The Oak — Restaurant in Ojai

I was really excited to try The Oak for brunch. My fiancee took me here this morning for my birthday and she put so much thought into it. She called ahead a week ago, and the staff member she spoke was very lovely. She said he asked if we were celebrating anything special, asked if we had any dietary restrictions (we are both vegetarians, which she told him) and he said great! There are tons of vegetarian options on the menu. My fiancee was so excited to surprise me and really put a lot of effort into planning a special day.

When we got there though, the hostess told us it was the Sunday brunch buffet only and asked us if we were aware...we were a bit taken aback since my fiancee had talked to the restaurant just a few days ago and they never mentioned anything about a buffet. Also, a buffet during COVID??? Not ideal.

We went ahead and rolled with the punches and decided to just do the buffet since we already drove all the way out there.

We aren't big buffet people normally and the buffet definitely didn't win us over. We thought the buffet would at least be served by staff to control everyone touching the serve ware but nope, you walk into a small, congested room, no crowd control, no requiring hand sanitizer and everyone is just swarming the food.

Everyone was touching the tongs, breathing over the food (masks were required at least but noses were out) and standing shoulder to shoulder while waiting to get what was at best, lukewarm brunch food that looked like it was cooked for the masses.

I ended up getting an omelette made because at least the guy behind the omelette station made it for me and I didn't have to touch anything. I never eat omelettes but it felt like the only thing I felt safe with. It was mediocre at best. Not what I would have ever ordered normally.

Everything at the Ojai Valley Inn made us feel like we were at the 5 star resort it is, except brunch at The Oak. There was nothing special about it, the staff didn't go above and beyond (except when my fiancee called to make the reservation) and the buffet and execution of it was really disappointing and unsanitary.

Not the best way to start my birthday but at least my fiancee and I laughed it all off and enjoyed each others company (and the boozy lavender lemonades). We will definitely be back to the Ojai Valley Inn but never to the...

During the week of 7-31 to 8-4 this year my Company Humana had a President Club Trip to this resort where we stayed 5 days and 4 nights. I must say this place ruined my trip for me, several others, and my wife especially since she had to take care of me. On the night of August 2nd we ate at The Oak Kitchen and I had the Lobster Pasta dish, my wife had the Sea Bass, others had the Scallops and Braised Short ribs. Of the 9 people at the table 7 of us got food poisoned and were hugging the toilet all night. We all had the same symptoms which was diarrhea, fever, fatigue, and body aches. It was the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life and to be food poisoned at such an expensive resort and on top of that during a company trip you worked hard to earn. To have it ruined like this is utterly unacceptable and my poor wife had to call for a wheel chair for because I was so sick and exhausted I couldn’t even walk when we flew out on Friday. I missed out on several events my job had because we slept all day Thursday and up til our departure on Friday trying to recover. And my gut is built like a brick but this thing put me down and even gave me acute pneumonia. I don’t mean to sound so drastic and ugly but this ruined my trip and it takes a lot of hard work from both me and my wife to make a President Club trip. So I feel robbed and angry because we have 7 kids and my wife doesn’t get away often enough to have her trip ruined by this contaminated kitchen. So I don’t recommend anyone eat here. And there are several people who can verify this...

We came in for my birthday lunch yesterday and let me first start off by saying beautiful setting, so one star for that. The menu looked great however after waiting at our table for over 20 minutes we had to ask the host for a server. The server came and took our drink and food (1 appetizer, 3 entrees) order because we were beginning to feel rushed at this point and returned with our drinks over 20 minutes later. In that second 20 minute window, we asked her about the status of our drinks and food, but received a bit of a nonchalant response, “the kitchen messed up and got backed up.” We did eventually receive our drinks along with our one appetizer we ordered, however after the drinks and appetizer arrived there was a 30 minute window of nothing. I not only mean nothing like not just food or water refills, I mean I think our server was avoiding our table, because after 30 minutes of nothing we went to the host, cancelled our food, and asked for the bill because a 70 minute lunch is a long lunch, it’s even longer when you’ve only made it through the first course and have no idea the status of your entree. Again it was my birthday and my family lives in LA so meeting in Ojai was a halfway point and we had something else planned 2 and a half hours after our lunch which would seem like ample time anywhere else. I was definitely bummed because I’ve heard great things and was looking...