Luna Red Restaurant Review

Located downtown San Luis Obispo. They have a great outdoor setting, a nice bar area and a comfortable dining inside the restaurants. Be prepared to pay $$$. We had dinner, wine and dessert. Great taste and flavor, it was delicious and the staff were great.

Luna Red has one of the more diverse and interesting menus, along with probably the best patio, in SLO. The prices are reasonable for the quality and portions, and the service has been good every time I've been.

The paellas are certainly the centers of their menu--their off-hours menu sometimes has this as the only main. It's easily large enough for three people; four if you aren't huge eaters. And really good! Everything else I've tried, though, has been great.

I go back regularly. Definitely recommended.

A good place for Thursday All Night HAPPY HOUR!! $5 sangria was my choice, and some $5 bites.

We have been coming here for twice and we really like their potato (happy hour), and their flatbread. We tried both their squash and tomato flat bread. All very tasty. Don;t recommend the $5 hummus, no taste at all.

I think this place has some good food in SLO.

I love Luna Red. I love the food. The prices are kind of high and there can be long wait times to get in sometimes with no reservations allowed. But I love the owner and the atmosphere is really awesome.

This place is very cozy. The food is good. Service is real good. Came here for taco Tuesday. Had the shrimp taco and octopus taco. Both amazing. Very nice outdoor seating area. Definitely will be back for taco Tuesdays. Prices are reasonable. Atmosphere is very nice.

The first and only time i have been here...damn, amazing. We went in for taco Tuesday and I will forever hold this place in my heart. We got the big platter and devoured it happily. This place knows how to put some great tasting tacos together. The restaurant looks great outside and in. The people were very friendly and with plenty of smiles and recommendations to go around. The taco Tuesday prices were insanely low. When in the area next time around, I know exactly where to eat. Luna Red...amazing job.

Sitting outside in Jan, comfortable outdoor sitting. They do have heaters and umbrellas if needed. The waiter was very nice. My dietary restrictions are gluten/dairy free and not spicy, they have met this need several times with no complaints! The real question is does my food taste good, yes it does...very good! My other half has no restrictions and he likes the food too!! Bonus: multiple mimosas options too

Spanish style menu featuring tapas, fell entries, and many varieties of seafood. Our meals were beautifully prepared with the best ingredients. Our server was knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. Full bar with live music and a jumping young crowd. Extensive wine list. Luna Red made for a delightful evening. I'd happily go again.

Jumbo shrimp with grits and roasted tomatoes. It was an amazing dish!

The street taco are just ok. Not the best. Not the worst.

The dinner serving was very small and price was high. I won't eat there again.

So good!! Food never disappoints. Great happy hour and a beautiful staff.

We came here for dinner and found out they have taco Tuesday! It was a wonderful experience. The tacos are small but delicious and we had ton of food for 4 people for $44.

Love this place, great outside patio. Great place for a date or groups. I highly recommend the bacon wrapped dates and Paella. They also had a great bar and the staff is very good.

Great place to hang out with friends, especially during happy hours. Small plates are great to get several to share around the table, and as everyone says, the sangria is a must have.

Food is usually delicious. Service is painfully slow, unable to multitask.

Recently my wife and I spent a night in SLO. For our dinner we chose Koberl at Blue. Very glad we did. Sometimes I go to a restaurant and I don't know what to order.

Food was good, a little on the bland side for my taste, but overall good food, attentive waiter and our pup was allowed to sit with us as we dined on the pario.

First time dining there and the place was nice and the waiter, JP, was very helpful. Had the bacon wrapped dates and the octopus cerviche and both were good. The sea food paella was average, I prefer the rice a little bit drier. Overall it was a good dining experience, may come back again to try other dishes when I am in town next time.

One of my favorite restaurants in SLO. I love the tapas idea with small plates where you get to taste a little of everything. We were here for drinks at the outdoor bar enjoying the view to the street.

Seeing Tacos and Paella on the same menu for me is a bad sign. The tacos were really bad. Nice atmosphere and nice patio.

Over priced for what you are, but you are good on half priced taco night.

This is one of my most favorite places to come and have drinks and tapas. Tuesday is the best day because it is TACO Tuesday! Came in with a friend who has never visited. Samuel was our waiter/ bartender. We so enjoyed Samuel with his great service and his love, like ours, of Game of Thrones!!! We ordered the Sangria and their bacon wrapped, chorizo stuffed dates! The dates are the smallest amount of greasy, due to the chorizo. The bacon is nice and crispy. The date is perfectly sweet. This appetizer is always on point. I wish I could eat all 5! Then we ordered TACOS, of course! The brisket, shrimp, and pollo verde. All of them were delicious! Always a great time here! Will return!

Our favorite place to go in SLO. Staff is always friendly and the tapas (especially the bacon-wrapped dates and the bocadillos) and specialty cocktails and pitchers of drinks are AMAZING! We will always return for more.

Nice place. Next to Mission. Great when you have music going on in Mission.
Would love more if they have more dishes!!

