I'm Italian and VERY particular about Italian food. Distasio's food is fantastic. It has become my "Go-to" Italian restaurant. I drive 23 miles one way to Morro Bay to eat here, and it's worth it! Everyone is friendly and helpful, too. read more

As locals in Morro Bay we drive or walk by Distasio's all the time yet had never dined there. My wife's not a huge pasta fan so maybe that's why we had not tried it. I finally talked her into trying it so we decided to try it for dinner. Our server, Dee, was quite enthusiastic regarding the offerings and she talked me into trying their 14 oz ribeye and my wife had the chicken masala. The ribeye was prepared perfectly (I asked for in between rare and medium rare) and the chicken masala was also quite tasty. Dee offered up some of the background of how the owners pick the cuts of meat and what pasta they make in house which was very interesting and helpful in making our selections. The preparation was perfect as was the presentation and taste. We'll definitely be back. read more

Food very good spaghetti and meatballs, calzone, pizza, fettuccine and chicken. I would ask for extra sauce on each . Sauce is so good marinara. read more

If you like garlic and true Italian zest this is your Italian choice! I order takeout a lot right when they open for Dinner at 4PM. This is also a place that we bring my mother-in-law when she visits! The sauce is amazing in any dish!! The filet mignon I highly recommend! The chicken masala!! Ravioli amazing!! Family owned and hospitality outstanding!! read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

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My wife and I were vacationing in Morro Bay and on our last night, Jan. 8th, 2023, we ordered take-out from Distasio's. We hadn't been before. I ordered the Rib-Eye Steak and OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was delicious! I've had a lot of rib-eyes, and this one stood out among the best. My wife ordered the Chicken Parmigiana (a dish she's also had at different places) and loved it. We've visited Morro Bay many times, and couldn't believe we'd missed out on Distasio's until now. The day after we left Morro Bay, the city lost power and was flooded for a bit. I hope Distasio's (and all the families, homes, and businesses) weathered the storm! If you haven't been, make Distasio's your next place to eat. We regret we didn't eat inside -- the interior looked excellent -- but we will be sure to on our next visit. read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Didn't go inside, but looked cool from the sidewalk! - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

We've rediscovered Distasio's! Had a lovely dinner after seeing a play at By the Sea Productions. We'll remember to come here before our next movie at the Bay. Delicious eggplant parmigiana, pasta, and Caesar salad. We liked the waitress enough to look forward to seeing her again. Nice atmosphere. Just a perfect, local, Italian restaurant. Nice enough for special occasions. Affordable enough for regular visits. read more

Great food and great service. We have dined there numerous times and believe the best quality is consistency, the same quality every time we visit. Everything on the menu is great, but for me I return for a fantastic pizza. If you visit Morro Bay give Distasios a chance, Morro Bay has more toffee than just Chowder. read more

This place is a real homemade Italian restaurant! The food is real amazing we tried a bit of everything! Their homemade marinara and Alfredo sauce makes each dish so authentic! They were short staffed but still made our experience an excellent experience! They were quick and super nice! The ambience is so exquisite as they have a nice indoor and outdoor experience! read more

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ordered to go, the bruschetta was soggy, I've never had bruschetta cut an inch thick the only flavor left in my mouth was vinegar and soggy bread. The Butternt squash Ravioli had a good flavor but the pasta was not fresh, it reminded me of frozen that I bought from Costco. Their house pizza was passable. We ordered cannoli, our order was made five minutes after the posted opening time and when we went to pick up our order they said they just ran out and substituted it for cheesecake like you buy at the grocery store. Sorry we were not impressed read more

The food was amazing !!!! People were all so hospitable!!!! Perfect for a Friday night when you just want good food in a great friendly environment! Feels like everyone takes pride in their work. I would definitely give a thumbs up and recommend. Kiss the chef and managers for creating a great place to eat!!! Ciao!!! read more

We went to DiStasios on a Saturday night. There was a bit of a wait but we weren't in a hurry so we stayed. The staff is very welcoming and friendly. I got the Rib Eye steak and my friend got the chicken Parmesan. Both of our meals were delicious. I could have used more veggies but over all the steak was cooked perfectly and had great flavor. The marinara sauce on the chicken parm was absolutely delicious. We almost asked for extra sauce just to dip bread in it. It was so good! I'd definitely recommend this restaurant if you're in the morro Bay Area! read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Rib Eye Steak and Veggies - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

