Santa Barbara is a nice little city on the coast. Has some good beaches and is basically a party town. You get trashed on State Street all night, then in a drunken mission make your way over to Freebirds for one of their big burritos (it's good drunk food and the place is the only thing open at 2am).
I don't drink myself, but I usually stop at a store there on the way to The Chumash casino or Lake Cachuma. If you go up the coast to Buellton and Solvang, you can get a pretty good steak at Anderson's Pea Soup Kitchen. They have a steak there if you can finish it, it's free.