Avila Beach Restaurant Guide

As a lifelong local to the area we LOVE Avila ! Our dissapointment is with the management at Mr Ricks. The bar was full of underage drinkers. Chito needs to watch his door people. They were drinking on the job as well. We watched several teenagers allowed in and served. The band was awesome that night but in talking with their girlfriends they admittted to being underage. Whats up with that?

I was at the above reviewers event and know those to be the facts. I have been to The Old Custom House several times while spending time at the wonderful Inn at Avila Beach but I will never dine there again. The food for the group was delivered sporadically by the overworked wait persons, the seating they did provide suited saradines. Very unsatisfactory and upsetting.

I also attended the same event the reviewer from Atascadero reviewed. I wish I could rate less than one star for the service. It wasn't the servers' fault, though. My food was cold when it finally arrived. You would think that knowing that a group of nearly 40 people was coming, more than two servers would be scheduled. I was embarrassed for the establishment. Even though I can heartily recommend Avila Beach as a community to my friends who travel often to the California coast, I will also tell them to NEVER go the Old Custom House restaurant.

I live locally and have gone to this restaurant several times. I recently planned a large event that included author Sue Grafton. Sue wanted to buy all of us (about 40 people) dinner and I made plans with Chito, the manager of the Old Custom House. We agreed on a price, Sue sent in a deposit and all was set. When we arrived, he doubled the price and even added another couple of hundred dollars for a bartender. Do you need a bartender to serve wine with dinner? He only had two wait people for 40 people. For you Grafton fans, U is for Unexpected Disappointment. I never expected this kind of bait and switch at one our local restaurants.