We dined here on the evening of October 9th, having rented a vacation house at The Sea Ranch, we made a reservation well in advance. Apparently, the place was swamped with walk-ins, so we were told to wait in the bar (and didn't even get a drink) at the time of our reservation. Â When we were finally seated at a table (and not the table we had requested earlier in the day), we continued to wait quite some time to get a $70 bottle of wine we ordered. It took them a while to find the bottle, then it apparently wasn't chilled so they had to do that. Eventually, i told the server to not bring anything else (the appetizers had already arrived). Â Fairly amateur stuff that shouldn't happen at a place purporting to offer fine dining. The food was uninspired and below average. Â We both had Point Reyes oysters which arrived luke warm (should have been ice cold) and the next day we both felt a bit bloated. Â I suspect the oysters were on the verge of spoiling. Â The beef tenderloin main dish was ok but nothing special. Â The view was fine but not as nice as from the house we'd rented, although hard to enjoy, since we thought there was a herd of elephants in the room as one (of the two) servers stormed around in what sounded like heavy work boots all evening. There's not much else around, so it's somewhat of a captive audience at the Sea Ranch. Â However, this really should have been much better than it was.
Review Source:We have had a couple nice lunches here. The decor, service, views and food are splendid. This may be your best bet in the Sea Ranch area, particularly for the fine dining aspects such as service and wine list but also the stunning setting and historic architecture.
Today we enjoyed sandwiches and drinks. Warm turkey breast with blue cheese was excellent with Pinot Noire grape juice. I had warm portobello mushroom veggie club with amber ale. We were both a bit put off by the not quite crisp homemade potato chips. Finished with coffee and chocolate sour cream coffee cake which was tasty but not as moist as it cold have been. The cream for coffee came in a dirty vessel which the waitress quickly addressed.
Prices seem modest - under $20 each for lunch. We will be back. Would be fun to go with a group for dinner.
I think I have about a 50% chance of having food poisoning from this place, and even a small chance of not surviving the week...
My wife and I ate here for a late lunch today. We were starving and the menu seemed appetizing enough, so we decided to eat here. There was only one other table of customers in the restaurant at the time, maybe that should have been our first sign.
With only one other table of people (who already got their food), we figured the service would be great! It wasn't! We literally waited a half hour to have our orders taken in this empty restaurant. When that finally happened, my wife and I both ordered the grilled cheese caramelized onion sandwich. It came with soup so I ordered the clam chowder and my wife ordered the tomato. Luckily, we both ended up being served the tomato soup; I say luckily since I feel that if I ate seafood from this place I would have no chance of survival. We also ordered a side of sweet potato fries to share, which we expected to get first as it was an appetizer, but it came last after we had already finished our entrees.
1. Â Â The sandwich was cold. It was bread toasted in a toaster with cold cheese inside. Then I think they put several day old french onion soup inside the sandwich to melt the cheese, unfortunately that didn't work because everything was room temperature from the get go. For all I know it had been sitting on the counter breeding bacteria all day. The onions were way too sweet, so sweet that I couldn't taste anything else but sugar while eating it.
2. Â Â My soup was cold and curdled, but my wife's was hot... What gives? The soup was tasteless, and the texture was off.
3. Â Â The sweet potato fries, I suspect, were also days old. They were cold and mushy in the middle, and they seemed like they were old and slimy before even getting fried.
4. Â Â The "sauce" that came with the fries was.... it was.... um.... It had no flavor at all. When the waitress finally came by I asked her what the sauce was, and she said:
"I don't know exactly what is in it, it looks like a mayonnaise or something. But it has tarragon in it for sure, because tarragon goes good with squash."
Well, I am not sure if this is news for her, but last time I checked we did not have any squash on the table, nor was there squash on the lunch menu. Overall, the "sauce" was at least a couple day old yellow, chunky, warm mayonnaise with brown dried tarragon flakes in it.
I surprised myself today, in the sense that I cannot believe that I actually ate this food, and I most likely will be paying for it tomorrow (I already paid too much for it today). This is also the first time that I left a 0% tip, and I don't regret that.
Please, for the sake of your loved ones, do not eat at this restaurant!!
