Fun place
Delicious Irish food
Crowds can be hit or miss
Service is usually nice and friendly
It might be hard to carry a conversation due to the music that is blasted through speakers. The choice of the music doesn't really go along with the atmosphere of the restaurant, unless they hire musicians who perform Irish folk songs near a fire place
This was our favorite pub in Santa Barbara, and was easily the best place in town to get a burger. Â We would often go to Dargan's just to play pool, which you could do with a few drinks, some food, or just the mellow atmosphere. Â Good spot if you're a sports fan, since they always have a few TVs going quietly with the game on. Â The atmosphere is great, the food is superb, and their live music shows are always fun to attend. Â Even when we weren't eating in, we'd get take-out because the food is so good. Â Easily one of our favorite places in town.
Review Source:I really like this place. Very chill atmosphere and a great place to hang out, drink and have some good Irish food. Their set up is a little different as the bar in the first room is pretty small and mainly the dinner and pool tables take up most of the space. I didn't realize there was an extra room in the back until I went to use the rest room. The back definitely looks more like a bar from what I saw. I had the steak and guiness pie. It was pretty good. The crust was flaky and the steak was nice and tender. Service here was average as was the price of the food. Great place to go hang out. I would definitely come back here if I was in the area.
Review Source:I was banished to Dargan's after being turned into a Leprechaun. I couldn't escape the bar until I sat down, had a beer, and listened to the live music. My name is Atif Kamran, but my ID suddenly showed Atif O'Kamran, so I understood that God intended me to get licquored up, have a good time, and eat some Lucky Charms in the morning (apologies for the stereotyping, but it can't be helped).
I had a VERY chill time here with my buddies while watching a game (that I originally didn't give two dungs about), and the bar made me interested in it. The place is CLEAN, bartenders are FRIENDLY, the crowd is EASY TO TALK TO, and the ageless musicians hit on ALL the dimes.
After drinking, talking, and listening to the music, I was free of my Leprechaun curse and was allowed to leave. As I left the bar, a tear of Bailey's rolled down my cheek.
My favorite pub in Santa Barbara. Was introduced to my future wife outside at one of the patio tables here in '99. We still go frequently, the place has expanded in that time but kept the same great vibe.
I've traveled across Ireland from Dublin to Galway and back, and visited a good number of pubs while there. Dargan's is obviously a somewhat California-ized pub, but it's also got a sincere Irish feeling as soon as you walk in.
Live music a number of nights per week, and the crowd is always a good mix. Friendly for kids (my wife and I have two of those now, and they love visting Dargan's too). Â Reliable spot for watching sports as well... watched the 2010 World Cup here and it was a great vibe.
Summary: if you're looking for a friendly pub environment with good food and drink, Dargan's will do you right.
I went last night to BlushSB, a favorite brunch place (and bar) of mine with excellent food at dinner with ample choices for a lighter bite or a more substantial entree. It was just drinks, not dinner, with recent grads of New England schools and I decided not to stay at Blush after the group dispersed.
On an impulse, Â I went to Dargan's Irish Pub for the first time since the late 1990s.
I sat at the bar and the very cool bartender, Patrick, pushed the lamb curry for 14, a large serving with fries and rice on the side. I only ate about 1/3rd of the special but thought it was very good and nicely complemented by the Jameson.
It was clear that most people at the bar were regulars and it does feel like an authentic Irish pub. I've had the Irish stew before, quite good, but didn't remember how extensive the menu was. Irish nachos sounded dubious to me but apparently this corned beef version of the Mexican dish is popular.
Off the beaten path of State Street lies a little pub called Dargan's, make the journey, you won't regret it!
I love Dargan's. I've never been to Ireland, so I can't attest to it's legitness, but my friends who HAVE been over to the Motherland (including a couple who were born and raised there) all say it is spot on. I hear the bangers and mash are like mom made them. Their salads are super yummy and the oh-my-god-these-are-so-sinful onion rings are well worth your patronage alone. I think having several employees with Irish accents helps tremendously in this arena. Live music on weekends, cozy bar up front, large back bar, pool, darts, plenty of deliciously fattening and artery clogging food selections, friendly, professional, and efficient bartenders and wait staff, clean restrooms with a full length mirror in the Ladies' room....I'm a regular here for a reason.
