A Sneak Peek at the New Sandbar Santa Barbara

Painting a picture of the vision behind the newly remodeled Sandbar Santa Barbara, CEO Greg Newman waxes poetically of the Riviera Maya–inspired restaurant, bar, and nightlife destination. 

“Imagine you’re with your friends, and you go down to Cancun or Barbados, and you guys go kayaking, right? And you’re going to an island, then you get lost, … and you pull up your kayaks, and then you go kind of into the jungle, and then there’s a waterfall, and you go under the waterfall, and you think you might be lost. Then, all of a sudden, it’s like wow!” He proudly points to an expansive new bar area, designed to feel like a hidden tropical coastline retreat. An impressive array of spirits gleam from the shelves, and 20 beer taps are ready to roll. 

“The whole idea here is to try to get people an escape from reality,” says Newman, as he walks photographer Ingrid Bostrom and I through the spacious new interior for an exclusive early look at the redesigned space before it opens to the public on June 18.

Designed to create a tropical, beachy vacation vibe, the place is charming and spacious and a thousand times more upscale, with great light from the retractable rooftop on this warm afternoon in early June. The mood that day is anything but tranquil, however, as dozens of staffers gather to train and learn all about the new cocktail program and newly unveiled menu, while additional workers put the finishing touches on the space and its expansive outdoor patios featuring some firepit tables. Open-air spaces and stylish indoor areas are designed to seamlessly transition from daytime dining into the kind of lively late-night entertainment that Sandbar and its prior tenant Calypso are long known for.  

“It was kind of like a nightclub when we bought it, and we changed it into a Mexican restaurant … one that turns into a bar at 10:30 or 11,” said Newman, who serves as CEO of Baja Sharkeez Restaurant Group, which also owns Baja Sharkeez on that same block of State Street as well as another dozen restaurants in Southern California. That acquisition was back in 2007, and while they’ve done minor updates along the way, this is the first time they’ve completely gutted the historic space (which was once a car dealership) and redone it from scratch. 

Working with interior design firm Vanrooy, which specializes in destination hospitality, the new space manages to give both Santa Barbara vibes — with photos of surfer Tommy Curren and local skate rats on the walls — and simultaneously make you feel like you’ve landed in a beach destination far, far away. And even though it’s right on one of the busiest blocks of State Street, the expansive open space (with an optional retractable roof) goes all the way from the street to the back parking lot, so it really does feel like you’ve entered a coastal resort. 

Part of that vacay vibe is, of course, the expansive cocktail menu crafted by master mixologists John Fox and Kevin Williams and including 13 different margaritas (spicy pomegranate, smoky pasilla, three different options for muddled fruit among them), more than a baker’s dozen new innovative cocktails (including the beautiful Aloha Mai Tai with passion fruit coconut foam adornments) and a couple of social bowls — the Pink Flamingo Spritz and Disco Stick — they describe as “massive cocktails made for sharing.”

The new five-page food menu, created by Chef Ray Alvarez, also looks quite enticing with an array of Mexican favorites from street-style tacos, burritos, ranchero bowls, combinations to a nice array of seafood dishes, and what Alvarez and Newman both told me they’re most excited about: an assortment of ceviches including Ceviche Pineapple Camerones and Ceviche de Pescado Blanco. The Isla Cortez Shrimp Tacos with grilled shrimp, poblano, melted queso fundido, and chipotle aioli are another favorite, as is the Achiote Beso Salmon. 

Mentored by the Too Hot Tamales chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, Alvarez and Newman have collaborated for more than a decade on multiple concepts, traveling for inspiration and creating a giant binder of menu items inspired by what they’ve tried and want to put their own spin on. 

The back bar at Sandbar | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Greg’s father Ron Newman, who was one of the owners of the Red Onion group of restaurants from the 1960s to when they closed down in the 1990s, still comes in from time to time, said Alvarez. “It really is like a big family,” he added. 

“A lot of the people that have kind of built this up with us, we’ve made partners, and they’ve been with us for 20-25 years,” said Greg Newman, who developed his first restaurant shortly after graduating from college. “So, it’s like a family that’s not our family, but it’s just me and my dad, and he’s now 88, but he’s been here during this whole construction … It takes years and years to learn this, and so he’s been teaching me for 33 years, and I’m still learning, you know.”

Sandbar Santa Barbara, 514 State St., will have its grand reopening on Thursday, June 18 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and celebrations till 2 a.m. They will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Friday, with weekend brunch on Saturdays and Sundays when they open at 9 a.m. See sandbar.net/santa-barbara for more details.