Hitching Post 2 — Restaurant in Buellton

We’ve been to The Hitching Post 2 many times over the years. We used to love it. But the last three times have been really disappointing. We thought maybe COVID was the reason the food was not great last year (2020). Back then, we sat out on tables back by the Ostrich farm as their meals were served to go at that point. Nothing seemed to be cooked correctly (everything was over cooked). About 6 months ago they were serving tables outside but we happened to order to go and brought it back to the Marriott (I won’t weigh in on To-go food as we didn’t eat it hot). Now they are back up and running indoors and also with an enormous heated rear patio. We were excited to dine (sort of) in again. Hoping for the delicious meals and good service we’d had in the past. We were seated on the back patio which was nicely appointed for a dining tent.

Our waitress was curt and hurried and absent for most of our meal. We never got her name but she had light brown hair and a slicked back bun and insanely long eyelashes if that helps. We ordered drinks which took forever to arrive and waters and sodas sat empty more than a few times. My sister and I each ordered the petit filet medium rare and we both received medium well. We were starving by the time everything arrived and just ate some of it. The baked potatoes were good.

My son and my mother ordered the ribs which come “sauce less”. They were neither seasoned nor tender and neither of them could finish. My other son ordered the burger which was apparently a bar special that he saw at another table and he said it was very good. We ordered the cheesecake for dessert and the chocolate cake with ice cream. Those were excellent. Hence the two stars. If we’d have skipped dessert it would be one. I hope they regain their glory days because it appears they are surviving on reputation alone. And that...

Our experience at the Hitching Post II is the one and only disappointment on our vacation. We ate there this evening and the service is slow, food was nothing to write home over. Ordered a Pasilla Peper that was stuffed with cheese for a starter but it lacked in flavor. We make better ones at home. Overpriced at $15.00 for one Chile. Not to mention our salads came out before the starter ever got to us. For my main course, I ordered a Filet Mignon steak medium. Came very well done, no pink at all, (wishing now I had taken a picture before I sent it back.) I didn’t want to chance a second improperly cooked steak (in my opinion, when you are charging $50-85 for a steak, your chef should know how to cook them right every time) and since the waiter just made excuses for the chef after agreeing it was really well done, he said everyone makes mistakes, so I ordered ribs. I waited an addition 20-25 minutes for those to come after waiting quite a while for the steak. My husband was already finished with his meal. While the flavor was on point for the ribs, they were not fall off the bone tender. It was a little bit of work to tear the meat off and at $33 I don’t expect to have to work that hard. Additionally, the manager saw me sitting there NOT eating the whole time we were waiting for my re-order and never even came over to the table to ask if everything was alright. He did come over once to ask if he could take a chair from our table. Our server did not notify the manager either over a returned steak which is protocol in any good restaurant we have ever eaten in. There was no compensation, a dessert offered or something while you wait, nothing. So, needless to say, it was not an experience worthy of our $90 tab (and we only had water to drink as my husband didn’t care for any of the limited beer offerings.) We would not return to...

Unpretentious, simple food (2.5 Green Stars) Here’s a tip for vegetarians – rather than trying to pick out a few veggie appetizers, ask your server to just make up a veggie main course for you. It’ll consist of a sampler of all of their vegetarian options along with a few other items. Mine had a grilled artichoke and BBQ mushrooms – dishes that I was going to order separately before finding out that a combo veggie main course was available (at the chef’s discretion). Actually my favorite things on this plate were the grilled tomato, red onion and the baked potato. It ended up being a lot of food, but I didn’t feel bloated afterwards – I think that’s thanks to the raw veggies served at the start of the meal – a nice touch. Other notes: Wish I had had wine instead of beer – I would have liked to have tried the Highliner. The dining room looks like a restaurant from 1980’s Ireland (i.e., not fancy) so don’t dress up too much! A highlight for me was coming out of the bathroom (BTW, one of them has two toilets right next to each other – what?!) and seeing two people at the bar that could easily have been Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti :D

I’m giving 2.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, for these reasons:

• There’s a large emphasis on meat (yes, I know – that’s kind of the point) but more veggie options would be appreciated. You can demonstrate good BBQ skills with veggies too & bring HP into the present day where we should be eating mostly plants if we want to avert total climate (and habitat) catastrophe. • Some info is provided on meat and fish sourcing on the website menu. • Wines are very much local – mostly Hitching Post wines but also several from Santa Ynes, Paso Robles, etc. • Same for beer – I had a Firestone Walker beer that’s a staple...