The Imperial

Smokers’ Paradise! Great vibe, music, service… AND, yes, cigarette smoking! I love to have a smoke, being surrounded by fellow smokers, while having high-​end cocktails (we’re talking $ 15 plus, people!) It is so great to be out with likeminded peeps in California, let alone Santa Barbara and Goleta. Come to their patio, smoke it up and enjoy! The good life!

Great drinks, friendly bar tenders, especially the guy with the long hair. He made me the most delicious pineapple bourbon old fashion for my birthday. Great atmosphere to just relax and unwind after a hard day at work.

I love this place. The bartenders know their stuff, the glassware is mostly vintage and beautiful, and it has a great atmosphere. The patio is set up like a bunch of intimate little outdoor living rooms so you can sit with your crew and feel like you’re in your own backyard except that this is Santa Barbara and people can’t afford backyards. They also have a great vinyl collection.

This place is great. They have a good beer selection, good Irish Whiskey choices, and a fun atmosphere. Like its sister bar, the Mercury Lounge, the crowd can be a bit too hipsterishly grad student dense, but usually it’s mellow and fun. A bit hard to find, tucked away behind the old Sizzler, the formerly named «Bak Door» is one of the very few cool spots in Old Town Goleta to get a drink. Friendly staff is a plus as well.

Great Little Dive Bar in Santa Barbara

Speakeasy style lounge with an outdoor patio.
Drinks are crazy strong; that can be good or bad depending on your preference.
Most of their signature cocktails aren’t really good.
I stick with their wine or short list of beers.
I come here for the atmosphere to lounge and chat with friends not particularly the drinks.

Best bar ever. Dawn is cool and her drinks were on point. Highly recommend!

I really love the Imperial. The cucumber margarita is so delicious! The only thing that I would change about this place is the size. It’s too small and I’m tired of trying to snatch a table!

While this is by no means my kind of place, we had a great time here and the bartender went above and beyond to make sure we were having a great time.
Chatted with locals which is something I also don’t usually do, this turned out to be the best spot on our tour through the area.
Looking at the pictures they now seem to offer liquor, when we went it was only beer and wine and they sent us to the Mercury, owned by the same person, for cocktails.
Beer was fine, nothing special, they were out of the first few we wanted to try.
What really stood out was the service, really really great.
Dive bar space with bar tops, a few couches and the best area, the outside seating.
Worth checking out while in the area!

By far one of my favorite lounges in town. From the dim lighting, décor and jazzy music, this place is a hidden gem.
Drinks are deliciously crafted with the service to match it. The outdoor patio is perfect for warm summer days, surrounded with luscious plants, twinkle lights and comfortable seating.
Gin Martini, Old Fashion, and Jameson Ginger– beautifully poured stirred and shaken.

Super swank chill hang out with top shelf high quality drinks, check it out! Music was fun, it’s dark and relaxed I would deff come back

This is now my favorite spot to grab a drink in Goleta. Great atmosphere that makes it easy to relax and chat with friends. I have tried their Old Fashioned and Sazerac and they are perfect. The outside patio adds a nice romantic touch. I loved the jazzy feel of this place. Slowly sipping an old fashioned to Jobim’s «Girl from Ipanema» on a Friday night is one of the best feelings in the world.

Absolutely every town needs a hidden, unmarked lounge. Before you even walk in the door, you’re going to feel pretty pleased with yourself for a.) finding it and b.) knowing about it. Once you get inside, you’ll be charmed by the speakeasy vibe, friendly bar staff, and extensive cocktail menu. Choose to sit at the large, midcentury style bar, on one of the plush velvet couches lining the walls, or on the intimate back patio — really, you can’t go wrong. This is the type of bar where you feel like your bartender should know your «regular order,» and you can come to have deep, philosophical discussions or impress an unsuspecting date. Never crowded, this intimate lounge keeps Goleta classy.

