This was by far the worst meal I've experienced when we have visited Ruidoso. The salad bar was good, as usual, however the rest of the meal was pathetic. My '10 oz.' ribeye was lukewarm, even though it was cooked medium-well and the vegetables were cold & tasteless. I sent my meal back, just to heat a little, however it took 15+ minutes to get my meal back. The rest of the table had FINISHED their meal long before mine was brought back. The vegetables came back steaming, but still tasteless. The steak was no where close to even being 6 oz., let alone 10. It took even longer to have our server come back to bring the check. We couldn't leave! Absolutely awful - never going back. read more

It was very busy when we went but got seated fairly quickly. I would suggest more than one bartender because she was way overworked! Our food was great, the green chili wontons were awesome. Salad bar was solid and stocked. I wish I could remember our servers name, she was such a treat! read more

Salad Bar has quite the array, particularly of prepared cold salads which don't just taste like the same recipe on different platforms. Service was okay...atmosphere okay....can't see going there for a $25 steak though. read more

The service was perfect. The staff extra friendly and the food was out of this world. Home Run!!! Must eat here.

The 30 minute wait for a table was to be expected on a Saturday evening. Loosing our order was not to be expected. The 45 minute wait for them to figure they lost our order gave me ample opportunity to evaluate to the overall condition of the restaurant- dirty floor and a heavy accumulation of dust on the light fixture above our table. When the food finally arrived it was merely average. The restaurant made no concessions regarding the bill, etc. Needless to say this is the first and last time we will dine at Cattle Barons. read more

So disappointed. ....i was so looking forward to a great ribeye from Cattle Baron. Absolutely no flavor at all. My husband ordered the teriyaki kabob. .it was ok. I know restaurants change but this old favorite really was disappointing. read more

I called then last nite to see if reservations were required. The lady said yes. I then asked what would be the next available reservation for 3 people. She said 6:30. I told her that was great, gave her my phone number and headed to the restaurant. We arrived early in order to have a cocktail, but was told by the hostess we did not have a reservation, but could be put on the list. I pointed out that my name was in fact on her sheet for 3 people and she responded by giving me a lecture on their reservation policy. The group standing behind me were uncomfortably amused. I left. read more

I haven't been to a cattle baron in a few years so when my family came on vacation I thought what a good choice. The wait to be seated was awful but its after Thanksgiving so we get it. There were not too many items to choose from but when we did they came back and said because of the romaine recall we needed to change our item. They where awesome about making us happy customers because we were not gping to the salad bar with all those people in there touching everything. I do appreciate the service we had and how accomidating the server and manager were with us. Keep up the good work. read more

We've since had a delicious steak at Grill Caliente, so see no reason to ever waste our money at this 'steakhouse'.

The staff was great except for the manager (Lyle) I think he said his name. I ordered soup and salad bar which comes with a big bowl. My husband got up and went to serve himself and the manager didn't let him get a bowl. The waitress brought me the bowls. The manager started banging the his broom on the metal part of the salad bar. I looked up and asked him what his problem was? He got in my face yelling saying I had to pay for that. I told him "I am ","talk to my waitress "!!! He looked wired (cocaine). He yelled in front of staff "oh you bet you are"!!! All this happened in front of my kids. Corporate can ask staff working 7/21/19 at 2. read more

We like Cattle Baron's unlike some other reviews read here. It is hard to pass up the Salad Bar and order anything in addition to it. What an amazing selection of items from which to choose. Macaroni salad is a favorite. On our 2nd visit, we went for steaks which were also great. A long time tradition and one which we always frequent when in town. This is no 'tre sheik' restaurant. To us it is a salad bar and coke restaurant. For that it is a must visit. read more

We were impressed with the salad bar and the steak. I only have two complaints, the bread tasted weird so we didn't eat it and I ordered a baked potato and for some reason sour cream wasn't anywhere to be found. But I will be back because my steak was perfect and I love the salad bar options. I would recommend and when family comes in town we will be taking them there. read more

