The French Table

This place totally came out of nowhere and it is adorable!
My server named Dustin was incredibly attentive and kind.
Plus this world needs more creperies, and The French Table excels in that arena.

Although service today was a little lacking, they were understaffed due to a recent walkout of staff. If it wasn’t for Dustin’s (our waiter) excellent personality and honesty our experience would have been very different.
Service:
While visiting Santa Barbara with my boyfriend we came here for a Valentine’s Day dinner. When we first walked in, the waitress/​hostess greeted us, after a short exchange it was still unclear whether we should seat ourselves or have her seat us. After awkwardly laughing about it, we decided to seat ourselves, the hostess seemingly ‘going along with it’. It was also awkward that we received our appetizers before we were given any utensils. But the waiter (Dustin) came and apologized for the chaos and business and really appreciated our patience. His personality and friendliness was the redeeming quality to an other wise below-​par service.
Food:
We order the vday prefix menu as well as the French onion soup and the filet risotto. The soup was very well done and the risotto was delicious. For the prefix menu it started off with bacon wrapped shrimp which were very well cooked. For the entrée we had a special salmon which itself was delicious, but the veggies and mashed potatoes were not very impressive. For dessert it was a simple vanilla ice cream and whipped cream with 2 chocolate dipped strawberries.

Bottom Line; solid four stars for very good food and excellent service — minus one star for their prices being about 30% too high…
Who thinks that this place is a Gastropub?! Have they ever been to one before?!
My wife and I had a baby three months ago and we desperately needed to get away for a few hours so we headed over here for a romantic dinner.
We started off with the prosciutto bruschetta, which was lovely. the toast was cooked perfectly (just crispy) and everything that was on the plate was gone very quickly.
For dinner I went with the Filet Risotto and the wife went with the Pasta Carbonara.
The Risotto was near perfect — tired together with the sauce they add at the end… very good.
The wife really liked her carbonara. I got a taste of it and Im not a huge fan of carbonara in general but this plate is pretty good. I love the presentation with the open egg at the top.
We had a sweet crêpe for dessert which was probably the best plate of the night minus the mango that was nowhere near ripe but still awesome.
All in all, everything was really good. Our server was excellent — professional and friendly.
My main beef is the prices; $ 22 for a little Filet Mignon and rice, $ 15 for an egg and some cooked dough and sauce, $ 10 for a glass of wine…
when all was said and done, including tip our bill was almost $ 90. I tipped what was deserved because our server was very good, and the effort that the cooks had put into the plates was readily apparent.
The wife and I really liked this place but its going to have to be an occasional treat for us because it’s just too expensive.

Excellent food and service. I had the Napoleon crêpe and hubby had the duck. We both enjoyed what we selected. We were celebrating hubby’s bday and they brought out a crêpe with a sparkler on it and the band played Happy Birthday! We will be back!

As of December 12, 2013, this place is still open (despite the Unilocal notice that it’s closed), but I doubt they will stay open too much longer. I love the location and views of the Court house! That’s about all this place has to offer! :(The service was horrible! We had to ask for everything, she didn’t tell is the specials, never checked on us, or filled our drinks. My boyfriend’s steak was
cooked. The manager was super nice though and reduced the amount. :) He explained there’s all new staff and they are trying. I’ll try this place again, but I’m not impressed.

Well… I took my Mom who was visiting from Chicago and decided to bring her here as one of her Christmas presents. First off… ask for DUSTIN as your waiter, he is freaking awesome and makes the entire French Table experience that much better. They have a solid beer selection and wine list. Ordered prosciutto bruschetta (⁸⁄₁₀) and split the lamb burger (⁸⁄₁₀) with delicious fries and a side salad which was rather (very bland). Over all a very good experience with a great location.

I am SOO confused about some of these reviews?!? They must have hired a whole new wait staff or something, as our service could not have been any better! Everyone was soo friendly and attentive (a believe our main waiter was Dustin). Our food was insanely good as well… We got the lobster ravioli, and the lump crab burger after some guidance on what we were looking for, and we were beyond satisfied! The dessert crepes just sealed the deal. Loved this place!

I hate writing negative reviews but I had a terrible experience here. All the servers were foreign and did not understand English at all. I went with 3 other people and I felt horrible because it was my suggestion to go there.
The management was very disorganized. We had 4 different servers try to take our order and each of them kept checking on us to the point of being obnoxious. They were out of 3 different types of wine. We tried one that was promised to be good but was much more expensive than we had wanted to pay. The server struggled to open it, broke off the cork in the bottle and then proceeded to spill wine all over my shirt and pants. I was nice to the waitress and told her not to worry about it (she looked like it was her first night and she was about to cry).
Another server came up and apologized and asked if we’d like a free dessert. We agreed but asked that they please wait until after the meal. 2 other servers came up and asked what we’d like for dessert. Annoyed, we ordered something and again said, «please bring it after our meal.»
10 minutes later, our dessert came out. Really? We had to laugh at this. Then our appetizers: we got a crêpe and the beef tartar. I would not order either again. Finally we got our dinner, I got a fish dish and the side veggies were huge chopped carrots with no flavor at all. The fish was mediocre at best.
I called to speak to the owner as I would rather tell him how he could improve than leave a bad review. He was a nice French man who apologized and gave me a gift card and offered to clean my pants. This was 3 months ago and they still have my pants. I’ve called 4 time since and they’re promised to have the manager or owner call me back but have not.
I do not even want to go back there to my gift card.
I miss when it was Epiphany’s! At least they had a fun bar with great cocktails!

