If you're a food fan you come for the Jonathan Waxman experience. If you're a movie fan you come for the Ivan Reitman experience.
I came for the former. Although I was exposed to countless reminders of Reitman's illustrious career (posters of Danny DeVito and Bill Murray stared at me the whole time), I was left disappointment by the food:
1. The chopped salad ($12) was pedestrian (although the blue cheese was magical).
2. The JW chicken and potatoes were worthy of the name (I would hope so at $24 and $9 respectively).
3. The halibut was $32 of horrible.
4. The Stay Puft baked Alaska dessert ($12) was sweeter and almost as intolerable as Beethoven.
Montecito is big and bold and loud. The service is as mediocre as the food. It reminded me of an expensive Moxie's with a little star power (that's not a compliment).
In the end, this restaurant was more like Stop! Or my Mom will Shoot than it was Animal House. In the end, I have to give it two stars in the Waxman world and two thumbs down in Reitman's.