Ranch House BBQ & Steakhouse — Restaurant in Tumwater

• HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! * Been wanting to come here for sometime so when we had an opportunity being in the area we jumped at it. It was early afternoon on a Sunday in May. Wasn't too busy which was unexpected because I heard this place was notorious for having lines out the door. Really neato outside and inside. Looks just like a BBQ road house taken right out of the Texas pan handle. Lots of BBQ memorabilia and awards on the walls and the usual expected slightly smokey smell throughout the establishment. We were quickly seated and offered drinks. I got a soda and my GF a Bedford's Root Beer in a bottle, a very smooth root beer.

My GF had been here before a number of years ago before the fire that put them out of business for a while so she was anxious to try a bit of everything to see if anything had changed. We were not disappointed. Ordered the fried macaroni & cheese balls as a starter. For the main meals, I got a pulled pork slider w/two sides-- cole slaw and baked beans. GF got brisket sandwich with upgraded sides for extra $$-garlic fries & chili. First, the fried macaroni & cheese balls had a delicious crunchy, herb coating. Macaroni was creamy and smooth. I personally like a little kick (like jalapeno) to my macaroni but no knock there. That's just my personal preference. Pulled pork sandwich was perfection. Expertly BBQed, incredible flavor and velvety smooth meat on top of a kaiser style bun. Sides were just as good as the main BBQ entrée. Baked beans just amazing! One of the best I've ever had and I can see why it won awards. Cole slaw was flavorful with a good crunch. Not creamy, more of a vinaigrette style mix which is a nice change. The brisket was so incredible. BBQed to perfection with amazing smooth flavor. Very much appreciate it wasn't fatty which my GF just hates and is typical of some BBQ places allow too much fat to be served on the meat. Not here. TY! Garlic fries are homemade, large cut bowling alley style and delicious. Chili just stands on a pedestal of its own and could have just had that for a meal. Rich, meaty, tangy medium heat chili. Also award-winning for good reason. It was all so good we atypically stuffed ourselves an still had leftovers. In retrospect we could have shared a plate since we're not big meal eaters.

A few final notes--1) Come with a BIG appetite because the portions are huge! Or expect to take some home. 2) The BBQ sauce was a Carolina Sweet which was excellent. My GF likes that style while I prefer a more smokey, mesquite sauce which they did not offer. Having two styles of BBQ sauce to choose from would be a nice add. 3) Minor knock-they charge for anything extra you ask for. Some extra ranch? $$ Cha-ching... want some extra pickles?-$$ cha-ching. Really?? These should be complimentary.

I can't understate how awesome of a BBQ experience this was. The Ranch House BBQ & Steakhouse is a MUST for all...

Short version is down below.. Being from Texas, this place wasn't it. We started off with fries and they were pretty good. No complaints there. My wife got the sampler and I got the other sampler that came with a hotlink. The hotlink was obviously boiled, cut open and then thrown on a grill to make the impressions. Nothing was smoked. They have the smokers and wood out there but absolutely nothing was smoked. The brisket had no flavor to it because again, it wasn't smoked. The chicken was crazy juicy and tender. The pork was bland but was pull apart tender. The rib was tough and dry. It was lacking flavor aside from the sauce. There's an old saying down in Texas, if you have to use sauce on your meat, then it's not done right. I had to drown the meat in sauce. It was greasy. Smoked meat shouldn't be greasy. If you baked it in a pan, it will be greasy. There were also no smoke rings on any of the meat. Again, there are smokers and wood out front but it was obvious it was for the look. The slaw is not slaw, it's cabbage with vingarette. The beans were baked beans with bbq sauce added. The potato salad had olives in it which gave it a weird flavor but it was still good, just unexpected. The cornbread was moreso a corn muffin but it was actually pretty good. Add a bit of honey and it was the best thing on the plate. The service here was absolutely top notch especially for it being busy.

Short version: I give it 2 stars because the service was exceptional but the food was bad.. It was greasy and obviously not smoked despite having smokers and...

We spent the weekend at the ocean for my birthday. My husband wanted to treat me to a great ribeye steak and so we stopped here. We ordered the ribeye which says it is a pound. The cost was HIGH at $38, but he wanted to treat me. I assumed that there would be plenty left over for lunch the next day. I ordered my ribeye medium well. When it came, the first four bites were just plain fat. I mentioned to the waitress that it was really fatty. Then, when I got to the meat, it was red and runny. My husband is okay with that, so we traded and his was closer to medium well. Unfortunately, it was also more fat then meat. Any normal cook would have cut off the massive amount of fat on one end of both steaks.... both were closer to 6-8 ounces of actual meat. Ribeye is supposed to be well marbled--that's what makes it taste yummy! It isn't supposed to come with two inches of fat on one end and more on the other. The steak itself had a nice smoky taste, but didn't chew like a ribeye. I'm a small eater and it was easy to finish the meat portion, because it wasn't large. I showed the waitress the amount of fat left on my plate at the end of my meal--close to 1/2 of the steak, and she said, "Next time you come, ask for a less fatty piece." Really? The beans were tasty, but really hot. My husband likes spicy, and he didn't finish his. The potato salad was ok. All in all, we won't be back. It sort of ruined my birthday weekend. Maybe the other...