Okay, so I am reading the reviews on here and I am completely lost. My girlfriend and I stayed in Santa Barbara last month to see the Depeche Mode concert. We were looking at possible places to go for brunch and we found a gem. Mike was our waiter and he was amazing (So was his mustache). We were seated and we fell in love with the place. It has a New Orleans feel to it and has big band music playing in the background.
We ordered mimosas and brunch. My lovely companion got strawberry crepes and I got eggs with chorizo. We were completely impressed. Fresh fruit and wonderful crepes were complimented. And I have never tasted a better chorizo in my life. We had some coffee and just got to relax.
The service was amazing and Mike was always there to make sure we had what we needed. I would recommend this establishment to anyone staying in the Santa Barbara area looking for some New Orleans flavor.

My husband and I just got married at the courthouse across the street. We needed a spot for our guests to take a rest and for us to change into different clothes while we took additional photos in the courthouse.
The waitstaff at the French Table was SO accommodating. They were very gracious about a group of 10 sitting there for hours. Several of our guests ordered just water or coffee. The waitstaff was always prompt with refills and always gave us ample baskets of bread. We also took up a lot of the restroom.
We ordered three appetizers and they were a hit with our guests!
Chicken Pâté-​mmmm SO good! This was really especially tasty.
Cheese Plate
Tuna Tartar
The bill came out to be $ 60. AMAZING! Can’t wait to revisit on our anniversary!

On a trip to S.B. last month we had two great meals at French Table– one brunch and one dinner.
Brunch was fantastic– we went on a sunday around 10:30AM and hardly anyone was there (though it was filling up fast when we left around 11:30). There were so many delicious options it was hard to choose. I appreciate that they have quite an extensive GF-​menu (i.e. crepes with buckwheat) as well as lots of flavorful but «clean» options (i.e. eggwhite omelet with seasonal veggies).
Dinner mid-​week was also fantastic– showed up around 6:00PM and had no trouble getting a table (again, no wait). My husband had the all-​you-​can-​eat mussels and was quite pleased. He made it through 1.5 helpings and was able to take the other half home with him for some tasty leftovers. I had a veggie-​sea food open crêpe and ended up with two because they brought something similar but wrong (someone’s special version) to me by mistake. Even though I was happy with what I was already eating, they gave me the original order too, so I had an entire extra entrée for free to take home. I have to say– the specialized version was much better, they should definitely add it to the menu (scallops, shrimp, goat cheese, asparagus, spinach on a buckwheat crêpe).
The service has always been A+ for us– really smiley, friendly, happy waitstaff who indulged every question/​request and checked in on us frequently. I think if I could offer one criticism: French Table ought to hire more servers because at dinner-​time we noticed our poor waiter LITERALLY running from the table to the back/​to the front to try and seat people. It seemed really stressful.
There aren’t many options for local, organic, seasonal produce & meats in restaurant settings in S.B. and I’m so happy French Table is committed to providing this. For the quality of the food, the price was very fair– thus we returned twice in one week. Highly recommended!

Great Experience! Wen’t with the wife and baby for a late lunch. Nice ambiance, cool artwork, cozy and warm.
We scored! Micha was our waiter (I believe that was his name. Fu-​man-​chu mustache). He was very pleasant. Great service. made us feel comfy.
We ordered the lump crab burger and Italian panini. I had an arnold palmer and wife had an orangina. Finished it off with crepes suzzette. Everything was very tasty. Looking forward to going back for brunch or another cozy late lunch. Thanks Micha

Stopped in for daily happy hour (3−7pm) on a Saturday @ 3:30pm, since it wasn’t super busy they let us sit outside on the patio. The waitress was very friendly and nice, she let us know that the food service was slow so she offered us any soda or juice from the bar while we waited.
Happy Hour prices were nice: $ 5 draft beer, wine, sangria, fries, any dessert crêpe.
Sangria had blackberries, strawberries, and mango in it. I preferred the red sangria over the white sangria.
Crème de la crêpe: bananas, coconut, nutella, flambé with Grand Marnier. Great presentation though the flambé part burnt the coconut and I guess I’m not a fan of toasted coconut.
I’ll definitely be back for happy hour, maybe dinner and brunch. $ 15 endless mimosa brunch offered on Sat and Sun, $ 29 endless mussels and fries on Tuesday nights. Go on a lazy day, maybe after a visit to the Courthouse or Art Museum.