Great salad bar. However I found the dinner, mine was a ribeye and baked potato, extremely disappointing. For the price I paid, I got a steak that was cold, under seasoned and quite chewy. The baked potato was also cold. The atmosphere was extremely noisy. I won't be coming here in the evening again. I may stop for lunch because like I stated in the beginning, they do have a great salad bar. read more

Good quantity of food but the quality was sub-par. I also saw multiple health code violations by way of cleanness of the waitstaff. I forced myself not to even think about what might be going on behind the scenes. Definitely won't go back. read more

This place was dirty, my shoes stuck to the floor in front of the salad bar and our booth was dirty. The waiter was nice. The food was too salty and cold. Won't go back. read more

I've been coming to this Cattle Baron (Ruidoso) ever since the 80s!!! It has always been very good. Tonight was really extra good. We had the chopped steak with salad bar ... the bread is unbelievably good ... Matthew our server was very sincere and helpful. As much as I LOVE this place, and I do ... it does need some renovation ... otherwise, a must when in Ruidoso. read more

First time in over a decade visiting a Cattle Baron in Ruidoso or Portales. Service was great, food was quite tasty including excellent salad bar, but food to table was very slow. read more

A great old fashioned style steak house with a big salad bar. My steak was really tender and juicy despite me ordering it well done (I can't remember getting well done that wasn't tough and dry). The staff was really friendly and helpful. A great experience! read more

While in Ruidoso for Couple weeks we ate here on two occasions. Salad bar is not what it use to be they have cut back on several items. The soups are almost always out or at the bottom and they ya e nothing to replace it with. The major problem here is the building itself. This is the nastiest place I've been in town. The carpet, booths the tables and chairs the walls, missing handrails with hole in the sheet rock walking up the stairs. It's time to shut down and remodel. The food is still not bad it's just a terrible atmosphere. read more

Our family eats at Cattle Barons any time we have the opportunity. It has been a long standing tradition for decades. The food is consistently appetizing and healthy. We love the oversized salad buffet, so many options that even our children love the choices! The bar has great drinks readily available. We don't go to this restaurant expecting to be in and out in 30 minutes, we save that for McDonald's. We enjoy our time here as a family and do not rush the experience. read more

This location is better than the 2 El Paso locations, which I am from. The service was excellent, ask for Victoria she is nice and attentive. The only difference that I noticed, was some of the prices were a dollar more. Salad bar was 9.95 in El Paso it's 8.95, chicken breast was like 7.95 in El Paso it's 6.95. But I loved the salad bar, chicken breast was good but too salty for my taste. My partner ordered the Prime Rib, also good but you have to eat it fast or else you will have cold meat. I would come back again and try something new! read more

We came hungry and heard about the salad bar which didnt disappoint us! The pozole was delicious and the salad bar had all the fixings for a hearty delicious fresh salad, plus all you can eat soup and dessert! I left stuffed! My husband had an awesome chicken fried steak and my sister in law had delicious catfish. We all were more than satisfied and will defInAtely be coming back here for another great meal soon! read more

Food is great, especially steak. If you are vegetarian then you'll find the best salad bar in town here. Everything from fruit to soup. We stocked, you won't leave hungry. Only negative is walking out the front door to have smoke in your face from employees taking a break-it would be best if they were 25-50 feet from the door. read more

Has fallen off in my opinion. Still has a good salad bar. I had a Rio Pollo that was Dist inedible. So tough and tasteless . Bread served before hand good as usual. Service was somewhat friendly but waited for my entre overly long and it was not busy. read more

This place is horrible. Unless you like your steak burned beyond recognition pass on this place.

This used to be one of our favorite places to eat in Ruidoso, but we will never be back. After waiting to be seated for half an hour we continued to watch tables that had come in after us being seated before us. Then when we were finally seated they stuck us at the absolute worst table in the restaurant. Sorry, but we'd rather not sit next to the server station where all of the employees are noisily working, especially not when the tables that came in after us and were seated before us are enjoying their nice quiet booths. read more

Cold, Tough Prime Rib Went there on Saturday, 13 Oct 2018 & ordered the bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer, two prime ribs, a french dip, and chicken fried steak. The shrimp by far were the best part of the meal. The prime ribs -- there's no way those were prime cuts; rather, they must be passing off choice or a lesser cut and selling it at a prime price. They were both too tough to cut with a knife, served cold to the touch, and grey. The chicken fried steak was nothing special, was soggy and the batter was falling off. The french dip was okay. The salad bar was fine. The seating area was dirty-- they had to clean the seats off before seating us, then there was still food and silverware left on the floor from previous patrons. Spoke with another patron who said they also returned their ribeyes as they were tough and improperly cooked. I don't see how they were so busy -- touristy I guess. We won't be returning. read more

These folks do NOT know how to cook a steak. Ribeye was leather bound. Sorry will not repeat.

