Chef Ricks Ultimately Fine Foods — Restaurant in California

5/7/22-The food is actually really good. I would give it 4 stars. I took one away for the lack of service. We waited over 20 minutes to order after being sat down. It got awkward just sitting there. You know, after looking at the menu and after numerous topics of conversations run out? Yeah. So we ordered the AMAZING salads, the babe farms spinach and gargonzola and the rick's Cesar salad. These are big enough to share and come in big bowls. There were 4 to our party and no dishes. So we all ate out of the 2 bowls. I had the fried cat fish and chips and thought it was delicious! After finishing our dinner, we discussed the dessert options. So we waited. .. And waited... And waited. I asked my 12 year old to go up to the counter and ask for a dessert menu. Is it then reasonable to expect someone to come over at some point to see if we wanted to actually order dessert? Especially after requesting a dessert menu? After another 18 minutes of sitting there with our empty plates, a bus person came to clear the table. We then waited... And waited some more. At this point, we gave up at the possibility of trying some of the mouth watering sounding desserts and just waited for the bill. So we waited... And waited. It actually got kind of funny. We joked with each other, maybe if we just walked out, someone would run after us and we could get some type of service. Finally, we decided to get up and help the staff charge us for choosing to dine at the establishment. The staff was very nice and did say they were understaffed. Understatement. Would have gone over better if they would have let us know at some point, so we could've tapered expectations. The waiting and lack of service were not exaggerations and my expectations at outside dining are very reasonable. Check my other reviews. This evening was not reasonable. Sorry.

Update 2-20-23. Different story ENTIRELY. Service was GREAT and the food was delicious, like before. Today we shared 2 salads (babe farms spinach & Cesar) along with the angel hair with rosemary chicken. The pasta and chicken dish was delightful. It was nice and light. It seems to be served in a broth, which seems odd, but it works. I loved dipping their delicious bread in the broth. Again, my first review was accurate, but they were short staffed. Today was awesome and nothing...

The place looks great and it's always busy. I am very saddened when food is delivered at different times to the table. There was only for of us and 1 plate came out then a few minutes later a 2nd and a few minutes later the 3rd plate was brought to the table. When the first plate came out was my granddaughters hamburger 🍔 and it came as a CHEESEBURGER... she will NOT eat cheese on a burger so it was sent back. 5 minutes later the waitress brought it back; they scraped of MOST of the cheese and brought back the same plate with the same fries 🍟 so they weren't too hot. When the 4th and last plate arrived the fries were COLD 🥶 and the waitress asked if we wanted her to take them back... I suggested that she just bring some HOT 🔥 fries out for him. My granddaughter had ordered a sprite and we had to remind her 3 times before she brought that out. Honestly the food was mediocre, it surely was not the quality it had been before when Chef Ricks was on Bradley and Clark years ago. I don't think I would go back. But the Coconut Shrimp appetizer was very good and the process are very reasonable. So on that note it was good. I have owned and operated 3 restaurants in the past and my biggest pet peeve next to good hot food delivered to the table at the same time, is the service... be on it and if you are going to take orders and not right three orders down then remember what is said. 😱 If you want honest reviews then...

To call Chef Rick’s “innovative” would be an understatement. Dishes served here are avant-garde in that they are perfectly delicious meals, yet the particular combinations aren’t likely to be found in many other restaurants. Pity, because the unusual pairings are very good: “new mexican corn-crusted chicken with jalapeño-cilantro dipping sauce”, “barbequed chicken & papaya pizza”, “shrimp-crusted salmon with mustard shrimp and rosemary, wilted greens and sweet potato chips”, “georgia sweet potato pecan cake”, and “jack daniels chocolate chip pecan pie with vanilla bean ice cream”, just to name a few. I ordered the shrimp-crusted salmon and was amazed at the fantastic taste of the combination! I had the “apple cinnamon empanadas with carmel ice cream” (carmel as in Carmel-by-the-Sea). Who’da thunk it – very good! If you’re into leading-edge foods, this is the place to go! You’ll not find any like it, maybe in The Big City, yet not in Central...