Santa Monica Restaurants

We came here on a Saturday evening and it was so cute! They did a great job decorating for the holidays. The food was fantastic and were able to make mocktails. The service was a little slow, but overall, a really fun restaurant! We left around 8pm which is when the resident dj was starting to play.

My spouse & I met our son and his girlfriend for dinner while we were in town. What an amazing experience! The wait staff was kind, knowledgeable, attentive, but not smothering, he had fantastic wine recs, based off of my husband’s horrible description of what he likes, he told us what dishes couldn’t be missed (he was spot on about the octopus skewers and the beet dish), and when he hesitated to pick a favorite dessert, we ordered all 3, because he had been such an incredible guide all evening, we figured we needed to try them all. Again, he wasn’t wrong. My son loved the strawberry tart, I loved the sticky toffee pudding, everyone loved the chocolate bar. While I love to try new places when I’m traveling, Tar & Roses will definitely be the place we return to when we are in town. And, if you’re staying at Shutters on the Beach, and you’re comfortable in urban environments, it is a very easy walk, so you don’t have to stress about cancelled Ubers or parking.

Great food, great service! Loved the place! Would def recommend the aged porterhouse!!

Francisco was an outstanding chef! We’ve probably eaten at Benihana 50 times or more and he was the best chef we’ve had. On the negative side - it’s always a drag to show up to a reservation on time and have to wait 30 minutes + to be seated … the host desk could do better to seat reservations in a timely fashion.

Excellent food Huge portions (the breakfasts were big)