Reviews for Yoichi's in Santa Barbara, CA
Classic Kaiseki with impeccable attention to detail and uncompromisingly high quality ingredients. An oasis in a desert of... restaurants calibrated for the student/tourist population. We will go here every time we are in town, and recommend you do thesame. Read more
Truly one of the best meal experiences I?ve ever had! Sake paring suggestion was well worth it. Food was delicate and flavorful.... Absolutely recommend! Read more
What an amazing experience. And amazing food! We got out of our comfort zone a bit for this one and we were so glad we did! I... already love sashimi and sushi, but I?d never tried uni before. Delicious! Read more
Absolutely amazing multi-course dinner. Went for my husband?s birthday. Every course was explained by the chef, absolutely... exquisite. I have a shellfish allergy and the chef accommodated me and altered 2 courses for me specifically. Amazing food.Amazing service. Amazing experience. We will return to this place. Read more
Each coarse delivered made me reevaluate what my taste buds and what I thought was good food. It was all great, in particular... the wagyu on sesame sauce. Very happy with the selection there. Each course had something special from the ultra soft tofu infish sauce and steamed lotus root to the AMAZING sashimi, in particular the Striped Jack (Shima-Aji) and to the very satisfyingblend of fruit, red bean and cinnamon in the dessert! Highly recommend and very happy for my first ever Kaiseki experience Read more
First time we had this 7 course meal and it was impressive. I agree with another reviewer about the variance of the quality of... materials used inthe meals, but for a Kaiseki course this is about the right price for the quality. The best qualities are thesashimi, the uni (from Santa Barbara and Hokkaido) were wonderful, the mackerel was fatty and the best mackerel I've had. Thecod soup is great as the black cod itself was very flavorful. For the grilled dish I had Salmon and it was the best choice outof the 3, the salmon was grilled to perfection with some marinate that gave it an extra kick. For the steam dish the oyster bowlwas awesome, the sauce absorbed both the taste of the mandarin bowl and oyster, and as you get deeper the mandarin flavorstrengthened, I loved it! The eel and monkfish liver was ok, the eel is exactly what you'd expect, and the liver was not toofatty and had decent flavor and not too strong. Now the less impressive are the wagyu, both the appetizer and the grilledversion did not impress, it was dry and hard, and the grilled one was well done which did not help. The dessert was strawberryand blueberry mochis, which I thought could be fancier. Kaiseki is definitely an experience though, and we thoroughly enjoyedit. Read more
Very good, but there are better choices for ~ $160/person (all included). The sashimi was some of the best I've ever had. The... wagyu, duck and crab could be better. The eel with monkfish liver pate was good but for the price I expected more complexity.The servers were kind and knew the dishes and sake very well, but at times were too busy to be adequately attentive. Excellentchoices of sake - maybe the highlight of my visit along with the sashimi. The ambience was very serene, calm and understated.Attire smart casual or smart. Good for a date, but there are better choices (e.g. El Encanto) Read more
It is an amazing experience and definitely a place to try quality Japanese cuisine. Not big portions but the quality is the... definition of perfect. Read more