Wanted to go out for a drink with my partner for St. Patty's Day, and we stayed local instead of going to Solvang. Service was fine at first, we had to get food from the food truck (Santa Ynez Sausage) due to COVID regulations. The chef running the food truck was the most kind, helpful one there, and that was the best part of the experience. We asked the bartender about how much of the tip money goes to the chef, and that's when his whole tone and demeanor changed and became more hostile. We stayed about an hour after that, then wanted to close out. My partner went inside to pay, and her card was declined even though we knew the money was in her account. I was sitting outside and he came up to me, still yelling at my partner (I was outside the whole time and did not hear how they got to this point), saying her card was declined and we needed to pay. We could barely get a word in and he was shouting over both of us, so I shifted my body language away from him and towards my partner so I could ask her what happened. I handed him my card and it was declined as well, but again I know the money was in my account. I told him he does not need to keep shouting at my partner and being rude, and that the problem was with his card reader. We said we would not be coming back here again; he was spouting off rude remarks the whole time and even said "we make plenty of money off of tourism, this is why we don't want locals here." He did not come back, the server came back out with my card (because it WAS an issue with their card reader) and the receipt apologizing and saying she's not sure what made him go off like that, but it sounded like there has been previous issues with his aggressive behavior. read more

We enjoyed staying at this hotel very much. Beautiful and clean room. We decided to their bar for a quick drink before going to bed. Quick is the operative word there. As soon as we sat down 2 guys said to us good luck getting a drink. The bartender was too busy talking to another group. He never acknowledged us. Never. Finally another bartender came out and took our order. We had waited over 15 minutes at that point and the 2 other guys waited long than that. I have never been totally ignored at a bar before. We were very upset and disappointed. I would never visit again. read more

Sideways is a hidden gem for locals. Chris and Monica are just fantastic - excellent bartenders, so personable, and willing to make any cocktail in the book. Highly recommend asking them what they're experimenting with that day! read more

Staying at Sideways Inn. Went to Lounge and outside seating not open. Sign to enter said 21 and older . We went in and saw 2 children sitting there. We asked if our family with a 7 mo old in stroller could come in also.. They checked and said no one under 21 but 2 were in there. Later while leaving - I said they were discriminating. They said the group was getting take out- they were there before we arrived and after we left- not take out . Friend of employees? Don't know but not take out until discrepancy's mentioned and still in 21 and older bar. You don't allow some and not all. What gives? Very disappointing. read more

Amazing Service, Outstanding Food, and reasonable prices! The atmosphere is just so nostalgic and peaceful. All of the staff seem to have a terrific attitude and I can't blame them! This place rocks. read more

Sideways Lounge - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Buellton, California

Guess I was expecting more. Beer choices were limited, clientele were suspect. Dreadfully disappointing.

I would 100% recommend this place for drinks, food NO! Every item we ordered was so salty!! But again the drinks were on point. Come for the drinks only!! read more

Delicious veggie sausage dog with crunchy garbanzos! Good quality lean meat in the meat sausages. Tasty cocktails and heaters in the patio so we can sit with our dogs. read more

$115 for pretzel bites and four glorified hot dogs that took 45 minutes to prepare. Absolutely insane! The sideways inn is amazing but needs to distance themselves from these idiots. read more

Loved everything about their remodel. Chris our bartender was so friendly and made the yummiest drinks so we will definitely be back.

What a pleasant experience. The environment was comfortable and relaxing. Our bartender Chris was a very nice young man. He went out of his way to make sure that our needs were met. We'll definitely be back. read more

Their "complimentary" breakfast is a donut, a juice of "your choice", and a piece of fruit. More of a morning snack. However, it is delivered directly to your door which Is nice. There was leftover trash and food in room when we got there. Other than that, the rooms, staff, and spa area were all awesome. I'm just upset because I wanted OJ and got cranberry juice. And a croissant and got a donut. read more

The bartender / host guy is an ass. He's hostile, rude and overly aggressive. I'd prefer to just buy food direct from the truck.

