Ciopinot

Most awesome restaurant in slo! Customer service absolutely amazing. I have never in my life have had such attention to my needs! Greatly appreciated the service, not to mention the food and the most amazing wine list. A must if you are in San luis obispo!

I came to Ciopinot for dinner after a day of wine tasting. We had reservations and showed up on time and were seated promptly. The place was packed. The service and ambience was great. My only issue was with the seating arrangement in the dining area. The tables are situated very close to one another and it made our dinner experience a little uncomfortable. We felt like we were sharing the dinner experience with the table next to us. Food was delicious and our waiter was excellent. I ordered the 8 oz. Filet wrapped in honey-​cured bacon and charbroiled, served with sauteed mushrooms in a brandy cream sauce and with the asparagus and mashed potatoes. The filet was cooked to perfection and everything was delicious. I also took a special bottle of pinot noir to have with dinner and was pleased to find out that they don’t charge a corkage fee. If it weren’t for the seating arrangement, I would’ve given them 5 stars. I would recommend this place.

Wonderful Dining experience. Arrived Saturday at 8:45 — the place was packed. We were a party of 4 and figured that nice dinner conversation was not going to be easy. But we were seated in the back patio which was quiet with lovely ambiance and enough heat lamps to keep us toasty. Our dinners were excellent; Clam Chowder, Fisherman’s Plate, fresh Halibut special, salad, and fish tacos. The desert, Butterfinger Ice Cream Pie was spectacular! More!!! Worth the drive down from the Bay Area!

The food was good, but it didn’t really match up to the price. For the price, the food should have been one of those «great food experiences»… but sadly, it wasn’t (if that makes any sense). We were in town for one evening and were looking for something «a little special» — and this looked promising. Overall, it just wasn’t great, and for what they charge, it really should be great.

It’s been a week since I was there, and I’m wishing I can take the 3.5 hour drive back down, just to eat here!
The ambiance is romantic with a rustic feel. Up both of our alleys! The staff was friendly and welcoming, which is hard to come by. The server was knowledgeable about the food and didn’t get frustrated when we had a few questions to help us decide.
Ultimately, we ordered The Stuffed Mexican Prawns as an appetizer. My mouth still waters when I think about them. 4 came in the order, which was the perfect amount. the shrimp were stuffed with Mozzarella Cheese and wrapped in perfectly seasoned bacon. Cooked to perfection. For dinner, I had the Seafood Fettuccine and my partner had Greek Calamari & Scallops. The portion sizes were great, we each had food to take home (we don’t eat a lot to begin with). The flavors, the texture, the freshness of the food was well worth the wait. I definitely recommend this establishment if you are looking for great food and service, and are willing to pay for it!

I made a reservation to surprise my husband when he got a promotion at work. I told them about this when I made the reservation so I was a little disappointed when they didn’t do anything special during our dinner. But that aside, it was an enjoyable evening!
The patio looked so nice but it was a bit chilly so we opted to stay inside. Our server was ok — met our needs but disappeared a lot. We got the stuffed Mexican prawns for an appetizer — delicious. I got the Fisherman’s plate which features 5 – 6 different fish prepared different ways. It was very good but was kind of lukewarm when it arrived. I could find the server to let her know so I just ate it! Of course, we had to try the blueberry cobbler for dessert since everyone talks about it! It was the best one I’ve ever had!
The BYBO wine with no corkage fee makes a huge difference in the final bill. I saw almost everyone bringing in something. They also say on the menu that they don’t have split plate fees and they don’t add gratuity automatically. It’s so refreshing for a restaurant not to have additional fees for everything.
We will be back if we have something else to celebrate!

Wow! Very well prepared and excellent table staff. Clam chowder was light, flat iron steak and Chicken Marsala were excellent. My husband said the crème brûlée was one of the best he’s eaten.

I visited this place for my friend’s birthday and was completely blown away with the extraordinary service and wonderful cioppino. This restaurant has a nice warm atmosphere and very friendly service. This is a highly recommended for a casual Friday night date, out with friends, or even a Anniversary or Birthday. They have no corking fee which is an added bonus, Ann is awesome, so two thumbs up for Ciopinot!

I just want to thank the owner Leonard for taking care of my family while I was visiting my mom in the hospital, I was so grateful that he took care of us tremendously, the servers and bussers we amazing as well, Paul was really sweet and attentive and checked on us every few moments, the busser Jake was funny and charasmatic and telling me his surf stories, the food was really delicious we order the tuna 3 ways which was ahi tuna, Tuna tartare, and a tuna tacos, we also got the beet salad, ceasar salad with anchovies, for our entrees My husband and I shared the world cioppino that was filled with king crab, mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, and fish, the broth was very hearty as well, my father in law ordered the flat iron steak with mash potatoes, and our finale was the chocolate parfait and also the blueberry cobbler. I recommend this place, thank you again.

