Petrini’s Restaurant

Thank you Petrinis for a great evening! We had a very large group (30 people) kids and adults, and Petrinis was able to accommodate! It was awesome! Food is Amazingly good and the servers were all super sweet and attentive. Appears to be younger kids and they are better servers than most other places! I would highly recommend this restaurant if you’re looking for some really really good Italian food! Thanks again!

My son wanted pasta so we decided to try this place since we live within walking distance. I ordered the seafood pasta to go and when I got home and started eating it I found myself chewing on a piece of plastic. What ever food wrap they use found its way baked into my pasta. I spit it out and searched through the pasta for anymore plastic but didn’t see any. I was really hungry and decided to start eating the rest of the pasta to only bite into another piece of plastic… yum. I was going to call and complain however I didn’t want them to re make it and I didn’t want to get upset on the phone. Instead of eating here I would rather just lose the money and not go here ever again…

Hidden Gem!
If you haven’t been to Petrini’s lately you should stop in. They have added lots of new items to the menu. The Mediterranean salad with chicken is a great lunch. The mushroom ravioli is one of my favorite meals. Our family has been coming here for years and have enjoyed consistently good food and service.

TLDR: Lots of new menu items. Go for the Mushroom Ravioli, chicken piccata, eggplant parm for classic Italian dish. The new burgers and salads are also very tasty.
Great food for a reasonable price! I’ve been coming to this Petrini’s location since it opened many years back and have always experienced excellent service. My go to dish has to be the mushroom ravioli. It always hits the spot when I’m feeling like pasta, but beware it can put you in a food coma as it is very rich. The eggplant parm and chicken piccata are also delicious and I have had both on several occasions over the years.
When I come for lunch occasionally I’m in the mood for a salad and the anti pasta salad was always a winner for me as it was topped with several tasty Italian meats. They make their own Italian dressing that is very good which is why they also sell it in the bottle so can take some home. However recently Petrini’s has really expanded their menu to include several new items that have all been fantastic. So now I have switched to their new Mediterranean salad with chicken which includes cranberries, mandarin oranges, artichoke, olives and feta cheese. It is a very refreshing lunch. Today I tried their new Bolognese dish with the penne pasta for the first time and loved it. They also added burgers to their menu a few months back which I found a little strange at first since it is an Italian restaurant but they have been a major success. They have several different options of burgers with various toppings to give them an Italian twist such as including various Italian meats or a marinara sauce. I have tried about half of their variations and have been pleasantly surprised with all of them! I have to say my favorite is the Italian Stallion burger which is topped with pastrami.
Petrini’s is a great local restaurant and I honestly have never had a bad meal here once. Now that I have an extended lunch break I have started coming here more often and have been taking advantage of all the new menu items they have to offer. Between lunch and dinner I would say I eat here on average close to once a week.

Parents ate here and ordered spaghetti with marinara because we are vegan, so no meat or dairy. They ordered a spaghetti with marinara to go because I was at home. In short, my spaghetti had beef in it. When I called to politely complain about being unknowingly fed a dead animal which I know to be unhealthy, the receptionist, who seemed entirely apathetic to the situation, tells her manager who I clearly hear next to her saying that I was wrong and having her tell me that they ordered meat sauce because it was on the receipt. I told them they lost a customer and hope a good business goes in their place when they fail.

So ridiculously over-​priced for the portion size. My dining partner and I ordered the same thing, and although neither of us received a decent portion for $ 10.95, my plate did have more food than his. If I went to Presto Pasta I could have gotten twice as much pasta, plus a salad, garlic bread, and a drink for the price. Even with the axxess card it was not worth it. Our waiter was young and obviously just beginning to serve, he was very nice though :)

Always great Italian food, family owned and good food at reasonable prices
I’ve been going to there restaurant for yearsNever had a bad experience

Clean restraunt, service was mediocre, food was descent. Walked in got seated at a table under request due to a handicap family member. The food took 20 minutes which isnt bad for a table of 6. One didnt get there food corrwct so had to wait, but they took care of it in a timely manner. Service was ok the waiter you can tell was new which is ok and he will get it down. Food… well it was good wasnt to die for. The prices are pretty high buuuuut it is S.B. all in all nit bad but will go to original spot next time.

So my buddy and I came for lunch here and we are from out of town. The service was horrible. There are only 4 people in here but yet an hour after waiting for our food they finally came over to let us know why it was taking so long (embarrassed to say why). The food was bland and it’s safe to say I won’t be back. Dear manager: instead if us waiting for our food, have your wait staff get off their phones, stop texting and figure out why it’s been an hour that we didn’t get out food. When my food finally came it was canned pasta served at warm temperature. I think the Chefs name was Chef Boyardei.

Pizza here is delicious. They have the thin crisp crust I love. I also think the spaghetti marinara has a little kick to it and is excellent.