Had an experience today at this restaurant that was unbelievable. We were going to horse races when we wanted something quick and easy and we knew Cattle Baron was on the way. So most of people in my group just wanted the salad bar. And I have to say they have an amazing salad bar. But I had their chicken fried steak. It was on their lunch menu and was good priced. OMG. The steak filled up my whole plate. It is one if the best ones I have eaten in quite a while. Everybody enjoyed their meal. Plus our server Tracy was amazing. The best service I ever had. She always made sure my yea glass was full. Plus as a bonus she was cute too. Next time I am in town here again I plan to stop in and get a steak. Hope Tracy is there to wait on me. read more

The prime rib was good. The service excellent. The saladj bar had unripe melons and very tart sour grapes. I think if the fruit is not ready, leave it off the salad bar. Because that was the last thing I ate it colored my review read more

I ate at cattle barons last night. I ordered a prime rib rare. They brought me a med. rare piece of meat. I asked the waiter if he could do any thing about it. He said no. I started to cut into it and the manager showed up. She said she had overheard our conversation, and said she could get everything fixed. She took my plate and came back with the best looking rare prime rib I have ever seen. I eat here often. Try the lunch specials. read more

The salad bar was good. The steaks ordered for dinner were grossly under cooked and had zero flavor. The medium ordered steaks were purple and the medium rare steaks had no red in them at all. The onion rings came out mid meal and were cold. The service was not good and we had to find tea and water pitchers to refill our own drinks. This was a terrible dining experience and I should have took the advise from the other posters on Yelp about this restaurant. read more

I was pleasantly surprised by Cattle Baron--I think I was equating it to Golden Coral and didn't ever want to give it a chance. That was way off. The salad bar is good--I'm not as big of a fan as other people I've met. It's big with lots of options, and it's groomed well. The salad itself could use less iceberg lettuce, but maybe that's just me--it was crisp and fresh. Got a med rare prime rib cooked perfectly, with their whiskey sauce. Loved every bit of it. Got veggies for sides--nothing amazing but I've certainly had worse. Will definitely be going back read more

In short, disgusting and nasty. When we were seated, there was salad wrapped in a napkin and tossed under our table. There was food from previous occupants still stuck to the table. The salad bar was an absolute wreck and things that should have been cold were not. The food arrived - prime rib - and it was cold. The mashed potatoes didn't have any butter, cream or even salt. If you want a steak, go to K-Bobs. My husband got sick, I refused to eat most of the stuff on the salad bar because it was in such poor condition. The worst part was the manager running around and blatantly ignoring the poor sanitation. read more

Any time I get to Ruidoso I have to stop in for a ribeye and their amazing salad bar!! Very classy place with a good menu.

Prime rib was awesome! Salad bar huge! New York would receive a 2.5 stars, enough said.

The salad bar was fantastic, my ribeye steak which I ordered medium was cooked to perfection and was absolutely delicious. The baked potato was well loaded with all kinds of goodies. I loved this place, my only complaint is yes they are too pricey. It is not a fine dining restaurant, and the prices should not reflect as such. I feel they take advantage of tourists and visitors by charging too much for their steaks. read more

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

We have gone here at least once a year for years when we are in town and always had pretty good food and service. Last night however, both were not too hot. Our waitress while nice was rarely seen and we spent a lot of time waiting: for our drink order, drinks, food order, check, etc. My husband and I decided to split a medium prime rib. It came out well done and tasted like dry roast. Neither of us could eat more than a couple bites. I will say the salad bar was fresh and everything on it delicious! 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