Luigi's — Restaurant in Gonzales

Heading south to Paso Robles with my dad and he loves great Italian comfort food – so do I! We found this restaurant on Yelp and were surprised that the small town of Gonzalez had such a well reviewed place.

Anyway, we were greeted with smiles and sat at a booth in the bar. For those who care: they have cushioned seating, so no hard seats or benches (my senior dad appreciates that!).

Stephanie provided great service and one of the sons (I did not catch his name) of the family who owns the restaurant walked us through the wine list and let us try a great chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands – the primary AVA of the region.

We ended up getting a bottle of rosé from Manzoni, another nearby winery. Delicious, crisp rosé of pinot. We split a side salad and an order of spaghetti and tomato sauce – the family's recipe. It was simple, delicious, and comforting! Too much for us – glad we split it, but we couldn't eat it all (ok, I could have eaten all of mine, but I would have had to take a nap in the booth before leaving, LOL).

Even better, the restaurant is open all day – we got there around 2:15 and were glad they weren't closed. So many menu options though, next time I'll sure try something else. The burgers looked great. They also have a happy hour!

Specials every day, big menu of them, including amazing sounding homemade desserts. They also have vegan and vegetarian options, or can make things vegan if needed.

Overall, a great experience – family owned and operated, real true Italian-American cuisine, and a nice, clean and cool environment (it is an old bank). We'll be back when...

Not the place to go in the winter. This place is always cold. I thought of it before my recent visit but, well, some folks never learn. The issue IMO is it's a beautiful old bank with 30ft ceilings so it must cost a fortune to heat. Plus someone must sit in the path of the entry I sitting on the isle side could feel. I ate with my car coat on. Only one waitress and roughly 50% capacity. It took a while to order. The artichoke bisque wasn't quite warmed enough although the room temp was so cold it had steam coming off of of it. It took 45 min after that for the entree to arrive. And 5 more min for a steak knife at which point we asked for togo boxes and the bill so my coworker could get home. Very...

Update 11-8-22 We visited for a celebration and again no change with the rating, 5 stars with friendly staff, great food and a clean restaurant.

Update 4-5-23 We visited the King City food truck that comes from Gonzalez from Luigi's, and it was very tasty and priced well for the amount of food that was ordered. The staff is always polite and cares. King City needs this caliber of food quality and value. We ordered the blackened chicken fettuccine Alfredo family size, and it was perfect. It's nice to have this option closer to where we live, and the business has great moral values not only with food but faith!!

Always good food no matter what you order. Friendly staff, and comfortable...