Lure Fish House is a newer seafood restaurant in Downtown San Luis Obispo with bold architecture and a wonderful fresh seafood menu that will make you feel like you're somewhere else! It's a nice escape. Upon doing a quick research online, I realized they've been open for a year at this point now!
With high ceilings and posh service, I'm reminded of all the amazing restaurants that I've visited in the last few decades. Besides creating delicious dishes, Lure definitely knows how to find the right servers to provide memorable service!
Service is an art. There may be little science like learning a list of things to absolutely not do nor say, but what each server says right and the timing is most definitely art! I've dined here twice and both times, I've been impressed with the charming confidence and quick wittiness of both of my services from two different servers.
For this particular blog post, I'm primarily focusing on my lunch experience at Lure Fish House in San Luis Obispo after a busy Thursday morning for work in March. Thursdays are good days for me as I've intentionally set my schedule to work only half days on Thursdays; an agreed schedule that I sorted out with the software company that I'm temporarily helping out with a couple of roles right now. Therefore, after finishing work on Thursdays, I usually have this mini celebratory feeling after vigorously completing tasks for a few hours on the computer. After I disconnected, I made my way to Lure. It was a quarter past noon and also happened to be Spring Break for some schools! I always enjoy the opportunity to walk around a couple of blocks and see happy tourists and locals roaming around downtown in good moods.
The week day lunch crowd is definitely a big contrast to my prior visit for dinner on Valentine's Day weekend at Lure with my hubby. For lunch, I was seated immediately after the hostess made her way in the front and asked me how she could help me. I said, "Seat for one, please".
They seated me at a table closest to the host stand, which I didn't mind. Hearing people coming and and going through the main entrance sometimes gives me random insights about out-of-the-blue subjects that I didn't intend to learn, but was happy to accidentally acquire information about.
I decided on a Berry Mule as a drink and I was so hungry that when the server came and asked me for my drink order, I asked her if the Crispy Calamari under the Shared Plates list was big in portion size. She said it's a good size if you're just eating it for lunch. I thought I could also box any of it up if I couldn't finish something so I told her, "I'll have the Crispy Calamari and the Lure Coppino. If I don't finish anything, I'll box it up so I can save room for dessert!"
Come to think of it, I skipped breakfast that morning so it's no wonder how hungry I was! Lately, after adjusting the clocks for daylight savings a couple of weeks ago, time have seem to be flying so fast that every morning is like a feverish race against time as I simultaneously try to help my sons and get myself ready for school and work.
To add to the morning tight schedule, I have this mental checklist to aim to throw in one load of laundry and wash all the dishes by the time I'm clocking in for work at 9AM in the morning. Why I set that out to complete in the midst of packing my sons' lunches, putting make-up on and calling orders to my sons to put on their socks and shoes? I'm not sure, but it helps me feel like I had started my day right whenever I'm able to accomplish those to-dos.
My Crispy Calamari Starter and Berry Mule
Boy, this was a great combo! My server brought out my Berry Mule, while another lady, who was at the stand earlier, brought the Crispy Calamari starter at the same time to my table! The dynamic teamwork here really got me pumped up as they delivered my much needed fuel and refreshing libation to me!
The Berry Mule had just the right balance of sweetness and tartness that felt so perfect for spring. The light breading and flash fry of the Crispy Calamari on my plate helped lifted up any cloudiness of the day as they gave satisfaction to my taste buds. It was the first bite of food that I had that day and it felt like the wait to finally break my fast was all worth it.
There's been many times I thought over the years that if I were to only have room in my schedule to eat once a day, it should be a nice feast in the middle of the day just like what I was having here.
I particularly liked how the Crispy Calamari came with two sauces and the presentation of the half lemon in the center of my plate gave unity and purpose. I definitely squeezed the lemon all over my calamari. Both sauces were both great with the red marinara one more acidic and the other pinkish aioli one providing a base to calm any spiciness that may be too much heat for any bite.
I felt accomplished as I finished all of the delicious calamari from my starter. I really should have taken a picture of my plate after I had gobbled it up! Shortly after I finished my Crispy Calamari, my Cioppino arrived!
