Review - Restaurant - Harbor Hut Restaurant

This restaurant is a major landmark in Morro Bay. I remember having a surprise cocktail hour for my grandmother's 70th birthday party here back in the day. However, I am sorry to report that I was not happy with the restaurant portion of the Harbor Hut.

It was a warm day and I decided I didn't want to cook dinner at home. So, I headed off to The Embarcadero. The Harbor Hut seems so high-end, but when all is said and done it is just a bar with a mediocre restaurant attached. Great view, though.

As I entered the restaurant, an unfortunate odor emanated from the restrooms. I should have turned right around, but I thought it would not waft into the dining area. Wrong!! In addition to the odor, there were flocks of flies buzzing around. Did I give up? No, but perhaps I should have.

I ordered Chicken Marsala, which came with mashed potatoes that were not listed on the menu!! They offer bottomless sodas, although the refills are few and far between. They were stingy on the ice, for some reason. Their bread was only so-so. I also ordered a side salad (minus the red onion) and was happy that they had blue cheese dressing. The salad greens were nice and crunchy and I liked the beets and croutons.


I was not impressed at how SLOW the service was, even though there were not a lot of people in the restaurant. The food was not really so bad (although I had a really bad steak here once), but the combination of slow service, bad atmosphere, and high price for low quantity rates this restaurant pretty low on my list.

Follow-up: I have to say that I was quite impressed with the service and food I had last night at The Harbor Hut. It was the night of the lighted boat parade and I had neglected to make a reservation for a window seat!! Duh ...

Well, the tall manager was so sweet and moved some people around to fit me in. I was so grateful that, despite the fact that I am still unemployed, I bought a glass of wine, soda, meal, and dessert. On top of that I tipped them 25%, which of course I can't afford, but was necessary. My table was at the side of the restaurant, so I was able to see the boats as they passed the restaurant, and got some pretty good shots with my camera, too!! There was no smell, and I was happy that the service was slow (at least this time they had reason for the slowness due to a FULL dining room!!) I was able to see the entire parade and left right as it finished. I will definitely return here next year if I am in town for the parade, in fact I will make a reservation for the little table at the front window for 5:45.

Another followup: I ate dinner here again, and the service was pretty lousy. Really slow, and it was like pulling teeth to get the waitress back to my table for a soda refill or the bill. I never know if it is the fact that I am a singe diner or just the wait staff when this happens.

Review - Restaurant - Giancarlo's

I am so happy to have discovered a great Italian restaurant in Morro Bay. One expects to find restaurants down on the Embarcadero (which is where the other inferior Italian restaurant is), but this gem is up at the top of Morro Bay Blvd. Opened in December 2008, I hadn't gotten around to dining here until just last week.

I stopped in for lunch and was happy to see a great restaurant with a wonderful chef, wait staff, and bussers. I felt as if I was treated with respect, which is hard to find when you dine alone. By the time I was finished the restaurant was almost full. The wait staff are charming, which may explain why so many ladies were "doing" lunch. Or, it could be the phenomenal food!!

Although the specials sounded great, I chose from the "living" menu and ordered the Tortellini Carbonara, yummy! The lunch came amazing ciabatta bread, along with a delicious salad with poached pears and candied walnuts. Just the right amount of dressing, too. The food was great, and the price quite reasonable. My bill, with bottomless soda, came to about $20.

This restaurant has a Sunday Brunch and special events, such as an opera-singer dinner. I sat at a table, but you could choose to sit at a bar and observe the chef at work. I think I will do this next time so that I can see how each dish is prepared.

Review - Los Olivos Restaurants

The Brothers Restaurant (aka Mattei's Tavern)

I loved this restaurant.

I have fond memories of dining at Mattei's Tavern, so when I was recently down in Santa Barbara and decided to stop by for dinner. I was surprised when I arrived that the restaurant had been purchased by two brothers from Iowa in 2002. I was happy that I decided to stay for dinner.

