Bettina — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

BEST PIZZA IN TOWN ! My wife and I were up in beautiful Santa Barbara for a few days to celebrate her birthday. On Friday we decided that a wood-fired pizza was just what we needed that evening. We looked at the reviews of some great pizza joints but Bettina in Montecito stood out. HARD TO BEAT ! Gee even Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives raved about their wood-fired pizza on TV. After having no luck finding a table online I jumped on the phone to Bettina and managed to snaffle a table on the outdoor patio for 6.45pm. We rugged up on a chilly evening and arrived here at 6.25pm. While I hit the bathroom my wife waited near the hostess desk. BINGO ! When I got back we had a table on the patio with a heater overhead ( not turned on ). A sweet server named Cori came by to take our dinner order. Even though I had knocked down a couple of IPA's back at The Eagle Inn ( where we were staying ) another beer wouldn't hurt. I would have preferred something with more zing but a Peroni it had to be. Apparently there were proper craft beers but their taps were down I was informed later on. WHATEVER ! To kick things off we went with some WOOD FIRED BREAD ( with Straus cultured butter ), MAFALDINE CACIO E PEPE ( pecorino romano and peppercorns ) and a MEATLOVERS PIZZA ( mozzarella, crushed tomato, pepperoni, sausage, pickled onion, basil ). My ice cold bottle of Peroni beer and a nice chilled glass arrived promptly....it tasted fine. WHAMMO ! Our Wood Fired Bread hit the table quickly followed by our Pasta dish. Hard to beat the flavor and texture of wood fired bread...something we have enjoyed many times over the years. A BIG HIT ! The Mafaldine cacio e pepe ( pasta ) blew us out of the water...absolutely perfect flavor and texture. YEAH BABY ! And then the star of the night arrived courtesy of a female food runner...our positively glowing Meatlovers wood fired Pizza. We loved the flavor of the artisan crust...cooked to perfection. The pepperoni and sausage both had fabulous flavor. Near the end of our meal Kate the manager dropped by for a chat...sincerely apologized for the beer taps being down. NO PROB ! We totally enjoyed our wonderful dinner and would return in a heartbeat....

We had the BEST dining experience at Bettina in Montecito last night! Their menu is OUTSTANDING and it being our first time dining there, we could not make up our minds. We ended up order four different pizzas so we could taste as many new things as possible.

The Pepperoni Pizza was the best we’ve ever had. Who would have thought to drizzle pepperoni with honey?! That along with the chili oil, leveled up your typical pepperoni!

The Maitake Mushroom Pizza was delicious. The pungent flavor of the thick atypical Maitake mushrooms was outstanding. Toasting up some leftovers for breakfast of this one with a fried egg and some sautéed spinach for breakfast this morning. YUM!

The Margharita Pizza is usually my go-to, but many places don’t always get the simplicity of this style right and it ends up being bland. Not at Bettina- my lids even said it was the best they had ever had! The acidic tang of that sauce along with the fresh basil, easily made this out new favorite in town!

Finally, the winner of the night, the Carbonara Pizza. Good LORD! I will have dreams of this pizza for days. The pancetta was thick and juicy and the egg in the middle was the perfect touch. Ugh, mouth watering as I write this!

Warning, we ordered over the phone for takeout on a Friday night at 6pm like a couple of newbies. They are slammed due to how amazing their food is, so be sure you plan shared and order for a future pickup time of your choice whenever possible. There was a 2 hour wait time for us, BUT we took advantage of it and went down early, sat on their string light and heater lined picnic area and enjoyed a couple Venetian Spritz’ and some fun conversations with random people. It was a mini impromptu date for us without the kids and it worked out perfectly!

If you are debating on this place, don’t. Call and order food immediately and be sure to get there a little early and enjoy some to-go cocktails while you wait.

You...

We have dined at Bettina since it opened. We know what it use to be... The food has nice flavor and they use excellent goods. They do a pretty good job using in season products. The front of house is another beast. The folks are basically nice. But the first few years when they opened. The front of house was awesome. Now they mostly have nice people but that doesn't mean they are professional. The last several times dining there. The owners are not there. Not even on a Saturday night. Tonight we ever seated at a two top. Fine. My wife asked if we could move to a booth (also two top or more). She went back to check and said no. Then three tables seat next to us had a bunch of small kids. This is during "senior hour" or happy hour. I asked again if we can move to another two top. Insider or out. And again they said no. When we left (see the photos). The indoor that we inquired. No one was sitting there. In fact another couple who sat next to our table asked. And they moved them! Being Seniors we have to be concerned with RSV. Which comes from little kids. The food - we had little gem salad. The greens were dirty. Usually a restaurant will ask if you would like pepper. They did not. Pizza - we had the spinach. Pretty much a one note dish. It's a shame. We had English peas in the past and it was awesome. I really miss the owners working the restaurant and the...