Meiners Oaks Restaurant Review

The Ranch House

Confession: I skipped last night’s water meeting with Ventura’s attorneys and went to The Ranch House instead!

Background: Homeowners in the Ojai Valley (and parts of Ventura) are being sued by the City of Ventura over groundwater. Seriously. As a homeowner that’s being sued and a Realtor, I’m very interested in learning everything I can about this. My husband is an interested homeowner that designs small scale desalination technology (in his free time) so water issues are very important to him as well. We lined up a babysitter and set off for Matilija auditorium half an hour before the meeting was supposed to start last night. We should have walked. The streets were an absolute zoo and after 20 minutes looking for a parking spot we realized we would be parking so far away that by the time we got to the auditorium we’d be lucky to find a spot inside! I’d much rather attend this sort of meeting in real life than watch a recording after the fact but we decided we’d be better off trying to get a table at The Ranch House and let me tell you, that was the best decision!

We’ve casually tried to get reservations for The Ranch House in the past but it has never worked out. With so many people at the water meeting last night we had no problem walking in. The ambiance was very quiet and charming, it was a little chilly but there was plenty of patio heating to keep us comfortable. The Ranch House offers a 3 course or 5 course option and we opted for the 3 course because neither of us thought the soups sounded great and with it being an unexpected date night, we weren’t very hungry. The menu varies seasonally and of last night’s options I choose the New York Steak with gratin potatoes and broccolini. It was SO GOOD. The potatoes were a little heavy but had just the right amount of rosemary. The steak was the best I’ve had in awhile! My husband went with the lamb shank, risotto and asparagus and he was happy with his meal as well. We both got the Ranch House salad, and for desert I opted for a spice cake and he got the chocolate mousse. Everything was delicious! We’ll be making a greater effort to get reservations here going forward! While I’m bummed that we missed the meeting last night we had a much more enjoyable, relaxing evening than we would have had at Matilija auditorium! If you also missed the meeting you can join me in getting up to speed by viewing the video on Ojai Valley News’ Facebook page.