I went there last night for my birthday because the place I wanted to go was unexpectedly closed. Honestly, I was not expecting much. I'm practically a vegetarian but decided to go for a steak since it was a celebratory day and all. I ordered the sirloin. I might as well have ordered the ribeye- there was so much fat on my steak. I ordered my steak medium well. I do like my steak on the medium side but find that some places tend to go more rare when you order it medium. I think my steak ranged anywhere from medium well to medium rare- honestly, if you are a steakhouse, shouldn't you know how to cook a steak? The salad bar is large but nothing amazing. The cream of mushroom soup tasted like it came from a can. Sure the salad bar is large but I'd rather go to Inn of the Mountain Gods and get unlimited everything. read more

Good steak, good salad bar, good service what else do you want? Oh yeah, our server jenni did a good job. Cheers y'all

Always good. The service varies but it's to be expected. The steaks were cooked perfectly. The salad bar is awesome! This place is the best in town for sure! We will go again! read more

Worst steak we have ever eaten! Ribeye was very over cooked, chewy, flavorless and tasted like an old grill. $25 piece of crap. Ranch at salad bar is watered down! Not going to make the mistake of eating there twice.. read more

We are visiting from Texas and tried this place for dinner. The service was very bad and the food was below par specially for the prices. The salad bar is the best thing on the menu. We order the half chicken, ribeye and chicken pasta. The salad bar is there way to go if you have to eat here because all other place close way to early. read more

Went here for my birthday. The steak was very good, and exactly medium rare as I ordered. Service was a little slow, but then they were busy. Top notch salad bar! read more

Food tastes good!! Good salad bar as well. Very clean restaurant. This seems to be a popular restaurant here in Ruidoso. But, it is pricey.

We have been eating here for almost 20 years. 3 years ago we purchased a home in Alto, NM and had been eating here at least once per week. Week before last we went in for lunch and were shocked at the pricing changes. We ate lunch that day but haven't been back since and won't be going back. I used to love their Chicken Strips for lunch. 4 large strips of white meat with gravy and French fries. I believe it was $8.95. The same thing now is $15.25 and you are forced to eat either a Caesar Salad or the salad bar. For me, way too much food for lunch and certainly too high a price. Perhaps the higher prices will help their bottom line but perhaps not. In our case, they will enjoy 100% of nothing. Very disappointed. read more

The place was really popular. My coworker and I both had a prime rib. His was undercooked, and mine had all life was cooked out of it. I had to work to eat it. Salad bar was good, a had a great tomato bisque. read more

Everything from our server (Caleb) to my prime was excellent! Don't forget to add on the salad bar!!! Very very pleased with this place and will definitely come back here to eat again! A must stop when in Ruidoso read more

On our latest trip to Ruidoso we as usual had a late lunch at CBs. First the good: the salad bar was excellent as usual. The green chilies corn chowder was excellent. The green chilie stew, our favorite was outstanding. The chicken fried steak was good. Now the bad: service was horrible, waiter preferred to flirt with a couple of girls rather than be a waiter. When we asked for ketchup, he was rather rude. The French dip was horrible. Way to thick of slices and the meat tasted old. The au jus was good however. When we complained, the manager just ignored us. We asked for a "doggie bag", and were given some containers to box our own and no bag to put everything into. We have been coming here forever, and will return, but sad to see CB not up to their usual standards.... read more

This place exceeded my expectations. Great service to the point where our server, Ananda, noticed my husband's steak wasn't cooked the way he asked before she even put it on the table. A new one came in about a minute. I had the grilled chicken Caesar salad and my son had the teriyaki chicken. All delish! The restaurant needs a face lift which is why I didn't give it 5 stars. read more

Good steak not up to Texas style or taste. Good salad bar. Prices are a little high for what you get. Exceptional waitress. We were looking for some information on Hatch peppers and she was so kind to call her Grandmother for what we needed, read more

Not great. Ribeye was fatty & too much gristle. Tiny baked sweet potato. Soup on salad bar lukewarm. Had to ask for broccoli/cauliflower salad. Server very friendly & accommodating. Rather give her the $25 they charged for mediocre meat! read more

Was there early for 1130am opening feb 15th. Service was good but the kabob my wife ordered for lunch was very rare when she ordered medium. The server Gabriel was responsive and friendly did a very good job. Cooks were not on their game as mentioned with the kabobs. They should spend less time bullshitting with each other and spend more time focused on the work. read more