If you want a little getaway, you have to try this place. One of the best bartenders is Kelly very courteous and thoughtful, she kept the drinks coming. Definitely will be back! read more

Sideways Lounge - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Buellton, California

Service and ambience was great. We happened to show up during trivia, and the host was doing a good job of keeping everybody engaged. The bartenders were very quick with drinks. Great experience! read more

Came on a Monday night- Lounge decor 5 stars- they did an amazing job designing and furnishing every section of the lounge. Kudos to the interior designer, love the flow and the environment. Unfortunately on a Monday night there weren't many bodies inside, pretty dead. If this was located in DTLA it would definitely be packed every night all year round, sad to see it's not getting the same foot traffic. I ordered a Cadillac Margarita rate it 3.5 stars, hubby ordered the Firestone nitro merlin milk stout 4 stars- he's not a stout connoisseur but enjoyed it. Would come back and recommend. read more

Great spot, loved the interior, service and drinks were great as well as the crowd! Met Kevin who I believe runs the place, super hospitable and coolest lounge in the Valley!!! Thanks Kevin! read more

For wine and stay at hotel where movie made. I don drink alcohol but for you that do. Try it

We hosted my husband's graduation party here, and I am so happy we did. Everywhere in the valley was booked or extremely expensive, and I was stressing over not finding a venue to celebrate such an important accomplishment. Someone recommended Sideways Lounge and not only were they available, but they were perfectly in my budget. Tracy, who was our coordinator, was so incredibly helpful and accommodating. It was such a pleasure to work with her. I reserved the patio, but the weather was awful that day, and so the staff graciously moved us inside and made it just as nice! Our party was at 2:30, so we essentially had the whole place to ourselves before other patrons started coming in around 5. The drinks were delicious and the catered food was awesome! Our bartender Kyle was fabulous and made sure everyone was happy. Ironically, before posting this, I decided to read through the rest of the reviews, and noticed some complaints about a blond bartender. If it is the same woman, we also had her towards the later part of the evening, and experienced the same bad vibe. Fortunately, we all had some cocktails and didn't let it bother us....but we did notice. All in all, I would absolutely recommend this place either to grab cocktails or to host a party. read more

This is a great place to round out the night. I had a great stay, and great drinks at the lounge. Friendly, and the bartenders were really cool. Order a Tipsy Elvis from Rose, the bartender. She makes a good one, and she's cool AF. They all are, actually. I had a great time here. I'll be back here soon and definitely coming back for the Tipsy Elvis errrrr.. Blue Hawaii. read more

Love to stop in for a cocktail or two. Vibe here is relaxed. Can accommodate a group. Outdoor patio has fireplace and heat lamps. Decor is unusual and interesting. Great place to watch sports. Menu is limited but there is a sausage truck outside that makes great dogs. Right off the highway next to sideways inn. read more

Wow, what an amazing bar! This place has an amazing atmosphere and welcoming wait staff. I especially enjoyed the service from Jennie the bartender. She was attentive to me and my date and made the best michelada in the county. She definitely earned her tip! I would recommend that they change the music playing though. It's kind of old timey elevator music. Not the vibe I want while drinking with my lady friend. read more

Stayed at the hotel and wanted to check out restaurant lounge. The food is ok. I had the Cajun fries, Parmesan fries, sesame sausage hoggie. My wife had a cocktail, while I had a beer they had on tap. Fries were crisp and tasty. The home made sausage was really dry. Drinks are pretty good. We sat outside and the assigned waitress was slow and not very attentive. She was inside more than she was outside. Overall, I would come for fries, apps, and drinks. Sit inside as I believe the service would be better. Thanks! read more

Omg. Don't miss this gem for a top notch cocktail and food truck gourmet sausage and fries. I go there just for a drink and the fries.

We loved the ambiance here. We had a lot of people with us in our party from the Flying Flags next door. We really enjoyed everything about their artisan style cocktails. The place was nice inside. The people inside were even better! We will recommend this place for sure. read more

Santa Ynez Sausage...was so looking forward to trying this. Sausage was good, but hardly any peppers and onion toppings, literally just a couple on top of a dry grilled bun. Fires were just fries, nothing special. I wouldn't say "I gotta get this every time I'm visiting" probably a one time thing for us. read more

The hotel told us they were closing much later then were. We arrived and it was last call in less then 10 minutes (bummer). They serve sausages from a food truck. We had a ginger/ sage chicken with grilled onions (dry & no flavor) and a pork buffalo with blue cheese, carrots & celery - AMAZING. It was delicious. Then the fries with the parm aioli was over the top good. Oh yeah - the topo IPA beer was good too read more

We booked a weekend for Valentine's Day! The service was the best! From getting our rooms set up to the outdoor lounge they have! Wow! We will definitely be booking with them again! The best part was the room was really really clean. We didn't have any issues at all! read more

The Dogfather homemade sausage sandwich is worth driving 200 miles, maybe more. Absolutely the best!! Buttered thin toasted bread roll, tender and flavorful sausage not salty, peppers and onions. Wine pairing is Grassini Cabernet Sauvignon. Martha Stewart would give two thumbs up I think even though she's a b***h read more

