Cello Ristorante & Bar — Restaurant in Paso Robles

We visited Cello for a special birthday dinner, and were we disappointed. It’s taken six weeks for me to finally write this, as I’d like to be objective, but suffice it to say, I don’t have much good to share. Back to the beginning: It was my wife’s 60th birthday and we wanted a special meal in a special setting. She can’t do gluten, dairy, or msg, and she phoned a week in advance to be sure they could accommodate her dietary restrictions. She was assured they prepared the meals to order and the chef could adjust as necessary. She also asked for a quiet, out of the way table…. Unbeknownst to her, I had a bouquet of roses sent ahead. We arrive and the hostess acknowledged our reservation and my wife’s prior call. She then plunked us at a table that would barely hold our plates and glassware, certainly not a vase and bouquet, and about 10 inches from a group of four. We asked to be moved and were, without a fuss. Betsy was our server. She seemed friendly enough, but definitely not attentive. We discussed the allergies and she basically said there was little my wife could eat. Meals were prepared ahead of time, so sauces couldn’t be altered (or created from scratch),proteins were limited due to marinades or preparation limitations, and no starches as the potatoes were mashed with butter ahead of time - they couldn’t even boil a potato? We had her talk to the kitchen a couple of times, with little progress, but in the mean time we notice gluten-free pasta available as an option. We suggested that, she checked, and the kitchen agreed they could use that as a starch, even though it wasn’t specific to the protein - gee whiz! She ordered the rack of lamb ($68’ish), which was very fatty and greasy. Not sure what the cook did to the gluten-free pasta, but it appears they smashed it to bits with a hammer, over-boiled it, and then poured the mush on the plate. It was horrible and any cook/chef should be embarrassed to send it out. We told the server, and according to her manager (Lauren), the exec chef was so embarrassed that they comped us a bottle of wine from the adjacent vineyard - we took it with us. Not bad, but over-priced. Speaking of wine, as this was a special occasion we decided to splurge on an expensive (for us) bottle of wine ($100). Betsy complimented us on the choice. I told her we were in no hurry for the meal and we’d like the wine decanted so it had a chance to breathe. Betsy assured us that the lamb was the slowest meal to come out of the kitchen, and we had a good 25 minutes or more. After 10 minutes and no wine (and no Betsy), we flagged down someone to ask about our wayward server. Betsy came by our table to say the wine was out of stock; perhaps we’d like to try something else (but she didn’t have a wine list with her). However, before I could even ask for the wine list, our food shows up! The evening pretty much fell off a cliff by this point. I had the beef short rib ($56), but did not realize if was “deconstructed “. They took the beef, kinda rolled it in a ball, and stuck a sliver of a rib bone in it - like a beef popsicle. It wasn’t horrible, but not worth the price. However the gnocchi was absolute rubbish - it was way past crispy (more like crunchy) on the outside and crumbly dry inside - tasted bad and felt bad. So, to wrap up, these guys completely dropped the ball. They blew it when they assured us allergies could be accommodated, they blew it with the wine service, they blew it with the food. Way overpriced for the quality of food and service. The only positive was Lauren. She was obviously sorry for the mess laid at her feet, and was professional and gracious dealing with it. However she alone can’t fix this place. I wonder if, because the restaurant is inside the Allegretto Resort, they aren’t worried about local business and return customers. Regardless, I do not recommend you waste your time and money visiting here. One last thing. The restrooms were way too far from the restaurant and hard to find (down a hallway past the resort...

Good • Seated us quickly with our reservation even though we were a little late • Facilities clean, good atmosphere. Hallway to bathrooms were nice and well decorated with interesting art. Biscuits and gravy were good. We ordered two breakfast buffets and two biscuits and gravy for our entire order.

