Novo — Restaurant in San Luis Obispo

I don't frequent this place, but I have a friend who went to Poly who always goes when she visits. I've always been a fan of the location and of the owners, but have never been as impressed with Novo as I have been with Robin's. The location is fantastic, you can't beat having dinner overlooking the creek while in SLO. The food is usually really good, but there have definitely been a few times that the food wasn't cooked well. Unfortunately this last experience was the same, mostly good, but still not great.

Our group ordered a couple of drinks and then also brought a bottle of wine. We all requested water as well since we would be dining for awhile. The waiter while cheery and fairly helpful, wasn't the most attentive, and left water glasses empty for long periods of time (15+ minutes) which was terrible. Our cocktails were great and the bartender was super friendly, but even he botched the order a little bit. One of the 3 drinks was supposed to be neat, but he served it on the rocks ruining the drink.

The food was good, the salmon bisque is an absolute staple and is worth coming back for on its own. The other food we ordered included Chow Novo, Lavender Lamb, and Lettuce Wraps. The waiter was very helpful with the recommendation for the beef with the lettuce wraps and the chicken with the chow novo, otherwise we probably would have had chicken and tofu. Thankfully his recommendations were spot on, the beef was fantastic with the lettuce wrap. Made for a really nice balance and the beef wasn't very heavy like you'd normally expect. Chow Novo also was spot on, noodles were perfect, seasoning nice and light, very light oil and the chicken was nice and tender. The big disappointment of the night was the lamb. It is usually a go to for me when I dine here, but the last two times it has been burnt on the outside and overcooked. Of the three chops only one had even a hint of red in the meat. I used to order this and it would be a nice light char on the outside and a fairly deep red in the center of the chop. Who ever the chef is now likes to give a heavy char and leave the lamb 90%+ brown which is a shame. Overall, still a good experience, but stay away from the...

BEWARE! Don't come here if you have food allergies. You can't count on them to get it right. . Not only did they totally screw it up and serve me the exact allergen we discussed in-detail that I needed to avoid (!), but neither the manager nor the corporate director of operations bothered to apologize. . Instead of apologizing, the manager said, "I hate when this happens." OMG! Does it happen a lot? . He offered the choice for EITHER a future gift card or comp the salad screw-up. He pushed for the future gift card saying that we would save a few more bucks that way. We opted for the comp, but the situation wasn't done graciously. I don't want to debate pricing about the value of their mistake or my allergy with our whole family sitting there. We all felt exceptionally uncomfortable with his approach. . When I wrote to their corporate operations department at Blue Mango (whoever they are), they doubled-down and said the server got it right, but the cook got it wrong. . Honestly, I don't care who blew it. Why can't they take responsibility!?! The buck needs to stop somewhere, preferably at the top. . If I hadn't caught it myself, their miscommunications & carelessness would have made me painfully ill. All of them got it 100% wrong:

1. the cook added an allergen sauce even though it was not even listed on the menu.
2. the server specifically told me it didn't come with that sauce.
3. the young guy dropping off the food assured me the sauce was ok too.
4. the server never bothered to check on us. I had to call her over and point out the sauce issue to her.
5. then I had to ask her twice to take it away since it would have made me sick. . And the best their director of operations could say to me was, "if you choose not to return, I wish you nothing but the best moving forward." . Yes, with this level of sub-par service, poor communication, and lack of responsibility, we are not coming back. "Peace Out" to you too... . PS - we have NEVER had these kinds of allergy issues with other restaurants in town such as: Ox & Anchor, Koberl at Blue, Ox + Anchor, or Lure...

Let me break down my incredible experience at NOVO.

Atmosphere: We got seated in a beautiful outdoor sitting area with absolutely no wait at all. It was a little chilly so they offered BLANKETS and offered to turn on the heater. We underestimated the heater, and they gladly turned it off when we requested it. Overall, it is a very clean, relaxed, open, and very friendly atmosphere.

Service: We had a server named Damian, and he was honestly the best server I've ever had. We had lots of questions, and he carefully and nicely answered them without hesitation or frustration. We're visiting from out of town, and he went out of his way to help us plan our trip down the Pacific Coast Highway and helped us find a detour around a blockage. He was funny, friendly, and very helpful.

Food: The variety of food is incredible: Korean, Mexican, Indian, Japanese, Thai, American, they have it all AND it all tastes incredible. Nothing on the menu will disappoint guaranteed. They have a big dessert menu, and unfortunately, we only had room for one of the apple strawberry crumbles which was fantastic. Everything on the menu whether it was drinks, food, or dessert sounded incredible.

Overall: 10/10 We were just passing through SLO, and I was very fortunate to stumble upon this place during a search on Google. This is honestly my new favorite restaurant, and if I ever come back to SLO, I can guarantee you I will be back. It's so hard for a restaurant to excel at literally everything, but NOVO does that...