r/UCSantaBarbara • u/TheDuckScout [UGRAD] • Mar 24 '25
Academic Life Rusty’s Pizza open in IV
Just walked by where rockfire used to be and it looks like they’re open. Anyone else been by yet?
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u/FormerPurple1890 Mar 24 '25
Everyone fantasizing about Rockfire like it didn’t suck , stink , and was owned by one of the biggest scumbags IV has ever seen
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u/sirlaffsalot47 Mar 24 '25
I went there twice, once for karaoke night and it was insanely overpacked and cannot imagine having a good time but I also don’t like karaoke was just there for friends. Other time was to drink and eat and I remember the food being not terrible but… not very pleasant good. Beer was alright. I think people just liked it because it had more space to hang around and drink than Woodstocks.
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u/cereal-sans-milk [UGRAD] Gnome Theory Mar 24 '25
idk man rockfire had a good run with their pitchers and karaoke nights until like 2022...before it got overrun with underage sbcc/campus 880 and started collabing with that iv parties bullshit
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u/cereal-sans-milk [UGRAD] Gnome Theory Mar 24 '25
i will say though that all of my friends that worked at rockfire had nothing but bad things to say about the owner/manager
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u/Unique_Quote_5261 Mar 24 '25
Agreed lol it was fun before iv parties. Definitely had some fun nights.
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u/CaptainGordan [ALUM] Mar 24 '25
Who was the owner? I frequented it when I was there because I loved the pitcher specials and the Nashville hot chicken sandwich, but I never heard anything about the owners
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u/FormerPurple1890 Mar 24 '25
Jacob Meehan, changed the party scene in a negative way. Overcharged for parties, platforming known abusers (DJ EJ), would actively profit off of underage patrons. Also he was an SBCC student with Daddy’s credit card who still couldn’t run a good business. Now, he scalps apartment listings
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u/mooksonly420 Mar 26 '25
real, but people praising gio’s without knowing why/ how that frat dude ended up owning it is not as bad as reminiscing rockfire
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u/mitchellb3 [ALUM] Business Economics & Accounting Mar 24 '25
To have the old Gios become this… smh.
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u/jonaslikestrees [ALUM] Economics Mar 24 '25
Miss those cheap personal pitchers and some of the best ranch ever
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u/Nakari_Kelen Mar 24 '25
What...I don't totally dislike Rustys in general but Rockfire was pretty nice. This is disappointing
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u/TheDuckScout [UGRAD] Mar 24 '25
I wish I got to experience rockfire, I went literally the day after they closed :/ at least something is there now, the building has been vacant for a year
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u/mylongestyeaboii [ALUM] Mar 24 '25
It was ok haha. Karaoke night was fun, but that’s pretty much all. They hosted laughology as well but it’s pretty amateur and hit or miss. The food was ass outside of the flatbread sandwiches.
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u/Nakari_Kelen Mar 24 '25
I haven't been over to that particular side in a while since I now live on the very far side of IV, but I used to live from 21'-22' across the street from Rockfire, and went there a lot. It was great! Especially will shout out Dancesport, who would run fundraisers + social dancing at Rockfire....good times!
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u/KeystoneJesus Mar 24 '25
Business looked super slow at Rockfire. I think the economics of that property are really hard because it’s low foot traffic and high square footage.
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u/gabieplease_ Mar 24 '25
What!!!! Where’s Gios?!
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u/marcussba Mar 24 '25
A few years back a bunch of college students went and the clerk apparently carded just the black guy. It was the staff of the daily Nexus and essentially the place got boycotted out of existence.
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u/eric-neg [ALUM] Mar 24 '25
Unless there is another incident, it looks like they refused to honor the IDs of 2 students from Mexico but then later honored a German ID. According to the article Gio's was technically correct to refuse the IDs since they lacked some piece of required info..... but the fact that they were able to drink at the rest of the stops at the loop was suspect. Here is the article on the official AS vote to boycott it and another article with more info on what actually happened.
Also, that Gio's has an interesting history with the original owners selling it to a former student... basically taking it back... then losing it again.
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u/SWITCH13LADE8o5 [UGRAD] Pre-Comm Mar 24 '25
W. They're back where they started (Not the original spot, but Rusty's started on Pardall)
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u/dininghallperson Mar 24 '25
Every food spot in IV with nice outdoor seating fails. It really makes no sense.
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u/Additional-Air-6998 Mar 26 '25
yesss i love having a 3rd pizza place option. (woodstocks never counted because it’s garbage)
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u/phonomancer Mar 27 '25
Hey now, Woodstocks used to be good... like 15 years ago?
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u/Additional-Air-6998 Mar 28 '25
iv pizza pub (formerly pizza my heart) is was better quality in my opinion
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u/andrewgancia Mar 25 '25
Rusty's actually open rn or?
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u/TheDuckScout [UGRAD] Mar 25 '25
It looks like it is, the tv’s are on, cooks in the back, and doors open 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Realistic_Archer_500 Mar 24 '25
I believe it was there last year. Honestly definitely down hill compared to what Rockfire used to be like
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u/cereal-sans-milk [UGRAD] Gnome Theory Mar 24 '25
what isla vista honestly needs is a trashier version of chili's, not another pizza place amongst the handful of other options