this restaurant has the potential to be such a good restaurant. However when we went tonight it took about 10-15 minutes to get addressed. We didn't get offered to get our water filled till the end of the meal. I understand it's a busy night but it looked like there were plenty of staff to give us the bare minimum. It might just be busy but for how expensive the food is I would expect better service. read more

Our favorite restaurant in a field of great restaurants! The food is superb and very Italian country. Authentic, fresh, best chef ever. It is our home away from home. Two times a week, minimum! After the disaster this past year, the whole community was very hard hit. Pane y Vino was such a comfort to be able to return to. It was hard hit also, being forced to close for months....and then having so many people gone from the community. We adore this restaurant, and it has not broken stride! It is a wonderful restaurant with the best, most honest and simply divine Italian food! p.s. we love to eat outside on the terrace.....it is always plenty warm (even in the rain); and is quieter than inside. Still same great food! read more

The restaurant located very quiet and plenty of cars parking spaces. The foods are very delicious.

My mom is off-the-boat real Italian and all my grandparents were born in Italy. I know good Italian food when I eat it and really wanted to like Pane e Vino but can honestly say I did not like it and was not impressed. One of my general guidelines is the quality of the bread reveals the quality of the cuisine. I mean that if the chef puts great care in turning out bread of high quality, you can be sure the same attention was paid to the rest of the meal. This guideline has always proven true and I should've listened to my inner voice tonight when the bread was cold and tasteless. The crust was wonderful but that was it. We should've walked out. Why would the bread be dreadful in a place whose name means "Bread and Wine"? So, I ordered the veal Marsala. I asked about the starch and was told it comes with potatoes. I asked for pasta instead and was told they don't do sides of pasta... In an Italian restaurant, I couldn't get pasta?? When it arrived, the veal was very good, but the portion was smallish for $25 and it did indeed arrive with three very small, undercooked and underseasoned potatoes. I could not eat them. My husband ordered ravioli and they were fresh and tasty but an extremely small portion for $20. If the waiter had recommended the dish as a primo piatto and suggested ordering a salad or a secundo, we'd have understood but no such recommendations or suggestions were made. My husband left very unsatisfied. He ordered two glasses of wine, one chianti for $11 that he said did not taste very good and one glass of dolcetto for $13. The wine glasses themselves were cheap, thick, and small, Walmart variety glasses. Their size was more appropriate for a cordial than an actual glass of wine. The dolcetto was written on a chalk board that said "Wines Off The List" and was never pointed out by the waiter. The waiter never checked to see if we enjoyed the food, never asked us a single question. Didn't like the food or the service and never NEVER going back. Prices were much too high for portions that were much too small and not unfriendly, but not friendly, service. NEVER. GOING. BACK. :( read more

Pros: the food was delicious! We ordered the bruschetta appetizer, the minestrone soup, and two pasta dishes. The portions were large and filling. Additionally the staff was very accommodating and cooked a last-minute dish after the kitchen supposedly closed. Staff was awesome overall - very friendly and attended closely to us. Cons: *Warning: I am a young adult who just graduated from college* However, I thought this restaurant was not fairly represented on Yelp. Should definitely be represented as "$$$" instead of "$$". Not a cheap eat, and is not necessarily for the younger crowd. Lots of older folks - I'd say 40+ but if you're looking to splurge on good Italian cuisine, this is the place. Additionally, another con was the lack of diversity on the menu. Mostly pasta dishes. read more

Pane E Vino - Italian Near Me - Montecito, California

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WTF! They hung up on us three times tonight, seemed annoyed they had to provide the specials, let their phone go voicemail for an hour during dinner, then picked up and put us on hold for 20 minutes and never took our order. Going elsewhere. 7pm Friday April 28th. Hope owner reads this! read more

Salad was overdressed and soggy. Wine not very good. Portions were to small. Not what it use to be. So sad and very expensive for what I received. read more

