Long Meadow Ranch Winery & Farmstead

I grew up a farmer's daughter, and they do a great job here. Fresh everything, large portions for the price, super friendly staff, and the wine tasting right across the driveway doesn't sit badly on their reputation at all, either! I was with two guys and they both housed full racks of ribs gleefully without a single complaint. I had the burger and, at the advice of my boyfriend and the waitress, chose to add the egg. I'm NOT a fan of sunnyside up eggs, but this was heaven--it melted into the burger and potato bun (which was thick, dense, and delicious), making for a gooey, awesome experience. I definitely should have taken some of the burger home with me but chose to soldier on to avoid warmed-up leftovers, but I am sure it would have been delicious the second time around as well. As a note, I've lived in food meccas (NYC for years, now SF), and this food lives up to good, down-home cooking with the best of them for the price.

It's funny to walk over here and see the sheep standing in line at Gott's for an overpriced cheeseburger. This place is awesome, why go anywhere else?

I have heard so many praises of this restaurant from so many people, that I was excited to visit last night. 4 of us locals had reservations at 6:45. The place was absolutely PACKED to the gills. Apparently, 2 wedding parties were in residence. We got inside and were seated after a brief wait....it's October and it's relatively cold outside. It wasn't much warmer in the restaurant. Strike one; I hate being cold inside and there's no excuse for it. The waitstaff being so busy and warmed up isn't a good reason to be uncomfortable through a relatively expensive meal.

The service was good; nothing special as far as that went, though. The main issue I have is that this has to be THE NOISIEST, loudest restaurant I've ever been in in my life. We could hardly hear each other at the table (and the tables aren't that big), and that just doesn't make a nice dining experience.

The caramelized beets with greens and goat cheese crema was excellent. At $13, it should be:/.  I had the trout with fennel, almonds and a bacon vinaigrette. It was good; nothing outstanding here either. I also had started out with a glass of the house red b/c I'd heard it was really good. It wasn't. I switched later on to the house SB and it was much better.

I read the reply from someone who apparently works or worked at Farmstead regarding the reason there's no steak on the menu. I get that they want to use the entire cow, however....what's stopping them from making their beef chili, meatballs and steak tartare just b/c they sell more steaks? I don't see that as rationale (supposedly they want to utilize the ENTIRE cow before they bring in another one, and then offer steaks til they run out?) for a topnotch restaurant whose supposedly proud of their grass-fed beef not to have at LEAST one steak on their menu...it may be a different steak at different times, but seriously.....very disappointing. None of the desserts sounded appealing or tempting enough to partake of.

Overall, I was disappointed in Farmstead. I would go back possibly for lunch or happy hour, but I'll never go there for dinner again. There's a lot of other better and quieter restaurants to relax and enjoy an excellent meal in in the Valley.