The Ranch House

This was truly one of the best steakhouses I have been! The steak was tender, the shortribs were juicy, and the crème caramel was very smooth. Also, if you bring your kids, they can feed the fish after their meals. This was my first time here, and it wont be my last!

Russ, the owner, is the best. He seems to seat almost everyone personally and his personality is special. The service was spectacular and the food was even better. I had the salmon, which was perfectly cooked. My wife had the short ribs and she loved them. Our waitress was wonderful. The bus boy was on it.
To make things even better, the wine prices were very reasonable. I will be back and highly recommend The Ranch House.

Wonderful service, wonderful food and wonderful setting. We stopped in for drinks and an appetizer in the lounge and ended up having dinner. They have a wine list that goes on for days. The bread was amazing paired with an herb butter. We had pork bellies, black bean corn fritters and the duck entrée. Everything was fabulous and fresh. The lounge has a relaxed retro feel with comfy sofa and live piano music. We did manage to find room for some of the best flan I have ever had. The staff was welcoming and attentive. Next time we will get a table in the beautiful garden setting.

We had a group of four for my birthday this month for a 6:30 dinner. I have always enjoyed eating there until now. We ordered salads first and we had missing ingredients on half of them. When pointing it out we only had one fixed. Staff did not know the wine list either.
As we processed to the main course I ordered the special and at 6:30 they were out of it. I ended up with half raw and obviously raw lobster that had to be sent back… Everyone was close to being done before I got my food back. Everyone else on the plate was cold and hard. We ordered dessert which was a joke. The strawberry short cake is ice cream on a hard thing versus real strawberries. To top it off the staff kept trying to pick up our plates before we were done. A letter was written to the owners but no response has been received. It was a complete waste of money and time. Nothing was offered to make up for the bad food and service.
I’m happy to spend money on good food and service but this was not it. I used to book the entire restaurant for physician parties years ago… The service and food was stellar then. So very disappointed. The only good part of the night was the paper clothes and crayons on the table.
Please bring the quality of the old Ranch House back.

We were thrilled to discover this sneaky, cozy, home-​turned-​restaurant. It feels as if the owners must still live there, the welcoming way they treat their guests. We had a fantastic bottle of wine, reasonably priced, and loved the spinach salad with roasted pears, and the Jidori chicken. Great service… so romantic!

Dinner out with friends; first time with the new owners in charge.
Not good!
The wait staff were great, really tried hard to make it work, but the kitchen’s refusal to try and find a non-​dairy alternative to the polenta or mashed potatoes really killed the evening.
The say they «ran out of rice». Ran out of cooked rice? — cook some more! Ran out of raw, uncooked rice? that’s really bad planning in the kitchen.
Generally the food was good, though I thought the wine was a little on the expensive side. I like the surroundings but the uppity kitchen made me not want to come back.

First time at the Ranch House. Loved this place. Great food and staff. We will be coming back for sure. Thanks for a great night!

Unique but overpriced … unique in that the place is a converted house, you have a ‘living room’ area converted into a ‘lounging’ area where you can sit on a couch or some chairs nearby, and have a drink while you listen to the piano player and perhaps a solo singer (of course, lounge style). You have eating table choices facing an interesting backyard done up with a miniature river. There’s a walking path further out from the house to the south but within the confines of the property. And, you can visit their own veggie garden at the north end of the small backyard. Ok, after the novelty wears off, the prices of the servings sets in. In my opinion, they are very much overpriced.

I bought a Travel Zoo voucher to come here. It was expensive (we included a bottle of wine), but was «deal» for what full price should have been. The bottom line is that this wasn’t a deal even at the voucher price. To be fair, please read on, and I’ll start with the good, and then get to the «other.»
The restaurant is on what looks like beautiful grounds, with outdoor seating. It’s a bit hard to find using Google Maps, but is really cute when you do get there. The wine that we had with our meal was really good — an excellent white and worth the add on price. The roasted red pepper soup that came with our meal (the meal included an appetizer, soup, salad, entrée, and dessert) was really good. The vegetables that accompanied our main courses were absolutely delicious. My short ribs were also really good. The crème brulee for dessert was also pretty darned good.
Service was decently good. My daughter had salmon that was prepared «ok» — a bit over cooked, decent, but not great, but again, this was an expensive dinner. The salads were rather plain and served with… Ranch dressing, which I guess makes sense given the name of the restaurant. It just happens to be a dressing I don’t eat. But the lettuce was definitely fresh. The appetizers were very so so; mine came with a mushroom cream sauce that was cold. Not sure if it was meant to be cold (if so, I’m not sure that’s a great choice for that sauce) or if it just chilled on the way out, which brings me to the fact that all seating is outdoors and it was a really cold night. I wish I’d known in advance that this was an outdoor affair as I would have opted out for a December trip. At 30-​something degrees, with heat lamps not working great, we dined with our winter coats on and were hardly warm enough even then. The good news was that the wine stayed chilled, the bad news was that it was just unpleasantly cold.
As for a bottom line, if I were in the area, I’d probably opt to come back for appetizers (maybe), and definitely wine and dessert just for the ambiance (in warmer weather). I would not go out of my way to come here, and felt the experience and food fell quite short given the price. Not our best meal. Definitely our most expensive even with a coupon.

