One of Santa Barbara's Most Popular Restaurants Opens in a Cozy Corner of Carpinteria

Eater

22-05-2025

On Thursday, May 22, 2025, Montecito, California's popular Italian restaurant, Bettina, opens nine miles south in Carpinteria. Tina's Pizza owners Rachel Greenspan and Brendan Smith took more than two years of plotting and planning their second restaurant inside Linden Square, a new retail restaurant hall adjacent to Little Dom's Seafood and less than three blocks from the Pacific Ocean.
Greenspan and Smith shortened the name to Tina's Pizza, which will operate with a slightly pared-down menu. 'No pastas or our intricate, seasonal plated dishes like we have at Bettina,' says Greenspan. 'We're going for more of a chill New York pizza shop vibe, where you can still get our same [Neapolitan] pizzas, but with a little more fun.'
The kitchen will sling a margherita, pepperoni, mushroom, or sausage pie with caramelized fennel, shaved garlic, mozzarella, and provolone in an electric oven. Gluten-free crusts are available. Try one of the three salads (Caesar, baby gem with house ranch dressing, and a chopped vegan), meatballs in vodka sauce, garlic knots, or olive oil cupcakes topped with orange buttercream. Instead of arancini, Tina's Pizza developed a twist on the Roman street food croquette, suppli al telefono, with a beef ragu and tomato dipping sauce. Later in the year, they'll introduce square pies served by the slice.
Tina's Pizza has a 300-square-foot provisions space, including a wall with 32 wines, sardines, pastas, canned tomatoes, coffee, tea, and their site-made salad ranch or Caesar dressing. They're hoping to service the nearby Carpinteria State Beach campground with grab-and-go items like bowls and quinoa salads.
The 1,500-square-foot space is in the mixed-use development and has all the characteristics of a food hall. Tina's Pizza has 15 bar stools and communal indoor and outdoor seating for all Linden Square businesses, which includes several other Santa Barbara imports like Dart Coffee Co., Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Corazon Cocina, and Third Window Brewing.
Tina's Pizza is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 700 Linden Avenue, Carpinteria, CA, 93013.
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