Disappointing dinner and service, with the exception of the very delicious (and vegetarian) tortilla soup. The potatoes in the papas bravas were undercooked and greasy instead of crisp, and my husband s shrimp tacos were just ok. My second sangria tasted like wine-flavored seltzer. Our server sent over someone with a spoon to stir it rather than replacing it, and didn t check in again for another 10 minutes. Sincerely regret this choice for our anniversary.

We enjoyed some fantastic tapas and oysters on the cosy patio and the service was great!

The ambiance is cozy and romantic, staff is courteous, service is fast, food is good, drinks will get u drunk. Need I say more?

Went here for Valentine's day, it was packed.

Highly recommend the bacon wrapped dates.

Delicious & original , good fresh ingredients well assorted and accommodated.

One of the best restaurants in SLO. This place has incredible food, and a unique atmosphere.

I used to love this place. What happened? Different cook? manager?? This used to be my regular spot to go to but after my last few visits I will stop.
The dishes lately are not clean... we got dirty cup and asked to changed... the waiter kept bringing " clean" but they were still dirty... took 3 times for us to get clean cup. After asking so many times it becomes embarrassing. My mother in law was shocked and refuses to go back there.

This last time we ordered burgers and they were very liquidy... ordered well done... we got super sick after that brunch. I attempted to contact the owner but no response. Maybe I should report them to sanitary inspection????

Also, kids menu is not kids friendly. Kids like simple stuff like basic pancakes or grilled cheese sandwich not the quinoa waffles... when I go out I just want my kids to be quiet and eat their comfort food so they don't disturb other people.

Hope they improve so I can go there again!

Beautiful and delicious. The patio was perfect for evening dining. Get the paella! Its everything that you want and expect from a traditional spanish dish. The food was fresh, service was great, and it's very easy to relax and forget about time here. It's a must-visit place for fine dining in San Luis Obispo.

Amazing and good tasting food. The waitresses had Big , juicy , fat asses.

Great cocktail choices. Paella was awesome. Great service!

Just Love this place
Great Service. Great ambiance. We ordered Bacon wrapped stuffed dates, Delicious. Seafood Paella our favorite (yummy).

Love Luna Red! I will only go here for happy hour since the drinks are good, but the appetizers definitely outperform the main dishes.

Great appetizers but very bland and dry meat in their tacos.

Good food and drinks, high prices, okay service, nice atmosphere. Make reservations.

I love this place and their staff, always the best
Just remember its not a large menu and its meant for sharing

During COVID-19, no place is as great as in normal times. Luna Red is usually a delightful, delicious upbeat place. Today, pretty quiet, yet still enjoyable with polite, helpful staff wearing masks and sanitizing surfaces. Thanks for being open!

Traveling in the area and the Reviews brought me to Luna Red. Excellent service and food was amazing. Highly recommend!

It was our first time and recommended from a good source and it didn't dissapoint.right next to the Mission and walking distance near everything in town worth seeing, eating or drinking.

Splendid tapas and great artesian all drinks. All with an ambiance that'll make any date swoon.

As always, outstanding food and outstanding service. This is our must stop in San Luis Obispo. You will not be disappointed. The food. And the wine. And the lovely staff!!!

I really wanted to try and enjoy this place after a bad experience with food quality a while back. Tried again- the new happy hour menu- and got the black bean croquettes. They came out and looked like turds. Like literally. I don't meant to be crass but it is the most honest description I can think of. I made myself eat them as quickly as possible so they would disappear from my plate. Taste was below par. I didn't know if it was an authentic presentation or a joke. I would suggest sticking to just the drink menu.

Service is slow but friendly, the atmosphere is great but the food is not.

This is a nice place if you're looking for a nice, sit-down restaurant. It's big and busy in the evenings on the weekends, so don't expect that SLO vibe. The cocktails are decent, as is the dessert. Very lovely outdoor seating and bar area. Can't go wrong out there with the great weather in town.

Food and drinks were good. Ceviche and fish tacos on there appetizers are great. Had the smoke and lava margarita was delicious. There outside sitting was good and service was fantastic. I recommend this restaurant.

good ceviche liked the sauce. grilled octopus was great too! burrata salad was just OK. street parking and very close to the mission

IMO Best casual patio dining spot in SLO due to beautiful setting, attractive foliage, patio heaters, consistent high quality food and drinks, nice architecture, great staff.

Friendly staff, great food and garden like surroundings. A+ for being dog friendly!

I had the chicken and chorizo pozole, which was amazing. The chorizo reminds me of what I used to eat in Spain. Sprinkled with queso fresco, it was satisfying and delicious. Comes with cute sand dollar size tortillas too

Authentic Spanish cuisine. Friendly staff. Lovely outdoor patio. A little pricy but worth it.

Amazing food and plenty of outdoor seating.
We had civiche, chicken tortilla soup, lentil hummus and strawberry salad. Everything was great. Presentation of each plate was beautiful.

Having eaten here several time, the restaurant is decent with good drinks. I don't mind paying a lot for great food but this a high price for good food. I also have several friends who have gotten food poisoning after eating here.