We chose the Ranch House as our wedding venue after a birthday dinner there. Our wedding was October 24 (Saturday night, 4 pm ceremony with reception to follow). First of all, this is the most beautiful venue I could imagine and on a warm October night it is absolute heaven on earth. The rose garden, the indoor-​outdoor vibe, the herbs, the koi, the amazing piano and foyer bar, the trees — I mean everything. So beautiful, every time I visit. No exception this time — it took my breath away just to look around.
In between the time that we chose the venue and a year later when we held our wedding, management changed and our wedding was planned and managed by Russ and his fantastic team. We live out of state so the planning was over email and phone. We had about 100 guests and included children. Given that we planned remotely, we put Russ and his team in charge of everything from entrees to wine selection, and we didn’t have a cake but opted instead for homemade desserts by Russ’s chef. We drove a handful of decorations down (rose petals, guest book etc.) but left all of the table settings and everything else to Russ, including centerpieces. I am still getting compliments regularly on how beautiful and fun and delicious the night was — from the little touches like lavender champagne cocktails and allowing me to bring my own rose petals to big stuff like great dance floor and amazing food, we were so, so happy with the night. the place is absolutely beautiful and x100 for a wedding. The things that were important to me — my seating chart, my sweetheart table, my playlist, ETC. were wonderful. Russ let me make the decisions that were important to us and he and his team made the decision that we entrusted them with and it was perfect. I am a cross between a chill bride (no cake, who cares about centerpieces, no bouquet toss/​garter throw etc.) and a total bridezilla (insane dress, makeup by Fairytale, obsessive timing of playlist) so Russ probably wanted to pull out his hair but he never showed it, God bless him! ;)
Anyway, little touches like these are what made the night:
— The chef tweaked my passed apps the DAY BEFORE when we told him about an allergy we hadn’t previously been aware of — and they were divine
— The sweet, kind staff made sure I always had something to eat and champagne in my hand both before and after the ceremony, even though I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off the whole time
— Russ stayed the whole time and greeted guests, checked on us and generally spread good cheer
— Russ accommodated my very bridezilla-​esque requirements regarding table arrangements, dance floor, use of the beautiful lobby area, etc.
— Russ surprised us at the end of the night with an awesome bottle of champagne
— The staff took note of our specific requests for certain tables like high chair/​allergy requests and gave each guest a personalized experience
The event went great but it was these little personalized touches that we enjoyed throughout the day and night (and during the planning) that really made day extra special for us. That, and can I mention again, this venue is the most beautiful thing you’ll ever see.
Anyway, I’m not sure what key points go into a wedding review but I have to say this place should be doing a wedding every weekend. We could not have been happier with the venue, the staff, the food, the atmosphere, you name it — THANK YOU Russ and Ranch House staff, you guys are out of control.

I have been hearing about The Ranch House for the last year or two. I have both good and bad things. I have also seen them a lot on Groupon. After a friend of mine recommonded that i try this spot out, I decided to buy the groupon. I didn’t actually use the groupon offer, it ended up expiring before we could make it there, so I was able to use the $ toward our bill.
My husband and some friends decided to try it out on Saturday night. The setting is lovely, it reminds me of an awesome treehouse. The service was good (I have heard that the service is not consistent, but we were really happy with it). I believe our servers name was Janice (I could be wrong) and she was on it. Everyone was very pleasent.
The bread and butter were amazing, I would have loved more butter. The rest of the food was ok. I do not think it was out of this world, but I think the food and the ambiance is worth checking out. I also think it is slightly over priced, but again it is about the ambiance.
All in all, I had a nice time and will go back.