Bad- unfortunately all of these concerns are only concerning our waitress, Avery, and the poor service. • She didnt seem capable of taking one order or concern or need at a time- Would walk away before we could ask for anything else and then we'd wait for another 5 minutes before she'd appear with the single request fulfilled and walk away before asking if we needed anything. Ex- asked for coffee, walked off before we could finish ordering anything else (wrong food, no water). • Forgot many things throughout meal- didn't offer us our beverages for buffet. Said she'd bring tea selection and never brought it- finally just asked for coffee, but never took any other drink orders. • Eggs were wrong type- didn't get eggs until almost done with rest of meal. Had to ask runner for eggs and order for other drinks. Also asked Avery for update on eggs, and would just say right, your eggs, and never come back or offer any updates. • Other tables around and multiple runners and wait staff came to surrounding tables multiple times, was not very busy when we came in. No outdoor seating at the time for majority of meal. • Asked for cappuccino 3 times to her directly and other runners- said that the bar was backed up at the last time we asked about it. There were tables seated much later than us with orders taken after (by different waitresses), yet they received their drinks first, which doesn't explain the bar back up. Then, she finally brought cappuccino after everyone was done eating and ready for checks. • Waters were empty for majority, never asked for water or coffee refills bc she was not even in dining area- unsure where she was bc no outdoor tables were seated yet. • Had to grab runner- Macie- who refilled water, got more water when pitcher was empty and came back and refilled. Asked if we needed anything else, cleared plates, and said she'd let Avery know we would like checks. Honestly, Macie is the only reason why there is an extra star. • Even after asking for checks we still had to flag her down again. • Brought checks after cards run- wrong cards charged for wrong orders

In the end, if she had showed a little more attention to table and a little apologetic, would have been more understanding of the negligence of service. We would have been more understanding if the place was packed with each staff having to wait multiple tables with large parties, but it didnt seem that she had more than our table until one was seated outside at the end of our meal. Having had jobs in the service industry in the past, we try to be understanding because we don't always know the behind the scenes, but this pushed past our limits of acceptable service. This didn't seem like a overall type of service given by staff in the restaurant because we had a table next to us with their waitress coming by many times for coffee refills, asking each time if they needed anything, and clearing/bring checks/etc in a timely manner. However if this is the type of service one would expect at a reasonable upscale location, I would save your...

I had high hopes but our dinner was a real flop. First a couple of positives, the service was very good (albeit a little slow) and the appetizers were decent. I had the calamari which was a good portion but the breading was rather thick. It came with two sauces with one a type of marinara and the other a aoli that was really bad. The herb choices were so very strange and did not go well together at all. My wife had a burrata crustini which was decent. As for the entrees that's where things went down hill. I ordered the "4th special" of smoked tri-tip and ribs. I can honestly say I have never tasted anything so vile with the ribs. They must have been marinated in balsamic vinegar and salt for days because the taste was indescribably bad and salty. The tri-tip could have been just ok if it wasn't so dry. When the server checked on us a started to say the ribs were not good and he interjected "were they salty?" He admitted to trying them and reluctantly agreed there was a problem. I can't imagine a single person would like the ribs or think they were edible at all. I was offered a second option so I went with the 12oz pork chop. In the meantime, my wife cut into her filet and her order of medium was very, very rare so it went back with my first entree attempt. 20+ minutes later her steak and my pork chop finally came back and her steak was now burnt on the outside and still very rare on the inside. It was inedible for her. My pork chop was edible but was bone in and gave only about 6 oz of meat after the bone and fat. Sadly it was only salt and pepper and a slight char that was it's flavor profile. I could do the same at home for $5 and not the $68 they charged. The mashed potatoes were ok but the partially steamed carrots and asparagus were bland. I have traveled the world as an airline captain and know good food but to charge what they did for rather awful food is inexcusable. We were there for 1.5 hours and had to be elsewhere so we couldn't wait for my wife's steak to be remade (she said it was very underseasoned anyway and wouldn't taste all that great, even at the correct temperature). Maybe they have some good days but this wasn't one of them and based on the simplicity of their dishes I doubt they will ever offer something befitting...