Lindsay C.
Yelp
We just arrived in Santa Barbara and were hungry, so we stumbled upon The Lucky Penny. We thought, "Boy, are we lucky!" As Bay Area natives, we weren't too shocked by the prices--$20-25 for a 12-inch pizza, $4 to add chicken, and $2 for ranch on the side. Our total came to $115 for one pizza, one salad, garlic cheese bread, and meatballs. Not bad, right? Especially if the food is good.
Here's the breakdown:
* Salad: AWESOME. Fresh and flavorful.
* Pizza: Pretty good, though there was too much pesto for my taste (a personal preference, not a quality issue).
* Garlic bread: Tasty but had uneven chunks of garlic.
* Ranch: Delicious, but worth $2? Maybe 50 cents to $1 would be fair.
Since we were new to town and still hungry, we decided to go back and try their pan cookie for dessert. This is where the experience took a nosedive.
We waited about 20 minutes for the cookie when suddenly, the music cut off at 8:20 PM. I joked to my husband, "Oh no, did they close?" He googled it and realized they were supposed to close in 10 minutes. I went to the window with our order number, but no one was there except the cooks. Eventually, the waitress came to the window, held up her finger (without opening it), and didn't apologize for the delay. She simply said, "It'll be a minute."
When we finally got the cookie, it was burnt to a crisp. No apology, no acknowledgment of the mistake--nothing. Considering the 18% minimum tip and the fact that we spent $150 total, some basic customer service would have been nice.
The food overall was good, but the service left a lot to be desired. If you're looking for great food, I'm sure there are other options in Santa Barbara with better service and more reasonable prices.