Kimpton Canary Reviews

Olivia Wiley was a miracle worker for our December wedding. We were planning this from out of state and no matter what was needed, Olivia was there to help and direct. The Canary is fortunate to have such an all star as part of their team!

We had the absolute pleasure of working with Kimpton Canary Hotel for our wedding weekend in Santa Barbara, and we cannot recommend them highly enough.
From the very beginning, their team provided exceptional customer service. We reserved a room block for our guests, and they went above and beyond to make everyone feel welcome and taken care of. What truly stood out was their generosity in upgrading as many rooms within our block as possible — such an unexpected and thoughtful touch that made our friends and family feel extra special.
They also upgraded our room to an absolutely stunning 1,300-square-foot suite with a wraparound balcony. It was breathtaking — spacious, beautifully designed, and the perfect place to relax, get ready, and soak in the excitement of the weekend. It made our wedding experience feel even more magical.
A special thank you to Natasha Brooks, the Sales Manager, who was incredible throughout the entire process. She was helpful, personable, organized, and consistently available whenever we had questions. Planning a wedding can be overwhelming, but Natasha made the hotel portion seamless and stress-free. We truly felt supported every step of the way.
If you’re planning a wedding weekend or special event in Santa Barbara, the Kimpton Canary Hotel is an outstanding choice. Their service, hospitality, and attention to detail exceeded every expectation.

Olivia and Natasha at the Kimpton Canary Hotel were absolutely incredible to work with for our rehearsal dinner and welcome party (Olivia) and wedding block/room (Natasha).

From the very beginning, Olivia was kind, responsive, and so helpful every step of the way. We were planning an Indian-themed rehearsal dinner and welcome party with a lot of moving pieces and logistics, and Olivia made everything feel seamless. She worked perfectly alongside our wedding coordinator and helped us fully bring our vision to life.

The setup, the food, the flow of the evening...everything was handled beautifully. And the rooftop at sunset? A literal dream. When we walked up there and saw the space come together, we were stunned. It felt like a piece of art. Our guests were in awe, and it set the tone for the entire wedding weekend in the most perfect way.

Natasha helped us out so much with the room block and most of our wedding party and guests stayed at the Canary. We also stayed at the hotel in the Canary Suite, which was incredible. The Kimpton Canary is a stunning property.

We couldn’t have asked for a better start to our wedding weekend. Olivia and Natasha were truly the best and made the entire experience unforgettable.

We worked with Olivia through the entire process and everything turned out just how we wanted! She was great at working us smoothly through the planning steps, including where we could stay within or pick outside of the package options so that everything was what we were hoping for. We held both our ceremony and reception on the lower rooftop for 70 guests, including a photobooth. The food from cocktail hour through dessert was delicious and the whole service team were fantastic through the whole weekend of staying here - Thank you to the whole Canary team!!

The Canary was the most beautiful wedding venue! The team, especially Jessica, Olivia, and Natasha, were incredible to work with–they helped us work out all of the details leading up to the day and ran a well-oiled machine on the day-of. They went above and beyond to make us happy. Everything went off without a hitch, and we couldn't have been happier!

We could not have asked for a more professional Team to coordinate the wedding. The team leaders Jessica Reardon, Director of Catering and Natasha Brooks, Sales Manager provided excellent and exceptional support throughout the process. They went out of their way to make us feel at ease while assuring us that everything was going to be wonderful.. Which it was.. Jessica was responsive to our questions immediately and guided us with excellent suggestions. Natasha always kept us up to date on our room blocks and also provided great suggestions. . They both made the wedding experience easy and a memorable one. We could not thank them enough.

We could not have asked for a better venue than the Kimpton Canary to host our reception! Jessica was so easy to work with, answered every question/doubt quickly and was really so flexible with our wedding package. She made everything easy. The venue itself is also so beautiful, overlooking all of Santa Barbara and we have wonderful memories and pictures to look back at. Thank you for everything Kimpton! We had a blast!

