dry, weird colored food.
We asked 3 times to get water for our dog… the server kept bringing up other people’s food…
We ordered mac n cheese puffs for an appetizer, blah… no flavor at all!
We got the brisket and pork plate, meat was dry… flavor was okay. Server was still bad… Will NOT being going back to this place! I was so disappointed I couldn’t look at the server… what a waste of money!

Great people with awesome personalities and awesome customer service skills. Will, the owner, is a really good guy who interacts with his customers and remembers them. This only enhances the customer service here. Great BBQ, happy hour prices, and a great feel and vibe to the place. The only thing they’re lacking is more of a beer selection on tap. But that’s the one and only downside here! Still highly recommend it.

I use to go to the old location a little further up state, and the new location is even better. Looking forward to visiting the new location again.
The owner is a very friendly guy who always seems to be at the restaurant making sure that everyone is being taken care of. Just a happy guy with a great attitude. Their ribs, fries and brisket are what we regularly get. Fair prices, good specials, and Good spot to watch a game as well.

Happy to find Killer B’s open during my lunch hour. Still lacking the ambiance of their former State Street location, but the manager (owner?) told me of great things happening over the next 30 days– the awning will be up, there are plans for a fire pit, more daily specials to entice more guests. I am hopeful for this place!
I suspect he’s lost much of his staff in the interim; I only saw two others although I did not look to see if there were more people working inside. It was not too busy but still there was a 20-​minute delay in getting my meal (for which he apologized… «Mixup in the kitchen»). The food (pulled pork sandwich with slaw) was excellent! Heavily-​battered onion rings (the way I like them) were golden brown, perhaps a tad greasy but still tasty. I could have flagged someone down to request a fork (the pulled pork was overflowing the bun, so much ended up on the serving basket) but I managed with just my fingers (it IS BBQ, after all, right?) and while not exactly «classy», the full roll of paper towels (one on each table) were certainly plentiful.
So, I feel better now about the place. Work on building up the staff, make the patio aesthetically pleasing, keep those specials for the «regulars» and I see a bright future in this new setting.

Love this place! The owner and the staff are super friendly. They smoke all their meats and have a full bar. I love the brisket sandwich! They also have lots of TVs to watch the games on. I’m a regular here and love it!

I came to eat here back when this restaurant was on State St and only found out recently that they relocated. D: However, not much has changed since the last time I was here, the food is just as good and the service goes beyond what you can ask for. =) Our waitress, Haylie, exceeded our expectations and took it upon herself to make sure that we were satisfied with our order.
I split a full rack of ribs with a buddy and they were spot on with not too much sauce that would normally overwhelm the flavor of the ribs. The ribs also come with two sides, so bring your appetite. Definitely try the Mac & Cheese Puffs as an appetizer. :D