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Olio Pizzeria
11 W. Victoria St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 899-2699
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Reviews by the General Public
excelent!!!!, 8/12/2012
Reviewer: Antonio
from Buenos Aires, Argentina
All are excelent!!!!!!
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Best pizza I ever had.
Reviewer: Tommy
from Chino hills c.a
1st time.herd pizza was one of the best oldschool italian style pizzaria. Pizza was amazing. The crust tasted like the wood fired oven it came out of Cant say enough about the cheese and sauce. Had the margarita and the fennel sausage /sweet onion pizza. It's expensive. 12 inch. 18$. But for this pizza I will spend the money. Well worth it.
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an off night in the kitchen?
Reviewer: prue
from Santa Barbara, CA
i used to really enjoy this place, but the last time we ate here, we ordered two pizzas - one for each of us - and they were so tiny i felt like we were on candid camera. seriously. each one was the size of a salad plate with hardly any toppings! it tasted like doughy bread with a little bit of cheese sprinkled on top, nothing special, super dissapointing. i have had better pizza in trader joes freezer section for a quarter of the price. what a joke. we also had the sqid ink calamari - always delicious, hence the one star i give them - and a couple of glasses of wine and the bill came to around $85. we felt really gyped on the measly pizza portion especially for twenty bucks a piece and will probably not be returning. sad, they have potential but just don't seem to get pizza. awesome atmosphere and really friendly and efficient bartender.
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Good food and experience
Reviewer: Leana
from Santa Barbara, CA
We visited Olio Pizzeria for the first time last week, and we had a really nice evening. We got there around 6 pm on a Friday, and we were able to be seated right away. We opted to sit at the pizza bar where we could see the pizzas being made. The squid ink calamari was good and unique. We got a pizza to split which was more than enough and DELICIOUS, and it had lots of great cheese and fresh veggies. We finished our meal with the hazelnut panna cotta -- also good. A chef was making fresh buffalo mozzarella when we were there, and they offered those at the bar a small plate of it with fresh pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. It was a nice touch since you rarely have cheese that fresh and see it being made. The service was also good. We will definitely be back since the food was so good and it was a really fun experience!
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Has the service gone downhill?
Reviewer: Jonathan
from Santa Barbara, CA
We ate at Olio tonight. The service was sub par. The waiter seemed to be working hard, so not sure what the problem was. Our salads came out after our pizza, and the waiter was always busy in the other dining room so it took a long time to make requests and get things done.
Maybe it is a management issue. I hope they sort it out soon since the pizza is very good.
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Food is good, service needs work
Reviewer: Eryn
from Santa Barbara, CA
This was the third time I have eaten at Olio Pizzeria. The first time, shortly after it opened, the service was terrible, food was fair. The second two times, I would say the food has improved and is good, but not great. The service still is a problem. I agree with the previous reviewer, our waiter had no personality, was not friendly, and never checked on us. We had to ask to have him summoned to order a drink, order food, and get our bill. The busboys were amazing, though, kept our waters filled and removed our plates as soon as we were done. They deserved my tip so much more than our affected waiter. For the cost of the restaurant, the service needs to improve for one too get what they pay for.
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Major disappointment
Reviewer: Ann
from Santa Barbara, CA
My boyfriend and I have been dying to eat here. We live so close and every time we pass it we think about it. For a special date night we went to Olio, ordered the Parma pizza and left hungry and confused. The customer service was very dis-attached, unfriendly, cold and it seemed they could care less if we returned. The only time we felt appreciated was when our credit card slip was brought back...desperate attempt for a good tip? The layout of the restaurant is terrible. Tables are close together, its very loud, and we actually opted for the tall tables in front of the bar. BIG mistake. The door opened and closed every 2 minutes and it blasted us with freezing cold air. The guest coming in didnt seem to care either, you would think people would be more considerate and close it behind them. The ambiance is not peaceful, romantic, or special at all. As for the pizza, blahh. For 20 bucks I expect a pizza better than Rustys or Sal's. The portion was small and we left starving. I guess we needed our own pizzas each--for $40 bucks, wow! As for quality italian, haha laughable. If you want the best pizza in America, you will have to travel to Keste in NYC! Never returning here!!
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Kirsten from Santa Barbara
Reviewer: Kirsten
from Santa Barbara, CA
Currently here - food great - service great - atmosphere awesome - sad to leave - ready to come back!!!
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Over rated for very good Pizza's
Reviewer: Vinay
from Santa Barbara, CA
I read the excellent reviews of this resturant and ordered Gamberettial aglio - Shrimp/garlic/spicy chili oil which was very good. But the main course which I had read so many good reviews for the pizza Umbra with black truffles is really very salty and oily - one of the worst pizza's I ever had. The desert chocolate hazelnut was average. I feal the resturant is a over rated OR probably we need to try other pizza's. If you still want to go, I would strongly recomment to ask not to include one of the cheese that makes the pizza very salty as suggested by the staff. For $50 its not worth. Although the starter was really good. Besides that we waited for 20mins on thursday at 7:00PM so its very popular and they don't take reservation on phone. Service in resturant is good.