We have a family vacation home up on Piney Way, we come to Morro Bay at least 5x a year. We normally walk around the beautiful community and head home at the end of the day to eat a home-cooked meal. Tonight we changed our routine and decided to visit DiStasio's On The Bay. I must say I am glad we did!! This is a lovely restaurant, beautifully decorated, the ambiance is tranquil, and inviting. Compliments to the chef and staff. Food was delectable...flavorful...fresh! Pasta cooked to perfection! NOTE: Ice coffee is not on the menu BUT, I was delighted that our server (Mirela) made ice coffee for me, simply by adding ice to their regular coffee. That to me is excellent service! FOOD VALUE: Was excellent!! Portions are adequate and served well proportioned to accommodate proper nutrition and calories. read more

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This is a local secret. The food is spectacular. We had the cheese raviolis but added meat sauce I can't recommend this place enough

Excellent service and the food was amazing. Salmon and vegetables were absolutely outstanding! Manicotti was perfect! read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Manicotti and salmon dinner - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

Service was awesome. Nice ambiance. Food was ok. Pasta was definitely not homemade. The garlic cheese bread was the best part of the meal. Not a horrible experience but I would go to other places in Morro Bay in the future. read more

Definitely was not the experience my family and were hoping for. Our server was nice and pleasant but, other than that it was a disaster. An empty restaurant at 6:30pm on a Saturday night should be an indication of the quality of service, food and over all experience. Appetizers were Calamari and Cheesy Garlic Bread. The Calamari was over cooked, chewy and so over breaded it crunched like sand. The cheesy Garlic bread was their dinner break loaf cut with garlic butter spread on top covered in Mozzarella. Really bad. Caesar Salad was drowned in dressing and stale croutons. Both Clam chowders were runny and zero creaminess. One had dirty silverware. Absolutely unacceptable. Dinner was not any better. Pastas were bland, cold and the sauce was watery and rolled around the plate when it was served. The chicken parmesans were both over breaded, burnt on the bottoms and overcooked. THE BEST LOOKING DISH WAS MY SONS PEPPERONI PIZZA! It was obvious most of the food used was previously frozen. During the entire dinner the owner entered and exited his "Office" at least 6-8 times during our hour long dinner, the office door was 2ft behind our table. Almost felt like he was in there listening to us. Not once did he ask how our dinner was going or how we were doing. He obviously has lost his spark for the restaurant. A huge turnoff, showing a lack of dedication and pride. After declining desert, paying our bill and leaving. This is when the owner finds is the appropriate time to ask us "so who was the one who didn't like the soup?!" Again reaffirming our agreement, this establishment is way past its prime and would never be visited by any of us again. More than half of the customers at our table have worked in food service. Some in fine dining. This place lacks the fundamentals a restaurant needs to sustain customer support and confidence. I hope for the owner and most of all the staffs sake, this review serves as a wake up call and starts the process to a rebuild. Unfortunately, my gut is telling me it will fall on deaf ears. Good luck...you guys are going to need it. read more

The food was delicious! We had lasagna and the minestrone soup and it was delicious! We had sausage and meat sauce! Can't wait to come back again and bring the family! read more

We wanted Italian and we got great Italian food! The place is nice and people were friendly and nice. I will go back and enjoy this place again. read more

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Went in on a friday night. It was peaceful. The staff was very nice. The food was good.

Last evening was the second Yelp's Big Night In which promotes local restaurants by ordering take-out or delivery. We had sushi the first event, so we thought, "Let's try Italian for the second event!" We phoned in our order to a very pleasant young lady, and was told it would be ready in thirty minutes. Perfect! DiStasio's On the Bay's dining room in currently closed. If one wishes to dine on the premises, patrons are welcome to enjoy their to-go orders on their outdoor patio. We ordered an appetizer of Fried Artichoke Hearts, and for our entrées, the Italian Platter and Spinach & Cheese Tortellini Carbonara. The Fried Artichoke Hearts were tender, but heavily breaded, which was not to our liking. Their menu states the Italian Platter consists of one Manicotti & one Cannelloni topped with mozzarella cheese, baked in a brick oven and served with marinara or alfredo sauce. Upon sitting down to dine, we discovered our platter consisted of the manicotti & cannelloni only topped with marinara sauce and placed inside a to-go container. Both the manicotti & cannelloni were well-filled & delicious, yet lacked the mozzarella cheese and was not baked in an oven, as there was no oven crispiness to the pasta shell. The mildly spiced marinara sauce was very flavorful with an abundant tomato flavor. The Tortellini Carbonara was a bit disappointing as it also differed from their menu's description. The Canadian bacon was not sautéed, but simply diced and added over the white cream sauce. The dish did not have even a hint of garlic. The white cream sauce was quite good. Our entrées were good, but did not match the descriptions on their menu. Thus, our three-star rating. read more

