Babalu

Good place, overpriced, but we always enjoy coming here. Today we had the potstickers and fish tacos.

The potstickers were okay, but nothing special, and something about the texture of both the fried skin and the filling seemed off. They were served with two dipping sauces to enhance the flavor.

The fish tacos were good - good quality fish and nice fresh ingredients. We doused them with Cholula hot sauce (our preferred method of eating tacos).

Only complaint about the service was that I wasn't offered a refill on my diet Coke (and I was thirsty).

They have a large array of desserts, but we started our afternoon on Montana with Italian ices so we'll need to come back another time. Loved that they were offering the brunch and lunch menus simultaneously.

Babalu is a great, casual restaurant on Montana.

I like to get the veggie sandwich (hold the goat cheese and mayo), and side salad. Veggie sandwiches tend not to be my favorite thing, but I love this one- it's got grilled portabellos, roasted red peppers, is on toasted bread, and they don't skimp on the avocado (I think there are some other veggies I'm missing, maybe zucchini or eggplant). I like to put hot sauce on it. The side salad is always fresh and comes with a dressing that I love.

You can sit outside if you'd like.

The service here is great, it's always so nice to see Maureen.

First the good : the service was excellent. Jillian our waitress was top notch. When one of our dishes was burnt she made it feel like she was personally responsible for cooking it and immediately replaced it. When the second dish came out with wilted greens stuck together like out of an old trader joe's bag that you forgot in the back of the fridge , she immediately got the manager and both were removed from our bill .
That was great. The badness? Self evident from above!

This place is all about the quaint, yet classy Santa Monica vibe.

Honestly, I have never seen pasta look so attractive. I kind of want to take the Chicken Bolognese to the prom and then take advantage of it afterwards.

Their Chinese Chicken Salad is about as Chinese as freedom of speech, but it's definitely tasty, and they put just the right amount of dressing on it.

The charm of this place really comes out in their desserts. They have a huge menu ranging from cheesecake to fabulous pies, and you really can't make a mistake picking any of them.

Lastly, the people here are so nice, even down to the wait staff. Gave me refills before it even occurred to me. FREAKS!

Love you guys. Hot kisses.

Staff needs to get the stick out of their asses. I think the place would be happier without it.

Dessert is really good (I think its the same baker from Cafe Montana) and the food is a solid OK for the mish mosh that it is.

Have been here twice, once for breakfast and once for lunch, and I have yet to have a good experience. One star seems a bit harsh, but both times the service was slow and negligent and the food was bland and left a lot to be desired. It's too bad, because the place is cute and in a great location.

I had the salmon salad (I substituted salmon for ahi tuna), and despite being colorful, there wasn't much flavor. It lacked many ingredients to begin with, the lettuce was field greens from a bag and the cheese was Parmesan from a canister.

There are plenty good restaurants in Santa Monica, so I won't be back here.

I happened upon this place by chance after hiking with the girls. We wanted kabobs but the GPS sent us to a place that didn't even have kabobs and very little meditereanean food. So, we went here after our disappointment. Boy, were we glad we stopped here!

The first thing you'll notice on a saturday is that the crowd outside tends to build around 12:30-1pm. I've already been here twice on a Saturday. The place is small so be prepared to wait for a table. The first time we came we waited 25 mins for a table. The cool part about it is that they took my cell number to call me when my table was ready. (That's so cool!) This past Sat we got there around noon and got a table right away.

The selection on their menu is huge. They have brunch specials, as well as a regular lunch menu. Most entrees are $10 and up. I always want to order more than one thing, but I wish my stomach was bigger than my eyes. :P They also have botomless mimosas for $8.50! Okay, the mimosa wasn't that great but for the price I had 4 glasses. :) The food is fresh and light. You hardly feel guilty. Well, at least from what I order from the yummy sandwiches. My only guilty pleasure here is the french fries! I can't help it. I have yet to try the desserts because I feel like I would waste my hike if I did, but trust me...all their desserts look yummy! I intend on returning here and I hope one day I'll try them.

P.S. There is a really hot server there. Shouts out to Alex! You're hot! Okay, yelpers...I won't lie...he's nice to look at so I can't help but come back for more, of course besides the yummy food. hahaha (evil laugh) :)

BEST DESSERT SPOT IN SANTA MONICA!

The food overall is good, not great and way overpriced for what it is. However, the dessert selection and quality is insane! That's why we never come for dinner, but are here for dessert all the time...usually just order take out and eat it at home. Everything from the berry crumble to the banana brownie cake to the carrot cake are fantastic! The cookies are the only thing I don't love...they're a little dry.

YUMMMM!!!!!!

Came here for dinner on a weeknight and it was pretty crowded. There are a few tables outside and the indoor tables are quaint and tight together. The service was good and the place had a nice vibe. Now onto the food.

I had the ribs special and it was fantastic. It is about a half rack of ribs and the sauce was perfectly smothered on. The bed of mashed potatoes underneath it were good and you don't need any sauce except the BBQ sauce from the ribs. I tried some of my wife's crab enchiladas and I would highly recommend those as well.

Great neighborhood restaurant!

I've been wanting to try this place for a while and finally had a chance to do just that yesterday.

Let's start with the Good: Babalu is a cute place with outdoor seating on Montana. Love the location. Menu is varied, although I wouldn't consider many of the selections to be Caribbean food...but I'm not expert?

The food was...decent. Had the Crab Cakes which were okay, a bit greasy. My husband and I also shared the Chopped Roasted Vegetable salad which was tasty but small for the price. My husband had the Chicken Potstickers which he seemed to like as he ate them all.

If one can overlook the average food and relatively high prices, the service may just be the last straw. Trying to find a server to take our order, to bring us water, to give us the bill was just too hard. And the place wasn't even that busy as it was 2pm.

Unfortunately we won't be returning to this restaurant any time soon, especially with so many better options on Montana.