After years of anticipation, The Ellwood, a new restaurant at Goleta Beach, has finally opened, replacing the former Beachside Bar-Cafe.

The restaurant soft-opened for dinner service on Feb. 5. Omar Khashen, one of the restaurant operators, said they expect to get their liquor license within the next few days. 

“We’re happy that the public’s finally able to come, enjoy the space and see what we have to offer,” Khashen said. “There’s a lot more coming, as far as lunch and happy hour, and we’re working on the second and third menus.”

The Ellwood was approved as the new concessionaire by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in 2021. The board approved a 10-year lease with Khashen and Joe “Diggs” Dies to operate the restaurant at Goleta Beach. 

Santa Barbara County Executive Officer Mona Miyasato announced the opening at the start of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors hearing. 

Miyasato shared that the county invested $2 million in public improvements at Goleta Beach, which included repairs to the parking lots, which were damaged during storms in January 2023 and 2024, irrigation and lawn replacements, upgrades to group area barbeques, and installation of a new pedestrian walkway. 

The new walkway was funded by a $500,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, according to Miyasato. 

In January, Noozhawk reported that The Ellwood will offer only dinner service for the first few weeks. Once the staff is comfortable with dinner, they will roll out lunch service and eventually add brunch on the weekends. 

The developers also have plans to replace the former snack shack, and open The Coop in roughly six months. The Coop will consist of coffee and doughnuts in the morning, and sandwiches, salads, barbecue and pizzas in the afternoon and evening.

On the other side of the pier, eventually there will be an event space for concerts, weddings, comedy shows and business parties. The event space also will serve as a dining area for The Coop.