Working with Jessica at the Kimpton was incredible. She was responsible, flexible, and so great. I was grateful for her attention to detail, and her transparency as well. The rooftop was absolutely magical and we also had an informal drinks at the bar the night before which also was so smooth. We got so many compliments about food at the wedding which can sometimes be hit or miss but we can say that the food, drinks and presentation was awesome. We can’t wait to go back and reminisce for this special day in our lives.

Had the best day of our lives thanks to the staff at the Canary Hotel. Jessica was literally the greatest person we have ever worked with - went above and beyond from start to finish to make our day incredible. The food from Chef Nathan was delicious, and everyone had an incredible time. Thank you x10000 to the Canary for the best day ever!

Jessica and the whole Kimpton Canary team were great. From the delicious food during our cocktail hour and dinner (especially the pork belly deviled eggs) to the wedding day weather logistics flexibility, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It was worth every penny. Access to the hotel’s inventory of linens, candles, easels, cake stands, and other items really helped streamline our wedding prep. Jessica could not have been more helpful and responsive throughout the whole process.

We had our wedding reception here in September 2023, and could not be happier with how everything went. We have always loved Kimpton hotels, and the Canary really was the perfect place for a wedding. Everyone we and our guests interacted with was friendly and helpful, and the rooftop views are so stunning. The food was also very good!

Pilar was such a joy to work with. She was very helpful since we were planning our destination wedding during Covid.

Pilar was by our side the entire time giving us updated on local enforcement changes and worked with us to make our day perfect, even during a pandemic.

I can’t say enough about Liza, her staff and the amazing setting provided at The Kimpton Canary. Our guests raved about how beautiful the setting is and how delicious the food was. Liza and her staff were all responsive and very professional in all interactions.

Liza made the entire process of long-distance planning our wedding so easy thanks to her professionalism, organization, and experience in making couples' dream wedding day come true!

This venue is absolutely gorgeous and I'm so glad I had my wedding here. Having a venue that also does food and drinks makes planning so much easier, and the food was delicious. I wouldn't change a thing about my wedding—the Canary was perfect!

Liza at Canary is a dream to work with! She has made this process so easy for me and has been so responsive to my (many) questions! The venue is stunning and exactly what I wanted it to be!

We held our reception on the Canary rooftop after getting married on the Santa Barbara courthouse lawn. It really couldn't have been more perfect. We had about 65 guests, which was a perfect amount for the space -- four tables on either side of the dance floor, and a sweetheart table in the middle facing it all. Liza was a pleasure to work with getting all the details figured out in the year or so leading up to our event, and was really great about providing solutions or suggestions whenever we hit a 'snag' in our planning for the flow of things. The night of, Omar directed his team like a well-oiled machine. Seriously - the venue is beautiful, but the service is fantastic! I remember one moment in particular, I noticed there was a candle that had blown out at my table. No big deal, but literally a minute later there was someone there re-lighting it. I didn't have to say anything! There were moments just like that all night long. I was just so impressed by how on top of it they really were, with EVERYTHING. They made the whole thing so easy. Everything about the Canary is so effortlessly elegant, and I loved that I could just use whatever they normally use (chairs, flatware, table linens, etc) and it still looked so chic and beautiful. Not only that, the food was fantastic. One of my biggest pet peeves is getting bland, tasteless food at a wedding, especially when you know that plate cost upwards of $100 per person. Not so with the Canary! People tell me all the time that was the best food they've ever had at a wedding, and I have to agree. We had our guests select between salmon, chicken, and ribs. It was all beautiful, and all delicious. I will forever cherish the incredible memories we made on that rooftop. <3

We had our reception on a Sunday (noon - 4:30PM)ish. The were amazing! Everything was beautiful and as expected! Highly recommend :) Additionally they were SOOO easy to work with. When looking into venues in the Santa Barbara area we had some difficulty in communicating what we wanted etc, but they were easy and very kind!

Shoutout to Kecia, Orlando and Liza for everything!!

