A new restaurant named Basil’s Santa Barbara has opened at 608 Anacapa Street, the former home of Arch Rock Fish and Melting Pot. Basil’s offera Italian cuisine and it is the sister restaurant of Fabrocini’s Italian Kitchen at 18608 Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana. Both eateries are owned and operated by Rosemary Klein and Basil’s offers nearly the same menu as Fabrocini’s. The dinner menu includes salads ($6.50-$11.50), entree salads ($10.25), antipasti ($7.50-$11), pasta ($12.50-$16.50), seafood ($25-$28), chicken ($16), veal/steak ($14-$28) and pizza ($10.50-$18.50).
“We are a family establishment,” says Brett Klein, son of the owner. “My mom opened it and I come in work any time she needs anything. My sister comes up from our Tarzana location and works shifts if need be. My son is a server here as well. Head Chef Joey Fabrocini is helping is get everything going.” I quickly discovered that nearly everything is made from scratch, and while I stopped by for a visit, I tried the fresh (not frozen) calamari which is probably the best I ever had. Breakfast at Basil’s part of future plans. Basil’s is open daily 11 a.m.- 9:30 p.m. Thanks to readers Steve H. Primetime, Jeffrey, and Annie for the tips.
Owner Rosemary Klein at the new Basil’s restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara
Being a fan of their LA restaurant, I was excited to see them open in SB.
I was definitely not disappointed! Chef Joey Fabrocini executed our meal with perfection.
Old fashioned recipes, great variety to choose from and an entertaining owner.
I would suggest you give this a try, it isn’t the easiest to find, but once you do, you will go away completely satisfied and looking forward to go back and try some other dish.
Try the Chicken Parmesan. The only down side is, the staff needs a little more experience, but what new restaurant in this town doesn’t?
Best of Luck Rosemary!
Not easy to find? It fronts Anacapa St, and city parking lot 10 is right across the street.
Disappointed. Poor guest flow: no greeting at entry, no host/hostess. We entered through the bar because that’s how Arch Rock was setup and we may as well have been invisible (bar was empty save bartender and server)
The wine list sucks. There are way too many dishes on the menu, making food wait times interminable. We ordered a salad to share and an entree each. 35 minutes after they put the order in, entrees arrive. No salad. We get it, you’re in the weeds in the kitchen because it’s Friday night but to not deliver a starter course and no make-good?
This restaurant cannot survive on tourists. They need to get their act together or we locals will go elsewhere. We sat next to two lovely local ladies who shared the same impressions. One was from Italy and she hated the food. Their order also got screwed up and bussers cleared plates that weren’t ready to be cleared.
The space itself is cavernous and needs some warmth. Everyone was speaking in hushed voices and it felt like a sad library. There are so many better places to enjoy a meal. I truly hope the owner can get her act together and make this place work. But there’s a lot to do. I’d start with cutting the menu in half, adding some guest flow or a hostess, and creating a little ambience (lower the lights, add candles, add a little background music), and address the wine list.
Half agree with the prior review. We also arrived and no one greeted us, once they did they were friendly and seated us right away. The food was ok, certainly not great and not bad, I will go back. The best part was the quiet, you can hear yourself think, sure add some candles and lower the light but some older folks appreciate the light when reading menus. Me? I really appreciated the quiet, please NO music. That is the biggest problem with every restaurant in SB, they put on some music, sure its quiet music but then every one raises their voice so people at their table can hear them over the music. There are restaurants in town that I won’t go to because they are too loud and noisy, its not a pleasant dinner experience no matter how good the food is.