Mediocre to passable and sometimes good food is not enough to overcome the seemingly arrogant, condescending and dismissive maitre d'. A enjoyable dining experience is more than the food alone. Unfortunately, we have been told that our experience with this employee is not singular or unique to us. After many years of patronage we will never again support this restaurant given his unpleasant behavior. Fortunately, there are many other choices in and around Montecito for a fine dining experience. read more

Absolutely wonderful neighborhood Italian hidden away in a little corner of a "strip mall" (pushing it a bit given the beauty of Montecito). Came for dinner on a Friday night, roundly welcomed and settled in to a seat of our choice by a great host. Service was fantastic and fluid, solid recommendations and helpful. The portions are sizable, artichoke starter was divine, the watercress salad also great. For mains we stuck to the simple (always the best way to judge a restaurant) - by far the best gnocci we've ever had and a the Cacio E Pepe . . well it's a lot better than mine! Rounded it off with a panne cotta and affogato - perfect. It's clearly a place loved by the locals, we all sang a nice round of Happy Birthday to one gentleman, and you can see why. Can't wait to come back on our next trip up this way. read more

Love this little locals hideaway. At the end of a small mall in the exclusive enclave of Montecito, near Santa Barbara,proper, lies a beautiful patio and cozy restaurant that serves imaginative Italian. A fabulous wine list that's extremely interesting and ridiculously cost effective for a great night out. Everything is made from scratch and there is always some intriguing special. Almost hate to post this but it's a find! Been coming here for years. read more

The fresh quality food and beautiful ambiance will speak for itself. A true hidden gem. read more

Pane E Vino - Italian Near Me - Montecito, California

Another reviewer said they were "sized up" upon arrival. My sentiments exactly. I guess if you don't arrive in a Range Rover, you aren't worth the trouble. Nauseating..... really! We had high hopes for this place on our anniversary weekend. We arrived and were sat by a friendly bus boy, then we sat for another 15 minutes without acknowledgement from any server. No water/bread.... nada! I was a server for 12 years so I get being busy, but there was plenty of help on staff and only a few tables. We finally got the attention of an apathetic, rather aloof server, while what seemed to be the manager/owner continued to schmooze the bougie table (ya know the kind that looks like they've walked out of a J.Crew commercial) right next to us without so much as a glance our way. I find this type of behavior from an owner unacceptable. So for just north of a $100 you'll get unfriendly staff, subpar dry bread, underwhelming salad, & teeny portions of mediocre food. After asking for our check, which the owner took, then we again sat waiting, as he schmoozed the same table, holding our check and not running our card. Still, we tipped 15% & did not complain as I'm sure it wouldn't have been received. I certainly won't ever be back. We were going to order dessert and coffee, but went down to road to give our money to Ca' Dario, where they were happy to see us, the dessert was exquisite and the service wasn't pretentious crap! Left $50 tip on a $50 tab there, too. Save yourself the trouble and go there, or McDonald's.... either way, you'll have a better experience. read more

The food is good and the wait staff attentive, unfortunately, it's small and crowded. The bruschetta di pomodori was just ok, but the homemade ravioli were quite good. I also liked their dessert selection and quality. read more

It seems like yesterday that all the new Italian restaurants popped up in Montecito, in the upper Village we had Via Vai, Piatti's and Pane e Vino, around the same time we got Palazzio on Coast Village Road. T I tried them all and liked Palazzio's prices but enjoyed Pane e Vino's food the best. Their Italian fare was fresh and delicous. I recall how superior their sauces were! That was more than twenty years ago. Pane e Vino and Via Vai are two survivors. It is hard to believe that I had all but forgotten about Pane E Vino! My twenty year absence was broken a couple of weeks ago! We had some wine, enjoyed DELICIOUS Italian food. We shared two salads amongst the four of us and each ordered an entree. The salads were excellent. I liked the beet salad the best. My wife ordered the Pollo allo spiedo which is a rotisserie roasted chicken, excellent... my son had the Pork chop and I ordered the lasagna. I would recommend any of them in a heartbeat! I am often asked what is the best Italian food in Santa Barbara and I think I have been conditioned to answer Ca Dario... but now I am rethinking this and will probabably suggest Pane e Vino in the future! read more

