Gennaro’s Grill & Garden in San Luis Obispo, CA

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Telephone:	+1 805-782-9999
Website:	gennarosgrillandgarden.com
Address:	450 Marsh St, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:	960 ft1,2 0.5 mi3 0.6 mi2
Categories:	Italian American (New)

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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations	Yes
Delivery	No
Take-out	Yes
Accepts Credit Cards	Yes
Good For	Dinner
Parking	Private Lot
Bike Parking	Yes
Wheelchair Accessible	Yes
Good for Kids	No
Good for Groups	Yes

Attire	Casual
Ambience	Romantic
Noise Level	Quiet
Alcohol	Full Bar
Outdoor Seating	Yes
Wi-Fi	Free
Has TV	Yes
Dogs Allowed	No
Waiter Service	Yes
Caters	Yes

Today

Today	11:30 am – 2:30 pm 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm Open now
Local time (San Luis Obispo)	11:46 Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Business hours

Monday	11:30 am – 2:30 pm 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Tuesday	11:30 am – 2:30 pm 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Wednesday	11:30 am – 2:30 pm 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Thursday	11:30 am – 2:30 pm 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Friday	11:30 am – 2:30 pm 5:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Saturday	5:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Sunday	4:30 pm – 9:00 pm

Description

Specialties

We feature authentic Northern Italian cuisine. We also take pride in our home-made pasta, desserts and breads. The ambiance is charming in an Old-Victorian setting built in 1904. Outdoor dining on a warm day is delightful. Whatever the occasion Gennaro’s Grill & Garden is the perfect setting.

History

Established in 2010.

Gennaro is a renowned restaurateur, and former owner of Benvenuti Ristorante enjoyed by many SLO residents for 14 years. He also owned Gennaro’s Ristorante in Glendale for 25 years and Il Gazebo. He was the proud recipient of the prestigious Auto Club’s Four Diamond Award for several consecutive years. His restaurant was voted «One of the best Italian Restaurants in America» by Veronelli Publishing, recipient of the «Di Rona Award for Excellence in Dining» and also featured in Wine Spectator Magazine — The Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers, and received one of the highest Zagat ratings. Gennaro sold Benvenuti Ristorante in 2005. He has now returned to the same charming location with the goal of creating the ultimate dining experience at attractive prices.

Gennaro’s Grill & Garden ~ a delightful environment where the food is robust, authentically classic and alive with fresh taste. Whatever the occasion, Gennaro’s Grill & Garden is the place!

Meet the Business Owner

Gennaro Rosato X.

Business Owner

Gennaro was born in Martina Franca, Italy and attended the Culinary Arts Academy in Rimini. He came to California after meeting his wife Marrgo on «The Love Boat». Opened his first restaurant, Gennaro’s Ristorante in Glendale, California in 1984, his second, Il Gazebo Ristorante opened in 1991 also in Glendale, and the third, Benvenuti Ristorante in San Luis Obispo in 1994. He opened Gennaro’s Grill & Garden in 2010 at the same charming old Victorian location built in 1904. His two chefs, Mario and Marcello followed him from Gennaro’s in Glendale and from Benvenuti. He is a true restaurant professional with his focus on service, a kitchen that creates interesting and delicious dishes and offering an extensive wine list.

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21 reviews of Gennaro’s Grill & Garden

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Barry A.

Place rating: 5
San Luis Obispo, CA

Gennaro’s is the best kept secret in San Luis Obispo. Freshly made pasta, fresh ingredients, in a great restored home.

Derek F.

Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA

Best food and service I’ve had in a while. Highly recommend the Gennaro’s Burger for lunch– it was possibly the best burger I’ve had in my life. My girlfriend and I loved the Panna Cotta as well. Killer food and a relaxed ambiance. Overall a great experience.

Carissa L.

Place rating: 1
Honolulu, HI

Lame. Said open until 10 pm and we went there at 9:25 and they said they were closed.

M M.

Place rating: 3
Buena Park, CA

Delicious food
Nice atmosphere
Tiny portions.
No soup or salad or vegetables with pasta meals.

Lisa W.

Place rating: 5
Round Rock, TX

This place is AMAZING. I cannot say enough good things. I had the veal ravioli and my husband had the strip steak. Both were delicious but the strip was a work of art. I wish I took a picture, it says strip but looks/taste fillet mignon. People next to us even asked what it was when it was brought to the table. We finished with the flourless chocolate cake and cheesecake. I wish I could order this chocolate cake and send it to everyone I love. Heaven. The owner is the host, server, etc does it all (granted it was a Sunday night). I would drive the 4 hours back just to eat here. Absolutely fantastic.

Bonnie T.

