Pascucci — Restaurant in Santa Barbara

When I read the menu I had such high hopes for a great lunch. The drinks came and they were perfect. The bread came and we were not impressed, but it was adequate. The food came and I was baffled. What I thought I ordered and what I got were two very different things. My salad was supposed to come in a parmesan cheese bowl, feature a smoked chicken breast and have candied walnuts and gorgonzola cheese. No cheese bowl, no walnuts, and the chicken was shredded. On top of that it seemed to have maybe two tiny pieces of gorgonzola cheese and the mixed greens were old. My daughter's salad looked somewhat better (old greens also), but her salmon piece was close to raw. The food, however, was no where near the worse part of our experience. When we complained (at first in a very kind, confused manner) we were pretty much ignored. "That's what the menu says," type of response. As it dawned on me that literally half my salad ingredients were missing, I spoke to the wait staff again. I would not call their response apologetic and no one offered to fix the problem. One young hostess did say she'd bring me a side of candied walnuts, which never came. I learned they were out of Paremesan bowls, but the waiter never bothered to mention that. They offered to put my daughter's salmon back on the grill (a clear violation of safe food handling regulations). As things progressed and we were clearly being ignored, the hostess came out to us to "see what the problem was now?" I said the problem was none of our problems had been addressed. The entire experience was mind boggling and so upsetting. I was so distraught by the horrible manner in which we were treated I had to leave. My daughter ended up paying the bill. They didn't charge for my salad (I demanded that) but they never took a percentage off my daughter's salad, like they said they would. I want to believe our experience at Pascucci was isolated, but I'm doubtful. When we first sat down the man next to us left abruptly after complaining about the dessert he ordered. It had one raspberry on top. The menu said topped with fresh raspberries. When he complained, the same waiter told him the raspberry was fresh. (That one, lonely single raspberry.) To top off the experience, less than an hour later my daughter became ill with what were classic food poisoning symptoms. (Raw non-sushi grade salmon??!! Or old, sad greens??!!). Needless to say, we won't...

If you’re going to Pasucci, AVOID Silvano the server at all costs.

Before I get to my horrible experience with Silvano, let me discuss the positives. The food was great, the free garlic bread even better, and the wait to be seated wasn’t very long. This would have easily been a 5-star review raving about my new go-to place whenever I’m in town, but Silvano ruined it.

Silvano served me a meal, and upon taking a bite, I realized it wasn’t what I was hoping for and had asked to switch it. When I asked for a meal swap, Silvano decided to press me on “what was wrong” with the meal. I followed up and said I didn’t expect it to be a lemony grilled chicken with marinara sauce, I thought it would be breaded (as I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana). Then, Silvano proceeds to smile and laugh, insinuating that I was being ridiculous, arguing with me about the taste of the food. After some back and forth, he settled with a “fine, what do you want”. I wanted to be easy, so I just asked for a full plate of Fettucini Alfredo (the Chicken Parm comes with a half plate of it). So he brings it to me and I thought the problem was solved. Then the bill comes and he still charged me for a meal I never ate, and when I asked about it, Silvano again gave me an attitude, approached the table, and said “well there was nothing wrong with it”. If there was nothing wrong with it, why would I send it back? It wasn’t what I was expecting so I wanted something else. At this point I was so irritated that this guy wanted to fight me on, first the way my food tasted, second why I wanted to change it, and third on why he insisted on charging me for a meal I didn’t eat. I straight up told Silvano, I have never been to an establishment where asking for a meal change was such a big issue. He went and asked the owners and they approved my request, but for this guy to double down and argue with me was just ridiculous.

Please, go here and enjoy the great food, just avoid Silvano as your waiter at all costs, unless you want an argument...

I wouldn't recommend dining here. My boyfriend and I went for dinner last Sunday, and from the moment we arrived, the experience was uncomfortable. Despite the restaurant being nearly empty (only two tables occupied), no one greeted us or acknowledged our presence. The server--who l believe may be the owner--made eye contact with us but didn't say a word. I had to grab a menu myself and approach them to ask if they were open and whether we should seat ourselves. We tried to stay positive and seated ourselves, but the service never improved. It felt like we were being deliberately ignored. What made the situation worse was witnessing how differently other customers (specifically white patrons) were treated. The same server who barely acknowledged us was suddenly warm, welcoming, and quick to assist them as they walked in. The food was okay, but the service and the clear display of bias overshadowed everything. The microaggressions and lack of basic hospitality made us so uncomfortable that we skipped dessert just to leave sooner.

Santa Barbara has many excellent Italian restaurants--this, unfortunately, isn't one of them. If you value respectful service and a welcoming atmosphere, I suggest...