Previously  I panned this restaurant.  Now I'm a believer! We were seated after a short wait. Our server, who recognized from a previous visit, was wonderful. Drinks came promptly. My arugula salad was wonderful. Our daughter's oysters were very fresh, well it is the North Coast.  Her petrale was  fresh and hot from the kitchen. My fillet  of beef was quite rare, as ordered. Dessert was good. I definitely would recommend the Black Point Grill!
Review Source:Was at the Sea Ranch for three days in June 2013.  ALL the employees I met in the restaurant and lodge were very courteous, pleasant, and helpful.  We eat in the restaurant four times and was not disappointed with any  of the meals.  The service was prompt and the food was great. This is our fourth visit to the Sea Ranch and restaurant and will be back.
Review Source:I've been coming here with my grandma many times we would come up here. Â Now that she sold her house up at Sea Ranch, sadly, who knows when I'll come by here again. Â The staff here are friendly. Â The food is good, but pricy. Â The Sea Ranch BLT on the lunch menu is to die for. Â I had it without mayo and avocados as they do include them. Â Without them, it made it easier to eat as the bread is crunchy. Â The BLT is my favorite lunch item. Â Their sweet potato fries are the best! Â When the weather is nice, you can enjoy a nice view of the ocean and landscape.
They also have free wi-fi in the lounge area.
I have owned a home at Sea Ranch for 20 years--yes I'm a senior citizen. I go to this restaurant maybe twice a year, usually when we have house guests. There aren't many good places to eat within easy driving distance.
Sea Ranch is in a rural area next to a small town, Gualala, supported by tourism. Business is seasonal and restaurants have a hard time staying in business. You can't judge a place like the Lodge restaurant (that's what it is) by big city standards. The staff isn't well trained and nothing runs smoothly. On the other hand, the setting is spectacular and the Lodge and its dining room is a retro classic designed in the 60's.
If you know what to expect, you can have a good time. Order something simple and be prepared to wait. Patience and a good sense of humor are a must. We had dinner there three nights ago with a guest. Burger and Fish and Chips fine. A fancy pasta dish not very good. Waiter a sweet guy who was totally overwhelmed. A salad for three to start never arrived. Wine order never arrived. But we sat for two hours gazing at a spectacular sunset over the ocean in a lovely, simple room surrounded by mellow people.
I have been coming to the Blackpoint Grill for years and had a terrible lunch there recently. Â I ordered the fish tacos which included three tiny corn tortillas with about three small pieces of steak in each taco, they came with nothing but salsa and green onions. Â There was no rice or side of any kind. Â The meat was tough and overcooked. Â It was a total waste of money. Â I've had good meals in the past, but am very hesitant to go back. Â I'm very disappointed.
Review Source:As a local property owner and part time resident of Gualala I have been to the Black Point Grill at the Sea Ranch Inn many times.  The service here is typically good to excellent.  The menu is not extensive, however the entrees are always prepared to perfection with adequate, but not huge portion sizes.  The wine list is good, and they typically have several unique selections available by the glass each day.  The menu is à la carte, so soup and salad must be ordered separately.  The sorbet they serve as a choice for desert is made by a small company in Gualala that makes the best sorbet I have ever had.
I have found that on busy weekends, and holiday periods the Black Point Grill is almost always very full, so reservations at least a day in advance are recommended. Â
It is well worth the 30 minute drive from my house to get here.
The full service bar has a TV and an excellent ocean view in the dining area. Â If you want to appreciate the view, you need to be there when it is light since there are very few outdoor lights along the coast and it appears black unless there is a full moon and a clear night.
The many times I have been here was only for dinner, I have never eaten here for breakfast or lunch.