The Canary Hotel is such a beautiful location to have your wedding (or anything else for that matter!!)! We used the rooftop venue for our ceremony and reception and it's just breathtaking. However, the best part of it all is the staff! Liza was simply amazing from the beginning - I really can't give her enough praise for how wonderful she and her staff are (especially Nicole!!). She is such a pleasure to work with - so flexible and open to ideas, not to mention extremely professional. Katharine was the manager who took care of our and all of our guests' rooms! She was so accommodating to everyone - what a saint she is! Laura also helped out with the rooms and (basically) anything else we needed - so helpful and sweet! :) Beau at the front desk (I felt like he was there all day and all night!) put up with our crazy family and friends without skipping a beat - simply amazing! Even the valet guys were so nice and professional... everyone who works here is great. The food was PHENOMENAL - seriously! Finch and Fork is delicious and catered such lovely dishes - literally all of our guests complimented us on how scrumptious ALL of the food was... saying it's the best wedding food they have had. We had such an amazing time at the Canary and we can't wait to return! Everyone treated us like family and we miss them all!

Our whole family stayed here for our wedding and they were so accommodating! They sent us champagne and strawberries to our room as a surprise! Wouldn't stay anywhere but here when in Santa Barbara!

Simply amazing! No one could ask for a more beautiful venue for a ceremony and reception than the Canary Rooftop!

We worked with Liza Gomez the event director, at the Canary for almost four months, planning for our daughter's rooftop wedding. She was awesome! Her responsiveness, attentiveness and flexibility in the planning process really helped pull off the kind of cozy and welcoming, backyard chic wedding that my daughter and her fiancé were after. The food was excellent as was the service. Nothing was overlooked. The ambiance on the rooftop at night added just the right touch of magic and was everything we could have hoped for and more. We just couldn't be happier with the outcome! Thank you Liza and the entire staff at the Canary!!!

There is truly no other venue like the Canary Hotel rooftop perch in Santa Barbara. It was perfect for our small wedding reception of 70 people. The great thing about this venue is that you don't need to add too much decoration - everything is already stunning! It's a vibrant, classy, intimate setting with a fireplace, plenty of comfy seating, a pool, and fantastic staff and food. We chose the plated dinner option and, wow, everything was delicious and artful.

The Canary was the best decision we could have made, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone who's looking for a venue in Santa Barbara.

Don't walk, RUN to this venue.

I had another venue planned and after a last second issue, I found myself up until 5am researching venues everywhere from San Diego to San Francisco. This place literally had me feeling giddy when I found it.

Service: I wish I could give them 20 stars. Literally. From Day 1, every employee we met went out of their way to make us feel like the most important people on earth. We probably called them up to the room 20 times day-of for a myriad of reasons (ice, a steamer, extra chairs, etc. etc), and they handled EVERYTHING/wish/desire/question like it was a breeze. I felt like Princess Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, by the time it was all said and done.

Over the top review? Yes, for over the top service.

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned the view. The food. The natural decor. Our guests were raving and are still raving days later. The view is breathtaking. See for yourself. There's not much else I need to say.

And I cannot count how many times I heard "this is the best food I've ever had at a wedding" or "The mashed potatoes were orgasmic (true story)". Food was HUGE for us (being from SF - we love our food).

Would do it all over again, every weekend if I could afford it. Best day ever.

This was a dream venue of mine to get married at, as it is boutique, high class, and so Santa Barbara! Being a coordinator, I started working down in SB more and this was one of the best venues to get married at.

The Canary Hotel made my wedding! Everyone was so helpful and did a wonderful job pulling together my wedding. Allison was such a blast to work with! My guests still say it was the best venue and wedding they've been to.

Things were set up a little differently than I thought they would be, just make sure you have a really good coordinator/designer to be there to make sure everything goes as planned. But you will have an amazing wedding by choosing The Canary as your venue!

We had our reception at the Canary rooftop. Alison was our coordinator who made this "Type A girl" feel at ease. She was very organized and easy to contact! We also loved working with Devin who coordinated the rooms for our guests. She was very flexible with us. She even had a cute picture of my husband and I as we walked into our junior suite for our wedding weekend. It was a great touch. She also sent goodies to our room during our entire stay. They sure know how to make you feel special!

