Secret Garden Inn & Cottages, Santa Barbara

Date of stay 4/11-13/08 Charged $175.00 a day.Next time I'm asking for dimensions of a room/cottage before booking. Kingfisher cottage is a spec of a room with a painted window on the back wall. The hot tub on wood patio takes up 3/4 of the space makeing entry into room (that's a joke) very difficult. The closet was blocked by a chair and using the bathroom with privacy proved quite a challenge. the queen bed blocked the door from closing. When I informed the attending mgr. Margaret of these problems after checking in her response was "Besides all that how is everything"? Peg, Pasadena, Ca.

Love, love, love this bed and breakfast. We have stayed here many times. Great experience every time. Rooms, food are great. If you want to disappear with the one you love this is the place to do it.

We felt it wasn't up to what the publicity said. It was clean but not worth $190 per night. I guess we are use to better places. The garden that was private outside our cottage was dirt with a few plants along the edge. It looked like the gardens had fallen on bad times. It was quiet but the fact one could not access coffee in the morning until 8:00AM was very unacceptable. So, we packed up and left at 7:15 to find a restaurant and coffee. The cottage we picked said they had skylights but they were so dirty that it really didn't matter. However the room was clean.

I was visiting santa barbara for a week, and decided to give secret garden inn a try. boy was this a mistake. at almost three hundred a night, here are some of the services i wasn't expected for a bed and breakfast. It is minutes away from state street, but it isn't minutes away from downtown, which is where you would want to be anyway, counting the streets when i was walking back, i counted 11 blocks, should have taken the bus... When i checked into the bed and breakfast, i asked what the wonderful smell, dominque, the owner of the house, informed me it was tomorrow's breakfast... THATS RIGHT, they cook it the day before, and reheat it... does this sound like it's worth 300 dollars a night? I didn't question it figuring, quiche was on the menu for tomorrow, and only tomorrow. WRONG AGAIN, SHE SEVERED SOME KIND OF QUICHE EVERYDAY I WAS THERE. How cheap can you get you ask? It didn't end there. The breads, are gotten at cosco and re-heated daily. one day i cut a bagel in half and left half there. to my surprise, it was re-heated and served the next day.... talk about counting pennies. When asked how she makes her brownies for the nights snack, she had the balls to pull a betty-crocker box out. I was also informed that she had just hired four new inkeepers and was training them all at one time. Although i had been told this by one of the gentlemen who was there. why do i mention this? for two reasons, reason one, the room was three hundred dollars because it came with a hot tube. although my first night there, they forgot to turn it on earlier in the day. which meant ice cold hot tube, for the first night i was there. Reason two. Through out the whole time i was there, The owner could be heard yelling at her new employee's for five minutes at times. As well as verbally lashing into her innkeepers in front of guest for long period of times as well. santa barbara is beautiful regardless, my suggestion, motel six= 60 dollars, breakfast somewhere nice(for four people)= 60 dollars... total 120, take the 180 your saving, and apply that to some daily activties... like a whale watching tour, or a ride on the land shark

During the Month of May 2005, we decided to stay at this Bed and Breakfast for a period of two days...a weekend. Communications with this facility were great prior to arrival but once we arrived, the facility was quite a disappointment. The rooms were dirty, the food served of poor quality and the room was filthy upon arrival. Even though we left ample time for the room to be cleaned, no service was provided. We had to ask for toilet paper and other similar type of products. Even though this is a pet friendly establishment, don't count on it. When a dog was barking through the night, the inn keeper immediately blamed us for the disruption. Dogs bark BUT it was not our DOG and she was told of this fact...it was the DOG in the cabin behind us. Our Shepherd DOES NOT bark unless he senses something. After telling the inn keeper it was not our dog, she did not even apologize for the accusation. Since this was our first visit, we found the food and the facility completely unacceptable. There is NO room to walk your DOG except on a narrow strip next to the street on Bath Road. When it came to parking, forget it...you park in the rear and if you drive something else other than a SMALL car forget it...it is cramped and no security is provided...We did not feel safe and our vehicle would not fit in the area...had to park on the street which is not really safe. The inn keeper was quite strange and actually made comments as to what I did not eat the day before. If I left something over from the room service food,she knew I had not eaten the rolls for example. I found this rather strange since she said something on more than one occasion. What I eat or don't eat is my business. Makes me wonder what else she is monitoring. The snacks provided are trash...the cider and brownies are of poor quality. The inn keeper needs to provide fresh fruit for those of us who don't want brownies...no healthy option available. When you go into the main house (kitchen), you will find it extremely dirty which is quite the turnoff. We stayed in the Night-In Gale which is one of the highest priced rooms and found it to be no comfortable and secure..the room could easily be broken into from the rear with little effort. The hot tub was small and disgusting...once top removed, neither one of us wanted to get into the water because of some rather strange debris floating around, if you know what I mean. The room, next to Bath Road, was extremely noisy and two of the windows would not secure which left us vulnerable; however, we did have our Shepherd should someone decide to enter unannounced. The blinds, made of wood, did not close properly which left us somewhat exposed to others walking by the cabin. The bathroom is extremely small and if you plan to use the toilet you had better be a real small person otherwise you will not fit...the water pressure was low. When checking in, I noticed our credit card information was left out in the open on the inn keeper's desk off the backside of the kitchen...no security with regards to your ID information...ID could easily be lifted because your information is scattered all over her desk...the desk if filthy and I mean filthy and it is just off the kitchen which is a bit repulsive. For the price and the horrible level of service, we would never stay at this location again. For half of the price, this would not be a good value. Even though this facility claims to be close to the beach, it is not...you cannot walk to the beach unless you have hours...need to take your car or another means of transportation...misleading with regards to true location. THE END even though I could go on for another few paragraphs.

As a B&B traveler, my first visit at Secret Garden Inn was less than expected. Prior to our stay communications with the Inn were great.. which lead me to believe my stay would be just as pleasant. Unfornately, the rooms were less than marginal (ok, considering my 75lbs german shepherd was welcomed). Buffet style (food left on counter) was serviced in small portions and due to number of people eating,I felt guilty about serving a regular size plate. Day Two, late night- I found the Breakfast(egg based) casserole had been prepared the night before and left on the stove overnight, to be eaten the next day. Snacks, were in small portions also. Cheap wine. Although dogs are welcomed to stay, when dogs barked the Inn keeper was accusing guest of barking dogs. When I informed the Inn keeper of location barking came from, she immediately knew which dog was barking (based on location owner was an Inn resident or employee. ) NO ROOM SERVICE PROVIDED..you clean and fix beds. Little knowledge of locate site..FOOD was VERY DIFFICULT TO FIND. OVERALL I HAD A GREAT TIME...BECAUSE I WAS IN GREAT COMPANY...MY GUY AND OUR SHEPHERD. WE WERE LEFT TO FEND FOR OURSELVES IN AREA OF TOWN NOT FAMILAR WITH... HAVE A PLAN, BEFORE CONSIDERING A STAY.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Secret Garden with our dog, Ozzie. It is not often that he is welcomed into such lovely accomodations! Flowers in our room and our water was very fresh and we thought a very considerate touch. We enjoyed the breakfasts immensely, and the early evening snacks were delightful. We found ourselves rushing home for our post-dinner cookies!

we got married here, in their back yard, and all our friends rented rooms at this bed and breakfast. The owners could not have been more welcoming and accommodating. We would stay here again! It is romantic and homey and very reasonably priced. Colin and Mariana Donahoe