Even on Santa Barbara's busiest night Dargan's won't stoop to cover-charge status. They draw a heavy-drinking, fun-loving crowd every night without ineffectively weeding out the weirdos with a BS $5 cover charge(unlike some other negatively and aggressively reviewed bars). Come fancy or come as you are (yes, I'm the chick at the bar in sweaty running clothes sipping whiskey and catching the end of the Dodger game on a Wednesday night) The crowd is always very diverse and fun; and if you're a local you WILL see someone you know here. At Dargan's everybody knows your name.
We've come here many times over the years. In fact, had my son's 12th birthday party here, where the boys LOVED shooting darts, dining and then heading to a movie nearby. It's still my son's favorite, having replaced Derf's.
He always gets the burgers. Usually I get the chicken club, but I've also enjoyed the shepherd's pie and Irish stew, which are divine and heavy. I really miss the chicken pesto sandwich which was an amazing creation and is now gone.
The fries and pickles are always good. The ambiance great and the beer selection first rate. Sit by the fire on a cold rainy day.
Never a dull moment at Dargan's.
There's either a band rocking out in the back, a random group of strangers buying you a drink, or someone pestering you to play a round of Billiards. Seriously, how can you go wrong with a place like that?
The food's pretty great, too. I mean, standard pub fare, but tasty. I always opt with the Harp-beer-battered fish and chips; those fries are perfectly crispy and go really well with the pint (or four) of Murphy's.
Noteworthy: they've got an excellent selection of single malts. Well done, you, Dargan's.
Clif notes of the experience
-Waitress named Candy
-Big order of delish Irish nachos
-Burger was aight. Typical.
-Old biker tricks
-Old Men
-Asians all on one side of the restaurant
-Pregnant wife sitting at the bar with me
-Cheap
-Service was slow
-one random kid walking around the bar
TF?
It was ok. Not great.
The pub portion is nice enough, lots of tables and not too loud. Music selection was okay, its a digital jukebox so it's a mix of whoever wants to stick money in it. Bartender is nice and legit Irish to boot.
Restaurant portion - you need more than one server working on a Wednesday night at 7pm. The poor girl was handling about 12 tables by herself, which meant slow service for everyone. Her being a little stressed showed in her attitude, she wasn't very friendly, just the bare minimum. She also didn't listen very well, as the burger came out with the wrong things on it. She also didn't know the difference between a Long Island and a Long Beach Iced Tea. The kitchen was fast though. I ordered the bangers and mash, which was tasty...reminded me of home. Hubby got the black bean burger. The actual burger looked like it was one from a freezer packet, Â not one made in the actual kitchen.
So, I think we will be back to drink in the Pub but maybe not to eat in the restaurant.
There's not much one can say about an Irish bar that hasn't been said before. Â However, I would ask for the following to change:
- Turn. The. Music. Down. Â It's bad enough that the tunes are driven by a digital juke box, and any sorority lush can throw on some terrible, terrible dance music in an "pub like" atmosphere, but it's worse when the music is entirely too loud for it's own good. Â
- I say "pub like" because this isn't a pub. Â Pubs are chilled out and the only din that is rising is that of the patrons, not a booming sound system. Â No, this is a bar and--unfortunately--it's verging on a club with the stupidity of the music selections
The size is great. Â The decor is perfect. Â Everything else about this place is fantastic, but you're treading a very fine line to becoming a pathetic excuse for a club. Â Lose the juke box and you should be starting down the right road.
I love Dargans!
  This is the PERFECT spot if you want to turn up a little early and have dinner and get completely wasted as the night moves forward.  Many a night have I picked a spot in which to stand my ground amidst the oncoming hoards of thirsty bar-goers, while trying to beat my personal best for Guinness intake.
  Order a sandwich, sit by the fire and finish it off with a deep fried Snickers?  For the brave souls perhaps....
Slam pieces, great atmosphere, good drinks, pool tables, live music, and there's two bars. Pretty solid. You know what to expect when you go there. Never a bad time.
P.S. I heard them play Meg and Dia there a couple weeks ago in the front bar. Was not expecting that. Pretty stoked about that actually. No homo.
