delicioso and a total surprise find with amazing service on a beautiful afternoon for lunch prix fix menu featuring zucchini soup peered to perfection butternut squash ravioli that was a revelation finished with a salmon filet on top of More
This place never fails to impress. They have good dishes for affordable rates, there no long wait even when the place is full.
You can't go wrong with any dish on the menu and the staff are the definition of professionalism!
4 stars-could have been higher. We chose this on a whim from a menu view strolling around downtown Santa Barbara. Wifey loves Italian. Will say up front service was exemplary, friendly, not too obtrusive, and responsive. Outdoor dining to comply with Covid restrictions. Meal began with delicious fresh crusty bread with olive oil and balsamic. Should have asked if they baked on site. Starter to split of Caprese salad.Three tomato slices topped with Buffalo mozzarella, atop large fresh basil leaves and drizzled with olive oil. The cheese was delicious but the tomatoes were quite hard and low on flavor. Unfortunate. My wife chose a dish with tubular pasta with bolognese sauce, her favorite. The dish looked and smelled great but the pasta, to our taste, was too al dente. Quite hard IMO. Now I will say that I think the kitchen would have replaced it if we had asked but time did not allow. Again, unfortunate.
I base my comment about the kitchen on the way they accommodated my menu choice. The menu listed a warm seafood salad of mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp, and scallops with a lemon white wine sauce. Sounded great. I asked the waiter about the size and he explained it was not entree size. He suggested they could make a double size. As I thought about it, he then told me the kitchen could convert this dish into a pasta dish, say with fettuccine. Perfect. And that s what it was, perfect. Delicious plentiful seafood, pasta cooked just right, and a very complimentary sauce held the whole dish together. I did not leave a speck in the bowl(bread sopped up that sauce nicely). Too full for dessert we left happy but wishing for just a bit better results. Recommended.
Fine authentic Italian restaurant in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is just a beautiful little city. The city already has a holiday Christmas feel. The lights and decor are up, giving the city a beautiful romantic holiday hallmark feel. The restaurant has al fresco dinning and is set up nicely. They have heat lamps out, as its winter in California. This only means its below 70 but the heat lamps give it a cozy feeling sitting outdoors. The food was good. My wife got the duck stuffed ravioli with a cream sauce. She really enjoyed it. She believes it's the best ravioli shes had, and she states that on her Italian heritage and having ravioli's in Italy. It was so good, she had to break some bread to finish the sauce with it. She left a clean plate. I had the rack of lambs with sauteed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. I enjoyed it, it wasn't the best, but it was good. It had good flavor and was tender. I also got a side of thier polenta. It was grilled and covered in mazzola cheese. It had a weird flavor. Can't say I enjoyed it. I mainly got it to try out and I'm going say wasn't enjoyable. For desert we got the raspberry creme brulee and lemon tart. The creme brulee was fresh creamy with the sweet crunch, it was good. The lemon tart, tasted store bought and old. The crust was dry and did not taste fresh. It was tart, but tasted as if it was sitting out for days. So, the location is a big plus. Very romantic, great date night location. The food, I would have to say, stick to the pastas as its something they do great. I would try this place again.
olioelimone.com