How to Eat Your Way Through Downtown Paso Robles
- Marla
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Paso Robles, California is renowned for its wonderful wine, but it also has a lively food scene. There are many good choices when it comes to dining in downtown Paso Robles.
We did our research for dinner and made reservations before we arrived. We had several criteria. We wanted a variety of cuisines; we wanted to focus on downtown so we could walk to spots from our hotel; and we wanted really good food. Truthfully there were many restaurants to choose from.
While we could not get to all of the places we wanted to, we did choose well! We also found a few gems for breakfast and lunch while we were there. And every place we went was either on or just off the town’s main park in the center of town.
Here are seven recommendations for how to eat your way through downtown Paso Robles, both modest and sublime, in alphabetical order.
Amstrdm Coffee House
Need a quick coffee and a bit of breakfast? There are a few places in downtown Paso Robles
to get coffee but some are purely grab and go, some offer very limited food options, and others are full-on big sit down affairs. Our hotel recommended Amstrdm Coffee House, a tiny (about 20 seats) family-owned place that offers great coffee plus varied food, such as ham croissants, bagels, and breakfast burritos. You could sit at a table, at the counter along the windows, or in big comfy chairs. We liked it so much we went twice. Everyone received a warm welcome. It appeared to cater to locals; there were people with babies; two men playing chess; a woman with a yoga mat. Some people lingered at the fireplace in the corner; others were there simply for takeout.
Catch Seafood Bar and Grill
Seeking out seafood? Paso Robles is only a few miles from the Pacific Ocean, so it makes sense to sample some fish while there. Catch Seafood Bar and Grill hit the mark. It’s a relatively small, casual place with indoor and outdoor seating and a bar. It also has an open-style kitchen if you like to watch the goings-on. There was so much seafood in the cioppino I ordered I could not finish it (bummer!). If you or someone in your party doesn’t want seafood, there are other options.
Fish Gaucho
Do you like Mexican food in a fun atmosphere? (who doesn’t!) Then head on over to Fish Gaucho, a funky place with indoor and terrace seating and both traditional and innovative Mexican food. The restaurant has a huge tequila and mezcal menu and a wide selection of flights. The tequila/mescal flight came with garnishes of flavored salt, spiced oranges, and cooked crickets (not bad; softer than expected; a bit bitter).
Il Cortile
In the mood for Italian? There are several good choices in Paso Robles. We were very happy with Il Cortile, a more upscale dining spot operated by a husband and wife team and featuring seasonal food, such as roast quail, branzino, and rack of lamb. The pasta is homemade. There were plenty of locals here.
Les Petites Canailles
Hankering for French cuisine? Again, there are choices but we opted for Les Petites Canailles, a husband and wife venture featuring typical French dishes like moules frites and beef cheeks. Named “the little rascals” for the couple’s three children, the bustling restaurant, which is in the Michelin Guide, offers both a la carte and tasting menus.
Somm’s Kitchen
Ready for a splurge? I highly recommend Somm’s Kitchen, a “lab of ideas” where award-winning sommelier Ian Adamo cooks a five-course Michelin-like tasting menu omakase-style paired with a wide variety of wines. We were treated to a shrimp course, bisque, deconstructed onion soup (the cheese top only), steak smothered in mushrooms, and four kinds of desserts. He paired each course with two different wines so we could compare them. The restaurant, for which you prepay, only holds 16 people, and there’s only one seating a night; the patrons sit at a semicircular counter around him. It’s also not open all the time; as a one-man show, it’s closed when he travels. He also personally reached out to us to check for allergies/food restrictions and offered to provide winery recommendations (we took him up on his offer). This was truly unique.
Taste! Craft Eatery
Need a casual meal with some flexibility and adult beverage options? Go to Taste! Craft Eatery, which we discovered while exploring the park. It features not only regular entries but also some unique items (five types of brussels sprouts?) and mix-and-match choices (sliders, salads, mac and cheese, etc.) that you can build on as you wish, The restaurant’s sister location in San Luis Obispo was featured in a 2024 episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. This is another place we enjoyed so much that we returned the next day.
We hope this guide on how to eat your way through downtown Paso Robles helps you decide where to go when planning your next trip there.
If you have any recommendations of other great food in Paso Robles or elsewhere, please send them our way at info@winewithourfamily.com. Always feel free to reach out to us with any questions or feedback.
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