Lucky Penny — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

We were road tripping on highway 1 and coming up on Santa Barbara and we were feeling the need to feed. Luckily we found the Lucky Penny. Parking can be an issue, but the experience is well worth the effort. Seating is outdoors (patio), but shaded. Now for the good stuff, the pizzas are handmade to order, cooked in a wood fired oven and delivered to your table and the tastes are fresh, hot and delicious. We ordered the Classic Cheese pizza; this to me is an accurate gage of a pizzeria's quality. The short list of ingredients allows you to really taste the marinara sauce (fresh, not too salty or sweet), crust (crisp with the right amount of chew) and cheeses (high quality, did not inundate the surface in a pool of grease when melted and tasted fresh and flavorful) and if they cannot successfully execute this humble pie there is little hope for anything else on the menu. I am pleased to report that the quality of ingredients and the execution were masterful. We also ordered the Californian pizza with pesto sauce, lemon ricotta, marinated artichokes, fresh basil and pine nuts. This pie alone should make the Lucky Penny a mandatory foodie destination. The Lucky Penny is also a coffee shop / bakery and sandwich shop. If Lucky Penny was not 100+ miles from home, I would probably eat there 7...

I had the pepperoni pizza -- kept it standard, with slices of pepperoni and parmesan on top. The pizza is quite artisan; what you would expect from high quality dough and toppings in a wood fired stove, then slices of parmesan cheese topping off the just-baked pizza. It was quite good and filing.

The pizzas are shareable for two people. Great for a date night or just catching up with a close friend. There's plenty of seating for groups of two to three people and a few benches for groups of slightly more.

I'd steer away larger groups. Some people may balk at the size of the pizza versus the prices. The time it takes to order and get seated is long as well. On busy days, you could potentially be waiting in line to order the same amount of time it takes to make the pizza you are ordering. Busy days also mean that you'll be struggling to find a shaded place to sit, especially with a larger group.

All in all, if it's not busy and you want to treat yourself to a good pizza then Lucky Penny is worth checking out. If there's a line to order and seating looks like it might be a challenge, there's plenty of other good pizza joints in the area...

We stopped by Lucky Penny in Santa Barbara and I have to say—this place absolutely lived up to the hype! I ordered the Salty Surfer pizza with a few customizations: I swapped the peppers for mushrooms and kept the pineapple and prosciutto combo. The vodka-based sauce tied it all together beautifully. The crust was phenomenal—crispy, chewy, and packed with flavor. Truly one of the best pizzas I’ve had in a long time!

The frozen margarita was perfect for the warm weather—refreshing, balanced, and hit the spot.

We also tried the Caesar salad, which wasn’t quite to our taste—the dressing had a very bold, strong flavor that didn’t quite work for us. We also ordered the pepperoni pizza, which was decent, but the Salty Surfer definitely stole the show.

The only downside was the seating—we were with a group including kids, and there just wasn’t enough shade, which made it a bit uncomfortable in the heat.

Overall, though, the food—especially the Salty Surfer pizza—and the atmosphere made for a great experience. I’d definitely return (hopefully with a bit more...