Pico Los Alamos — Restaurant in Lompoc

We had a dinner party at Pico about a week ago. The venue was very cool, however, everyone in our group was disappointed by the food and service. I will not be going back. I suspect most of the people in our group will not be going back either. The majority of people in our group drove about 45 minutes to get there and it wasn't worth the trip.

I ordered the bone-in short rib and my wife had the halibut. The halibut was overcooked and very dry and the portion was small. Everyone in our group who had the halibut had the same experience. My shortrib was remarkably tough and anything but "fall-off-the-bone." In fact, I quit eating half-way through my meal because it was too much work, even with a steak knife. Other people in our group had the same experience.

Our meals came with small salads to share for the table. Each table had 2 salads to serve 6-8 people. The salads were tasty but scarcely enough for 2-3 people, let alone 6-8.

The service was poor too and several people ended up bussing their own dishes or going down to the bar to order drinks due to the lack of service. I suspect the owner(s) overcommitted to having a private party, along with being open to the public, and they just couldn't or wouldn't cater properly to their guests. This strikes me as greedy. The owners should have had the foresight to hire more staff and/or close the restaurant for our private event. Instead, they chose to chase the dollars, which will certainly backfire on them. At this rate, I suspect they will be out of business within the year.

Our meals were also really expensive and the tab came out to about $185 per couple, which included a couple of bottles of wine for the table to share. This strikes me as ridiculously high for the quality of food we received and the lack of service.

Finally, several days ago, the person who organized the event reached out to the owner and various staff members to tell them about our experience. There was zero acknowledgment, no apology whatsoever and no attempt to make things right. This strikes me as totally unacceptable and...

We made reservations at Pico for 3 pm on a Saturday and everything was phenomenal.

Our server, Kerry (sp?), was fabulous and made the experience SO personal for us. She recommended items on the menu, explained the dishes to us, and make us feel like we were VIPs!

The vodka and gin cocktails were DELICIOUS and definitely had a vintage-vibe to them. We had the olives which were in this olive oil that was so good, I sopped it all up with the bread provided. Then, we moved onto the beef tartar, which was my husband's favorite. After than, we had the steak frites - the steak was perfect and the horseradish sauce was perfect! We also had the beet salad...and lemme tell you, I'm still thinking about it! It was beets on a smoked cheese base with pistachios. (see pic) Just WOW.

For dessert, we had the blueberry "hand pie" with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

What a gem!!! And the chickens meandering around didn't hurt either - they were SO CUTE!!! The restaurant is gorgeous, but the outside is just a slice of heaven. ...

Having been here before for dinner and enjoying our experience, we tried brunch on a warm late October Sunday. My wife had the mimosa that had watermelon juice replacing the orange juice (the juice used varies weekly) while I had a Michelada which for me a bit under spiced through tasted okay. For starters we ordered the cinnamon rolls which were straight from the oven and very tasty.

My wife had the special for the day which was a brioche covered with smoked bacon, shallots, a cream sauce all which were very good. Others at our table had the Spanish tortilla which came with a salad and though it tasted good the portion of the tortilla was on the smaller size. I went for the steak and eggs and while the steak was very well seasoned and cooked perfectly the frites ended up as waffle fries which were okay. Service was good and we appreciated her cheerful personality. While nice to have another local option for brunch wouldn't be high on our list due to the pricing though we will continue to...