The Canary Hotel was a perfect place to get married. Our wedding had 45 guests and it was just the spot we needed. Our coordinators were fun, professional and made the day stress free. The rooftop was beautifully decorated, the weather was amazing and the staff was on top of everything. The wedding party jumped in the pool at the end of the night and we had staff there to greet us with towels and made sure we were taken care of. The venue was worth every penny and all the guests were extremely impressed with the location. The Canary is definitely a place worth checking out if you are looking to get married in beautiful downtown Santa Barbara!

Beautiful location even though it rained and our cermony was moved inside. All the staff had contact with were friendly, helpful and professional. Great experience!

The Canary Hotel was in the heart of Santa Barbara, with our Ceremony at the Historic Courthouse and the Reception at the Wine Cask, staying at the Canary was absolutely perfect. We walked everywhere downtown and had an amazing time! The staff at the front desk was very helpful, the valet team handled all of our tons of wedding stuff (two dresses, boxes and boxes of misc favors, gifts, etc. as well as luggage). We put them to the test. The bar area is a great place to meet friends and just relax. The bar staff were friendly and fun to interact with. We will definitely stay there again while in Santa Barbara!

My husband and I had our wedding reception last May at the Canary Hotel, and we could not have been more pleased! I'll start with the hotel personnel:
Alison Manna, the Event Coordinator, was unbelievably helpful with all of our requests...and we had plenty! She was always promptly responding to our phone calls and emails, and was always available if we needed to speak to her in person. Barbara, who was in charge of blocking rooms, was so flexible and accommodating to our MANY requests. The head chef provided a food tasting that was out of this world. Overall, we could not be more pleased with every staff member at this beautiful hotel. This brings me to our actual reception:
The Canary Hotel offers the unique experience of providing two locations in which to enjoy a reception. First, having a Santa Barbara rooftop experience for dinner and dancing overlooking the spectacular views and enjoying the fantastic weather is worth every penny. On top of that, as the night progressed, and our guests wanted to get a little more festive, we all moved down into the Riviera Ballroom downstairs, and enjoyed a nightclub-like experience for the rest of the night.
Out guests had a blast, we have memories that will last a lifetime, and The Canary Hotel, along with its staff, facilitated this perfect reception. Anyone who wishes to have the wedding of a lifetime, you must consider The Canary Hotel.

My husband and I recently had our wedding ceremony and cocktail hour on the rooftop of the Canary Hotel in downtown Santa Barbara. This venue is absolutely magical!! The 360 views of the ocean, mountains, and city is breathtaking - our guests were in awe! Not to mention, the perfect Santa Barbara weather and breeze felt amazing. It was also the perfect size for our party of 100 guests. We toured many venues in Santa Barbara and the Canary stood out as being the most professional and organized in town. We felt like we were in good hands after speaking with Liza. With busy jobs and living out of town, we wanted to be able to trust our venue to help us pull off our wedding - and they delivered! Liza, Orlando, and their team made our big day a breeze - they kept us organized during the planning process - and on the day of - WOW. They were amazingly efficient, organized, and professional. Many of our guests commented that the service was impeccable, the food delicious, and the drinks top-notch! As for my husband and I, someone was looking out for us all night - we actually got to eat and had full glasses of champagne all night :-). I couldn't be happier with our decision to have our wedding here, it really showed our guests the best of Santa Barbara and was an amazing and memorable night for all!

Our reception at the Canary was amazing!!! The setting is gorgeous, the food was wonderful and the service great! Joanie was awesome in planning our special day in the months preceding - very helpful and responsive - and she also took charge in setting up all the extras (framed photos, table cards, candy buffet) the day of, which was such a relief! It looked amazing!! Our only complaint is that the price of rooms is really high, which is cost prohibitive for most guests. But the rooftop reception is simply perfect and we had a wonderful experience!!!

