Olio Pizzeria

Walking into Olio, you half-expect a laminated list with house red and house white — and then you see Barolo and Brunello sitting next to Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir and you recalibrate fast. This is a neighborhood pizza spot that takes its Italian heritage seriously on the bottle side. The list is compact but it's doing real work.

The 80-120 bottle list leans hard into Italy — Piedmont brings Barolo producers, Tuscany checks in with Brunello di Montalcino and Chianti Classico, and the Italian white game is genuinely interesting with Vermentino and Falanghina showing up where most pizza joints would just slot in Pinot Grigio. California gets a seat at the table too, with Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir rounding out the local angle in a way that actually makes sense for the room. The gaps you'd notice are depth in southern Italian reds and a thin sparkling selection, but for a restaurant of this size, the curation punches above its weight. Holding a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence since 2012 isn't an accident — someone here is paying attention.

Twelve to eighteen options by the glass is a strong showing for a casual pizzeria, and the $10-$18 range keeps things accessible without insulting the wines. The Italian regional whites by the glass are the real draw — ordering a Falanghina with your margherita instead of the default Pinot Grigio is the move every time.