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What a great find. We wanted Italian and searched the net. We had fantastic service and some outstanding traditional dishes. Carbonara, fettuccine and they had braciole on the menu. The owner came and worked the crowd. A genuine delight. And a special dessert of Spumoni ice cream with a crust prepared by the house of crushed Biscotti and chocolate with Pistachios. Can't wait to go back soon. All this at a reasonable price. Don't miss out on this treat. read more

We always say the best steaks...can be found at Italian restaurants!! DiStasio's didn't disappoint! This was our first visit and everything was so good--the manicotti, the cannelloni --I loved the marinara! The service is also top notch. We will be back read more

We read all of the great reviews. We are so happy we came into this place! We will definitely be back. We were greeted by the owner and we hadn't made a reservation. They gave us a table and the ambiance and staff were friendly. I am vegetarian but my husband was looking for a Rib-Eye and we heard it was great here. My daughter wanted a side of meatballs for the Children's spaghetti and they were very accommodating. I had the tour of Italy which was Fettuccine, Spaghetti and Eggplant Parm. We had Calamari for an Appetizer. They also deserve Fresh Bread Loaves. Our main courses were Outstanding. The Marinara sauce and Eggplant Parmesan, Rib-Eye was Excellent! The wine menu was good and the prices were good. Same for the food. The Dessert was to die-for. I'm not a huge dessert person. I suggest you order some. We had Tiramisu, Cannoli and Chocolate Lava Cake. Also this family is related to the Owner of Rosa's in Pismo. Thanks for a wonderful evening! read more

Lived here my whole life and always thought I was missing out on this place, but turns out I wasn't. Food was decent, nothing special and lacked flavor. The portions were extremely small- each of these plates cost $30. Now that cafe de la via in cayucos closed I was hoping to find another quality Italian place- this is unfortunately not it. read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Beef ravioli and chicken Marsala - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

First time visit and my mushroom ravioli was perfectly lovely along with the fresh marinara. We dined soon after the restaurant opened and it wasn't crowded at all. My sweety enjoyed his fettuccine with chicken. Great food, lovely atmosphere, fine service. We'll definitely return. read more

Nice ambiance, attentive service and excellent marinara sauce. I had the Italian platter (cannelloni & manicotti) which was excellent. Love their homemade marinara sauce! My husband had the half & half, portobello mushroom ravioli and spaghetti with marinara. He enjoyed his as well. Simple dinner salads were fresh and good. Overall very nice dining experience. read more

Great food and service and large open space to social distance. Great Italian food and chef'. Goddess Linda read more

A Once Profound Institution Now Passionless, The Price of The Menu Items Doesn't Match The Quality or Quantity of Food You Get, Service is alright, apart from the central feature of the dining room it has little ambiance or identity, they must have had a lot of changes in back and front house management styles, it's sadly all out of sort. Memories of 2000 keep this place alive. This is now the third time in Two Years I've left the restaurant disappointed. Front house staff especially host still act like their time is a privilege. If it wasn't for their well done pasta this would be a one star review. read more

Awesome menu, very reasonable pricing that won't clean out your wallet. Delicious food and epic dessert menu. We ate there TWICE when in Morro Bay. Hidden gem. read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Spumoni cake yum! - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

Came here for dinner on a Tuesday night while on vacation. Noticed a lot of restaurants are closed on Tuesdays so wanted to give this place a shot. GF ordered the Caesar salad to start and I have the meatball. Fresh bread arrived, very much homemade. Decided to order the Chicken parmigiana for myself and she got the Rib Eye. Our apps came out, Caesar salad was to her liking and the meatball was delicious. The sauce you can tell is homemade. Once our entrees arrived, her rib eye was cooked to perfection (med rare) and my chicken parm looked amazing. Same sauce on the penne pasta as with my meatball was all I needed to know it was going to be good. We basically licked our plates clean. Food was so good we ordered a kids pizza and cheesecake to go. Service was great, hostess sat us right away and our waiter was very attentive. We come to Morro Bay every summer before the kids go back to school, and they have officially been added as a must stop whenever we are in the area. Highly recommend read more

Distasio's On The Bay - Chicken parmigiana - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