French Table is A-​OK. They’ve made some significant changes which have caused me to update my review.
I’ll start with the good… Arturo, the bartender, has been amazing! Ever time I have come in here he has consistently been attentive, informative about the menu and personable. He is definitely an asset to the front of the house staff.
The not so good, Bastien, on the other hand, was terrible. Completely ignored most of the customers at a busy bar while chatting nonstop with two guys at the bar and polishing the same wine glass for nearly 30 minutes. We got tired of waiting for him to acknowledge our presence so we could order another round of drinks and decided to head to the Marquee instead. Sorry Bastien, no beuno.
The bad, the beloved happy hour has been reduced to less than a quarter of the original offerings and the prices have increased overall dramatically on the food. The selections they do offer now are decent but there is no wow factor, nothing really special or amazing.
The ugly, my Parisienne crêpe on the new HH menu. The batter was made of buckwheat, had a strange consistency and poor after taste. It was mushy and not very flavorful, the chicken was rubbery, and they forget the green onion. Luckily all of this was drenched in a really rich cream sauce that was tasty enough to mask all the other mistakes going on with this dish so that it was at least edible.
We’ll be back for dinner, maybe, or brunch, but not often. It seems they still have some kinks to iron out.

The most comical meal I have ever experienced. Wow! Every single thing went wrong that you could imagine and then some. Nice people though and our server next stopped smiling :).
Here are some highlights:
1. We waited for an hour for the cheese fondue appetizer only to find out that it was «stolen» by another table
2. The beer was «kicked» because the tap was spewing all over the place
3. We asked for no coconut on the dessert and when it had coconut, the server asked us if «anyone liked it at all». We all just shook our heads.
4. Since all the other tables had a fun sparkler for someone’s birthday, we asked for one too (just to make light of how terrible the dinner was). He came back and told us that since no one had a birthday, this would be «disingenuous»
5. The fish that was supposed to have vanilla bean and white chocolate had absolutely no hint of those flavors (should mention that all the dishes that camee out were cold)
I could go on and on.
Still chuckling about this one…

While trying to figure out a place for brunch, decided to try French Table, and glad we did! Ther Menu offers a wide variety of light to heavy fare, with small bites and delicious crepes. The service was a bit slow as they were not the busy, but it’s the weekend, why not sit back and actually enjoy the ambiance rather than rushing…
Their Happy Hour Starts at 3pm, and offers a short version of the menu at GREAT prices.
A new Favorite place

I dined at the French Table for the first time last weekend and had an extremely pleasant dinner. The restaurant is on E. Anapamu St, about a block and a half off of State, and is secluded from most of the hustle and bustle of downtown SB.
Before I even get into the food, I must mention my server. Her name was Kiyome, and she was wonderful. She was charming and funny, and recommended some great menu items. (And she was smokin’ hot!) She was lovely and really made it a great experience.
The menu is very creative and should have something for everyone. I started with the caprese salad which was very good, and then had the lobster ravioli for my main course. The ravioli was excellent and the lobster cognac sauce was to die for. Though I did not try one, they are apparently earning a reputation for their crepes, which looked delicious. In addition to great food, the restaurant also has an assortment of great beers on tap. I tried the Magic Hat and really enjoyed it.
There are three seating areas — an outdoor patio, a bar area, and a dining room — all of which have a great ambiance, and excellent décor. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I liked more: the ambiance, or the décor.
Overall, The French Table is just plain great, and I’m already looking forward to my next visit. I would recommend this place to everyone.

What an awesome random stopover for us! They have only been open for a month when we stepped into their gastropub. And luckily, we came at happy hour (3−6pm) where appetizers, crepes and burgers were half-​off!
We ordered seafood gratin which was perfect! The shrimp couldn’t have been cooked any better and the fish with slightly burnt cheese crusting just melted on our tongues!
The beef tartare au couteau is not for the faint of heart, raw meat at its finest!
Will definitely come back for more!

We stopped by for lunch, looking for some Frenchy food. What a delight! What a great menu! Wonderful food!
We arrived early, for lunch, and although the restaurant is fairly new, it quickly filled. We ordered a salmon salad, a nicoise salad, and a ham sandwich on a baguette. The portions were generous and the food delicious. The basket of bread included a tasty jam to spread on buttered baguette.
Service was excellent, personal and friendly, and it was joyous to hear French spoken in the spacious and spectacular kitchen next to the eating area.
We shared a «Triple Guillotine» crêpe between the three of us-​excellent. And, of course, we studied the menu and made notes of unfinished business, desserts and meals we are anxious to return to try.
But, of course, right now a nap is in order. Highly recommended!

Nice ambiance and food relative to previous establishment, Elements. They made it a lot more open and well lit, feels lighter and younger. We had the breakfast (french toast and the «healthy breakfast»). Well-​made and good portions and very decently priced at 11 – 12 bucks for Santa Barbara.
I would go back again. Looks like they have some good happy hour specials and you can’t beat the location across from the courthouse.