Lure Cioppino
The sun was finally coming out of the clouds around the same time that my Lure Cioppino arrived at my table! The opened clams and mussels were inviting me into their shells with the little fork that was provided to me on the entree in the center of my dish! It was such a beautiful and colorful entree! Aside from the nice sized mussels and clams, there were also shrimp, scallops and fish. I'm going to say it on this post: this is the most beautiful cioppino that I've ever had in my life! The stew really shined with the fresh basil that tasted like it was freshly plucked from a healthy garden minutes before! All of the seafood was fresh and cooked just right. The stew is a little bit more spicy than I'm used to, but it was so robust with flavor that I just drank more water so that I could continue devouring it.
Every clink of the empty shells that went into my silver bucket that Lure provided for me was like a festive activity in my space. Although I was so full when I ate about half of the portion, I made sure that I, at least, finished all of the shellfish! The sourdough slice of bread that accompanied the Cioppino was so well made and baked. I looked at the grains closely and it definitely gave me the inkling that it was locally made. I asked the server if they made their own bread in-house and she said it was from Edna's Bakery, a local San Luis Obispo bakery. Ahh, no wonder!
As I was down to the last two bites of my toast, with envy, I looked over at the table next to me and saw that they had several slices of bread that they didn't touch, which I did not have. I think the ladies saw my eyes wandered over there because they paused their conversation and started looking at their own bread as well. I shifted my eyes back. No matter, I was so full and my stomach reminded me that I've had enough food for the hour! Before I threw in the towel and while I was still staring at my Cioppino while chewing, the server remembered that I wanted dessert so she asked if I'd like to look at the dessert menu now. She was so efficient and smart! I quickly said, "yes" and within a couple of minutes, she was back to present to me a nice small "SWEETS" menu.
The last time that I was here dining at Lure at this exact location and coincidentally, maybe same table, my husband and I had shared the Sticky Toffee Pudding. He let me picked the dessert, but he also wanted to try the Flourless Chocolate Cake. Even though he's at work while I was enjoy a nice lunch at Lure for this occasion, I ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake and thought of him. How sweet of me, right?
Flourless Chocolate Cake
To my surprise, the scoop of vanilla ice cream that came with the dessert was larger than my flourless chocolate cake and I'm not complaining! The dessert was quite a nice portion. Another surprise is there were cocoa nibs on the dessert, but it wasn't noted on the menu. They looked like nuts, but are not! I'm not allergic to nuts, but at this point in my life, I've personally met more than a handful of people in my life with a nut allergy and since I care about them, I'm just more well aware now and wanted to note that they are not nuts! However, the texture of the cocoa nibs definitely was needed to round out the dessert.
Aside: If you have allergies, this mama is going to preach and suggest that you mention it to any server at any location ahead of time, even if you don't want to draw extra attention to yourself.
The sweet flourless chocolate cake is quite thick so the vanilla ice cream is a great accompaniment. After a few bites of the flourless chocolate, I knew there was no way I could finish this whole dessert. I ate all of the ice cream and asked the server if I could box up the rest of the chocolate.
I asked for the check and another to-go box for the dessert. My leftover Cioppino was already boxed up earlier. Checking the time of my phone, I realized I still had 45 minutes until my meter time would run out, but it's time to end my lunch feast. So, after I left Lure, I walked into the street and crossed the crosswalk over to Boo Boo Records that's only down the street before marching up the hill to find my parking spot on the street to drive home.
The downtown location, sleek ambiance, professional service and top chef-made food at Lure will bring me back here again. Next time, I'm going to try their happy hour!
Lure Fish House Address: 1101 Monterey St, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
See my quick instagram reel from my lunch visit at Lure Fish House on my instagram.
[ Like what you've read? See all of the pictures I've taken at restaurants and my reviews for them under the 'Restaurants' category! ]
Posted by San Luis Obispo Mom. Posted In : Restaurants
Originally from San Diego, California, I'm a San Diego State University alumna, veteran's wife and mom of two kids who were born two years apart. After living on the East Coast for 6 years, we now reside in San Luis Obispo County and here, the exploration continues. In between work and momming it, I like to exercise.
@sanluisobispomom