Swiss Restaurant - Santa Maria

[Steve Anderson]

After and afternoon of great food and wine at the SBCVA Celebration of Harvest, we were debating about whether or not to go out to dinner Saturday night. After poking around on the internet a bit I convinced Misuk we needed to try the Swiss Restaurant. We didn't have a reservation and I was a bit worried when we pulled up, as the parking lot was completely filled. An older place (established in 1941), with rustic decor, we were lucky there were still a few tables open, although they filled up pretty quickly after we were seated. Swiss is primarily a barbecue restaurant and this was our first experience with the Santa Maria barbecue style.

Food: We ordered the Grilled Artichoke appetizer. Nice smoky flavor and excellent dipping sauce, but a lot of work to get the little nuggets of meat on each leaf. A bit salty (A-). Misuk ordered the baby back ribs and I ordered the filet. The ribs were excellent! Very juicy with lots of meat, and with a great Santa Maria dry rub they were not at all messy (A). The filet was a generous size (14 oz). A bit of a gnarly shape, the texture and flavor were good. Just a bit overdone. I asked for Medium+ and got a solid well done (B). Sides were generous, with salads, beans, salsa and garlic bread (A-). We would definitely come back for the ribs, although I would probably not order the filet again.

Wine: The list was small, but a good representation of Santa Barbara County and reasonable mark ups. Misuk was not enthused about drinking more wine after the SBCVA event, so I ordered a glass of the 2010 Melville Syrah. Wine was good, although may have suffered with what passed as a wine glass (B+).

Service: Service was friendly but very basic. Our server was scarce, with long times between visits. (B).

Overall: A-/B+. As noted, we would definitely return for the baby back ribs.

Cheers,

Steve