My husband and I had to cancel our original wedding in my home country (Italy) and had to quickly scramble to find a venue in California for a more intimate wedding. I can't believe how lucky we were to find the Canary Hotel and that they still had an open date! Everything about the hotel was wonderful. The planning process with Pilar was smooth, she was always quick in her responses and very accommodating. The venue rental includes tables, linen, plates etc so we didn't have to worry about any of that! And because the venue is so pretty, we were able to get away with minimal flowers/decor. And the food was DELICIOUS! We got so many compliments from our guests. We were also able to have our first look photos in the hotel, and they turned out great. Highly recommended!

The Canary Hotel set a beautiful scene for our rooftop wedding. It was breathtaking. The staff on the day, and the entire weekend we stayed there were fantastic. This is a four star hotel without the stuffiness and snobbiness you get at other hotels at this level. While it's not the cheapest place to stay, it is worth every penny and I would only stay there the next time I go to Santa Barbara.
Liza was with us every step of the process for over a year of planning our wedding. She is a kind, helpful, and patient woman. An absolute pleasure to work with, giving us her full attention whenever we were around. And I know she is a busy woman!
You must use the catering at the hotel, so there is no flexibility there. HOWEVER, it is well worth it and delicious. I loved our meal, and continue to get compliments on it from our guests.
If i could do it again, I would come back here every time.

I booked this venue for the ceremony site: the gorgeous rooftop terrace with an even more incredible view. What I didn't expect was the wonderful help I received from the Catering Manager, Shelly Berry. She not only helped us with shaping a menu but gave us invaluable advise on the order of the reception. I got a wedding coordinator without the extra price tag. The food was delicious and the waitstaff was very prompt, attentive and courteous. I forgot to ask what kind of house champagne they served at the toast but it was the best I'd ever had. All my guest couldn't stop talking about how perfectly everything had turned out.

We were VERY happy with our Ceremony and Reception on the rooftop of the Canary Hotel. We started with Alison as our event coordinator and were switched over to Liza (when Alison left unexpectedly) about 3 months before our wedding. The transition was seamless. The event turned out beautifully and everything promised was delivered. There were a few hiccups with some of our guests rooms (as well as our own rooms)... however it was remedied quickly. This venue does require a Professional Wedding Coordinator be hired for Day Of. Food must be catered by Finch and Fork Restaurant onsite (which was excellent). We could not have asked for a more wonderful evening.

My husband and I got married at the Canary a few weeks ago. We had our ceremony on the rooftop and moved downstairs to the ballroom for the reception. I love this hotel. It has such an artsy, unique aesthetic and everyone we worked with regarding the ceremony, reception and catering was delightful. Joanie Vazquez was our main contact and she was so helpful with everything. Any time we had any questions, she would get right back to us with the answers. Our only concern was that because part of the rooftop terrace is the hotel pool area, that we may face some unintentional bathing suit clad guests during the ceremony, but we didn't have any problems...and if there were any hotel guests at the pool that evening, I certainly didn't notice them.
The rooftop ceremony was beautiful. The view from there is absolutely stunning.
The reception in the ballroom was excellent. It was a little tight, but we knew what we were getting into when we invited so many people.
The food was delicious. The wait staff and bartenders did a great job too. We had a wonderful evening.

My husband and I got married on the rooftop of the Canary hotel on August 6th, 2016. From the first day we walked up there we knew it was where we wanted to tie the knot, since we both had been to the hotel on several occasions during university in SB as well as other trips to the area thereafter. However, I don’t think that our wedding would have been as magical on that rooftop had we not worked with the oh-so-talented Liza Gomez as our catering sales manager and full liaison to the hotel. She was such a delight to work with when we were simply looking at the venue, inviting us to come over to the rooftop whenever we wanted to be sure we were making the right decision. Once we signed our contract, she was in contact with us constantly and always was both prompt and sincere in all her correspondence with us. When it came down to wedding day execution, I would say it was almost flawless. The food was incredible, the drinks were strong, and the venue was set-up exactly how I had always dreamed it would be down to every last candle and string light. There were a couple of issues with my group’s “getting ready” plans and the availability of our complimentary hotel room, but even then when the hotel got wind of said issues through the follow-up survey I received immediate response from the team to better understand where the mishaps were and to help mitigate these issues coming up for future weddings. The Canary hotel is gorgeous and their team upholds the Kimpton name. I look forward to spending my anniversaries there for many years to come 

