FERRO — Restaurant in Idyllwild-Pine Cove

Maybe eating in the restaurant would have been a different experience but we got take out and did not have a great experience here.

2 stars because the customer service was responsive and helpful.

I ordered 2 pizzas and 2 Cesar salads, one of which we added salmon on for $8. Our total was $82 plus an $8 tip.

The salad with salmon was not a $22 salad. The portion was small but what I really had issue with was the salmon. The salmon looked like it was the left over bits from a larger piece. Most of the pieces had skin on them and were not edible. Normally when I get salmon on a salad it’s a piece of salmon - not small cut up bits. The lettuce was wilted and I assume had been probably sitting for much longer than they told us the food would take to be picked up. We arrived a few minutes before they had estimated it to be ready. There was one soggy crouton. It was just the worst Cesar salad I think I’ve ever had. $22 is a lot of money but worth it for a good salad.

I immediately called and shared my disappointment with the salmon and they refunded the $8. But we hadn’t opened the rest of the food at that point and I hadn’t eaten the salad yet or known that it was even more disappointing - which I wish we had because I would have honestly brought it all back for a refund and gotten a meal elsewhere.

Then come the pizzas. For the price, they are small. I was thankful we got 2. The descriptions make them sound like they’re going to be flavorful and delicious. For the price, you would assume quality and flavor. One pizza we got had ricotta and squash on it but the squash looked sad and not even flavored or anything. The crust was also terrible - it tasted like a dry cracker and when you consider the price, the ratio of toppings to crust did not hit the mark. This was the same for the pistachio pesto pizza we also got. It was just… not good.

Overall just really disappointed in spending $80+ on this meal. It was not worth the price at all. I wish before calling about the salmon I would have realized the meal was terrible and I would have brought it all back for a refund. I am not one to complain about food and I don’t really ever leave bad reviews because but this really was terrible. Again- maybe it’s better dining in. I won’t give it a second try...

This place is usually one of our favorite restaurants around. Since our first visit we've stopped in pretty much every time we've been up the mountain, even if it's just for a drink on the patio.

The staff is very attentive and friendly. The food and drinks are usually amazing. Even if I order something I don't absolutely love my partner will love it and I'll love her food, so we just trade 😆

Definitely a must stop for anyone visiting the area.

Update 9/4/23

This restaurant has consistently been one of our favorite places to dine. In fact, when we came up last fall for our anniversary, my partner and I had an amazing dinner here.

That's why I'm sad to write this review. Today we drove up the mountain to have dinner here with our friends. We ordered several dishes to share, as well as main courses for all four of us. While nothing was bad, every dish was lacking. It seemed to us like there was barely any flavor to most of it. The most flavorful item was probably the broccolini, however it could've used more garlic. The creamy polenta dish was surprisingly bland, but it improved slightly by adding the oil and onions left over from the broccolini.

My main item was the spaghetti and meatballs. Pretty basic, but I'd never had it here before and wanted to give it a try. The meatballs were alright, but the spaghetti was overcooked and there was barely any sauce. What little sauce there was had a watery consistency and lacked flavor. I was extremely disappointed. My partner got the spaghetti aglio e olio, which is her personal favorite. However, she too felt her spaghetti was overcooked, mushy even. While her meal tasted better than mine it was also bland. It could have used more salt and A LOT more garlic.

I normally don't leave long reviews, but I am doing so today because we felt so let down. I don't know what the cause of this could be, but it's certainly out of character for this usually wonderful restaurant. I'm hoping our next visit is miles better, but that may be in the distant future after today's...

This is a 6 month delayed review for this restaurant. We were in Idyllwild when our home burned down in January and unfortunately ate at this restaurant. I ordered the chicken which came out fully charred on the outside and raw on the inside. I ate a few pieces and realized it was severely undercooked. I asked the server to take it back. She saw that it was undercooked and brought it inside. A few moments later she came out offering limoncello and dessert to compensate for the experience.. so I wasn’t going to eat? The least they could offer was to comp the dish. Which is what we told her, that limoncello and dessert isn’t going to make up for it and that we need to speak to a manager. A manager came out to speak to us followed by a the chef, who we later found out was the owner of the restaurant. The most condescending and unapologetic person you’ll meet in the town. He told us that the chicken wasn’t undercooked even though it had texture of rubber and smelled like raw chicken. The manager told him that it was in fact undercooked. Once he heard that he said that it’s organic chicken so it’s not a problem. My wife understandably was upset but never was rude. He continuously kept cutting us off as we were talking and he eventually told my wife to “calm down”. The absolute worst customer service. After a long back and forth he agreed to comp our meal. It should go without saying. No one should pay for undercooked chicken. Last thing we needed was for one of us to feel sick because this restaurant served raw chicken. After that he came back to our table a few more times and continued to make facetious comments. How can you not take ownership of the mistake made? How can you not make your customers feel better by making it right by them. Absolutely...