Starting Gate Restaurant At the Marriott

Went to the breakfast buffet for my birthday with my family. Great service, great food !

Best staff ever! Our stay was very accommodating and the breakfast was awesome. The cooks and waiters are polite and make you feel like family. We were welcomed by Salvador and Martha. Hilario, the amazing chef they have making fresh omelets at your request! These people make the difference and make us want to come back. I loved our stay and would recommend this hotel to anyone who is thinking of visiting the area.

The food here is surprisingly good. I usually stay at this hotel when I’m working in the area.
Despite the doors saying that the restaurant is open until 10pm, they stop taking orders at 9 and the restaurant is closed shortly after. I ordered the Mediterranean Chicken and Linguini and it was more flavorful and tasty than I had imagined it to be as a healthier dish. The side salad was very colorful and was very fresh.
I have also previously ordered pizza that is baked in their outdoor wood burning oven and it was great.
On a side note, their breakfast buffet is fantastic. The french toast and the omelette station are a nice touch and provide a good variety that most Marriotts don’t have.

The buffet at the Starting Gate restaurant is excellent. The eggs and omelets are cooked to order with a choice lot of different ingredients for the omelets. Waffles are very good. They have trays of bacon, sausage and potatoes. I like to get salsa for the potatoes as they are little bit bland. They have fresh fruit, cereal including oatmeal, bread, muffins and Danish sweet rolls. Coffee is good and the orange juice is freshly squeezed. I suggest you inquire at the front desk when you check in to see if you can get breakfast added to your room. The price for breakfast is usually more reasonable this way. I had breakfast for two added to my bill for $ 20 on my last visit. Excellent service. A nice breakfast room with a choice of tables or booths.

I go to a Marriott, I expect good quality food, good quality service, a clean & fine environment, and no surprises. Tonight I had 2 surprises, one was random luck but I have a feeling everyone can expect my other surprise.
Surprise number one: some huge family celebration seemed to be taking place this weekend & the grandma was a highly accomplished pianist who was playing beautifully in the lobby on our arrival. That was a lucky treat for us.
Surprise number two: extremely obliging & observant service! Special shout-​outs go to Gaby, our server, & the chef for serving me pizza even though I arrived when the pizza oven had just closed. Also special thanks to the guys whose names I didn’t catch. They noticed the family party was getting a bit rowdy round our table & very discreetly shuffled them along.
I don’t think we did anything special to warrant such lovely considerate service, I think that’s just the way they are.

If you have the urge for prime rib, this restaurant is sure to please. Served Wednesday and Friday, their prime rib is cooked right and has a juicy, tender flavor. The filet mignon likewise tasted good, and I recommend it for the tenderness.
Green beans and baked potato complemented the meal, and you have to get the tortilla soup: very creamy, with a lightly spicy flavor.
Didn’t get to try their Banana Foster, but this and their other dessert selections sounded really good… I’ll be back for that.
Great customer service throughout! This was a pleasant dining experience, and proved to me that, even as a hotel restaurant, it could compete with nearby famous dining locations. Be sure to relax at the nearby fire pit afterwards, too.

Stayed at the hotel and since we have a AAA card, breakfast was included. The deal was $ 10 off an entrée on the menu or the buffet. The hostess was friendly and seated us in a booth as we requested.
We chose the buffet because it included the omelet bar. The omelet was delicious and I had it made with egg whites. I loved all the choices and the small cups of salsa that came with it. The cook was friendly and did a great job. The buffet also included French toast, or you could make your own waffle, which is what we like. Hot syrup and whipped butter were available. Also included were fresh fruits, different breads and muffins, oatmeal, bacon, sausage, potatoes, and yogurt. The buffet area was clean and well stocked. Our waiter served us bottomless orange juice and coffee and even gave us one to go. Needless to say, we were stuffed and ready to conquer the drive back home after this meal.

If they could get all the food out at the same time and correct… they would be five stars. Their tortilla and french onion soups are first class. And they have one of the most melt in you mouth New York steaks… but they really need help on their cooking times. The rib eye is thin and was over cooked while the NY was WAY under cooked… but after a refire was so good I overlooked the mistake. Their green beans are fresh. The chicken and linguine was light and flaverful. The soft tacos were good. We had chips and guacamole for an app and it was very good. This place has real potential.. and if you’re a local you get a discount! And when you order a glass of wine… you get a glass of wine… not a wimpy pour!

We were staying here for the weekend. The first morning we came down for their breakfast… they offer breakfast buffet. It was $ 18.95 for a variety of things you could choose from:
Hot entrees:
maple sausage, bacon, potatoes, french toast for the heavy choices.
Oatmeal, yogurt, cereals, milk and banana for the healthy offerings
Make your own Waffles.
Fruits:
cantaloupe, honey dew, watermellons, etc
Pastries:
danish, muffins, bagel, etc
You can also order make your own omelette with toppings: ham, turkey sausage, pork sausage, mushrooms, jalapeño, green onions, tomatoes, spinach, olives.
I chose: Omelet with Turkey sausage, jalapeño, onions, tomato, mushroom.
It was not bad. but a bit pricey for A ok buffet breakfast. I wish they had cold cut meats (smoke salmon, salami, etc)
and the last night of our stay, i wasn’t feeling well… so we came down to eat dinner.
I ordered the Mediterranean chicken & linguini minus the olive and artichoke.
Matt ordered the quesadilla salad. it was alright.
my pasta comes with creamy tortilla soup… it was yum!
Our dinner came out to be $ 28.54 not bad. plenty of food left…
Our morning waitress was very friendly… our dinner hostess (old lady) was not friendly. she was too busy chatting she didn’t even noticed we were waiting for a few minutes for her to seat us.

Stayed at the Marriott and dined here for breakfast. Good but smallish buffet with the usual breakfast items. But the omelette chef was fantastic. Super friendly, very helpful, and brought our egg dishes right to our table. Very nicely done Marriott!!! Friendly table service also provided by Martha — thanks a bunch.

A plus (and the only plus) for staying at this Marriott Hotel as a gold or platinum member is that you get a complimentary buffet breakfast included with your stay each morning. Expect the standard american buffet of both hot and cold items, which also includes a made to order omelette, pancakes, bacon or eggs. I enjoyed sampling their Santa Ynez specialty omelette, which was a classic sized 3-​egg omelette filled with bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, sweet peppers, hash brown and aged cheddar cheese. It was very tasty and was served with extra loving care and a sliced decorative avocado to boot, which I also very much enjoyed. Leaving tips for the chefs goes a long way people. The hostess and server were also quite friendly and attentive on both days helping start the mornings off right after a couple of sleepless nights in the hotel room.
It’s nice to know that great customer service still exists.
#51 /​100
Unilocal 100 Review Challenge 2014

My martini came clean not dirty, then came filthy. Skip the martini. My medium filet came well done. No pink what so ever. My dessert tasted like a melted chocolate bar. Skip the chocolate volcano cake. Bread was good.

for convenience sake, we decided to do the breakfast buffet at the hotel. the food was typical hotel breakfast — omelette station, bacon, sausage, potatoes, oatmeal — etc. not bad at all esp if you book the hotel room with breakfast package.

the staff was attentive and cordial.
i would definitely do the breakfast again if i’m staying at the hotel.

Breakfast. Food good. Servers, totally nice. Coffee filled. Attentive. I