Salad bar is clean & well stocked. My son ordered prime rib and it was very good. Guess it all depends on what you order. I ordered shrimp scampi and I wasn't impressed. Shrimp were cold when they came out. Over all I would eat there again but it won't be my 1st choice. read more

Everytime I come to snowboard we eat here. Great service, steaks are always cooked the way I ask, and the salad bar is off the hook. Love this place! Cant wait till next year. read more

quality has gone down since I first ate there a few years ago. The steaks we got (lunch special) were full of grizzle, not a lot of meat. baked potato seemed warmed over. Salad bar was good, but would be nice to have more veggies (radishes, carrots, celery, cabbage) and not quite so many macaroni, bean salads. The soups were not kept full, but the potato soups I ate was very good. I should have just stayed with that! read more

Every time I've been in Cattle Baron in the last year they have been out of numerous main specials and key ingredients for other dishes. It's disappointing because there really is room in the Ruidoso market for a nice steakhouse/seafood restaurant that isn't straight from Texas, but it's just not a reliable place to eat anymore. read more

Update: we've given Cattle Baron several chances and are continuously disappointed. You can go there if you are looking for a decent steak but that's about it. Definitely get the salad bar some there's so much to choose from. Honestly we ate more from the salad bar than any of our entrées. The hamburgers are not cooked to order. The chicken alfredo had no seasoning (could have been better if we'd bought jarred sauce at the grocery store). Service is good but not worth the price of food. read more

Waited over a half hour for a table in an empty restaurant. Seems they could not figure out how to serve a larger party. Were told our table was ready, stood there and watched hostess and waiter argue about who should clear the table. Service with a snarl! Ordered a beer (twice) that I never got. Once we got our food, we never saw our waiter again, someone else brought the check by. Food was horrid, place was dirty. Never offered desert. read more

I had the salad bar, and it was very good. Lots of choices. Hubby had club steak and Caesar salad It was all.pretty good. Service was good. read more

We have always had a good meal here and the salad bar is second to none. Steaks are great obviously,. Cattle Baron! Would definitely return again. read more

Service was good. Salad bar was great. Kids spaghetti portion was small. Sirloin lacked taste but cooked perfectly. Catfish poca-something was great. Would come again. read more

They don't "accept" a vertical ID??? This place is ridiculous! And the manager said "I don't care if you leave".... horrible horrible service... no stars... if I could read more

Sunday, Feb 21, wife and my 31st anniversary. Went to CB, got here about 2:00. There was no one at the host station, but the manager seated us in about 30 seconds or so after we arrived. So far, so good. Ordered a stuffed, bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer. It was weird. 5 wrapped shrimp on a single wood skewer like a kabob, and served aver rice with little bowls of ranch dressing and pico de gallo. Weird. And the waitress did not give us small individual plates on which one would eat an appetizer. Weird. And it wasn't just us. The couple at a nearby table also ordered an app and did not get individual plates! Salad bar was fine, not great. Blue cheese dressing MIGHT have had some blue cheese in it, but I sure couldn't tell. Now the food comes. Wife had a baked potato with her steak, but no butter and sour cream that she had asked for. Another server was at the next table, and wife asked him about the butter and sour cream, and he replied (exact quote) "That's your server's fault", then he walked away! As he was leaving I asked weren't we supposed to get bread? His response was (again, direct quote) "that's your server's fault too" and he walked away. Wife ordered her steak medium, it was between rare and mid-rare. Better than overdone! My chicken fried steak was very good. Reasons for 2 stars instead of 1? My CFS, and the fact that when we (politely) complained, management seemed to be actually concerned and offered free deserts. Won't go back. read more

Wow. What an unexpected downer. Ratty, dirty, kinda run-down interior. Employees just glanced at us when we first came in and didn't seat us until I cleared my throat loudly multiple times. Sat at bar table for quite a while, as groups of servers/employees were loudly joking & playing around. Finally a manager or assistant manager (who obviously was letting the inmates run the asylum) took our drink order just seconds before we were going to leave. SO our drinks come & my wife's glass had some funky pink stuff on her glass & get this.. HER STRAW! I mean how does a new straw get dirty?! Eww. Thank you no. Sad because we have had nothing but great experiences at the El Paso locations. read more