Place rating: 5
San Luis Obispo, CA

Love love love this place! Found it on Unilocal and decided to believe the reviews. We started with warm garlic bread toasted just the right amount, and warm rolls with vinegar and olive oil.
Then we went with the crispy potato gnocchi on a bed of spinach, and it was delicious. The subtle saltiness of the spinach and the cream cheese was just right for seasoning the gnocchi. Loved the subtle flavors.
We got the lamb chop which came with a side salad, which we upgraded to a spinach salad. Just the right hint of sweetness in the dressing, with a crunchy fresh spinach garnished with red onion and walnuts. Definitely cooked from scratch… Everything was super fresh.
In the meantime, they brought out a perfectly cooked chicken breast for my service dog. No spices, lightly grilled, which was exactly what I asked for. (So many restaurants will say they are leaving off the spices, only to forget and give my dog the runs.) This always reassures me that they are actually cooking our food with real fresh ingredients rather than buying frozen precooked and seasoned food.
The lamb was delicious. The dark rich gravy had hints of fresh rosemary and came with sautéed new potatoes.
My husband and I split all of our food orders, which was not a problem for them. They were gracious in accommodating my service dog.
What more could we ask of a wonderful Sunday night dinner in SLO?

Michael D.

Place rating: 5
San Ramon, CA

Great service, great food, great setting. Everything felt superb. Our waitress was so kind. Food came out in good time, our water was never empty, our bread bowl was never empty either (even though we seemed to keep eating it).
Hands down my go-to Italian restaurant in SLO from now on. Not extremely pricey, but some dishes were up there a bit. The place could definitely charge more for the service and quality it provides.

Andrea T.

Place rating: 2
Sacramento, CA

Excellent service. Delicious food. We arranged separate checks up front and it became an issue when checking out. They charged almost everyone for wine when they had soda for water. They didn’t fix it when they ran our credit cards.

Gagan K.

Place rating: 4
Jersey City, NJ

Food — excellent
We were 5 people — nicely welcomed and seated quickly for our dinner.
The place is nice and cute with Italian music.
The bread they serve for the table is so so good I had to ask for more !
I had the salmon which was cooked well and the lemon sauce was nice. Everyone at the table was happy with the food.
Had the créme brule for dessert — largest serving I’ve ever had. It was nice but a bit too sweet for me.
Overall good experience !

Kye G.

Place rating: 5
Clovis, CA

Our service was great. The owner was so kind. He hooked us up with the bread and he is very friendly. Everything is home made and DELICIOUS! There’s a reason why this place is alive. It is clean and great for romantic dinners or casual lunches with friends. It’s amazing. I would definitely recommend everyone to visit and try this place!

Reina P.

Place rating: 1
Yuma, AZ

We made a special trip to come here. Absolutely horrible. I cook a better steak than this crap at home. It was well over done and tough, dry, lack of seasoning. I guess that’s what I get for trusting an Italian place with steak but honestly, how do you mess up a steak! I also got a dish with salmon, scallops and fish. Horrible! Salmon was dry, scallops were chewy and idk what kind of fish that was but it was disgusting. I’m so disappointed in this place.

Mimi D.

Place rating: 5
Downtown, San Jose, CA

I have been to San Luis Obispo 3 times this year went to Ciopinot 2 times which way over price. How can I miss this place. Love homemade pasta, gnocchi, seafood were fresh and big size. Server is very nice and give honest recommendation. She compromised to change the dish to the way I want. Definitely in my bookmark.

Evelyn R.

Place rating: 5
Paso Robles, CA

Had a business lunch Thursday and took my friend back Friday for lunch just so she could try the Sophia Salad. We both added shrimp. That and the service are excellent. The owner is there and checking on everything, and has a funny sense of humor. Love the house setting. Just a fun time. You gotta go!

Shannon B.

Place rating: 2
Santa Maria, CA

I went here for a graduation dinner. The restaurant was fairly empty upon arrival and we asked if we could move our reservation from 5 to 6:30 but they said no because of how booked they were. No big deal, we just thought we would ask. The server gave us bread and water and we had Caesar salad starters. They were all good. And we were seated outside which was very pretty. The ambiance was great here and Gennaro himself was there. We ordered our entrees and when they came out there was some confusion with our orders and another table but they gave us two complimentary drinks to make up for it. My main complaint is that the food was not good at all. It was very bland, looked like it was just thrown on a plate. I had raviolis and they definitely tasted frozen. We were all shocked and disappointed. Everything just seemed poorly made and bland. We also didn’t leave until 6:30 and the restaurant was still fairly sparse so we were confused why our reservations couldn’t be moved up an hour.
This place is beautiful and I hope they were just having an off night!

Turino F.

Place rating: 1
Rancho Cordova, CA

We came here to celebrate my son’s graduation tonight after getting great recommendation from my son and other reviews in Unilocal.The service was completely disappointing. I find this place very unethical. Despite people’s review that there is no corkage fee for the first bottle of wine, they insisted to charge us $ 15 for corkage fee. Some of the breads were cold. The waitress kept insisting that we need to order more wines. They printed out a Graduation dinner menu — exactly the same as regular dinner — $ 2 more per dish. WHY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GRADUATES. SUCH A HYPOCRITE FROM SLO BUSINESS COMMUNITY. Will definitely file a complaint with BBB. The food is ok. You can redeem yourself by doing the right thing for your customers.