Not only was the food delicious, the staff was very courteous and attentive. Our sever was Anne, and she was great with the kids and was a pleasure to talk to. I asked about oysters and she explained the differences in taste, location and size. I mentioned that the better half and I just arrived from Tokyo and had some oysters there. Low and behold she had quite a few factoids about Japanese oysters. She asked where we were from and how long we were going to be in town.

First off, the service was top-​notch. Molly was our server and she was friendly, attentive, and offered great food suggestions. She even offered to split our entrees for us when we mentioned we would share our food.
Now onto the food…
We only ordered entrees since we had some clam chowder at another place in town.
Seared scallops were tender and juicy and the rice pilah was tasty
Flat iron steak was tendered and very flavorful. Definite must for anyone trying Cioppinot for the first time. The garlic mashed potatoes were creamy and full of yummy garlic goodness without it being overpowering. We paired out steak with the jumbo prawns which were sweet and very fresh.
Would I come here again? Heck yeah!

Booked this place for our anniversary. I think they were short staffed, they were quite slow and not enough waiters to go around. I tried the fisherman’s platter which comes with, sea bass, swordfish, blackened salmon, calamari and shrimp. The only thing i liked on here was the blackened salmon. Hubby ordered the sole special which he was not a fan of. We were supposed to get free dessert for our anniversary but the waiter tells us we are getting free dessert because of their slow service. I booked this place cause of the reviews but the food was just not satisfying.

Meh. Bottom line: Nice atmosphere, over priced food, uninteresting preparation. Service was very attentive… food was just Meh.

This place is classy, clean, they serve fine food, the service is perfect and the vibe very great!
I had the «no work» Cioppino, this dish was cooked to rightly with fresh salmon and sword fish. Fishes were firm, not over cooked, the squid was not chewy. I could tell every ingredient was very fresh and rightly cooked.
The broth was to die for, very tasty, not over salty, light but with enough consistency to stick to the seafood. Seasonned to perfection!
I asked for «a little» pasta in my Cioppino and I got exactly what I expected.
Great local wines selection.
My waitress was fun and knew her business: ladies first, older men, youngers… Had a great time. I’ll definitely go back.

This restaurant was suggested by a few locals at our hotel. Very pleasant ambiance. Attentive, fun and professional service by Cecily. Husband chose a house salad. Fresh and good with house made blue cheese dressing. Blackened swordfish with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. He was in heaven. I chose the Waguu flat iron steak and prawn scampi with garlic mashed and roasted asparagus. Excellent choice for me! The steak was cooked to perfection and flavorful to match. Unfortunately no room for dessert. We will definately return.

Once again my girlfriend picked a good restaurant for dinner. We were in town for the July 4^th holiday and wanted to grab good grub and drinks before heading home. Naturally, this was our first visit to Ciopinot but it will not be our last.
My girlfriend is a huge Martini fan so she had the Signature 1051 cucumber vodka & the Oyster martini to go with the meal. I settled for wine and had a couple of good white and red thanks to our server. We started off with the Oyster appetizer, which was delicious. For the main course I had the seafood combo and my girl had the shrimp and steak. We loved the food. The presentation and flavor were amazing. This place is really nice. I am a fan for sure.

This was my first time eating at Ciopinots and it blew my expectations out of the water!
I am really picky when it comes to oysters and they had a marvelous selection! They weren’t fishy one bit and also, they came with delicious sauces that were different than your normal cocktail sauce/​Tabasco/​and horseradish. I could have had 100!
I love salads and so I tried two. I tried both the beat and berries with candied walnuts. Both were unreal!!! I highly recommend them even if you aren’t a salad lover!
I could go on and on about this place! A couple more recommendations… Definitely get the bacon wrapped, cheese stuff prawns! You’ll regret it if you don’t!
THE KINGS RANSOM… No comment! I could have died I was in heaven! Meatiest king crab legs I’ve ever had, perfect filet mignon, and pretty big lobster tail. I split this with my boyfriend and we loved it. Perfect portions!
As you can see I over ordered… Last and final recommendation… GET THE BLUEBERRY COBBLER!!! WITH A SCOOP OF ICE CREAM :)
Finally, service was great and ambiance was amazing. Perfect for a big group and/​or date night. Everything was clean and I loved the décor! Go and try this place if you’re visiting SLO… I did and highly recommend it!

One of the best meals I’ve ever had! I cannot say enough great things about this restaurant. The atmosphere is beautiful and so relaxing. Each dish we had was delicious. Although each plate was awesome, I absolutely loved the swordfish and the stuffed Mexican prawns! They were to die for. Not one bite went uneaten.
Also, the entire staff was so sweet and accommodating. Excellent service!
Needless to say, I cannot wait to come back to visit the area and make sure I return to this fabulous restaurant. Definitely one of the best meals I’ve had in years!!!