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One word...YUM!
Reviewer: Cat
from Santa Barbara, CA
Excellent food and good service. Am definitly going to return.
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ohhh olio
Reviewer: Carrie
from Santa Barbara, CA
Olio Pizzeria has been my favorite pizza place since it opened. Light and delicate crust, minimal topping - perfectly seasoned sauce, fresh mozzarella & basil, and olive oil. Tonight I ordered my usual, Margherita, and was sadly disappointed. The crust was thick and doughy, too much oily cheese that overpowered the perfect sauce. Why change a Perfect Pizza? Hope you will return to the original recipe.
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Wonderful food and service
Reviewer: Sandie
from San Diego, CA
First time diners. Weekday lunch. Glad we came early. We had eggplant appetizer and Parma pizza. Wonderful!! Attentive wait service.
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Sooooooo good!
Reviewer: Amy
from Santa Barbara, CA
I just had my third meal at Olio and I am still dreaming of the food. This place is amazing!
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Perfect Place to Induldge! Go ahead you deserve it....
Reviewer: Huyen
from Santa Barbara, CA
This was one of the most expensive (due to bottle of wine) and delectable meals I've had in Santa Barbara - well worth every penny. We came in right at 10 PM and the place was popping! We were worried that they would have stopped serving dinner but the pizza bar was going strong. That's where me and my girlfriend sat, and it was an entertaining/fun choice. Really cool to watch the chefs in action. This is one of the only Italian restaurants I've been to in SB where they chefs/cooks were majority Italian. It was neat to listen to them and it felt, as well as tasted authentic to me! For appetizers we the coppa picante, spicy pork shoulder - a generous serving for $8, blood orange salad, and steamed escarole with melted fontina cheese on top - another nice serving for $5. Both of the salads were delicious. We had the umbra pizza - truffles!! It's true the pizza would be fine with a bit less EVOO, but it was still incredible, and I'm usually a HUGE fan of crunchy, deep dish style pizza..but this was pizza on another level. We had the famous butterscotch pudding and hazelnut panna cotta with espresso - I died and went to dolci heaven!! Never have I tasted butterscotch so perfect. Great waitstaff, adorable space, and all around good time. A great place to visit to treat yourself.
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Bresaola
Reviewer: Art
from Santa Barbara, CA
So VG how was the 'Bresaola'? You never state whether you liked the product or not.
I inspected at the Busseto Food website. Believe it or not, they are a wholly owned division of 'Fratelli Beretta' , an Italian Company. They produce the products in Fresno under the strict guidelines of their Italian owners. Because the importation of certain meat products has been banned by US law a few times in the past [ie; ,mad cow disese, most pork products] , Beretta opened this factory to supply the american market without the fear of interuption. The term 'Bresaola' is protected within the 'EU' as you stated but not protected here in the US. So, how was your meal?
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Then Go Back to Valtellina VG
Reviewer: VT
from Santa Barbara, CA
We've been to Olio Pizzeria many times and everytime the service and food have been spectacular. VG your review helps no one except your ego..
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Immitation Italian Food
Reviewer: VG
from Santa Barbara, CA
Mamma mia....
Nothing rips my heart out more than Italians trying to pawn off imitation Italian foods on unsuspecting Americans. Bresaola, in particular, is near and dear to my heart as it is made in Valtellina- where my grandparents came from in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy. I have spent much of my life vacationing there- and know firsthand how proud they are of their local products. Bresaola is protected under the EU and I have never found a real Italian version here in the USA. EVERY time I have seen it on a menu or in an " artisan" American market, it turns out to be an imitation. Olio pizzeria has it on the menu as imported. I asked one of the workers to show me the packaging- which, of course, reveals it to be yet another AMERICAN made ( Fresno) impostor.... Why, oh why do Italians pretend to sell the real deal and think we should accept cheap imitation?!!! I'm sure the EU can't enforce these laws in the USA- because if I knew they could, I would get busy trying to bring down American companies like Busseto and Olio Pizzeria for trying to pawn off cheap imitations as the real deal!
Dai!!!!! ( come on...)
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Fun place
Reviewer: Todd
from Santa Barbara, CA
We had the Chef's choice of meats and cheeses and then 1 pizza. Too much food for 2 people! The condiments with the cheese/meat platter were great (truffle honey...yum!). There were 3 cheeses and 3 meats on the platter. I wished they had left the piece of paper that said what was what. I was not crazy about one of the cheeses and will want to avoid it in the future.
Beer is a little pricy ($6). After dinner espressos were good.
Service was good, but we hit it when there were a several tables open.
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