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Updating my review to reflect current realities. We ordered ahead by calling, and asked for curbside pickup. Arrived, and messaged we were there, and our server came right out, fully masked, took my card, and went to run the receipt. Maybe three minutes later, she came out with our food and the receipt. Their to-go game is outstanding. I had chicken fettuccine Alfredo and my wife had a half & half spaghetti & cheese ravioli. It was excellent. Portion sizes were just like eating in-house, and the attention to detail remains. We also ordered sides of garlic cheese bread, and they put it in a pizza box so the toppings don't get all stuck together. Very smart! All in all, we felt almost like we were dining in. When we visit the coast, Distacio's will continue to be one of our top restaurant destinations. read more

Was able to score last minute reservations on their patio. Food, service and ambiance were amazing. They were pet friendly which was an also a plus. Plan to return again when I'm in the area. read more

They claim to be short staffed but what they really are is full of staff who are incompetent and rude. We called ahead on a Monday at 6pm to check how much of a wait it would be for a table for 3. Was assured it was not busy and the wait wouldn't exceed 20 min and that our name would be taken down. We arrived at 611pm and stood for a while at the front waiting for someone to notice us. There was a notice that said they were short staffed asking ppl to be patient. The man who finally showed up said he was the one who answered the phone and asked for our names again as he had erased it. He estimated 20 min so we sat down. The restaurant had one large party of maybe 10 ppl and 2-3 small tables with the rest empty. At 645 I asked an older lady who was standing around if she knew how much longer the wait would be. Her response was "I don't mean to be rude but I don't know. If you want to eat here you have to wait". (As a side note one should never start a sentence with "I don't mean to be rude..." because it means one is going to be rude) I told her we had an antsy 3 year old and asked for some kind of estimate of wait time as we had been there about 30 min. She walked away telling me she'd talk to the original person I spoke with and came back telling us we had only waited 15 minutes. She was so unbelievably rude. I understand being short staffed but to have zero idea of wait time in a relatively empty restaurant with ppl standing around was just too much. If they were too busy to accept more customers they just need to say so. We left with that lady still yelling after us that we hadn't waited that long. Quite ridiculous and a waste of time. read more

Had an excellent meal served by a great server, Dee. The rib eye steak was cooked perfectly and the special ravioli with 4 cheeses was really good and really filling. We started with the Bruschetta appetizer and a Caesar salad ending with a delicious New York cheesecake with strawberry topping but it was Dee that created a great ambiance that made our dinner time so special! read more

This food was so incredibly bland. The spinach and cheese tortellini is stuff you can buy at target. I'm not exaggerating either I went home and checked and I had some in my fridge. Skip this place for sure if you enjoy and flavor in your food. read more

Distasio's On The Bay - The pasta they use and charge $20 for. - Italian Near Me - Morro Bay, California

my honest review: this restaurant, though beautiful, served only 5 noodles per pasta dish. a travesty! the chicken on their most famous - Marco's Summer Chicken Delight - seemed like it may have been made from one of those bags of frozen pre-cooked chicken dishes. another great sorrow! unfortunately due to the lack of piles of pasta on our plates, we won't be returning. in the event that we do, we will not order the fake chicken. my suggestion - rebrand! rebrand and make a menu that offers oodles of noodles and all will be well. best wishes, linda read more

If you have fond memories of eating at a local, family-owned Italian restaurant in your youth, this place will transport you back to those happy moments. The service was cheerful, the food was tasty and well-priced, and all the customers left smiling. I enjoyed the handmade meat ravioli with their delicious red sauce. The chef makes the raviolis with a tool his grandmother used. We also ordered a vegetarian calzone that satisfied my veggie-loving sister. My mom never cleans her plate, but she did here---her chicken marsala was that good. There's no bay view, but if you like tasty, old-fashioned Italian food, you won't miss it. read more

Nice service. Food was ok. Nothing jumped out. Did taste like something you would make at home, but was hoping it would be elevated.

This place was incredible! My boyfriend has Celiac and cannot have any gluten. Not only was Deanna our waitress knowledgeable about gluten intolerance, she was also SUPER on top of it and even was excited to offer him a gluten free desert! We ate here on our anniversary and she made the entire experience INCREDIBLE. She also gave us excellent advice on where to see sights in town and was just the absolute best waitress I've had in a solid 20 years. Where we come from gluten free places are not available and cross-contamination is a huge issue, so much so we can't even eat out. EAT HERE. This is an incredible spot with an absolute gem of a waitress! Thanks Deanna! read more

We were looking for some good Italian while on a quick vacation, found it! Distacio's was delicious. Friendly service and a nice variety on the menu. read more