La Locanda

Very cozy and authentic place. We were just visiting SLO and found this place. Service was great. Everything we had was good and homemade. My kids shared Salmon and butternut squash ravioli and they loved it. I had eggplant Parmesan, which was good and light but I prefer it cooked more. My wife’s pizza was thin and ok. The cauliflower soup she had was great.
Overall we enjoyed the meal and experience.

I can honestly say that this was the best Italian food that I’ve ever had in my life. My boyfriend and I stumbled upon this little jem on a little road trip. It was pretty late and we were walking around slo looking for some decent dinner. I loved the exterior and convinced my boyfriend to go there. I’m so glad we did! It’s a little place with about eight tables, there is only one waiter which I think is super sweet and creates a great intimate environment. The menu was pretty small but had a good variety of dishes. I’m super picky and ended up ordering off the menu, but they were super accomidatingg. When the food came it was beautiful down to plating. It was absolutely fantastic it was creamy and authentic, I had the gnocchi which was melt in your mouth good.
Even though I live 2 hours away I cannot stop thinking about this place! I did some research and found out that the owner is actually the chef too which is super cool, no wonder the food was so good, I think we will be making the trip again soon!

By far my favorite restaurant that we went to while visiting the area. Portions were perfect. Best tiramisu and everything was homemade. Chef came out and checked on us. Would go back back twice a week if I lived here

Went here for Valentine’s Day and we had the best dinner. We each had a special (pasta) and dessert. The food was delicious and the ambience was nice. The restaurant itself is fairly small, so expect an intimate feel. We will be coming back!

The ambiance was great, fine white tablecloths, high expectations from locals… but, it didn’t deliver Their signature dish, Lasagne, was just ok. The Oso bucco was fair. The wine selection was really weak; the $ 75 bottle of Sextent cab was way over priced and not good. Only 2 waiters for entire dining room started to hamper meal and enjoyment. I won’t go back… I can reproduce this anywhere.

Amazing! Cozy! Wonderful food and service! Vegan friendly (just ask them). One of our favorites!

Enjoyed a lovely, authentic lunch with Mom. Great thin crust pizza and pasta is the real deal.
I recently traveled to Italy and now SLO has a little piece of it.

Rudest old waiter in the county (I had heard this before and never took it too seriously until now). I, nice and peacefully asked for a table in the patio area of this restaurant today. I was expecting someone to kindly let me know that the patio area was closed (a young waiter confirmed it was open). Instead, I got a bitter and rude waiter who immediately gave me his back and told the younger gentleman serving to «don’t worry about this guy». I was in complete shock as he turned his back on me and didn’t even acknowledge me as I was asking a question in regards to placing a to-​go order.
Luciano, your food is delicious, but I will never step foot in this restaurant again until that guy is gone or is replaced. I have given this restaurant a lot of business and I always refer all of my friends there for Italian food. It’s sad to see that people like this waiter drive business away in such a manner. I will always refer people to your restaurant but I will warn them immediately about how rude your main waiter is. Even though your food is delicious, a restaurant to me is a whole experience, which comes with excellent service by the wait staff. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that guy smile. Best of luck!

this is about as close as you’ll get these days to authentic Italian, from scratch.
A small place, one waiter and great food
Don’t expect Olive Garden service or taste this is the real deal.
–Foodguy

I’ll give this restaurant 2 stars because the food was good enough for 3 stars but the service was worth only 1 at best. Could it have been the fact that the waiter/​host glared at my partner and I as he noticed that we were lightly holding hands as we asked for a table, nothing more than that? This is 2015 after all. Two men CAN get married. We brought our own $ 40 bottle of wine which he served in cheap Dollar Store wineglasses while the other tables were given appropriate red wine glasses. We were not offered water. We almost always split our meals and most restaurants either bring the courses out on two plates or serve it onto two plates at the table. Here we had the food plopped in front of us with two extra plates and not even serving utensils. I swear the waiter literally stomped on the floor when he passed our table. His attitude was nothing short of outrageously bad. My partner urged me not to leave a tip. Now I wish I had followed his advice. We even complimented the waiter on our food. The worst was yet to come: we were met at the door with some unintelligible rant accusing us of «pouring wine on the floor,» (right, like we are going to pour a $ 40 bottle of wine on the floor?). among other incomprehensible things. It made no sense except that he was clearly furious at having to serve us and told us in no uncertain terms not to come back to his restaurant. Don’t worry we won’t. My partner and I are sophisticated, well-​dressed, polite, quiet, and we eat in outstanding restaurants all the time. So we created the sin of touching each others hands affectionately? BTW, I’m not the paranoid type. I’ve simply never experienced anything like this in my 73 years of life.

Very good food, slow service when full, the nice waiter (Italian probably) can really use some help, very warm inside in the summer. And not cheap.
Fantastic lasagna, very good tartar steak, the stuffed eggplant appetizer was to die for, house white wine at $ 10/​glass was good too.
Will definitely go back.

