Lido Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in Pismo Beach

This is one of our very favorite restaurants, and definitely one of the best on the Central Coast. We are experienced diners from greasy spoon to high end; our only requirement is that it be excellent! We also love to cook and bake ourselves and consider ourselves "Foodies." We live about 3 miles from Lido, and it is an excellent place to go for the ambiance, food, cocktails & wine and fabulous ocean view. I don't know why the reviewer in 2009 had such an awful experience. That has never been our experience at Lido, even with the original chef, who is no longer there. When the new chef took over sometime in 2011 we were concerned, but the new chef is even better in our opinion. The emphasis on the menu is fresh, local, seasonal and highly creative. I have eaten all meals, from breakfast to dinner and just for drinks and appetizers at sunset. The menu changes frequently with the season, but some of the memorable dishes: ricotta pancakes with marscarpone butter and fresh blueberries for breakfast; Caprese & burrata salad; Hawaiian blue prawns appetizer; Morro Bay Oysters; fresh fish (various kinds grilled to perfection); apple bread pudding; and Meyer lemon polenta pudding. I find the happy & sad faces for the optional ratings here on Google places to be insufficient. Overall I give all the categories a smiley face, however if there was an option for intermediate ratings I would have downgraded the service one notch, because our server forgot our bread, and when we asked about it she unapologetically rolled her eyes. We weren't sure what she was thinking with that gesture, but we all agreed (we were a party of 4) that was not acceptable behavior nor was it very professional. This is being nit picky, however, and generally the service is excellent and friendly including valet parking, the hostess stand, and the entire wait staff. The ambiance at Lido is casual elegant ~ definitely one of the more sophisticated here on the Central Coast. You can dress up here if you like, and I can't say that for many restaurants in this area. But it's not stuffy, and casual dress is fine as well. Another big plus is they charge no corkage fee. We often bring a bottle from home. They have an excellent list of local wines as well. Last night we both went with the special "Restaurant Month" fixed price menu with optional wine pairings....

We came back to Dolphin Bay & Lido. Their menu changed a lot! They kept some classics that were taken to the next level.

The restaurant is clean and comfortable. Welcomed as soon as you walk in.

Mojitos are still the best! There are so many things to compliment. I'm adding adding pics from the ribs NOW versus before. They were good before, but fall of the bone and smokey this time. We ended up with two orders! You could peel the meat off the bone that's how tender they were (BBQ Fan).

Bloody Mary mix that is OUT OF THIS WORLD (I have no idea who thought it was too spicy, but this is California)! I don't like hot without flavor. They make their own mix and you can tell. The bartender let me sip it just in case. I could drink it just to drink over ice. It's the best mix I have ever had. Plus, she was able to make it into a Michelada instead. Maybe that's why it was too spicy for some? Vodka has its own zing.

They still have the Lido burger, but the Smash burger was delicious. Pecorino fries are always a must have and the eggs Benedict. I tried the brunch and was pleasantly surprised by the bread pudding. It was pumpkin (no nuts or raisins yay) with a caramel sauce at the bottom. Again, ended up with two of those. One at brunch and took one to go. It reminded me of English toffee sticky pudding (my favorites). and I didn't get to taste the bread pudding.

I can definitely see a change in the menu as well as the quality of how things are prepared.

The portions are large so it's so easy to get full. But everything I tasted and drank was stellar! The staff is amazing and super friendly and accommodating. They go above and beyond here. Even if you don't stay at DB, come check out the bar, happy hour, brunch and food. They have a lot to choose from.

Oh, random .. I almost forgot! For the kiddos. Try the chicken nuggets. Not frozen! Crispy freshly made nuggets. 5 star even for your kiddos! I love this place! You have to stop by, trust me, they have the best bar tenders and an...

We were a party of 6 ladies that came in for an early dinner. Some of us can be a handful but Lido was a great experience! We ordered all the following. A delicious Berry Lemon drop.. Smooth, with a berry flavor, an excellent twist of the lemon drop. A glass of Rose, perfect for me! The Lido Burger, 16oz n.y. strip steak, a poivre, shrimp and lobster linguini, truffle fries, and Roasted herbed 1/2 chicken. The Lido Burger... cooked to medium. Came with butter lettuce, 3 strips of bacon, cheese, tomatoe, and a thousand island sauce? Cooked perfectly and the meat was so flavorful. The steak...Ordered to be cooked at medium, came out medium well. The waitreas kindly removed my plate and had it redone and packaged to go for me! The shrimp... al dented, shrimp is cooked well. A little bland in flavor. Two orders of truffle fries... cooked to perfection with the best aioli, moderate amount of garlic flavor, and grand padano! Crispy yet moist of a potatoe!!! I could eat them all day. Michele came out to apologize and stated that steak was cooked to correct temp. I asked for more of a pink medium as to the steak was more brown. She did remove it from the bill. Olive oil citrus cake is the best dessert I have EVER tasted! I can't rave about this cake enough! Came with smoked sea salt, candied orange, and a citrus anglaise. Absolutely the BOMB! The bourbon apple crisp was delicious as well. Salina, our waitress, did an amazing job! I absolutely loved her her patience with our group. She boosted my review to 5 stars. This is a restaurant to experince if you are local or passing through. Loved &...