We had a memorable anniversary dinner at The Ranch House in August! We arrived right when the restaurant opened and were seated at what they said was the best table in the house, right next to the koi fish pond. They gave us a champagne glass filled with pellets, and we had a great time feeding the school of fish right next to us throughout the meal.
The service was fantastic. Attentive enough, but not in our faces. We appreciated the free glasses of champagne they gave us for our anniversary. The food was good, too. We split the black bean and corn fritter appetizer, the wedge salad, the salmon and the peach cheesecake and appreciated them all.
We were the only diners at the restaurant the whole time. It was odd, but it made it more special. :)

It was a great experience. I loved it, and so did my family. The food was great, also. Excellent. Great taste and quality, beautiful atmosphere. Will definitely go back. Recommend it for family or a date
I got the salmon dish. Broccolini was delish, as well as the lemon curd on top of salmon. Wild rice was a great combo as well as the chocolate flourless and graham cracker dessert. My family got the crime brûlée. My sis got a wedge salad w/​bleu cheese. I will try the giant prawns next time. W/​a bottle of wine.

First, I will say the place is beautiful, if not terribly well lit, and the staff is great. But this food is simply not worth what they’re charging.
Let’s take the courses in order.
For the appetizer we got the mushroom streusel. It basically tasted like dirt. Tasty dirt, I guess, but not exactly great from a food perspective.
The salad was very arugula heavy, and the dressing correspondingly extremely tart. It worked okay for me, but I’m not sure this is a salad most people would enjoy. Certainly not what I’d expect for this kind of money.
The soup was good. They billed it as a black bean soup, which made me expect a purée, but it was more like a vegetarian chili. Good, though. Nothing wrong with the soup.
My entrée was a coffee chipotle braised short rib with polenta and asparagus. Creative and quite tasty, if a bit dry. My SO had the chicken, which was very juicy and served with fluffy mashed potatoes. The only real misstep with that was the surprising amount of lemon. Chef must have a thing for sour flavors. It was odd, but not bad.
Finally, the desserts: a pair of vanilla crèmes brûlee. These were very good, but they would’ve been very good anywhere.
This is the problem with the Ranch House in s nutshell: The food is good, but it’s absolutely, positively, ridiculously overpriced. It’s not that good, plain and simple. For half the price (of the coupon price, already half the normal price),. Sure. But this food basically costs three times what it’s worth.
Recommendation: pass.

Came here last week on a Groupon deal for myself and my partners three year anniversary.
Food– very good
Atmosphere– romantic
Service– great
Upon arrival we were greeted by the owner and taken inside to what looked like a large, beautifull backyard garden. My partner and I were seated immediately even though we had made reservations at 7pm, we arrived an hour early with no problem.
Food was so delicious, 5 course meal, I ordered the veggie sope (very tasty) and my partner ordered the steak with potatoes which was also delicious.
Overall would visit this wonderful place again

I so wanted this to be a 5 star experience. And it was nice but just didn’t live up to the rave 5 star reviews. Before our special celebration, the manager called me to apologize but the restaurant was going to be closing the date of our reservation due to a lack of reservations. While I understood and appreciated the call, it was upsetting because we had called multiple times to confirm that the restaurant would be open on this holiday. We decided to celebrate a day early and the manager went out of his way to make up for this.
Upon arrival we were seated to the side of the restaurant by a small creek. The ambiance is stunning. Lots of beautiful lights, koi fish in the creek, and gardens all around this home/​restaurant. The ambiance lived up to everything we imagined.
Service was lacking and it appeared that only 1 server was taking care of our large area. We had to ask her 3 – 4 times to open our wine and refill our drinks. Eventually we said something to the manager who again went above and beyond to make us happy. Really I can’t say enough good things about the manager.
They were out of about 40% of the items on the menu, leaving us limited options. I ordered the steak medium-​rare and while it was delicious, it came out more medium-​well. I didn’t complain as it took a while to get the food and like I said, it was still delicious. My husband got the stuffed chicken special and it was really wonderful. For dessert I got the chocolate s’mores dish and my husband got the cheesecake. Both were incredible. I highly recommend saving room for dessert.
When the bill came, the waitress stared at our wine bottle trying to figure out where it came from and asked if we brought it. That was surprising considering we had asked her to open it no less than 4 times. Thank goodness for a great manager to pick up the slack.
Overall a really nice experience, but the service needs to be improved for this to really be a 5 star experience. It is obvious the manager is caring and attentive of the needs of the patrons, but this needs to extend to the rest of the staff. Also, if you’re a big wino like my husband, the glassware could stand to be improved. The wine glasses are the large heavy kind that are resistant to breaking (understood benefit) but just aren’t the high quality glassware you expect when dining out for a special occasion. We would have loved to have some riedel glasses to really match the occasion and the quality of wine.
Also be aware that it is a paper on the tables with crayons place — much more casual than I envisioned.