Finally a bar/​lounge that smells good… and is clean in Goleta. I loved grabbing a drink there and the bar tender Robby was so knowledgeable and professional. Who ever is running the place keeps it sparkling. It is safe to say the imperial is the gem of goleta!

The drinks were great, I ordered a cucumber margarita and it was very refreshing. We were here on a Saturday night and it was not too crowded. The only downside is that it takes 30 – 45 minutes to get a drink. Our party ended up leaving because it was taking way too long.

By FAR my favorite bar/​lounge on the Central Coast. It’s quite difficult to find (and not well marked) if you’ve never been (it’s even hard to find on the internet!) but that makes it all the more rewarding when you do find it, and as another reviewer said, once you’re in, you kind of hope no one else finds it so it doesn’t get crazy crowded or trashy.
I’m obsessed with the décor and vibe, our drinks were great (if pricey, but that seems to be the norm now), including a free one for the bride-​to-​be I was with. I didn’t even go past the first room, where there are booths for a slightly more private experience than standing at tables on the main floor. No one bothered us, which was a plus.
I can’t wait to take all my friends here, I can’t shut up about it!

Even though I’ve only been once, I Love this place.
It’s like stepping back in time. Mad Men style. The drinks are brilliantly original. Can’t wait to try the Cucumber Margarita.
Super laid, back but still fully enjoying life kinda vibe, and without the feel of those depressing «drinking yours sorrows away» kind of dive bars.
The staff was great, especially our delightful cocktail waitress. Should’ve asked her name.
I look forward to returning.
Cheers!

Shhhhhhhh, it’s a secret so I will whisper. Don’t tell your friends and whatever you do DON’T post it on Unilocal!We don’t want this place to get busy.
First of all it is hidden so I am not going to describe where it is.
But if you like the Mercury, if you like Elsie’s you will probably love the Imperial! Unlike the other two this place is a full bar, in fact it is a full bar and then some! Do you want to try some Absinthe? They have five to choose from, who else has that? Are you from the Big Easy and missing those Sazeraks because nobody in town seems to know how to make them correctly? Go to the imperial. They have Galliano for God’s sake! Get a Harvey Wallbanger.
From the outside it looks like a dive bar, I won’t post a photo because I don’t want to give away the secret. But when you are inside it is everything you want a bar to look like. A serious paradise for the bar enthusiast. It is a little dark and a little intimate. They have trays and trays of wonderful bottles, many of them unique to this bar and this bar only.
At the moment my rating is five star. They fully deserve every one for their creative drink menu and overall awesomeness. But I will probably be changing it to one star just to keep the crowds away. (Sorry Imperial, but you are just too cool to be ruined by troves of UCSB students – you should be word-​of-​mouth only)

STRONG is the name of the game here! True, the drinks are very delicious, but you’ll want to sip rather than guzzle. Although it has some tiki-​inspired décor that’ll remind you of the 50s and 60s, the drinks are definitely not sweet here.
Honestly, Dawn, the owner of both the Imperial and Mercury Lounge, has a knack for creating an amazing atmosphere in which you can totally relax and just enjoy the amazing drinks. Unilocal says, «Woohoo! As good as it gets!» and it truly is as good as it gets!

It pains me to give The Imperial anything less than a five but I have to honest about this one. I was kind of hoping for Mercury with booze but let’s be honest The Imperial is a completely different experience. A good one at that but not the epic glory I had in mind.
Drinks: The drinks are amazing. They have really elaborate cocktails and it’s not like that crap you get at busier bars. The Imperial has a slower pace as others have mentioned. It’s a hidden gem of a bar.
Atmosphere: The proximity to a hotel might be partially to blame but The Imperial does remind me of a hotel bar. The leather seating is different, the outside door is unassuming, the inside doors confusing. It’s very dark as well yet intimate. This is somewhere to go on a date with probably not a good place to hang out with friends without looking like you’re Sex in the City or something.
The Imperial is interesting. Fair warning just like with Mercury there’s no food in this area so don’t get too hungry. Stay thirsty though.