Vista Steak and Seafood — Restaurant in Pismo Beach

We had a wonderful evening, dining at Vista Steak & Seafood tonight, 4/6/22. My wife & I arrived a bit before our 6:45pm dinner reservation, so we ducked into the bar, for a drink. We ordered 2 glasses of Halter Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, 2018. My wife & I are big fans of Paso Robles Cabs, but had never tried this 1, so we gave it a shot. Very happy we did! Taste of ripe berries, vanilla & a hint of oak, with a velvety smooth finish.

We were lucky enough to be seated at a window table for dinner-the perfect place to watch this Pismo Sunset, through Vista Steak & Seafood's massive picture windows, overlooking the ocean.

My wife & I decided to begin with 2 cups of their clam chowder. The hot sourdough rolls & butter, brought to our table, provided a nice vessel, to dip into our steaming hot, ridiculously flavorful white chowder. This heavenly chowder has lots of large chunks of clam in it, as well as an ample amount of diced potatoes, spices & that flavor of the sea, that I love.

We skipped lunch today, so I also had a Blue Cheese Wedge Salad, which was spot on, as well. Ample chunks of blue cheese rested atop a bright green freshly cut Iceberg Lettuce Wedge, with lots of crumbled bacon, adding to the flavor. Halved ripe, mini heirloom tomatoes added color & flavor to my salad, and sliced red onion, which I removed, in case I was lucky enough to get a kiss later tonight.

The coup de gras, was my main course, a 24 oz. Porterhouse Steak, cooked perfectly to my liking, Medium. This came with a fresh vegetable, green beans, & 1 side of my choosing, rice pilaf. The steak was epic- no other way to put it. It was huge, so tender, & packed with amazing flavor! Of the 2 sides, I liked the green beans best, but the rice pilaf was good, as well.

My wife ordered Shrimp & Scallops, which had 3 nice-size shrimp & 2 jumbo scallops, resting on a bed of Lobster Risotto. Everything was creamy & buttery, well seasoned, with good flavor.

Just before we got our main courses, we witnessed a colorful sunset. Our server took our picture, with the reddish-orange sunset backdrop. She gave us great service all evening, was friendly, and her timing was impeccable, between dishes. I'd also like to give a shout-out to the host at the front desk. He was friendly, & came & got us from the bar, when our table was ready, plus handled my bar tab, with my card, & returned it to me. Great service all night here, from the entire staff, amazing food, memorable view of the sunset- 5 stars,...

Really love this place and have frequented for many years. To preface we are locals. Usually we frequent the bar to escape the tourist traffic. Specifically for special occasions, we would put in reservations and have always done so during off time to ensure that we weren’t burdening the house. Today really rubbed me wrong. I requested to reserve a table for late lunch on a Friday online 2 days in advance and my husband and I were meeting at the restaurant. My husband checked in at the host table at our time slot of 230 and he told the host that I was almost there, and that I would be arriving about 5 mins after the reservation time. I booked the table for 230 and I was there at 235. It was not busy, there was no one waiting, there was maybe 6 tables sat in the entire restaurant. This was in no words a busy time of day to take a reserved table away from someone for any reason other than a mistake. The host sat a party at the table I specifically requested for my birthday reservation. When I arrived I could clearly see that the table I requested was sat and the party were people that had just walked in before me, not my husband who checked into the reservation. When we both noticed, my husband expressed that we had requested that specific table and the hostess was fast to be defensive and said “we can’t hold tables.” Really unfortunate and lame chose of words for as hostess to be quite frank especially since we reserved the table! Anyway, I got over that and we were sat at another great table with great service but were not welcome with any birthday accommodations. As if the word didn’t get around that we put in a birthday reservation at all. Clearly the hostess messed up and for 1 did not relay the celebration and 2 wasn’t going to put her name on any mistake. I knew that she knew she was in the wrong because while we were waiting to be sat she told several people leaving “have a great night” and never told me that when I left even though being unbothered by any task a hostess would have at the counter. Strange. Really a strange ordeal when I put in the time to reserve and there was no words to remedy. We will be going somewhere else for our celebrations. Hostess- If you’re reading this and saying “boo hoo”, wait until you have a birthday and you don’t feel welcome. I almost told the waiter not to split his tips with you but I feel bad, clearly you’re going through something...

We went on August 5, recently and we had made reservations before hand requesting a seat by the window. We have been many times now to this steak house and have always been there at night time so you could not see out of the window. When we arrived there was no tables and according to the hostess there was going to be a "long wait" because everyone had already been seated there and was eating. So she offered us another table in the middle row that was ready then. As we sat down two tables opened up by the window not even 2 minutes after we sat down. We had asked the person helping our server about moving and they had no idea if we could or not. Both of the tables sat empty for about 20 minutes before they were given to other parties. I did not feel that the staff really cared about moving us at our request and the hostess came off as being a little rude about it in the first place. We ended up staying in our seat and not really trying to push to be moved because we where both ready to order and wanted to eat. The waiter was really friendly and helpful in the process. He came to check on us several times through out the meal and was excellent. I will say that I cannot remember his name, but he was taller with black hair. There was a assistant to him "Dylan" I think. I would say that we felt a little startled with out he moved in-between tables right behind us when there was another path he could take and felt like he was going to spill items as he swooped in-between us and the chairs. Overall food was great as always, just had a bad first impression with the hostess that was never resolved. Will be back in the future and will request again for a window seat and wait and or speak with a...