The Lodge at Dawn Ranch — Restaurant in Guerneville

We stopped by this lodge over a bachelorette weekend trip to Guerneville from the Central Coast. This restaurant was to be our "fancy dress" dinner night. I wish it would have lived up to the reputation.

Service: Our party of 6 had reservations in advance, and we were seated very quickly. Service started out great. But it quickly fell off hard. Our server, Alex, seemed a bit out of it throughout our evening. He was very nice and well knowledgeable but wandered off a lot, would disappear resulting in long waits, and would immediately forget what we had ordered or asked for. We saw him staring blankly at nothing for extended times in multiple instances. Someone at our table had to physically get up and go find our waiter 2-3 times throughout the evening in order to get further assistance. We also had to ask twice to be given a steak knife for the pork belly.

Food: We all tried a variety of their food options. Some were better than others.

The pork belly, though delicious, had a comically small 1/4 plantain sliver included compared to the large pork belly piece. Half the pork belly with double the plantain would have been preferable. Or any sort of side veggie.

Our bride-to-be ordered the tagliotini pasta, which had a nice portion size. The sauce and asparagus were delicious, but the pasta itself was lackluster. No good chewy texture and lacking in flavor. It was not al dente.

The brussel sprouts we first received were undercooked and had no flavor. They also barely had any drizzle of a sauce. Once we were able to get the waiter's attention, we did receive freshly cooked brussle sprouts with more sauce, which were much better, but they did not arrive until after our main course was finished.

The black cod and duck, thankfully, were both deliciously flavorful. Perfectly cooked with a nice crisp. The oysters were very fresh and tasty. The sourdough bread with dill butter was soft, warm, and had that satisfying crust crunch.

For deserts, we tried the chocolate mousse and pear cobbler. The mousse was a nice, rich chocolate accompanied by blueberries. While the pear cobbler was a plentiful size, the pear flavor was miniscule and the pastry room temperature. It tasted more like almond and coconut.

Drinks: We were very disappointed by the drinks at this establishment. Not because of the taste (mostly) but more so because of the service of them. Our bride-to-be ordered a glass of port with her desert. This port had to be repeatedly asked for. She did not receive her glass of port until over 30 minutes later. She had already long finished her desert.

Another member of our party ordered a glass of sauvignon blanc. She was first brought the wrong drink (a cocktail) after 20 minutes. She was then given a glass of wine 10 minutes later, but the wine had gone bad. Everyone at the table tried the glass and found it to be spoiled. It took another 20 minutes for the waiter to bring her a fresh glass of wine. By the time that fresh glass came, we wanted to leave, so she had to drink it quickly.

The waiter most likely knew of the aforementioned issues. When the bill arrived, all of the drinks were comped without us having to ask. Overall, the entire dinner took 3.5 hours with a lot of waiting involved. I do not recommend this lodge for...

I genuinely want this to be a constructive review, but I’ve got some issues with this place: Guerneville is a charming little town in a beautiful area, and deserves a really hood restaurant. Agriculture is almost that place.

Food & drink 3/5. Granted we had two entrees so we didn’t sample the whole menu, but both dishes were lacking in flavor, which for $15 a plate would be fine, but both were $35. Presentation was nothing special, my dish was 75% polenta with a small piece of chicken and 4 carrots. The poblano pepper was bland and also lacked any real presentation. Drinks were ok, but again, nothing special considering the price.

The space & lighting 4/5. The interiors are nice, but again, fall short of expectations given the cost to eat here. Care has clearly been taken to renovate the space and it looks good, however, the lighting is extremely hard on the eyes with only overhead spotlights that create a lot of glare. Adding some wall sconces and some indirect table lighting would help. Also, point the existing spotlights straight up to reduce the glare, please! Some plants and delineation between tables would also help soften the overall space. As it is, it feels more like a cafeteria than a the fine dining experience it could be.

Staff 4/5. For dinner, our server was polite and personable, but our host the second time we came for drinks and live music was bordering on rude. The bartender was great and went out of his way to advise on wine and ciders.

Overall, I want to like this place, but the cost vs. quality is not quite there. Spend some time fixing the interior & ambience, and adjust the recipes to justify the price, and...

We used to dine at Dawn Ranch before they remodeled it, and the restaurant was called “Agriculture“. Early last year, the restaurant closed down to remodel. I cannot overstate this enough… What a huge disappointment in the remodel of the bar area, and the two dining rooms. Whoever renovated, completely ruined the warm and cozy feeling of this beautiful historic location called “Dawn Ranch”. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I walked into both dining rooms and found they had torn out the beautiful primitive stone fireplaces. These two fireplaces had probably graced the two rooms since the place was built nearly 100 years ago. Absolutely criminal to take out those fireplaces. As well, all of the walls were painted white and modern circa 70s furniture was installed, trendy, and it will go out of fashion in no time… It’s not even mid century modern. The only Renovation that actually managed to more carefully match the feel of this building are the bathrooms. This place, with all its renovations, completely out of sync with the building, is now called “The Lodge“, which is the furthest thing from the look and feel of any lodg I’ve ever been in. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I am a local, and I appreciate the look and feel of the wine country that I live in; where I was born and raised. This decorator completely ruined the feel and ambience of this one’s beautiful, warm, wood, interior and stone fireplace grandeur. My boyfriend and I, we will never ever return here. So disappointing to ruin a beautiful historic place as beautiful as it once was. Just trendy, trendy, trendy now. No...