Even without film festival foot traffic, downtown restaurants busy with business

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — As the 36th Santa Barbara International Film Festival gets going with two beachfront drive-in theaters, upper State Street looks a little different.

At Bouchon Santa Barbara, owner Mitchell Sjerven says his restaurant would've been booked with those in attendance at the film festival. 

“We've been here for 22 years and there's always been a film festival downtown,” he said. “As you'd imagine, it's a strange emptiness, especially with theaters having been closed for so long."

Tom Huntington came to town from San Francisco to watch the documentary La Recua - The Mule Pack Train.

However, he was a bit surprised by the lack of festival foot traffic. 

“Usually there's 10,000 people a day, all the businesses are booming and the red carpet is out,” Huntington said. “It's pretty sparse and kind of quiet now.”

Typically taking place in January, SBIFF always brings big business to Opal Restaurant & Bar.

“The film festival is definitely a big boom for us,” Opal general manager Matt Phar said. “January is usually much slower for a lot of businesses.”

“In normal years, we'd count on the film festival,” Sjerven said. “In pandemic years, we're just thrilled to be seating people outside."

As coronavirus cases keep coming down, an outpouring of people are making the most out of dining indoors and outdoors. 

Allowing some restaurants to perform better than expected.

“It's different but there’s still quite a bit of traffic coming through this weekend,” Phar said. “From what we have reservation-wise, looks like there is a big draw of people."

“Maybe they’ve already had their fill of film and television,” Sjerven concluded. “Now, their biggest joy is probably the ability to get outside, wander around Santa Barbara and go out to dinner.”

As the weather warms up, many of these restaurants have also extended their hours.

Bouchon Santa Barbara is open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday. On weekends, the restaurant is open from 5 p.m. till 10 p.m.

Opal is open from 5 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday. On weekends, it’s open from 5 p.m. till 9:30 p.m.