I had a Groupon for dinner with wine on a warm Sunday in Ojai, a weekend before Independence Day. Lawn chairs were already spread out in the City and it looks like the City really celebrates. Well, the Ranch House is removed from the City life, and is more in the residential area of Ojai, and if it wasn’t for the Unilocal directions, I would have missed it, as it really looks like someone’s home; actually it was. The wine could not be taken home as a bottle (bummer) and so I just let my wife drink the wine, as I was the designated driver. The food is Prix Fixe, and was a nice selection of their higher end selections. We faced the garden, which looked like the typical southern California backyard, sans kids toys and swings. From the website, it looked as if it would be more tropical looking, but I guess this was in the front waiting area/​cocktail seating. The filet mignon I had was thick and juicy (medium rare) and was done perfectly. I’ve read for a quality steak, always have it at least 1.5 inches thick to keep it juicy during grilling. The vegetables were okay, as well as the dessert. I forgot to take pictures of the food, so I’m leaving a lasting memory of a stone sign I just found while leaving…

My husband and I ate here a few years ago, and enjoyed the grounds and hidden garden tables but the food was just okay. When we heard there were new owners we gave it a second shot. It is a little hard to find, but the Unilocal map is spot on. The gardens are fabulous, and the setting is still magical. The service is pleasant and professional and there are some creative menu choices. My mushroom pastry was flavorful and tasted great with our sauvignon blanc from their extensive, mostly expensive wine list.
My husband enjoyed his heirloom tomato appetizer and his chicken over mashed potatoes. Our friend enjoyed her salmon, but I was disappointed in the vegan sope which was advertised as spicy. I had to ask for siracha to flavor it up, and the sope base was heavy and almost uncuttable. The real winner was the strawberry napolean, a new addition to the dessert menu.
Definitely worth a journey for the lovely ambiance on a warm evening for a pleasant dining experience, or a stop in for dessert.

Ok, where to begin. I have been taking my wife here for Mothers Day for the past several years. The Ranch House has always been her favorite place to go on her special day.
In the past on Mothers Day, we were able to order off the menu and we each had our favorite dishes. My daughter loved the salmon. My other daughter loved the crab cakes. The rest of us looked forward to trying something new.
This year when we arrived we were greatly disappointed to find out we could no longer order off the menu because it was now buffet style. I think the hostess noticed my shocked expression and told me the Ranch House was under new ownership and this was the way they were going to serve Mothers Day brunch, buffet style. I think what upset me most was when making the reservations based on our conversations, the call taker had more then enough opportunities to tell me about the new changes but didn’t.
I am not a big fan of buffets so that was already one mark against the Ranch House. The food was average. The prime rib, crab legs, French toast and fingerling potatoes were good. The cold cuts and various slices of cheeses continuously had flies flying about them. (the buffet was served in an open patio). Because of that, we never touched the cold cuts.
The fruit and pastries were what you expect. Most of the food was kept in warmers but once you removed the lids to get your food, there was no place to place put the lids down causing you to juggle the lid, your plate and trying to place the food on your plate. Not all the serving trays were like that, some were retractable but none the less.
The shining star of the food was the cheese cake. BEST CHEESE CAKE EVER!!! Hands down. Congrats to the bakery chef!
The staff was decent. Not what we have been use to but not to bad. One downer was when my 14 yr old daughter returned to our table after serving herself, she looked kinda down. I asked what was wrong and she said.” I think I just saw a busboy get fired. Some man yelled at him and them told him to go home.” Come on Ranch House, keep your personal issues private, away from public view.
I could go on more but I will stop now. I guess what I take away from this experience compared to the previous ones is that with the new buffet style brunch, the Ranch House prefers quantity rather than quality. If you are looking for a really nice setting to eat in, the Ranch House has that. Other than that… average.

Their New York Steak was fantastic !!!
I had Chicken cordon bleu my friend had steak. We shared. We loved steak!
Crab Cake was good too.
I found the place from groupon. They had good deal but when I made reservations I asked about deal. They said they have different deal in restaurant too.
So next time when I go there I’ll choose from the menu.
The beautiful gardens I recommend to go there for early dinner. You can see garden and lighting up too.