On the morning of Monday, October 12, more than 200 people were already lined up outside 7000 Hollister Avenue before the doors opened at 10 a.m. By the time the line was counted, it had passed 300, Edhat reported. They were waiting for Raising Cane's. A few months earlier, the same storefront at the corner of Glen Annie Road had been Kyle's Kitchen. By opening day, Kyle's had been serving from its new spot across Hollister Avenue for about three weeks.
If you shop at the Smart & Final Extra! center, which its owners call Hollister Village Plaza, you've watched this happen one door at a time. Two leases ended, a business that had been here for years moved across the street, and the landlord used the empty spaces to build a row of three national and regional chains, one next to the next. The plaza's courtyard lost TAP Thai, the restaurant its own announcements used as a landmark, during the same few weeks.
Two Leases Ended, and Three Doors Changed Hands
The plaza described its plan in a June 25 update. Raising Cane's, Urbane Cafe and El Pollo Loco would be "located side-by-side within the plaza," taking over the former Kyle's Kitchen, Choppa Poke and Sleep Number spaces. Here is where each piece stood as of late October:
| Space at Hollister Village Plaza | Before | Now | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7000 Hollister Ave., corner of Glen Annie | Kyle's Kitchen | Raising Cane's | Opened October 12 |
| Suite 102 | Choppa Poke | Urbane Café | Opening set for Monday, October 26 |
| Suite F-1 | Sleep Number | El Pollo Loco | Listed as "Coming Soon!" with no date |
| 7060 Hollister Ave., next to Smart & Final | TAP Thai Cuisine | No tenant announced | Closed September 25 |
| Suite D-4 | n/a | Shear & Color | Open since July |
Two of these changes started with a lease running out. Owner Jay Ferro moved Kyle's Kitchen after its Hollister Village lease came to an end, according to the Santa Barbara Independent. TAP Thai's five-year run ended the same way. "Our TAP Thai Cuisine Goleta location will be closing as our lease comes to an end," owner Preaw Chamchoi wrote to customers, as Edhat reported. Her Solvang restaurant, KANOK Thai Cuisine at 435 Alisal Road, is still open.
The Chicken Tenders Moved Across the Street
Kyle's Kitchen reopened in late September at 6831 Hollister Avenue in Storke Plaza, the Target center. The Restaurant Guy places it a few doors from Cajun Kitchen. Its signature buttermilk chicken is still brined for 24 hours in buttermilk and spices. At the new location it is also hand-breaded and fried to order. The menu added two sauces, a homemade honey mustard and a chipotle crema, along with Tillamook ice cream.
Raising Cane's, in the space Kyle's left behind, runs on a deliberately narrow menu: chicken fingers, crinkle-cut fries, coleslaw, Texas toast, lemonade, iced tea and its dipping sauce. The company says its chicken is marinated for at least 24 hours and cooked to order. So the corner that used to have one place selling chicken tenders now has two, with Hollister Avenue between them. Both describe the same 24-hour soak and both cook to order.
The two are run very differently. Kyle's Kitchen's slogan is "Eat great food, help great people," and the Independent reports it has raised more than $300,000 through partnerships with local nonprofits. Its current partner is the Grace Fisher Foundation, and a community art workshop is coming up. A patio under construction at Storke Plaza was expected to be finished within a few weeks of that October 23 story. Kyle's also still runs its other Goleta location at 5723 Calle Real.
Raising Cane's says it hired more than 70 people for the Goleta restaurant, which is its second in Santa Barbara County. It's open every day from 10 a.m. to midnight. That makes it one of the few places on this stretch of Hollister serving food that late. Inside, the dining room has memorabilia from local high schools, navy and gold booths, a hand-painted floral mural, and design details meant to recall Goleta's history as the birthplace of California's commercial lemon industry.
The Row Fills In Next Door
Urbane Café is the second of the three chains in the plaza's plan. The Ventura-founded sandwich shop picked Monday, October 26, for its Goleta debut, with a 10 a.m. ribbon cutting and doors opening at 10:30. The first 50 customers in line get one sandwich a month for up to a year. It's the chain's 46th location. Founder Tom Holt started Urbane in Ventura in 2003, and the bread is made in-house. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. On Wednesday, November 4, Urbane is holding a Teacher Giveback Day. Teachers and school staff who register for a promotional code and order online get a free sandwich, salad or bowl.
El Pollo Loco is the third, going into the former Sleep Number space at Suite F-1. The plaza's directory still shows "Coming Soon!" with no date. In September, Noozhawk noted that Google listed a November 6 opening, but the shopping center hadn't confirmed a timeline for it or for Urbane. Treat November 6 as a possible date until the plaza announces one. Once El Pollo Loco opens, the row the plaza described in June will be finished, and the corner of Hollister and Glen Annie will have three side-by-side chain restaurants that weren't there at the start of the year.
The Courtyard Lost Its Landmark
The fast-casual row gets most of the attention, but the plaza's courtyard has changed too. For years, the center pointed people to its gathering space by the restaurant next to it. In 2025, its live music series was set up "in the courtyard near TAP Thai," Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. through May and June. Its 2025 Santa event, held Saturday, December 6, was billed for "the courtyard by Tap Thai at 7000 Hollister Avenue," with free photos, holiday music and carolers.
This year's live music went on, with Catalina Esteves playing courtyard dates from May through August 1. The restaurant those events used as a landmark is gone, though. TAP Thai served lunch only, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., during its last week, then closed on Friday, September 25. No new tenant has been announced for 7060 Hollister. As of this writing, the plaza's news feed hasn't announced a 2026 Santa date.
The quieter businesses in the center have stayed. Takashi Ramen, which has served Hakata-style tonkotsu in Suite D-2 since its February 2025 opening, is still in the mix. Shear & Color added a hair salon in Suite D-4 this summer. The plaza that's taking shape is more about quick lunches and takeout. The plaza described the new row the same way in June, calling it a stop for "quick lunches and family dinners to takeout on the go."
Dates Worth Knowing Between Now and December
Most of what's still to come at this corner, and nearby, falls in the next six weeks:
- Wednesday, November 4. Urbane Café's Teacher Giveback Day at 7000 Hollister, Suite 102, for teachers and school staff who register online in advance.
- Early November, unconfirmed. El Pollo Loco at Suite F-1. Check the plaza's directory before you plan around it.
- Saturday, November 21. Deadline to enter the Old Town Goleta Holiday Parade.
- Saturday, December 5, 6 p.m. The Old Town Goleta Holiday Parade runs along Hollister Avenue from Orange Avenue to Kinman Avenue.
If the corner fills up on a weekend, The Ellwood at Goleta Beach recently added a more casual menu with fish tacos, a Goleta Burger, a fried shrimp basket and a frozen "Goletarita." As restaurant partner Colin Jordan told Noozhawk, the goal is to be a beach restaurant people return to "two, three, four times a week." It still serves its higher-end seafood and pasta.
For the Kyle's Kitchen regulars still pulling into the old lot at Glen Annie: the tenders are now across Hollister in Storke Plaza, near Target and a few doors from Cajun Kitchen.
At Monument Global Estates, we follow Goleta's corners one storefront at a time, because the shops and restaurants down the street are part of what people mean by home. If you'd like to talk about life along the Hollister corridor or anywhere else on the South Coast, Let's Connect.