Dargan's hadn't intrigued me at all until I read that they offer an Indian curry. As a fan of inauthentic food, I've long wanted to try some sort of U.K. reinterpretation of Indian cuisine; I understand it branched off to become its own thing at some point in history. My ladyfriend and I thus visited one evening to sample their curry alongside a more classical Irish pub dish, their corned beef and cabbage. (We did this as an Irish-y band we could hear but not quite see played away on the stage, which I choose to believe added something to the experience.)
The curry, colored a vividly British-bleak shade of brown, comes atop rice or French fries, a false choice if ever there was one -- you must choose both. They call it "spicy," but... shyeah. Still, I felt vaguely transgressive eating curry with French fries in it until I realized that most of the curries I eat already contain regular potatoes. But then I realized that this curry also contained regular potatoes alongside the fries, and the awareness of eating both at once replenished some of the thrill. The corned beef definitely tasted like corned beef, but the cabbage put up a little too much resistance to my bite. If I understand U.K. sensibilities, cabbage ought to come out stewed nearly into a paste.
I understand I might as well have just eaten a pound of salt, but damn, did I dig this meal -- and hey, I balanced it all with a pint of Guinness. Perhaps this explains the life expectancy issues in certain regions of the British Isles. I shall return for the bangers and mash and the shepherd's pie, the two other highlights of the menu's "traditional fare" section. Why on Earth would you order out of another?
Very Strong drinks.
Great welcoming atmosphere, I love Irish themes.
The live music was fun and good and authentically very irish.
Great little outside dining area/place to smoke with your drink.
Amazing Guinness Pot Pie...Hearty, flavorful, MASSIVE pieces of meat, potato, etc. with a light pastry top.
Theres a separate room with Pool tables, darts, and a juke box...
Pool is $10 an hr to play ( a little steep ) but ended up spending most of my night here.
Juke Box has actually a great variety of music (more than most places I have seen) and there is a 'play next' option for like 50 cents more to play your song immediately after the one playing so you dont have to wait.
Met some great people here...Overall had a blast : )
Bartenders are Extremely friendly and will get your drink order before you even sit down...now that's service!
I haven't ever had a less than great experience at Dargan's. The fish and chips are wonderful and their $8 lunch specials are great deals. They have a nice dining area as well as a cool looking bar area, though I've never had a drink here before.
Service is always friendly and attentive and it's a great dinner spot to go to after a movie. Since it's a tiny bit off state, I think it gets a bit less foot traffic so you're not squeezed in like sardines and don't have to compete for a table.
My first encounter with Irish food and it was amaazzzinnnnggg. My only notion of Irish food prior to this visit was potatoes and... Guinness so I was very happily surprised by the great stews, bread and sausages (as well as potatoes).
Also my friend's brother plays in the Irish band and it was really cool (accordian! banjo! ... irish drum?!) I tried bits and pieces of everyone's food: shepards pie, irish stew (SO GOOD) and the burger (also so very very good!)
Came here twice in one day while seeing a concert at the SB Bowl. Although I only has 2 sessions I would like to go back to this place next time I'm in the SB.
Also--we luckily came on the 17th of the month, when they have half off of their Irish menu which includes the fish and chips! Awesome coincidence.
Great selection of draft beers including Bass! Reasonable pricing too--$5 for most beers.
The Food is good. The Irish potato balls are like a sexy tater tot--filled with cheese and potato, I recommend the ranch for dipping sauce (yes they have the good ranch).
The fish and chips were very juicy and beer battered in a good mix. The fires were good too.
Cobb salad--they don't skimp on the bacon or bleu cheese which is the kiss of death when you order the cobb.
The quesadilla--us muy bueno. Blackened chicken is so tasty you almost don't need to put on the guac and pico -- but you have to because they are both so good!
The service was fine.
NOTE: when we came back at night they place had split into 2 scenes. In the front was pool, music, hook up crowd.
The back was chill, sit down-we can still talk before we make out crowd.
FYI
Best of SB! Food is delicious & gourmet compared to normal pubs. I like the fish & chips, roasted chicken, buffalo chicken salad, the steak specials are good. Staff is usually good, sometimes not as helpful when it's busy but if you have ever worked in food service, u know the game.
Those who have bad reviews don't know what they are talking about. I've been coming here for 7 years & it rarely disappoints.. I complained about a waitress messing up the check & being slow to owner & he took care of issue. One side is more bar atmosphere & is noisy & college Kids etc & the other side by fireplace is more restaurant & calmer.
