Disclosure: A gift card was provided to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.
When our family wants to go out for a casual meal, we have a handful of “go-to” places. One of those places is The Habit Burger Grill. It is definitely a step-up from fast food, but the prices are still reasonable. You order at the counter and they give you a pager that lights up when your food is ready. The service that we had was very friendly and sufficiently efficient considering that the restaurant was pretty crowded when we went.
The original Habit Burger Grill opened in Santa Barbara in 1969. Since then it has been steadily expanding and they now have locations from California to Dubai! See locations here.
It is evident that The Habit is more than just another regular hamburger joint by their drink selection. Sure, they have the normal self-serve soda machine offerings, but they also have agua frescas and other unique drinks for the same price of a fountain drink, with free refills. We tried both the Peach & Ginger Nectar (peach puree, fresh ginger, lime juice and fresh basil) and the Strawberry Limeade (strawberry puree, limeade, and fresh cucumber slices) (large drink, $2.19). The signs say that these drinks are handmade daily, and we could definitely taste the freshness!
We ate a late lunch that day, so we could not wait to dig in.
The kids’ usual order is the Charburger with cheese ($4.19). It comes with lettuce, caramelized onions (yum!), pickles, and mayo on a toasted bun. I appreciate that they grill their patties over an open flame (hence, the “burger grill” part of their name).
We usually split an order of fries and onion rings. Their fries are pretty good, but I really enjoy their onion rings. The batter is not too thick or thin, stays on the onion, and adds a lot of crunch and flavor ($2.59).
For this visit, we decided to try the tempura green beans ($2.99). The batter was more flavorful than I expected, and the green beans still had a nice snap. They went really well with the ranch dipping sauce.
The Santa Barbara Cobb Salad ($8.19) has iceberg and romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes, avocado, blue cheese crumbles, bacon and egg, tossed in a red wine vinaigrette, with grilled chicken breast. This salad is definitely a filling meal! Sometimes D and I like to split a salad and a Charburger or sandwich so we can get more veggies in.
The Santa Barbara Char is a Double Char with cheese and avocado on grilled sourdough bread ($6.39).
The kids split this one this time, and it was enough! The grilled sourdough bread and avocado really elevate this burger.
I like the “California active lifestyle” vibe going on with the decor.
For dessert, we treated the kids to their $1 vanilla soft serve cones. This was our first time trying out the ice cream, and it was a sweet way to end our meal! We have yet to try their shakes. Maybe next time…
Have you been to The Habit? What do you like to order there?
Thank you to The Habit, for generously offering a $25 gift card to one of my readers!