I visited Santa Barbara and the nearby Montecito this summer with my Italian-born husband. We were searching for a good Italian restaurant that night as I was craving some good pasta. Santa Barbara's State Street had a lot of options, but was mobbed as it was Independence Day Weekend. I searched Yelp and found this restaurant. Oh my, am I glad I gave it a chance! The food was to die for my husband said and this is coming from an Italian. They had more specials than regular menu items. He had the fettuccine al salmone, fettuccine with salmon in a tomato sauce and my dish, while I can't remember the name exactly (linguine alla zucca con gamberetti, maybe?), was egg noodles in a pumpkin sauce/puree with shrimp. Both dishes were PERFECT though we agreed that my dish was better as the flavor pairing was just amazing. As far as pricing, we found the restaurant priced well below what we thought it should have been for the quality of the food. Both of our dishes were under $15. Santa Barbara is a five hour drive from us and we'd come back for this place! read more

My first time to this restaurant was so wonderful I cannot wait to go back. As a matter fact, since my lunch here, I have become somewhat obsessed with polenta. I've now made it three different times in my own home. I honestly do not know, nor can I even imagine, the service that's been described in some of these other reviews. We were given great service, no complaints at all whatsoever, and I can't wait to go back. read more

We usually enjoy this restaurant, but I did not have a very good dinner here recently. I had a special pasta of spaghetti, and broccoli. The spaghetti was cooked properly, but the broccoli was over cooked to the point that it was gray and mushy. My husband had roast chicken which was okay, but he said that he had eaten much better chicken elsewhere. Maybe, we just hit it on a "off" night. read more

We stopped by here during a few days in Santa Barbara. We got married in Montecito (at Butterfly Beach) 6 years ago so decided to revisit the area. Also, confession - this was on a list of GOOP recommendations (don't judge. It worked out and we had a great dinner!) We went for an early dinner in the middle of the week, so seating wasn't a problem. We were seated immediately and were able to choose our seats. We sat out on the patio and were only one of a couple full tables when we sat down. (By the time we left, it had begun to fill up more.) The staff and service were great. Food was excellent. I got a pasta dish and the fettucine was clearly handmade. But one thing that really stood out was the salad starter that we got - it was literally an entire head of butter lettuce with some cherry tomatoes & parmesan shaved over top. I know that sounds crazy to rave about a head of butter lettuce but really, it was DELICIOUS. The dressing was bright & light - the whole thing just tasted incredibly fresh and astoundingly good. The atmosphere was lovely, too - it's in a strange location and right on a parking lot, but it's tucked back and there's enough foliage along the outside of the patio to feel like you're nowhere near a parking lot. One amusing thing - I was wearing a long, black summery dress that revealed how very many tattoos I have. (Also, I have a half sleeve on one arm. Ink, that is.) I also had two bright pink colored hair pierces clipped in. You can't see my husband's tattoos under his shirt, but he still didn't look super conservative. This place has a little old school Republican vibe with the rest of it's clientele. By no means was anyone rude to us but we definitely got a couple of looks. And we DEFINITELY stood out. (Think "Real Retired Housewives of Montecito".) LOL But like I said, just an observation that made it all the more fun of an experience, we weren't made to feel uncomfortable or anything. read more

Ordered the seafood soup. It was 10/10. The reviews saying this place isn't good are ridiculous. It was great. Wait service was perfect, people were very kind. Sat outside where there was a nice breeze. Would definitely come back again. Oh and also the cheesecake is phenomenal. It's a family recipe they say. read more

Pane E Vino - Nice sitting outside. Shade is great - Italian Near Me - Montecito, California