This place was actually pretty good. In spite of the mixed reviews we decided to try it out and were not disappointed. I had a ribeye that was cooked exactly how I ordered it ,sides were very tasty as well. The only down side was the service. The place was not too busy but our server was apparently overwhelmed, ended up being served by a manager type person. Will probably go back. read more

Meh. My husband both ordered ribeye. He ordered the 14oz cooked medium. It came out medium rare. I ordered the smaller one cooked medium rare and it was medium plus. His was actually pretty good. Mine not so much. I ordered the mixed steamed veggies. They were barely cooked and so cold that when I added butter to the top it wouldn't melt. My husband told our waitress Jenna that it was my birthday and she said she'd order a friend ice cream for me. When it got time to leave, my husband had gone to the men's room. She asked if I wanted to order dessert? I wasn't going to demand my dessert. I really don't need it anyway but still. If you are going to offer something, then follow through. I grabbed a few strawberries from the salad bar and we left. Salad bar was pretty good though there were a bunch of kids unsupervised helping themselves. read more

This Place Has an Above Average Steak, With a Nice Salad Bar Included With Your Steak Entree. The Prices Could Be Steeper Since It's Located In A Tourists Town, But They Fair With Big Chain Steakhouses. The Service Was Upbeat Along With The Atmosphere. I Ordered N.Y. Strip Steak With A Side Of Catfish, And Appetizer Of Jumbo Shrimp Wrapped With Bacon, All In All The Meal Was Very Appetizing, Don't Expect A 5 Star Meal Here. I Would Recommend Eating Here Again. read more

Was there two nights ago. Service was great, food was OK. A good bit of my rib eye was gristle which I left on my plate. But they did cook it blue rare as I asked. Everything else was OK. Salad bar is good but the person who said it's amazing has never even been to golden corral. Tonight the service was pretty bad. I had to ask for my drink twice while D was joking with coworkers right in front of me then he tried to tell me he was entering orders into the register. I'm sure they only gave me half a pound of crab legs instead of a full pound and I asked about it but D assured me it was a pound. Maybe. I had to ask for my bread which they are supposed to bring out for all dinners. It was bad enough I only tipped 5 on a 45 dollar bill.. I hate doing it but oh well. I won.t be back. read more

My wife and I were at your restaurant over the Thanksgiving holiday, and we were reluctant to go there because of past experiences with the staff being inexperienced and slow to take our orders and poor service. We were pleasantly surprised when we were greeted by a wonderful waitress named Tori. She took the best of care of us and made our holiday better then we could have imagined. We will be coming back through town during Christmas time and will be sure to bring the family by cattle baron, thanks to her! read more

Just got into town after a long drive from Texas. We've eaten at the Cattle Baron's in Lubbock so was very familiar with their establishment. We were seated in Jennifer 's section, along with three other tables within five minutes of each other, poor planning on the hostess' part. We both ordered the salad bar only, which was pretty standard fare. Now what got the the five stars was Jennifer's service! She was always smiling, very attentive -even with so many demanding customers. (Not us but we could hear the other patrons.). read more

The Ol Cattle Baron is ok. Nothing to write home about, but the green chili wontons are top notch. The burgers, not so much. The beer was the freshest item on the menu. read more

Salad bar was the best part of the experience for Christmas dinner. Priime Rib (end cut) hard as a rock, food cold when presented, wife's Prime Rib slice ( supposed to be 8 0z.) was probably not a half inch thick...but "tasted OK". mashed potatoes were undoubtedly "instant"....Filthy conditions...Overall not a great experience. Doubt we would return .........and certainly not for Christmas dinner. read more

The freshest salad bar you can find. Great food in good portions. Wish we had one of these in Colorado where we are.

Being from Texas, I would say the steaks we had were very good. The service was very good, and the salad bar has brought me back just to have it for lunch, and even just for dinner. Good soups. Looks like the place needs a remodeling, as it looks worn. I was surprised though, for Ruidoso....a very good place to eat. read more

Steaks have no flavor and are consistently way overcooked. Save yourself some money, just chew on a boot and you'll get the same experience. read more

Terrible service and my chicken fried steak had so much excess breading on in that I could fill up a whole other plate with the excess breading told the manager and all he said was okay and shuke shook my mom's hand didn't do anything about it never going here again read more

Had lunch today 4/1/2015 with my mother awesome meal and David the waiter was nice to look at very professional Sam chavez read more