I had the Hearts of Romaine with roasted garlic dressing and shaved parmesan salad (basically a Caesar salad), which was really yummy. Just the right amount of dressing, a bit spicy - probably white pepper. The croutons were diagonally-cut slices of bread made into croutons. The Roasted Chicken Breast stuffed with goat cheese was cooked perfectly, the mashed potatoes were divine, and I actually ate my green beans!! I even ordered mud pie for dessert and they made me a mocha for the drive home.

This is a high-quality meal for a reasonable price. My bill was around $40. On my way out I noticed that the bar portion of the restaurant was packed. The wait staff told me that people come all the way from Santa Barbara and Santa Maria to dine here.

Review - Beauty Salon - The Golden Shears

After searching for a salon that doesn't charge a lot of money to trim my hair, and passing on the ones that scream "Jesus" on their front doors, I found The Golden Shears on Morro Bay Blvd. I liked the fact that is is small and is only open every so often!! I needed a clean-up to my hair cut, which you may recall I had to fix after my last try. She laughed and cleaned it up for me. I laughed when I saw that one of her clients is Jack LaLanne!!

I was happy with this cut, and the owner was really nice and simple. I plan on returning here soon, since one day last month I decided to cut my own hair (from a one-length bob to a shorter layered look). Actually, the front looks ok, but the back is a bit sketchy. She can clean it up for me and then I will use her services from then on!!

Review - Cobbler - T-N-T Coast Boot-N-Shoe Repair

I was so happy to see that there is a qualified cobbler right here in town. When I have walked by, there is usually a little line of customers. Some of them appear to be from out of town, so the cobbler's reputation must be good.

I brought in some non-shoe repair and they were happy to use their sewing machines to repair my item. A friend also needed to have the scuffs fixed on the front of his shoes. He wanted to "stain" them, but they told him that he should use polish instead. There are some fun display items and shoes for sale. They post local announcements, also.

Review - Restaurant - Taco Temple

This restaurant has a huge following, people from out of town always make sure to visit when they are in town. Located in North Morro Bay on Main in the Spencer's parking lot, this restaurant is always full. When I drive by I see lines of people waiting to be seated. They do not take debit or credit cards, but you can write a check if you are local. Reasonable prices, "cool" wait staff, and decent food combine to deliver a hit. That said, I only order one thing from their menu and it isn't any better here than at any other Mexican restaurant. People say that their carnitas are great, and they do have many unusual specials (such as scallop tacos). I always see a great cross-section of people here, from families, to single diners and large groups. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, with surfboard styled benches where people wait for their take-out. The North Morro Bay trolley stops right out in front of the restaurant, so you can easily get here from the campground or somewhere else downtown.

They gave me (a single diner) a small bowl of chips, which was more than enough. The other diners (including a male single diner) got a larger basket of chips. The salsa was good, not too spicy, but the chips were overdone and a bit dry. But, they were crispy and I ate them with my dinner.


I have only ever ordered the trio of chicken taquitos, which come with a little salad, some green sauce, and sour cream. I got a bottomless soda, which comes in a nice large glass so the server doesn't have to refill mine so often. That said, I had to wait a while for a server to see that I needed my refill. The taquitos were only OK, rather tasteless actually. The creamy cilantro dressing didn't get on all the greens, and it was a bit too vinegary for my taste. It might have been a good thing to dip the taquito in to give it some more taste.

Generally, this is a restaurant where I wouldn't mind meeting people. However, I will not be coming here on my own again.

Review - Theatre - Bay Theatre

It is great to have a theatre right in town!! They show first-run movies and have two or three showings a day. The sound is good and seats are relatively comfortable. All shows cost $7.00 and their treats are relatively affordable. I confess, though, that I usually hit the Dollar Tree store before the show. The popcorn is a bit stale, even though it was freshly popped. They must not store it well, or they have a bad provider. But, it had real butter and kind of tasted to me like home-popped popcorn. Their sodas were good and there is a combo deal with a small popcorn, soda and candy for $5.50. I think they also have low-priced refills on the soda and popcorn. I wish they had hotdogs, since I like to have some protein with my "popcorn" dinner!!

Note: I went to the theatre last night and am happy to report that their popcorn is much less stale than before!! I hope they keep whatever changes they made to prevent their popcorn from getting stale before it gets popped!!