I am writing in response to a visit I had with the restaurant today at Sea Ranch Lodge. Â It was one of the most HORRIBLE experiences of my life! Â The four of us arrived with very few people there, and although they could've placed two available 2 tops together easily for us that had a view of the ocean, they asked us to wait at the bar and the 4 top table with an ocean view, that was occupied would be ours when it came available. Â We got a bad feeling from the initial snarky comments of the staff, and the sassy attitude from the initial server that refused our idea of simply putting the tables together, although there was plenty of walking room. However, we took a seat, ordered drinks and appetizers and waited for our table. Â We also waited a good forty minutes for our drinks, while watching our chilled drinks getting warm on the bar. While we were waiting, we experienced waiters slamming water glasses on our table, accompanied with other unfortunate customer service. Eventually we received our food, with one order being incorrect. Â We also received two containers of pepper instead of salt and pepper and had to request a replacement of salt instead of pepper. Â The general energy of the staff was in crisis/desperation as if something tragic happened. Â All the staff were complaining to each other in front of customers/yelling at each other. Â We were waiting for a surprise "youtube" or "candid camera" moment where someone would say, "This is all just a joke, we wanted to see how you would react to such neurotically dysfunctional service, hee hee," but didn't see it. Â Staff were stomping around, throwing dirty towels towards the towel bin but missing. Â Our impression was that the depleted staff was extremely overwhelmed and stressed for some other, bigger reason. After another ten minutes we got all the food we ordered. The manager came by because he recognized a couple of people in our party. He said he was delighted to see them, they wished him a happy holiday, but he simply replied, "The holidays are not happy around here." That was a red flag for us, but we decided to stick around because our friends assured this was a mishap and not normal for this restaurant. Â While we were enjoying our food, we found out that our table had been given up to another party that the server stated, "actually wanted food," when in actuality we had not ordered entrees because we expected to do that when we got seated in the main dining room. We protested. We were then escorted to the table we had waited over an hour for. We sat in a corner and the new party that would have had our table was seated, split on either side of us. Â The two groups were sitting for a while, when the same waiter that slammed our drinks earlier, came and helped the neighboring parties first, walking by us. We sat perplexed as if this was the twilight zone. Â He completely ignored us. Â At first we thought this was a flaw, and then it happened again. Â We were beside ourselves. Â One of us got up to get drinks at the bar because we felt ignored. Â The bartender, who was also our server, said, "I'll be right with you!" The bartender/server came to our table with attitude and anger, speechless with his arms crossed, waiting for our order. Â We ordered glasses of wine and enjoyed them. Â After another twenty minutes, another woman came to help us. We had decided that our appetites were gone after waiting over twenty minutes when the people that came after us, for the table we were waiting for, were helped long before us. They had promptly received their drinks, as their orders were taken upon arrival. Â We kindly gave our waitress our menus back and informed her that we lost our appetizers because of the poor service from the prior server and service in general since we had been in the restaurant. Â About five minutes later her husband, the same manager that knew our friends for years of visits to the Sea Ranch Lodge, came directly to our table with teary eyes and a flushed face, and told us that we made his wife cry, then hastily walked away without explanation. Â He didn't even give us a chance to respond. Â After we got over the stun of a MANAGER doing this, someone from our party went up to the bar to collect our check. Upon going up there, he tried to explain to the "manager," then the wife who cried quickly came up to listen then said , "I only wanted to help and felt disrespected". Â Once again, they made the customer feel wrong. Overall, for all of us, it was the worst dining experience we've ever had, and we would NEVER patronize this restaurant again. The food was mediocre, the service was HORRIBLE, and their response to such service was worse. We would not recommend this dining experience to our worst enemy.
Review Source:During our Sea Ranch vacation, we decided to take a night off cooking and went to the Lodge for dinner. The hostess kindly took us to a table for four by the window even though it was just two of us. Â But that was after good 15 or 20 minutes wait while no one greeted us, the bartender did make eye contact with us several times but never offered a greeting. Â Once we were seated, we were told three times who our server for the evening would be, each time was offered different name. After another 10 minutes wait, finally our waiter came, he seemed overwhelmed with a half empty dining room. The place just seems so disorganized, and no clear system of who was doing what. Feel bad for the staff for lack of direction. It is a shame with such a beautiful location, that could have tremendous potential to become a local attraction with so little competition. We ordered small plates to share that included wild salmon tartar which I was very disappointed from the first bite to the end. I was expecting a true tartar dish that the fish was the highlight, yet what we got was some salmon with cherry tomatoes and chunks of avocado mixed in as fillers, so what we ended up getting was really a messy tomatoes avocado chutney with bits of salmon. The clam chowder was watery, with artificial sweetness to it that didn't come from the clams. Â The crab cake was OK, nothing special to it. The beef tenderloin tip salad was overly dressed. It's certainly not worth leaving a cozy cabin with homemade meal to come here, unless you are there simply for the scenery.
Review Source:
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