Fantastic service, hospitality, and friendly staff!! The new bartender (not sure her name) was outstanding!! One of the best ever. We will be back! read more

The remodel from its predecessor is amazing. Such a beautiful turnover from what it once was. Great place for a drink after work with enough space inside and out for large groups. They have quite the beer variety on draft and bottle. Cocktails are delicious too. read more

If I could give this place a zero rating I would. As a local, I remember the dive bar this was, don't get me wrong I love more upscale bars; however, this was the place to go as local to unwind...fast forward to now- My partner and myself want to go to Fitzpatrick, however, there was line and as someone who worked there as a line cook, I said let's go get drinks closer to home. Oh man was that a terrible idea! There was only one other group which seemed great a first. The issues started after the first round of drinks; with only one other table one would think we could get a second round quickly-or quicker than it took. We had to ask the bartender, who happened to be walking by to order. The server was sitting down with the only other patrons and conversing. So no big deal I guess, however, he made a snide retort about his server and got our drinks. HAPPY NOTE HERE The food truck is a must, as a sous chef, I don't eat out but I really enjoyed conversing with the chef and actually that part of the experience there. He was the man/el jefe. I asked for his business card and he said that he doesn't have any but they should inside. Long story short, I'm about to pay, and I asked if the tips can go to the gentleman cooking, I know the restaurant industry very well, as again I work in the industry. Truthfully the other two were just crappy and rude. Explosion time for the bartender or whomever the hell he was. My card got declined, and I knew there was money in there, because I received my stimulus check and I ask him to try again, clearly at this point he is getting irritated asf. He ask for my partner to come pay, which I was like okay. She paid. Eventually I ask for the chef's information such as a business card, and man, did the bartender explode and kept saying "I can't give out his information" and I told him, "I only asked due to being told by the chef and figured you might have a business card..." What a JACKASS, he keep speaking over me and I said, "Okay, I got it" He told me to get out, and leave, so I told my partner I think he is 86ing me. He said no, but did mention that he hated locals coming here. The server tried to smooth things over, because she knows me from going there in the pass and from other restaurants I worked there, as cook, or sous chef. Sorry dude, but this place was cool, back in the day, also when they first open there were a few bartenders that always knew my drink or would make signature cocktails- apparently they left...Fuck this place...prices blow, the service blows, and the locals hate that place for a reason. The whole sideways thing is tiresome; great book, great movie, but lord... Meh :/ read more

$2 bud light thursday, modelo on tap. former Days Inn and hotel just got a facelift. Lounge food is not the best but you do not go to a restaurant to drink, same as you do not go to a bar to eat. Good humble environment with local people and guests too. read more

The service was great! Kelli helped us throughout the whole night, never let our drinks get low without asking if we wanted another. Definitely our new weekend hangout! read more

Very happy with the service!! Came with a few friends to check it out, and the gal I believe her name was Kelly, was super helpful and made us feel comfortable. She was super funny and outgoing, definitely will be coming back. read more

Super cute hotel. Amazing lounge.... but the bartenders hate their job... and it shows. Slow service, bad attitudes, don't know how to mix cocktails. This place has so much potential, they just need to switch the staff. Disappointed. read more

Staying at the Sideways Inn as I write this. This place needs a change of attitude. Went in after we checked in. Walked up to the bar to ask to look at their food menu. Guy behind the bar was chatting it up with a customer and never even acknowledged me. After has was done chatting he left the bar and went in the back to look at his phone. There was another gal at the bar and I asked her for the menu and she gave it to me. A few hours later I went back to get a drink. They have 5 TVs. 4 around the bar and one on the wall. I asked the gal if the one on the wall was the only TV that was showing baseball (two of the TVs at the bar had non sports on). She flippantly said "yes" and walked away. I promptly walked out. This place needs to work on their customer service. You are not doing ME a favor by being open. read more

Unfortunately we were disappointed with the lounge. We tried two different sausages and neither was to our liking- very dry and not much flavor. We had expected much more from what seemed to be gourmet style. And beyond sausage there just were not menu options for a light nosh. read more

Very disappointed. The service was not good being there was only 2 people working. I know COVID is causing restaurants to pivot but you can't charge $12 for 3 oz of wine and $14 for 3 mini sliders with no sides. Hope they survive the pandemic and get their act together. read more

Such a cute place, but man does it get busy. So buckle on up and get ready to wait a bit. BUT, the drinks are amazing, the seating is great, and I love, love, love any place you can sit outside! So nice! Always look forward to coming here when we are at Flying Flags! read more