Food: 3/5
Service: 5/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Parking: 3/5
Family friendly: 5/5
Stroller friendly: 5/5
River Ranch is a nice little hidden gem in downtown Riverside when the old Slater 50/50 used to be. We came here on New Year's Eve, Eve around 7 pm or so. I'm a sucker for service and at this time the service was excellent and very accommodating. Citlaly was our waitress and she was phenomenal. There was a super chill DJ playing a variety of music to get people in the groove of things.
We ordered quickly and got a 3 protein River Ranch combo with tri- tip, brisket and chicken. ($37.95). Brisket needed to be smoked longer and have more bark because it was a bit dry. Tri-tip was decent and chicken was so so. We also ordered chicken nachos ($18.95) and they were decent as well. Just seemed like a lot of the food is for fast consumption, almost like bar food. ( Which is not bad, but for the price could've been better). Stars of the show though were the cocktails. However I did get a mezcal old fashion that was $25, which I think probably could've been the same price as the regular old fashion $13-15. But anyway, it was good.
Overall, not a bad place to come by. Next time I drop in maybe the food quality will catch up to the price and ambiance.