Restaurants near Caliza Winery

Discovered this restaurant after searching for “best” food, ambience, service etc. in and near San Luis Obispo. We love Mexican and even more traditional Spanish-influenced food, especially paella and tapas. Wow, the food here was uniformly as good as anything we’ve had in the Southern California region. We live in Santa Barbara and are familiar with restaurants in the Los Angeles area and up and down the Central Coast, and have been to Spain numerous times. We were half starved after driving from Northern Cali, not having stopped for lunch, so we ate early @ 5:00pm. The co-owner and co-chef Nicolas greeted us and, as we discovered throughout the meal, amiably (that is, without being didactic or with haughty airs as many hosts too often do) explained the way various dishes on the menu were prepared; they are in significant part influenced by his Mexican and his wife’s Cuban family recipes. He carefully indulged our curiosity and answered our questions including which ingredients were locally, regionally or internationaly sourced. We had the locally sourced Mushrooms and traditional Potato Bravas tapas; fesh and tasteful. The shrimp were tender and were wonderfully prepared in a medium-spiced, chopped veggie broth that also was excellent for dipping the warm, oil-dipped fresh bread. But the vegetable paella, a house specialty, stole the show. He explained how each step of preparation was taken to produce the dish especially the bottom-of-pan light crustiness that bound the perfect rice and vegetables together. We devoured it all, and somehow managed to find room enough to share the cheese pie —the antithesis of heavy New York style chesscake. Altoghter, a truly notable meal. The wine list focused on excellent Paso Robles area wines, which if you know the AVAs were reasonably priced.

I love this restaurant but this was my first time going for brunch (Mother’s Day) and my goodness! It was fabulous! The omelette and the pancakes were wonderful along with the espresso martini. They had live music as well which always makes it extra special❤️ Can’t wait to go back again!

Very mice hospitality my husband and I really enjoyed our evening and food was great 😄

We’ve been enjoying this restaurant for 15 years now and have always had a completely excellent experience.

Nice dinner The salad, pizza and gelato were delicious