Rooftop bar reopens in SLO County under a Michelin-starred chef — ‘A garden oasis’
As the sun dipped behind Paso Robles’ rolling hills on a balmy Thursday night, a new rooftop bar was celebrating its grand opening with craft cocktails, bumping beats and slices of pizza topped with blistered tomatoes.
Salina Rooftop, situated atop The Piccolo at the Paso Robles Inn, officially reopened to the public with a brand-new name, menu and look on Friday.
The Charlie Palmer Collective, led by the Michelin-starred chef, spent three months renovating the former Tetto Rooftop Bar into a more playful, feminine escape renamed Salina, Christa Weaving, the collective’s chief marketing officer, told The Tribune.
The new name is a nod to the Salinas River — “the main water source for so much of the growing that happens here,” she said.
The rooftop bar is the second of three food and drink concepts launched at the hotel, following the spring debut of Cattlemen’s Bar, a revamped cowboy-themed, western-style bar and restaurant. The Pass by Charlie Palmer, a reinvention of The Steakhouse into a modern tavern at the Paso Robles Inn, will reopen later this year.
All together, the hospitality group invested $13 million to transform the hotel’s beverage and culinary programs, according to a news release.
Palmer, who’s earned more than 20 Michelin stars over the course of his restaurant career, said the rooftop bar was crafted to be a sun-drenched space that shows off its agricultural surroundings.
“Salina is a lighthearted contrast to both Cattlemen’s Bar and The Pass, perfect for summer nights and golden hours,” Palmer said in the release, calling it “a garden oasis" that blends Central Coast ingredients with a Mediterranean aesthetic.
Renovated rooftop bar in Paso Robles was ‘built for golden hour’
Salina is the outdoorsy sister compared to more masculine culinary options at the inn, Weaving said, pointing to a massive mural coated in pink flowers and green leaves that serves as a backdrop at the bar.
“Paso obviously has this great ranching agricultural history, which is reflected at Cattlemen’s, but here at Salina, we’re expressing it in a very different way, that’s a more youthful, different kind of energy, and leaning more into the produce and the botanicals,” Weaving said.
Feminine details are worked into multiple aspects of the space’s design to achieve the feeling of a “vibrant rooftop garden party,” the release said.
The 2,000-square-foot rooftop contains plush chairs and couches covered in whimsical squiggles and warm pastels that were chosen for comfort above all else, said Jules Esposito, the director of food and beverage operations for the Charlie Palmer Collective.
Weaving said the rooftop was “built for golden hour" with a color palette imitating hues of the sunset, like rose pink and soft oranges. Even on chilly nights, guests can wrap themselves in blankets and get cozy around a few fire pits, Esposito told The Tribune.
A garden-themed happy hour, or “flower hour” as it’s called at Salina, offers visitors discounted cocktails, wine, beer and pizzas from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. And every Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m., local DJ Darla Bea will spin high-energy, vibey tracks on the rooftop.
“It’s not just a rooftop bar. It’s a real experience that is going to make you want to come back,” Weaving said.
What’s on the menu at Salina Rooftop in Paso Robles?
The rooftop’s biggest transformation is its menu, Esposito said.
Previously, no hot food was cooked in the space, but now outdoor pizza ovens appear in a corner of the bar, where seasonal pies are fired to order and decadent pastas are cooked in cast iron pans. Visitors can also order fresh salads, like a watermelon feta mix sprinkled with chili, lime and basil, or small plates such as lamb shish kebabs with locally sourced herbs and a grilled shrimp cocktail marinated in citrus.
As for the star of the show — the carefully curated craft cocktails — herbs are at the center of the concoctions.
Botanical and floral elements are integrated into drink options at Salina, Weaving said, with fresh herbs snipped straight from fresh basil, rosemary, thyme, sage and mint plants that grow on the marbled black bar.
The rooftop bar offers both signature cocktails and classic cocktails with a twist. Some favorites include the cherry blossom sour featuring cherry-infused rum with amaretto, lemon and egg white, and a chamomile old fashioned with bourbon, chamomile liqueur, honey syrup and orange bitters, Esposito told The Tribune.
Salina also serves zero-proof spritzs made with Lyres spirits, as well as a few beers and nine local wines, along with other Paso Robles bottles available to purchase.
How to visit Salina Rooftop
Salina Rooftop is located at the top of The Piccolo at Paso Robles Inn, 600 12th St. in Paso Robles.
It’s open from 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 3 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.