Solid pizza, boring pasta, slow service. I can only really recommend the pizza for takeout. Everything else falls flat

So, today (with the rainy weather) I decided I wanted decent italian food that wasn’t made in a haste. I decided against Presto Pasta. Boy, was that a terrible decision! I ordered the chicken picatta, for $ 18 dollars… to go.
The pasta, undercooked, beyond bland, absolutely prepared within 3 minutes. I make exceptional pasta at home. It even needed salt. I didn’t taste anything genuinely italian in this meal.
The chicken, one piece slathered with all of the butter in the world with a crap ton of capers on top (ew). Like the recipe wasn’t really measured or prepared by a professional.
The to go bag, oils dripping EVERYWHERE, yuck. Yuck.
I have to say, Presto Pasta is a thousand times better. I don’t even know how that is possible. Petrini should change their price point to Presto Pastas since they are no better.
The cashier was nice though! :-)
Petrinis really needs to step up their game. This tasted worse than fast food italian.
I was hungry, so I tried to eat it.

Tried the new Peach, Blueberry, Ice Cream concoction oven baked dessert a couple of weeks ago and it was to die for. Made a special trip back last night just for this dessert — wondering if that experience could be replicated — and sure enough — it was again to die for. At $ 5.95 it could be a gourmet specialty dessert at the Bacara and sell for $ 12.95. Enough for two to split — even though we scoffed it down. Also find the Minestrone Soup being the best we that we know of. Its also nice to support a local restaurant,

TL;DR: Basic Italian restaurant that is clearly on the decline.
I briefly flirted with the idea of getting a burger here — they have an extensive burger menu! The burgers are all Italian inspired spinoffs… basically just Italian ingredients such as pastrami thrown onto a burger. Reeks of lunch time competitiveness but hey if I worked near here I might be willing to try. (More meat than Kyle’s!)
Unfortunately the meat was nowhere to be found in the meat sauce. It wasn’t always this way apparently, the waitress mentioned «changes». Change the menu then, red sauce and meat sauce are indistinguishable at this point.
I think overall the pasta was cooked well, definitely better than not going to an Italian restaurant. The baked ravioli dish was great, I concur that it is probably frozen ravolis but that’s ok with me. Lots of cheese on this dish, perhaps that is its saving grace.
On Fleek: The Meatballs!
Not on Fleek: Bread (drier than queen Elizabeth)

Lackluster service and food. Two stars is generous, but appropriate considering the area.
I had the spaghetti with meat sauce and meat balls (+$ 3.95) and my boyfriend had the baked meat ravioli with red sauce. Each entrée came with two garlic bread slices. All the food tasted as though I’ve had it before, likely at another American Italian restaurant. Is it frozen ravioli?
There was no visible meat in my meat sauce, which my boyfriend confirmed, so I brought it up to the waitress. She said due to recent changes the meat sauce changed, and she explained the marina is different from the meat in that it has visible chunks of onion.
The interior has a retro family American-​Italian restaurant look with red and white checkered plastic table cloths. On Tuesday night it was about a third full.

All around poor dining experience. It takes alot for me to give a bad review. The waitress did not ask what type of sides we would like with our meal. The «meat» sauce has no visible meat in it. You would expect the server to describe it when ordering. The pizza was flavorless… Pretty much the
.ever. When the food arrived nobody checked on us for 15 minutes and all 4 of us had needs. Poor service.

Thought I would try Petrini’s in Goleta. Boy was that a mistake. Hostress was extremely rude. Told me there was seating at the bar, three booths were empty so I told her no. She and the waitress gave me attitude when they had to clean the booths. I waited five minuets and no one came with a menu so I left. As I left the hostess gave me a nasty smirk. I know there are plenty of great Italian restaurants in Santa Barbara, but Petrini’s isn’t one (two) of them.
P. S. I will not patronize the Santa Barbara Petrini’s either.

I grew up on Petrini’s and so it is a place that I will crave. The resturant has recently added steaks to the menu and they are excellent. For $ 15.00, you get a prime cut, spaghetti or mash (I would recommend spaghetti), bread, corn and a slice of watermelon. The steak is as good as anything in town.
I called my brother up and mentioned the steak to him, and asked me whether I had tried their new deserts. He said they are very good. I didn’t try them yet but will next time.
As for their pizza, it’s an aquired taste. Again, I crave it. growing up, you could only get the number 2 at lunch. It’s a small salad with salami, olives, and cheese, with a small individual pizza. They have now made it available all day long. Great deal for an individual.
The have also added hamburgers to the menu. I really feel like they are making an effort as a locally owned place and they should be rewarded.

We love Petrini’s, it’s a great restaurant to take your family (with little ones) to. Food is delicious and the place is not at all pretentious, plus very reasonably priced for a local (being Santa Barbara and not a chain) place. Highly recommend giving it a try! We recommend the pasta (spicy chicken is my fav.). I’ve been here a hundred times and never tried the pizza…

I wish I had checked the reviews first :(.For the smallest size pizza it was about 13 $, I got a good amount of toppings and a beer so my final bill was around 20 $. The toppings where the only good part of the pizza… the crust was the blandest I have ever tasted, I am not trying to just be mean but I have never had anything like it. The crust honestly ruined the experience for me.
My quest for decent food in this area continues!