My wife and I were in Santa Barbara for our anniversary and on the recommendation of friends, we put Pane E Vino on our dinner stop list. It was a great decision. It is hard to imagine charm in a strip mall venue, but Pane E Vino achieves it regardless. The management is cordial, the venue intimate and the food phenomenal. My wife ordered a Mediterranean pasta that had fish and spicy flakes of pepper in it. I ordered the Spaghetti in Bolognese (a great test of any Italian restaurant). Wifey had a beet salad and I a Caprese for an appetizer. All the food was excellent. My wife and I ended up swapping because the spice was too much for her, plus she fell in love with my Bolognese. I could have stuck with both, and effectively did given that she could only each half the Bolognese. Prices here were reasonable, too, so not only was the food great, but the value was there, and I left full. Just for fun, we also managed a star sighing. Jane Lynch from Glee was sitting at an outside table alone enjoying a meal, and (I am happy to write) uninterrupted by those who recognized her. There is a nice covered outdoor area that would be nice to sit in, too, but we chose indoors as it was cold outside. For travelers up the coast, romantics away for a weekend of fans of great Italian food, Pane E Vino is a must stop on your Italian culinary tour along California's coastline. The food will make you think you are in Amalfi without the cliffs or airfare. read more

Love the quiet small space with great covered outdoor patio. Have eaten dinner here twice in the last month 'cause craving homemade pasta with wonderful puttanesca sauce. Service is lovely/ friendly and welcoming and food arrives promptly. We've mostly ordered pastas, enough choices even for vegetarians like us! Great salads. Our Tiramisu was just average, but hey, it's something to work on. Our waiter Ubaldo is a pro, as are the others, and Molto Italiano! we'll be back. read more

Went over the New Year's weekend for what I think is my 7th time dining at this restaurant. My wife and I love everything about Pane e Vino (see my previous review about how we had our wedding rehearsal dinner here). The staff, the management, obviously the food, the simple elegance of it. There are some people who don't like the aesthetic of the restaurant and think it's old or dated -- to those people, i would question whether they've dined at casual restaurants across Italy. This feels very authentic. The owner spends 6 weeks a year in Italy each summer visiting vineyards to pick out wines for the year. On this most recent visit, we tried some different dishes. We started with the homemade gnocchi al pomodoro. Simple yet delicious with a touch of rosemary. My wife commented that the gnocchi tasted a bit overcooked compared to other restaurants and that she REALLY LIKED it prepared like this. For me, it was EXACTLY how my elderly Sicilain grandmother used to cook her gnocchi. It was perfect! Next, we shared a veal marsala dish served with potatoes, carrots, and ruby swiss chard. Veal was a hearty portion. Excellent taste. Dish was plated nearly exactly as if I had ordered the dish in Roma. For dessert, I had the fragole (strawberries) con zabaione. Even though it was not strawberry season, the dessert was still fantastic. We also each had a glass of the cab franc wine of the day. read more

Pane E Vino - Veal Marsala. Yum! - Italian Near Me - Montecito, California

I frequent this restaurant weekly. It is An absolute hidden treasure in the Upper Village of Montecito. Romantic patio dining. Sophisticated menu. Great place for lunch too.. Sand Dabs are a must! If you can get them to make the White Truffle Risotto, you will not be disappointed. read more

The meal was fairly mediocre. Had eaten here before years ago and remember the food being better. Ordered 3 pasta dishes and one salad of Gnocchi, penne w/ tuna, and penne w/ salmon. Gnocci was bland and mushy, the other pastas were underwhelming. This restaurant seems a little stuck in the past with it's mid 90's menu and preparations. Also the service could have been better, waiter seemed indifferent. Place is resting on its laurels of former glory. Doubt I'll return next time I visit the area. read more

Fabulous. Great food. Great service. Beautiful quiet atmosphere. My family had dinner here and we were very pleased. We are Italian, and this place hit the spot. Unlike many places, they base their dishes on a delicious olive oil rather than butter and most of their vegetables come from the local farmers market. I had a wonderful time here and definitely will be going back! read more

