California Food and Wine Blog

For lunch we ventured into Arroyo Grande and stopped at what looked like the most happening restaurant on the main street; Rooster Creek Tavern. We were seated on the patio where they had heaters available and still had a view of the TVs by the bar to watch the Olympics!

They offered a wide variety of lunch salads, sandwiches, and entrees priced $8-$15, as well as a full pizza menu that was too tempting to resist.

I ordered the shredded duck pizza  and Nathan ordered the Mac N Cheese pizza for $12 each and paired my pizza with a glass of Blackhouse Chardonnay.

The shredded duck pizza was covered with what looked like dried green onion garnish that didn’t offer any flavor or texture to the dish. There was a crispy coat of asiago cheese and a fair helping of duck. Unfortunately for myself and the pizza, the dish was quite overcooked with overly dry duck and bland crust. I kept hoping there was a side of sauce to dip it in just to balance it out. The manager noted that particular pizza was frequently too dry and had considered adding more cheese; but a better idea would be to not overcook the duck or burn the cheese on top.  .

The Mac N Cheese pizza had a good blend of cheeses with a drizzle of white truffle oil that elevated the dish to the next level. The crust, like the duck pizza, was very plain and really could have used some simple herbs to liven it up a bit.  The truffle oil definitely stood out, though it seems that it was primarily in the center of the pizza.  The pasta was cooked well and surprisingly hadn’t been dried out by the baking of the pizza.  It was a fun and unique twist on pizza that works surprisingly well.  I would certainly recommend the Mac N Cheese pizza even with the bland crusts.

The ambiance was nice and service was decent; our waitress kept confusing the beers we ordered a few times, but overall it was a good experience. I definitely want to go back and try some of their other dishes, the dry shredded duck didn’t work out but I would still give them a second chance.

Taste: 3.5/5 (Mac N Cheese) 2.5/5 (Shredded Duck)

Service: 3/5

Value: 3/5

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