A Quicky Review while it is fresh in my mind:
Rather Meh in food, but nice service.
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1) Clam Chowder Bowl: Asked for some Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on my rather bland Clam Chowder … and received this horrid dried out floury stuff that makes a packet of the take out fast-​food Pizza version look good. It was so horrid & dry that I literally inhaled some lose powder. They obvious haven’t a clue about this. For the money, I was expecting some fresh grated Romano or something. After awhile, I tasted it «straight» & choked on a ½ teaspoon of this cheap flavorless crap…& felt insulted. If I knew about this in advanced, I would be tempted to hit Trade Joes or Whole Paycheck market to get real
fresh grated Parmesan to bring with me.
The Clam Chowder had few clams, but lots of Potatos & a wallpaper paste consistency. It tasted like a clone of the most famous CC in town… which is not good. The waitress who was very nice, suggest that it was like SLO’s «famous» clam chowder place… for which I did not care for. It lacked flavor & had rare tiny clams. Even after adding lots of Pepper, Salt, & the «thickening powder» that was said to be Parmesan Cheese, it was still bland. Even the house bread had more flavor.
2) The side of Pasta with a cream sauce, tasted like the reused water it was boiled in, with some warm half & half on it. The pseudo-​Cheese powder did nothing, so I spooned some of the over-​spiced over-​priced Ciopino broth on it… then the pasta did help fill me up… because the skippy amount of Seafood did not.
3) The semi-​DIY Ciopino had much more tomatoes, onions, & such, rather than significant amounts of seafood. It surely was not worth $ 46 bucks & it gave me GI upset/​Gas/​the runs all the way till the next the next morning. Even though I told the waitress that I did not want any red sauce that had tomatoes in it… guess what was plentiful. Between the copious use of gas produce Onions, the GERDs provoking cooked tomatoes, oil, & the heavy handed spicing, guess who’s tummy was upset all night? I really tried to minimize the aftermath, by trying to eat as little of the broth as possible.
You can see by pics, the few lonely tiny clams & mussel that were in the broth. Obviously, tiny means less than a pea-​size meat. I had to spend around 2 – 3 minute trying to jab one tiny clam’s flesh, with the provided small fork. The small fork’s tins where too big. The semi-​work feature (or Work version minus the King Crab legs) was not worth it.
The one medium Scallop was good, but in retrospect was likely on the undercooked side… maybe even a bit raw.
The two jumbo shrimp in the broth were cooked just right & did taste good.
The various small pieces of fish were good, but not plentiful.
The Calamari was done just right, but you only had a few rings & rare tentacles to consume.
Broth: The broth was over-​spiced, oily, & really could not be eaten alone. It imparted a good flavor to the lonely seafood as you searched, stabbed, or spooned it out. I was also able to make the sad excuse for Pasta, edible by spooning the broth over it.
Obviously, they were using some other method to generate a good seafood-​flavored broth… but since the Clam Chowder lack a seafood flavor, I haven’t a clue how they made that flavor. Maybe the broth stock was made by boiling the non-​edible exoskeletons of other batches of seafood.
Broth serving pot:
I did like the hot pot provided, it kept everything hot & looked far cooled than the plain jane white bowl that the Chowder came in.
Positives:
1) The waitress was attentive & friendly. It did help that she was thoughtful enough to provide two small tasting labeled wine samples to test. She preferred the Paso Robles Pinot, while I like the Monterey one. For some reason, I really like wine-​grapes & wine from micro-​climates, that are close to the Sea.
2) I do think she did her best considering what she had to work with from the apparently clueless Chef (s).
3) As others have commented, this rather huge place, was modern & nicely appointed… but you can only really see the cool wall «waterfalls» if you sit in the noisy crowded area. I was happy to stay away from the noisy tourists & sacrifice the use of a nicer chair.
4) The wine by the glass & the hot bread & butter were sadly the high notes in this song of sorrow (yes, I do complain alot & sometimes something improve & it does help other careful Unilocaler’s in the search for stuff).
5) Fortunately for me, the bathroom was very clean, ADA compliant, but slightly pretentious & defective. The provided a choice of either cloth hand towels or paper which was welcomed. BUT you had to pull a likely bacteria infested rope to open the basket to deposit your soiled towel. You had to step on a small ill configured trash can to get ride of the paper. One faucet knobs were partially broken for both hot & cold.

This is now one of my favorite restaurants. Where to start! 1) The atmosphere is lovely. We were greated immediately and felt welcomed. We sat at a high top table half inside, half outside overseeing the curb. This was perfect as we had a little evening breeze throughout the night. 2) the food. The food was amazing from our ahi appetizer of three different types of prepared ahi (my favorite was the sushi style) and blue oysters ($ 3 a piece) to my dinner of seared scallops, asparagus, and garlic mash potatoes (this was off the specials). 3) our waitress Molly was nothing short of wonderful. She was sweet, personable, funny, and the right balance of attentive.
4) no corkage fee up to the first 4 bottles! We brought a bottle from a wine tasting pit stop the day prior and enjoyed it with this fab meal. I highly recommend this spot and we return when I’m im SLO.