Scopazzi's Restaurant & Lounge: Boulder Creek's Hundred-Year Dining Room

Scopazzi's is the special-occasion restaurant in Boulder Creek, an Italian dining room and lounge at 13300 Big Basin Way that has been feeding this town out of the same wooden building since 1915. People go there for anniversaries, visits from out-of-town parents, and dinners meant to mark something important.

The building came first

In June of 1915, Joe Locatelli laid the foundation for a hotel on Big Basin Highway. It opened as a boarding house called The Italia Hotel, built to house the loggers working the surrounding hillsides at the height of the timber years. One address holds much of the town's origin story.

The Locatellis saw the town changing. With the northern route to Big Basin State Park opening up, they shifted the emphasis from a bunkhouse to a travelers' hotel. In 1924 they added the redwood-windowed dining room and the patio on the east side, then renamed the place The Locatelli Inn. That dining room is still the room diners eat in.

The building also connects to two distinct parts of local history. Boulder Creek had a movie studio during the silent film years of 1914 to 1925. The restaurant's own history names Wallace Beery, Henry Fonda, Slim Summerville, Mary Pickford, and Tom Mix among the Hollywood people who visited the hotel while pictures were being shot here.

During Prohibition, in the restaurant's own careful phrasing, the site was known as THE place to go for the forbidden distribution from the local stills.

How it became Scopazzi's

The Locatellis ran the hotel and dining room until 1955, when they sold it to the Scopazzi family. The Scopazzis were experienced restaurateurs who turned it into the restaurant that stands today. John "Nono" Scopazzi added the lounge and the bar and closed out the hotel rooms for good.

In 1986, the current owners bought the restaurant and the name: Paul Violante, a long-time chef, and front-of-house manager Talal Janbay, who started there as a busboy. The building is square and vernacular, built entirely of wood. Its full second floor remains above the dining room.

The room, and what it is for

The dining room is dim, wood-lined, and unhurried. Scopazzi's isn't a quick weeknight stop. It's a restaurant for a two-hour sit-down meal, with a full lounge attached and pacing built around that kind of evening.

The menu is organized into House Specialties, entrees, salads and appetizers, luncheon specials, and desserts. There's also a young people's menu for kids and a Sunday champagne brunch that locals treat as its own occasion. For a first visit, the House Specialties list gives the clearest sense of the restaurant.

The bar is The Barrel Room. Wine by the glass splits between imported bottles and Santa Cruz Mountains labels. The local list deserves a look. This appellation grows serious wine, and the restaurant has been pouring it for decades.

When to plan around it

Scopazzi's isn't open every day of the week. It runs separate breakfast, lunch, and dinner services rather than one continuous kitchen, so check the schedule on the restaurant's own site before making plans.

It's also the town's banquet room. Private dining is available in the Banquet Room, the Creekside Room, and the patio, with capacity up to 200. In a town this size, that makes Scopazzi's the default venue for many memorials, receptions, and fiftieth birthdays. Custom menus are available, so arrangements start with a phone call.

Hours, menus, and prices change. Go to Scopazzi's own site or call 831-338-4444 for anything time-sensitive.

The menu

The full menu is on Scopazzi's own site; here is the shape of it, with August 2026 prices that will move.

• House specialties are the point: pasta (ravioli a la Genovese or in gorgonzola cream, fettuccine Alfredo), chicken piccata and marsala, fish from calamari fritti to calamari steak in lemon beurre blanc and prawns scampi, and the veal that anchors the old-school side of the menu, scallopini or piccata ($43). Saturday adds roast prime rib au jus ($49).
• Salads and appetizers run from soups and dinner salads through a seafood appetizer list.
• Sunday brunch is its own 12-item card, eggs Benedict included.
• Lunch, Wednesday through Saturday, has its own specials board, sandwiches (a calamari steak sandwich among them), and lighter entrees.
• A young people's menu covers the kids at a flat price, and the dessert card runs long, with dessert wines and ports alongside.

The kitchen notes it never adds service charges to the bill.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is Scopazzi's?

The building dates to 1915, when it opened as The Italia Hotel. The restaurant has operated under the Scopazzi name since 1955, when the Scopazzi family bought it from the Locatellis.

Does Scopazzi's take reservations or do private events?

It hosts private events regularly in the Banquet Room, the Creekside Room, and the patio, with capacity up to 200. Custom menus are available. Contact the restaurant directly to make arrangements.

Is Scopazzi's open every day?

No. It closes early in the week, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner run as separate services on different days. Check the restaurant's site or call before you go.

Where is Scopazzi's, and is there a bar?

13300 Big Basin Way, at the north end of Boulder Creek, phone 831-338-4444. The lounge is The Barrel Room, with wine by the glass covering both imported and Santa Cruz Mountains bottles.

Last reviewed August 5, 2026. History here is drawn from the restaurant's own published account and corroborated where possible. Hours, menus, and prices live on the business's own page.

More of the town's kitchens are in where to eat in Boulder Creek and the food and drink listings. See the rest of our Around Town guides, or tell us if something needs fixing.