Amazing experience at this adorable, cozy and delicious restaurant just up the road from the main strip in Montecito! Pane e Vino is tucked away in the corner of a cute little shopping center on E Valley Road, just a quick minute off the 101 Fwy. It has outdoor, patio and inside dining, beautiful setting. We went for lunch on a Saturday and it was quiet and peaceful, honestly far better than waiting for one of the crowded, expensive spots on the main drag. Food was off the charts good! Italian owned and operated for 32 years, they use locally sourced fresh produce and high quality ingredients. The olive oil was rich and delicious, it was quality. The chef custom made chicken piccatta off menu for my dad and it was the best I've ever tasted. I had the spinach salad and added grilled shrimp. Their pancetta and grilled shrimp were amazingly good.. this was the BEST salad I have ever had. Service was amazing.. loved our serving staff. This is a local's favorite that we stumbled upon and it was an absolute gem! Bravo Pane e Vino for providing a first class experience across the board! Worth every penny! read more

This is our go-to place for a quiet, romantic dinner. Always my #1 choice for my birthday and our anniversary. The Tageliatelle verde alla Bolognese is to die for, as is every thing on the menu. The fish is so fresh and delicious! Another favorite is the antipasti; Dungeness crab tower with avocado & vinaigrette on watercress, (Timballo di Granchio e avocado),when available. The staff are so personable, they make you feel so special, just a joy to be around. If you're looking for excellent Italian food, in a quiet, romantic atmosphere, you must come here. read more

So so. Pasta was very fresh, but sauces were just ok. Worst pesto Ive had, zero flavor and Bolognese was just meh. Service definitely could have been better, waiter was very unfriendly and short. He definitely ruied the experience for us. read more

We have been coming to Panne E vino for years and have been happy. This last visit 9/20, was a nightmare. The owner was clearing our table of wine glasses and he proceeded to knock my class of cold ice water into my lap. He fumbled around for some inadequate towels, never apologized to me. He put a small dish of cut up cheese on our table and said nothing. I was expecting some form of apology and perhaps a credit towards our dinner. Nothing. Needless to say it ruined our dining experience. I know accidents happen, but to not make an attempt at soothing things is unacceptable. We won't be going back . read more

Visiting Santa Barbara -- family favorite. Service was excellent... very aware that we were "catching up" so stayed back until he saw we were ready to order. For antipasti we ordered the Mozzarella E Pomodori and Insalata Pane E Vino . Both were excellent choices. The entrees were the Linguine Con Vongole E Cozze (totally enjoyed), Filetto Di Salmone Alla Griglia (nicely cooked and enjoyed), and the third member of our party ordered the special -- a chicken breast butterflied which was recommended over the roasted chicken as the waiter indicated it would be moist. That was a little disappointing. Not very moist! Our only disappointment. When the restaurant started to fill up the noise level increased -- expected but difficult to hear our converstaions. I would most certainly go back and try other dishes. read more

I used to love Pane E Vino and went there for lunch and dinner for many years. They lost their excellent chef quite a while ago and it's never been as good, but we decided to take our out of town guests there for dinner to check it out. We were very disappointed. To start, the Bruschetta was awful. Any good Italian place should be able to do this well, and it's so simple. It was on two large slices of crumbling rustic bread. Too big to pick up, and yet when you tried to cut it in half it just crumbled into several pieces (so you had to eat it shovel it onto your plate with a spoon). The topping was old cold shriveled tomatoes (you never refrigerate tomatoes!), and giant pieces of garlic that the prep cook was too lazy to cut. Not much greenery, like parsley or basil, so it was very plain. Three of our 4 dinners were awful and inedible. The veal was good, but the Duck was solid fat and inedible; the two orders of half roasted rosemary chicken (which I used to LOVE there) were so dry and overcooked they were inedible. Even the accompanying roasted potato wedges were rubbery, shriveled and tasteless, as if they had microwaved yesterday's! Three of us had to return our meals, and our guest ordered the Puttanesca, which was very good. The best thing there, however, was our waitress who handled the whole fiasco very professionally. We won't be returning... read more

