AAA rates 2 local restaurants at ‘4 diamonds’
By Raiza Giorgi · Tue Mar 19 2019
Staff Report
For the 14th consecutive year, both the Gathering Table at the Ballard Inn and The Willows at the Chumash Casino Resort have been rated “four-diamond” restaurants by the American Automobile Association.
Bouchon in Santa Barbara and Angel Oak at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara Resort are the only other four-diamond winners in Santa Barbara County.
According to the Auto Club, only 41 restaurants in Southern California received either four- or five-diamond status. Just 2.1 percent of restaurants inspected by AAA received four diamonds, and only 0.2 percent received five. There are only 656 four-diamond restaurants in the country.
The AAA announcement noted that four-diamond restaurants “offer a distinctive fine-dining experience, employing creative preparations that are skillfully served amid upscale ambience.”