Bevin H.

Place rating: 5
San Ramon, CA

After coming to San Luis Obispo for four years, we finally had the opportunity to dine at Gennaro’s. What a pleasant surprise. We split two crispy potato gnocchi among the five of us. This dish was delicious. I had the Scaloppine di Vitello alla Lombarda and my daughter Grigliata Mista. Everyone else had a variety of fresh pasta dishes. We shared four desserts. What a fantastic meal. EVERYTHING was awesome. The service was excellent and friendly. When we go out, we always choose dishes that «challenges the chef», i.e., things that I can’t cook at home. Gennaro’s fits the bill.

Deana M.

Place rating: 4
Tracy, CA

Had a wonderful experience here with my mother, sisters & daughter. The service was excellent. It was a Friday during lent, so we decided to go vegetarian. It was not very busy. We were seated promptly at a nice round table in the fireside room. It was warm & cozy. We each started with a salad. I had the beet salad, the others had the spinach, Caesar, and mista. They were tasty and fresh. We decided to share several entrees, which included the gnocchi, linguini with evoo, garlic & hot peppers, spinach/ricotta ravioli, and the risotto primavera. All were excellent. Every plate was cleaned. We enjoyed a lovely Silvia Grasso Barolo.
We finished the meal with 2 shared desserts.
I will be back to try a different menu entrée.

Jonh P.

Place rating: 1
Los Ángeles, Estados Unidos

I take mi girlfriend eat there last week and the food is totally terrible the bread is recicle and the olive oil every time you eat the bread and oil is recycling I can not possible the happens in this restaurant

Darcy P.

Place rating: 5
Mission Viejo, CA

We happened upon this fabulous place by accident and we are definitely glad that we did! Not only is the food wonderful and reasonably priced, the ambiance and service are wonderful as well! The quail risotto is world-class and a bargain at just under $ 20. Everything else was high quality as well. We highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who is looking for an exceptional meal in a wonderful environment. Enjoy!

Miriam M.

Place rating: 3
San Francisco, CA

Came for NYE dinner. The place is is an old house and adorable.
The food tasted pretty authentic and I wish I could give it more stars, but the confused staff and service was a bit off in comparison to the prices of the dishes. They accidentally dropped one of bottles of wine that we brought it in. Although this was unfortunate, we understand accidents happen so I wasn’t necessarily upset about this. However, they did give us a new bottle of wine but still charged us a corkage fee. I thought we should have been compensated a bit better for this. I don’t care if the bottle was maybe not the most expensive, if a customer brings in their own purchased bottle and you break it, shouldn’t we get a free bottle with no fee or at least a free dessert or something?
And yes, the wait time is long. It does say that at the bottom of the menu because they want to make fresh food. I understand that. BUT we had to ask for menus after about 10 – 15 minutes of just sitting and at the end of the meal it was about twenty minutes total to get the bill and pay. And they brought us the wrong check with someone else’s credit card at first. Maybe it was just an off night. But I expect more from a nice Italian restaurant.
On a positive note, the bread is abundant and really soft. The pasta is all home made (except for the gluten-free penne). I highly recommend the stir-fried gnocchi as an appetizer too. But for the price and service, I would not come here again.

Laura B.

Place rating: 3
Walnut Creek, CA

Came here on a Saturday evening at 6:30 pm and had made a reservation for two; upon arriving at the restaurant we realized that was an unnecessary step, as there was plenty of space for us. The ambiance is a lovely, flattering glow, not too dimly lit and assisted by small white Christmas lights strung around the rooms. Holiday music was playing (on December 28^th, but whatever), and the tables were decorated with a faux candle and faux mini poinsettias. It was cute.
Though we passed on wine for the night, glasses were an affordable $ 6-$ 7, and beer/cocktails are also available. We skipped the apps too and launched right into dinner entrees — I order the Gluten-Free Penne con Salmone ($ 16.75), being one of those pathetic gluten-intolerant bastards everyone seems to love to hate. I did myself the disservice of imagining the meal before I received it, perhaps a beautifully arranged plate of seasoned salmon filet upon a bed of al dente penne.
What I received was a shallow bowl/plate of penne with a mushroom/marinara sauce and 1-inch pieces of (very tender and delicious) salmon mixed throughout. I do have to applaud their ability to incorporate seafood into a pasta dish without bastardizing it. The turnoff for me were the cole-slaw-esque carrot shreds that were also in the sauce. While they cut acidity, I thought they kind of cheapened the dish. I probably would not order this again in the future.
It also seemed like entrée portions differed in an obvious way, or I eat like a vacuum cleaner, as I finished my smaller entrée about 10 minutes before my boyfriend, which led to me awkwardly watching him finish his meal while drinking a biologically unnecessary amount of water. Long story short, I would return, though I’d order something else and eat slower. The location is great, service is alright, and the old-school Italiano grub is a nice diversion from the In N’ Out and Trader Joes that typically defines my day.
Mangia bene.

Gennaro’s Grill & Garden

San Luis Obispo, United States