Check it out, have a pint & remember, you're in So Cal, it's not a traditional Irish Pub unless you're in Ireland! Live music Thursday & Saturday.
The food.. the fucking food. Ugh.
Had the shepards pie.. someone really just wants to make sure that the stereotype of English food being terrible lives on because it really wast he most blandest, worse thing I have eaten in pie form.
The Guinness was good, but really, that's the only thing that makes this place anything remotely Irish in terms of pubs. And even then, I'm sure just picking up the Guinness from a market with some corned beef will make you more Irish than this pub.
Service was very spotty. My server was spread way to thin.. Which shouldn't say I was pissed off at the wait staff.. That's something management needs to sort out.
It was a late start for hitting the bars. A lot later than what I'm normally used to. So getting in there and seeing groups spread themselves out over more tables than they needed and hogging up the room was a bit of a mess. Ended up going to the back area sit down/dinning area.
Then when we do get a table the leg was wobbly as hell. Guess the table had one too many spilled Guinness as it was very unstable. Telling the waitress this when ordering the drinks she said she would get on it to get it fixed.
Comes back with the drinks and forgets all about the table situationn... which made having beer on the table something of a no no. That's like asking someone who has greasy/slippery fingers to hold some glass bowl. They will more likely make more of a mess.
Ordered food... it was terrible and only when she did her "how's the meal" did she notice that i made a poor attempt at leveling the table and realized that she completely forgot about the table situation.
Over all, I really didn't like this place. The beer was good. That's about it and that's not saying much as beer is good anywhere as long as you have refrigeration.
The atmosphere was way too crowded. The noise level... I dunno why bars feel the need to blast the music, especially in a sit down section, to levels where you can't even communicate with the person sitting across from you. Oh hey, just cause you play U2 endlessly doesn't make you an Irish Pub.
So as I sit here at work killing time on the internet looking to my past months adventures, I have to say that this pub and that night was a rather low point. Screw that place. No way will I ever be back in that bar again. Terrible.
I really like Dargan's. Â You can go here any night or day of the week and just relax and have a good time. Â Music is never so loud that you cant hear yourself talk and its usually pretty easy to grab a spot that a group of friends can hold up at.
yeah it can get crowded on the weekends, but so what, there is a reason for it. Â It is a great place to go with your friends that is a departure from the monotonous thump thump of the downtown club scene.
good atmosphere, good food, good enough Guinness
Went to Santa Barbara for a girls weekend of bar hopping and wine tasting. Â On Friday night the intention was to go on a pub crawl down State street. Â After dinner we began our pub crawl at Dargan's and never left. Â We were failures at the pub crawl, but winners and finding a cool place on State Street that wasn't teeming with a bunch of flat-billed college boys.
When we first ventured in, we muscled our way through the crowd to get a drink at the bar and were looking for a place to sit (or at least lean against) when we heard some music in the distance. Â Where was that music com- wait! Â There's an entire back section too?! Â Awesome! Â We headed back there and staked out a seat and promptly ordered more drinks.
A charming two man cover band (covering everything from "The Office" theme song to Alicia Keys) called The Johnson Account were playing that night and were a ton of fun.
Thumbs Up:
-Chill atmosphere
-No cover
-Decent prices (I think, it's tough to remember after all of the drinks)
-The Johnson Account playing on Friday nights.
Thumbs Down:
-Nothing comes to mind immediately.
We came here with friends for my bf's 30th bday weekend.
It was massively crowded on a Saturday night, but they got us a table that fit all 7 of us comfortably. The waitress was as attentive as she could be, given the chaos of the scene.
I had the shepherd's pie, to compare with the old reliable Rose & Crown in Palo Alto. The R&C could stand to crisp the potato topping a bit more, but actually, I like their filling better. If you're a meat lover, Dargan's will please you. I like meat as much as the next woman (heh), but there were like NO vegetables in this thing. I like the variety of textures you get when there is both meat and veg.
Anyway, it was a good time and a fun place.
I love this place! Great beer, pool tables, dart boards! and then there's the dining area!
I've had the fish and chips that insist on dancing on my taste buds. The fireplace is a great place to chill with a group of people. It's not the cheapest place ($12-$20) but it's a great location, off of state street but easily within walking distance. I don't do bar hopping, but I'm going to guess it should be one of your stops!
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