Eatery from Montecito’s Past Is Back

Known for its warm hospitality, delicious food, and famous chicken soup, Little Alex’s is back! 

As a child, whenever I found myself plagued by the common cold, I begged my mother for the one remedy I knew worked: a warm bowl of Little Alex’s chicken soup (mild, please). The cure that heals even the worst of colds; there’s no wonder why it is so famous. 

Once in the Montecito Mart, Little Alex’s closed its doors in November 2021 after 32 years of business at its Montecito location. More than two years later, the family business reopened at the Five Points Shopping Center in May of this year. 

In 1989, the Briner family partnered with the co-owners of Alex’s Cantina to open Little Alex’s in Montecito. Brothers Aaron and Josh Briner have helped run the Mexican eatery ever since they were teenagers and are now opening Little Alex’s new location with some exciting changes. “[Montecito] has a wonderful community…we spent almost 33 years there,” Aaron shares. “We closed our doors and contemplated what was next. I’d say after about a year, we decided that we would look for a [new] place.” Aaron explains that “it was very hard to leave. It was hard to imagine being somewhere else, but we hope that it’s a place to continue our community. Even though we moved across town we still feel a strong tie to [the Montecito] community.” 

The location at Five Points was the perfect fit for the family business, and the extra space has allowed them to experiment with new menu items and events. Aaron explains that they “made very little changes to the menu overall,” but decided to add another soup, the Rajas Veggie Soup, and add chilaquiles to their breakfast menu. The new location also has a large variety of draft beer on tap as well as wine. The restaurant has also started serving its own homemade horchata. The Chicken Soup, New Mexico Enchilada, and Fish Tacos have all been very popular at the new location as well as the California Burrito, which has French fries inside. The family says their favorite dishes are the Taco Salad, Chicken Rajas, and “anything with chile verde in it.” 

Little Alex’s has started hosting a happy hour from 3 pm to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday. They also expect to start Taco Tuesday every week where they serve street-style tacos. While Little Alex’s serves its homemade churro bites and flan, Aaron shares that Haas’s Fine Ice Cream is moving into the space next door in August and will be serving McConnell’s Ice Cream. Little Alex’s also hopes to start delivery in the future. 

Little Alex’s is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 7 am to 8 pm at the Five Points Shopping Center in Santa Barbara.