What a perfect lunch choice! Visiting a resident friend, we were 'clueless' as to where to have a special dining experience where we could visit and ooh and ahh over the food. She brilliantly offered us Italian cuisine at Pane E Vino. If we lived nearby, it would surely be a favorite! The service was only surpassed by the delicious dishes we were served. A true gem of a restaurant! read more

Pietro has owned and run this restaurant for as long as we have been here twenty three years and counting. And it shows, it is a consistent in every way. Great service, predictable high quality produce, cooked with northern italian style., Nothing too glamorous just good old fashioned home cooked genuine "fatto in casa" As though grandma had been cooking in the kitchen all day. Some of the italian wine here is also excellent, and well priced, so its worth being educated by Pietro or his team. Its small crowded with a good sense of fun italian atmosphere, Cosy on the inside with fire heaters on the outside, so we love it in the winter and the summer. One of our all time favorites in Montecito. read more

The service is great and the food is really good. I got the prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich. Very fresh. Others at my table ordered pasta and seafood mixes. Also very good. Service is great. Our waiter was very kind and went out of his way when the kitchen closed to make us coffee. I will definitely be coming back in the future. read more

Wow! What a find! Overall great, friendly, great location, great food, quiet but vibrant, nice but not pretentious. I have a new place, I'll be back... read more

Very extensive menu, has ok patio seating, good fish and affogato. Bread not exciting. Do not order cappuccino, unless you just want warm milk with no flavor or foam. Worst cappuccino in a town with tons of fab cap places. The worst part of this place is the unfriendly staff and hostile owner attitude. Very unfriendly! :-( The fun of an Italilan place can be not only the food but warm and friendly attitude. You will NOT find this here. read more

Such a gem, I love this place. It's tucked away in Montecito and a little hard to find, but SO worth it. Their prosciutto con melone was luscious, wine selection is fantastic, and the zuppe di pesche was aMAzing. Our Italian waiter was very attentive and totally played along with my pathetic attempts to speak Italian. Whenever my parents are in town to take me to places I can't afford, this will be high on the list. read more

I think Pane E Vino deserves a full five stars! The food itself might deserve a four, but with the atmosphere, the extremely helpful staff, and the whole experience, I don't think it could get much better. I went on a nice night and got seated on the outdoor patio. It's vine covered and adorable, with heat lamps that actually keep you very warm. I felt like I was back in Europe. The staff didn't rush us and let us take our time and stay for over 2 hours despite it being a busy night. They helped us pick a bottle of Italian wine that was a great choice. I got the burrata to start, which was delicious! It was filled with chopped tomatoes with sliced garlic and everything tasted very fresh. I then got the Bucatini, which was spaghetti with pancetta and hot peppers in a tomato sauce. It was simple, but SO good. The pasta tasted homemade, which really decides if a dish like that is anything special. The whole night was a great time, and I can't believe that it's as inexpensive as it is! Pasta dishes are mostly under $20, which is a great value for the quality and setting. I definitely recommend it, mostly for a night where you can enjoy the patio since the inside is small and would probably be less special. read more

This place was good but not anything extraordinary. Service was slow and the waiter was kind of snooty. I wouldn't go out of my way to try this place. read more

Very good Italian food, linguini with mussels and clams one of the best I've had. Lamb and veal chops excellent as well. They serve a very tasty olive oil with the very blah bread. The one area needing improvement is their attitude. Locals and those they know are treated VERY differently than walk-ins. It was quite apparent to my table of 3, as well as a couple we spoke with outside . They might as well put a sign outside that says,,,Locals Only!! read more