La Locanda is a superb Italian restaurant. The location is lovely and the interior is clean, inviting, and elegant. We always experience excellent service with our visits. The food is delicious and very authentically Italian. The burrata cheese is incredible and their pasta dishes are a favorite as well as the rack of lamb. The beautiful art hanging on the wall is from a local artist and makes the atmosphere even nicer. Highly recommend.

Three things make this little Italian restaurant authentic: the food, the atmosphere and waitstaff. Having been to Italy recently, this restaurant would be something you would find tucked in an alley. The feeling is similar. Simple and cosy.
Our Italian server was very efficient. Just as in Italy, they are not there to entertain merely serve – authentic indeed.
Our meal was delicious. My husband and I started with a fresh beet salad and moved on to the main courses. I had the mushroom risotto with saffron. My husband had the the steak in peppercorn sauce. Both dishes were amazing. The risotto had the perfect amount of bite to the rice-​not over cooked with a great balance of other ingredients. My husband’s steak was so moist and perfectly salty it was hard just to take one bite. This place has a very reasonable corkage fee at $ 10! La Locanda is well worth a visit.

Very intimate, accommodating, special and most enjoyable classic gastronomic Italian!

We had another awesome dinner at our now favorite Italian restaurant in
SLO!!! Still haven’t had anything that wasn’t absolutely awesome! And as always the service was excellent. We ran into some friends that were trying the restaurant on our recommendation. They told us thank you the next day for turning them on to this great restaurant:) Can’t wait to go back again!!!

I took my wife here for a pre-Valentine’s dinner. It is a very friendly, family-​owned establishment. We were seated immediately even though we were pretty early for our reservation and the hostess/​waitress was super friendly and made us feel right at home. She even brought out the chef (her dad) to introduce him to us.
The menu had lots of vegetarian options (often a problem for my wife) as well as carnivore faire. The burrata was super creamy and delicious and the potato/​leak soup had a great flavor. The carpaccio was really tender and flavorful. I had the duck l’orange and my wife had the gnocchi. Both dishes were delicious. The waitress even brought out a glass of a sangiovese that she said paired well with the gnocchi — on the house!
The service was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a romantic and intimate experience in downtown SLO.

Nice new Italian restaurant in a town full of them. The owner was certainly unique. He came out to take our order – never cracked a smile and didn’t seem too enthusiastic about the food or interested in our orders. The food was good though and the atmosphere was charming.
The only disappointment was my caesar salad. The menu said it was served the old-​fashioned way. I assumed that meant that someone tossed it at the table and made it to order. No – it was just the same caesar salad that you would get anywhere. I guess they considered it old-​fashioned because it didn’t have any kale in it.

This is hands-​down our favorite restaurant in town.
I was shocked to read bad reviews, as the chef is creating the most wonderful dishes.
It is a small, intimate venue, with warm tones and minimal decoration — I love it. There is also a back patio for warmer days, but we prefer to sit inside and talk to the waiting staff and the chef.
Luciano is making all of the pasta himself, the Lasagna is the most delicious one I’ve ever had. It is light and fluffy, not heavy and creamy as in most places.
His linguine with pesto are so good, we couldn’t believe it. We have also tried some of the pizzas, and liked that as well. Honestly, there were no mediocre dishes we’ve eaten here, everything is either good or incredible (Lasagna! Pesto!)
The chef is coming out after each meal and asks personally how it is — his wait staff is attentive, friendly and fun.

I like Luciano’s new place, but he classed it up a little too much compared to Firefly. My husband and I were regulars at Firefly because it was cheap and 100% authentic. They had a pizza with hot dogs and potato on it. That is home style.
Now that he has re-​opened in the expanded space, the menu is way «fancier» and the wine mark up is pretty high. That said, it is still delicious. He makes the best gnocchi ever and that is my husband’s favorite dish. The pizza is also still very good (even though he won’t make the patate and salccica thing). I think my problem is we already have 2 fancy Italian places in town that are kind of hard to compete with. I liked the idea of a more casual, less fancy place that we don’t have to wait for a celebration to go to. We used to have a $ 30 – 40 dinner at Firefly every week (with a bottle of chianti). Now, we can’t afford to go every week. But Luciano is still an awesome chef. I wish the very best for this place.

Very authentic restaurant. The food is delectable. This is NOT your «Run of the mill Olive Garden Italian dinner». This food is interesting, and different, and incredibly scrumptious! I am very picky with my food. I abhor vegetables, but I gobbled down every last drop of the Minestrone Soup. Now that the awesomeness of the food has been established, on to the ambiance. Right when you walk up to the door, it’s like you’re in Italy. They have adorable indoor, and outdoor seating. Also, our waiter was an absolute gem. First class service.