High priced and have yet to enjoy enough dishes to want to go back to try another. I do not have a problem spending money on good food but when I couldn't find any good food (in my opinion) in a couple of visits I will choose somewhere else to spend my money.

I struggled between giving this review 1 or 2 stars. I really like the food here, every time it has been good. Coworkers and I were going to lunch here every other Tuesday (or just about) for months and months, until 4-5 months ago when we had an uncomfortable situation with the server...

We ended up having a group of 7 people, and we mistakenly forgot to ask the server to split the checks at the beginning. When the check came, one of us gathered all of our cards and wrote on the receipt how much to charge to which card. We thought that this might be helpful to the waitress, seeing as we made the mistake of not splitting it and it had already taken a while to get the check in the first place, since we didn't want her to go back and split it. When the waitress came back to us and we explained what we did, thinking we made it easier, the waitress became visibly flustered, mumbled something about "checks like this making her want to cry" and she walked off. We were all dumbfounded; if she would have just told us that it would be easier for her to go back to the register to split it, we would have been fine with that. OR, if she would have even said "next time it would be easier to split beforehand" we would have understood. But it made us uncomfortable and we haven't wanted to go back since. Until yesterday...

We decided to go back and give it another shot. And I must say, I feel incredibly disrespected. We spent 15 minutes waiting outside to be seated. We got stuck in a corner and spent another 20 waiting for someone to take our order.

When the waiter got to our table for our order, we asked him how long it would be for the food to get out and he replied "ten to fifteen minutes". We had to continually ask for water during this wait-time, and the staff was in no way friendly with us. It was almost 40 minutes before we saw our food, and by the time it was ready to come out we had to ask them to bring the food in to-go boxes. Meanwhile other tables (that arrived after us) had already got their food and finished eating, paid, and left. We have never had issues before with getting in and out of Luna Red on in the time allotted for our lunch break, but this time was horrific.

When our food finally came out in the to-go boxes (one at a time and very slowly), they brought the check, and the waiter said he "knew we were in a hurry". He never came back for it. Or anything, for that matter.

We were running 30 minutes past our lunch hour by this time, when one of my friends decided to find someone to take care of the check (which we paid with one card to avoid any more issues). She asked if any of our check could be discounted because of our awful experience, and the guy told her that he didn't know how to do that and he didn't know where the manager was. .................... okay so go find her? What's the problem?

Two of us left while the rest of the group waited for the last person to get her food. I got back to work (having to use 45 minutes of my own vacation time to make up for this horrid experience) and received a text that they forgot the last woman's order, and they were waiting for it to be made. They got to work another 20 minutes later.

The reason I gave a second star is because the manager seemed remorseful for the debacle and gave us a refund on our check, but it doesn't make up for us having to use vacation time and ruining all of our lunches. If there was a way to reimburse me for that, I would have asked for it in a heartbeat.

While I was trying to secretly eat my tacos at work I tried to enjoy the last time I had their food, which I've always enjoyed so much, confused and wondering why they were so rude to us.

This was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had an am so disappointed. I do NOT recommend this restaurant if you are under any time constraint or if you have any ounce of impatience in your body. Or if you don't like being ill-treated by restaurant staff.

If you're going there for the experience, it's a great location. The food is decent, and I love the options. For example, charred octopus street tacos aren't something you'll see on every menu. I honestly thought the portions were a little cut corner. But the atmosphere was good and the staff very friendly.

Good outdoor seating area near the creek. Dog friendly patio. Food is hit or miss but the happy hour drinks and food deals are good. Liked the roasted peppers and buratta salad best.

I give a 2 star because of it's location to downtown SLO. My husband and I ordered 2 glasses of Chardonnay. The waiter said for a few dollars more we could have a whole bottle. I was expecting $20-25 for a bottle with lunch, no problem. The bill came and it was a $46 bottle...twice as much as our lunch. The lettuce in my garden salad was brown and forget the bean and quinoa burger...it's just like having a really bad sloppy joe. Not impressed with our $70 lunch! Won't be back.

Friendly staff, and awesome food accommodating for everyone

Taco Tuesday was great. Our group had 5 each of 4 different tacos. All were excellent as well as the sauces/ salsas. We also ordered a small plate of bacon wrapped chorizo stuffed dates that are a must have if you visit.

The tacos were good, but the service was slow and the paella was greasy.

Yummy paella and great cocktails. Friendly service too.

Best experience! Menu always changes so it's like a new restaurant every time I visit!

First time here with the family. Had an amazing time. Service food and drinks were so amazing and delicious, great place to chill with the family. I will definitely come back again.

Horrible food for the price. The waiter tried to keep $20 of our change and conveniently had it in her pocket. She didn't even count our change or question if she shortchanged us.

Went for lunch, nice service, tasty tacos, cold beer and decent prices. Ceviche and bacon wrapped dates were really good. Parking can be challenging.

This is always a good option for groups shared plates. My favorite appetizer is the bacon wrapped dates, although everything is good. They also change up the menu so there's new options often.