The Canary Hotel is a beautiful venue for weddings! There is no doubt about it. We had a beautiful wedding there this September. I would say that if staying within a budget is important for you, make sure you know what you are getting into completely when it comes to fees and their full pricing. When we initially booked the Canary, we thought it would be better to have a full-service venue. We had a 10k food and beverage minimum, which ended up around 17k after service fees, site fee and taxes. The Canary has amazing food, and the best view in downtown Santa Barbara, plus the service in the evening was impeccable, except that cocktails guests paid for (open beer/wine was our choice for budget reasons) were taken away half full. I thought some aspects of the catering menu were overpriced, even considering the "all inclusive" nature of the costs. To be clear outside food and beverage is not permitted other than a wedding cake, not even other desserts from a bakery vendor, which was somewhat disappointing to us. Salad and plated dinners were perfect, and they served our cake for us in perfect portions. We also had a late night taco stand which was honestly bad, and it was something special for my groom! The tortillas were incredibly dry and over 80% of the food remained on the taco table at the end of the night. On the plus side, the rooms at the hotel are gorgeous. It was worth it to stay there the night before the wedding, and they left flower petals, gifts and champagne for us when we got back from our reception.

My husband and I booked the Canary rooftop for our June wedding reception but unfortunately, it rained on us and we were moved into ballroom instead. Our guests didn't notice the difference, the ballroom ambiance was perfect! Although our premium bar set up was done nicely, they ran out of our premium alcohol that we paid for. There were fish bones in our fishes and some undercooked chicken in our buffet. The best part of our experience was working with the Catering Manager, Joannie Velasquez. She was most delightful to work with. I would recommend her assistance any day. Sadly, she had to leave near the end of the night and a banquet manager took over. We spoke with someone about storing our props and flowers overnight and were assisting our guests out when the banquet manager began shouting at us about our belongings. He was quite angry and this all took place in front of our friends and family. It was incredibly unprofessional and rude. Sure, it was the end of the night, everyone was tired but we paid to be at one of the luxurious hotels in Santa Barbara. Unacceptable.

We visited the Canary Hotel the weekend we got engaged to have brunch at the Finch&Fork, on the rooftop of the hotel. We thought the rooftop was stunning, with vast views of Santa Barbara and the beautiful architecture details. Right away, I knew I wanted to inquire about holding our wedding reception there.

On 3/12/21 I emailed The Canary Hotel to see if they were available our wedding date. I got a response the following Monday, 3/15/21, from Kaitlyn, the Sales & Catering Coordinator, stating our wedding date was indeed available! Kaitlyn also provided us with information regarding reception packages. After looking the packages over with my fiance and our families, I emailed Kaitlyn back the same day stating we would like to move forward in booking the Rooftop for our reception. Kaitlyn responded back Tuesday 3/16/21 stating she would pass me along to her Director of Sales, Pilar, for the contract phase.

My fiance and I spoke with Pilar on Tuesday 3/16/21 afternoon. At the beginning of the conversation we confirmed our reception date with Pilar, we then moved forward for 20 minutes or so going through the reception options and over the contract. Pilar ended our conversation by saying she would send the contract via email for us to sign the following day, Wednesday 3/17. We were excited to move forward and our families started booking travel from the east coast.

I then received an email from Kaitlyn, Sales & Catering Coordinator, that "unfortunately" our date was no longer available because "she did not see that there was a wedding already booked in our ballroom on that same day".

My fiance and I are absolutely devastated not to mention beyond disappointed in the lack of professionalism and organization of this company. I expressed this to Kaitlyn and she responded apologizing but did not respond to my fiances email expressing his concerns.

All I can hope is that this does not happen to the next bride who goes through the process of booking her wedding reception here. If you do proceed with booking here I suggest you TRIPLE check your date prior to moving forward with anything else.