Harvest Moon Ojai Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Ojai

Tried this place for the first time yesterday for lunch. The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived, and they had 3 servers working.

We were served by a friendly curly haired young man. We ordered an iced tea, black coffee, salmon tacos (good) grilled veggie sandwich (ok) and the butternut squash soup (good).

The server brought our water and food fairly quickly, but no coffee or tea. I followed up on the coffee and tea three times (with two separate servers) before we finally received the coffee. I again followed up on the iced tea and was told it's coming.

Having still not received our iced tea, I saw and heard our server tell another server it was slow and he was leaving for the day.. did not hand us off to another server, just left.

We were nearly done with our meal when I noticed an ice tea sitting on the expo counter (the remaining two servers were folding napkins and standing at the front counter seemingly oblivious). Shortly after another guest sat down next to us (the serve folding napkins told him to sit himself) and ordered an iced tea (the server folding napkins came to take his order).

One of the servers I had originally flagged down to follow up on my iced tea (the one folding napkins) took the iced tea from the counter (which was there before new guest arrived) and I assumed was on his way to my table when he past us and took the tea to the guest who just arrived.

As he was walked back past our table, I asked if he was sure that wasn't my tea. He stared at me blankly and said "did you order an iced tea?" (!?!) I said yes... 30 min ago.. and have followed up on it three times including with you (!?). He said well do you still want an iced tea? At this point we were fully done with our meal, so I said no. Just take it off the check please. We paid and left. No apology.

All of that is to say, the service here is awful. And based on the other reviews, forgetting to bring drinks is a trend here. The food is pretty good, and the patio is cute, but I will not be eating here again. If you do, I recommend you order to go and stick...

I'm an extremely avid traveler and have had my fair share of good, bad, and ugly dining experiences. This was the absolute worst I've had, followed by Tres Hermanas just down the street.

The server who took our order at the counter didn't even have his iPad plugged in, so it died while my partner was trying to pay. The $16 Bloody Maria was borderline undrinkable and I wouldn't be surprised if they forgot to put any booze in it.

But the service was the worst part. You don't get a number or anything after you order and seat yourself, so the servers seemingly rely on their (poor) memory to figure out when to bring your food. As for drinks and even cutlery, you'll have to remind them, probably several times, to bring it and simply hope they remember to. And if you dare to let your server know they might have made a mistake, as a couple of diners sitting near us did, the manager might come out and sternly lecture you about how you were actually mistaken about what you had ordered.

Do not waste your time or money. Unfortunately this seems to be a feature, not a bug, of dining in...

Great service during Ojai Day busyness. Popped in for a bite to go. I'd been before for drinks ages ago and had been meaning to return.

Both times staff was pleasant, attentive, smart (sharp and, yes noticeably, well smart and in top of things), helpful with selections, patient and prompt. All while being cheerful and a dash of witty. Refreshing right?

Now the food. Ordered the chicken and waffles and oh boy was I glad. Just yum. Juicy chicken without a huge layer of batter. No it was just right. The right amount of sweet syrup on a waffle that tasted really good (unlike many that have that bland or baking powder taste.) When I crave this comfort food this is where I'll be heading.

Ordered fries to share back at the mural painting. Those went over well too. Not overly fried though crispy and that seasoning. Got a tummy ache from eating too many. Portion size is perfect.

Iced tea was great (coming from someone who is picky about iced tea.)

They have outside seating and being next to the park is nice. There's inside seating though not sure if it's limited...