Mason Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in Arroyo Grande

We were seated right away, but waited 10 minutes before any staff approached our table to take our drink order (this was a Monday Night), but it was all good my wife and I were in no rush. Started out with the Brussel sprouts for an appetizer, which was nearly a meal between my wife and I but they were pretty good so no worries there. Had the Mason IPA to drink it was a tasty brew. I ordered the Meyer Lemon, Arugula and Ricotta Ravioli and my wife ordered the Pasta Primavera. Once our entrees arrived all of my raviolis we buried under a thick molasses syrup consistency of brown butter balsamic, just way too much for such rich flavors. I could taste the Meyer lemon in the ravioli but it just wasn't palatable having the brown butter balsamic coated all over every single piece. Our server stopped by and asked how our food was and I'm not one to complain about my food but I wasn't going to eat it and even then she had coerce me to admit that, since I didn't want to come off as rude. She offered to get me something else since I only ate a two of the raviolis, I ate one and my wife tried one (she couldn't even eat one). I said it was not a big deal and that I would just share my wife's pasta but the server kindly insisted so I asked for an order of the Pasta Primavera as well. At this point I'm thinking "cool they're all about customer service and I appreciate that because I don't want to be the Dbag sending food back." Oh but then attitudes shifted when I'm guessing it was the manager that brought my new dish over in a hurry all flustered dropped it in front of me (without a fork, as our server watched in embarrassment) with a smug face and asked me if I was happy now, I replied with a sincere smile and said "yes thank you". So now I'm eating the Pasta Primavera which is also just buried in butter and oil and doesn't taste fresh at all, awesome. I'm a nice guy though and I eat the greasy dish, thankfully I still had some water so I could wash down each bite. My wife and I, not quick to anger, are almost laughing at the situation now because it just didn't seem like a big deal, at least we didn't make it a big deal at all, but yet we're the bad guys now..? Then we get the check and my raviolis were still on there and at this point I'm already over this place, the food was mediocre at best and way over priced. I'm not going to be the one arguing with the manager over paying $24 for raviolis that I didn't eat. The manager had a bad attitude and wanted to make sure we knew and now I'm paying for an entree that I was encouraged by our server to send back. I get it, I get it, I've learned my lesson. I learned the hard way that Mason Bar & Kitchen is not a place I would ever go back to or recommend to anyone. You can't fake a good restaurant by having an over priced menu, the food has to be good and the service should be great then I'll kindly pay whatever you would...

Came here for dinner with a group of local women business professionals and one of the women got there early and took a seat at a table for six but was unsure if we'd have more or less people, the hostess told her it was fine to sit there. A female waitress approached her and told her she could not sit there unless she knew exactly how many people she was going to have in our party and made her go stand at the front of the restaurant until more people in her party came. Keep in mind this was a Wednesday night at 5:15 pm and there were two other small groups seated leaving plenty of open tables. Once we were seated, the waitress was rude and had an attitude when we asked about wine options. It took her several different trips to our table to get our order right and serve our drinks. When we asked about items on the menu, such as the charcuterie tray, she would say the cheese and meat options change daily and she doesn't know what is on the tray for tonight. When asked if she would check she rolled her eyes and said "sure". Once we were served our meals, we asked for extra dressing and a knife for our steak and after waiting 15 minutes, flagged down the bus boy to get our items. When he brought them back to the table she said "whoops, I forgot" and walked away. Being that many of us own local businesses, we left with the feeling that we would definitely not come back here. The food was delicious but the service was below par and the attitude the waitress gave us left us not wanting to...

I read through most of the feedback and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t off how my experience with this place. I agree with most of the reviews that the price of the food was on the high side. Food was decent but it didn’t create a lasting impression to actually tell others that the restaurant serves an amazing one of a kind menu. I wouldn’t call it upscale yet but it can get there. The ambiance is good and the the service was decent. Just my 2cents servers should know the drinks in the bar and how it is served best. Everyone is entitled to choose their alcohol brand when ordering their cocktails. However, knowing your bartender's skills and how they make their drinks can make you more drink sales.

Overall, it's a decent place for food and drinks and its the only place that, is open till midnight on some days. I presume they charge more because they stay up late. The restaurant also stops serving food at a certain time and the hostess said because they don't enough walk-ins that eat. Maybe have some tapas style or finger food for people who came...