Loved this place. Food. Music. Decor. Service. Get the oysters and the halibut and the flank steak and the pork chop - all good choices. This is how food and service should be done. Only thing I'd suggest is ordering early on bc the food is made to order and takes a bit to come out. read more

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Rory's is hands down the best dining experience I've ever had. The cozy atmosphere, lovely servers, and incredible food make it a place I take my friends when I want to share an unforgettable meal. Every visit feels like being welcomed by family! The food is truly unmatched--crafted with fresh, thoughtfully sourced ingredients from farmers they know, it's clear how much care and creativity goes into every dish and it makes every bite feel special. The menu always surprises me with exciting new options, but the steak is so delicious and unique that I order it almost every time--along with the marinated olives, a staple I simply can't resist. If you're looking for a truly one-of-a-kind dining experience, Rory's is it. 10/10 in every way! read more

We had an absolute wonderful dinner at Rory's this evening. We shared the chicken liver pate, the little gem salad, the french fries, the hanger steak, and the chicken. Everything was delicious!! Especially the little gem salad and the hanger steak. The salad was super fresh and crunchy and the steak just melted in my mouth. I love the flavors with the chicken as well. It's a really lovely venue. Sometimes it can feel very crowded there but on a weeknight by 8 o'clock it's not too hectic. Our server was phenomenal. So attentive and she gave us great recommendations for dinner. I can't wait to eat there again. read more

Excellent food and menu. I love this place. The service is excellent. The ambiance is cheerful and lively. But the food? That's amazing. Rotating seasonal specials that are creative and delicious that I was so pleasantly surprised by. I initially thought it was a bar and since I don't drink, I didn't consider it. A friend insisted I try it and I was so pleased. Great menu. Highly recommended! read more

Good/great broiled oysters -- typically I don't consume oysters but this time the they were different....? Great broil, over salt -- wonderful!! read more

Delicious food, had the chicken live pate, hanger steak, and pappardelle pasta. All were great, I probably enjoyed the pate and steak the best; the pasta was good although I felt it could have had a bit more sauce to it to add more depth of flavor. Be prepared for smaller portions and a pricey meal as the dishes are meant to be shared and add up quickly. Great wine selection as well too. Definitely make reservations. read more

Good food, good waitstaff, nice interface- haven't checked out the patio yet. Try the pate, oysters, any of the salads. Great drinks including nonalcoholic. Yeah, nice place! read more

The reviews don't lie! I am still giving Rory's 10/10 though. Just ignore the somewhat snooty staff. The staff really does act better-than-you, they don't approach things in a service mindset. If Rory's want these reviews to reflect good service, they might want to consider training staff for impeccable service. Friendliness, smiling, kindness, communication stills etc) BUT the foooood. Oh my goodness. Top 5 dining experiences in my life. So much flavor, bursting from everything. Things were well cooked, with inspired flavors. We closed with Parmesan ice cream and it was amazing! Just go. It's so very good. Keep a good attitude yourself and just know the staff is probably cooked from dealing with so many entitled people. read more

Can't go wrong coming here! The attention to detail is keen! I appreciate Colin for explaining the steak cooking process. My steak is always cooked perfectly when he is there! read more

Amazing staff amazing food. Most definitely one of the best things to happen in Ojai! read more

Rory's Place - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

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Great food. Not great service. We ordered an appetizer and then we ordered two entrées. First, they brought out one then several minutes later, they brought out the second entrée. They only brought the appetizer after the entrées after we had twice asked for it. But it was delicious. We paid the bill and then sat there a little little bit longer finishing up our second round of cocktails and making sure to drink all of our water.. We were moments away from getting up and leaving when our waitress came over and told us that they had another reservation that was waiting for our table so we had to leave. Had she literally waited two minutes we would've stood up and walked out on our own, but to tell us that we had to leave our table after spending $200 seems like really poor service. Not only that, but there were at least three empty tables. And you would think that they would have taken our appetizer off the bill considering we had to ask for it twice, and it wasn't brought to our table until after our entrées.. too bad Service wasn't better because the food was great, though rather expensive for the portions. read more

I love Rory's Place so much. Not only is it a beautiful space with a fantastic patio, but the food is consistently delicious. I recently got married and we had a very small dinner reception that was held at Rory's Place. Rory was incredibly helpful with guiding us to pre-order some dishes so things would be smooth sailing on the night of our wedding, and it all turned out incredible. Our family was SO impressed with everything. Rory's is a must-visit if you're in Ojai. read more

Such a fun and playful yet sophisticated restaurant! The passionfruit aguachiles were so tangy and delicious, a step above a usual aguachile. The flavor combination was something we'd never tried before. It's served with shrimp chips that crackle when you scoop the fresh fish on top, which was a little ASMR action that added to the pleasure of eating the dish. The customer service was great, our waitress Stephanie was attentive. Garnish at the raw bar is so sweet and served us some beautiful plates. You can tell they enjoy working at Rory's. Our only complaint is that our meals came out at different times, which we were informed about prior to ordering, so we ate separately. It makes sense if you're eating each meal family style but we weren't and the timing between the two meals was pretty significant. It feels great supporting a restaurant that serves creative and yummy dishes while using fresh, local and sustainable ingredients. We will definitely be coming back. read more

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Rory's is a scene to be sure - probably the only scene in Ojai, which is fine as it's a small town in the mountains. The service was great but the food was meh. The menu is very limited and somehow you can't order a glass of red wine from California - the only two on the menu were from France and Germany. That should be illegal. Anyways, the bill included a 3% surcharge for "employee health" which we took to mean the restaurant was shifting its healthcare obligations to its diners. I'm all for healthcare for everyone, but it's not my responsibility to pay for the healthcare of the employees (what services are being provided, do the owners get coverage from diners too, who is eligible,etc). I know it's California and all things progressive are condoned, but I wouldn't eat here again because I don't like mixing politics with my oysters. read more

Food is great. Hostess is horrible. I've been twice, both times with a reservation and wasn't seated for almost 30 minutes after the reservation time. The long wait with a reservation ruins the experience. read more

By far my favorite spot in our hometown. My only criticism is that the last two times we went all dishes were brought out at once instead of timing them out ...appetizer, salad, sides, main...which I feel is on the server mostly for putting the order in all at once and not spacing it out properly. That seems like something that doesn't need to be explained when ordering. We were still eating our chilled oyster appetizer when the main steak came out so fast and got cold because we were still eating our starters and salad. But, with that being said...I think service will improve and the quality of the food/drinks make up for it so it's not something that will stop me from saying this is my favorite place for a refreshing fun vibe and delicious food in Ojai. read more

Rory's Place - Nettle pesto gnocchi ...delicious! - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

Advice to future guests: ORDER EVERYTHING AT THE FIRST TOUCH (time the server comes to your table). Just send it. It's gonna be the only chance you get. Went to @rorys_place_ojai for a pre-valentines day dinner on a Monday night, ended up ordering OM Thai at the table for pickup. 7:15 reservation 15 minutes from sit to first table touch. (Got in an order for 2 drinks, olives, oysters) 45+ minutes for follow up/main orders. We walked. Looked like server had a split section on opposite sides of the house, and was fully sat. Multiple tables were leaving due to lack of service. That's not her fault. She was in the weeds. Kudos to the host for backup. This is a management/staffing problem. It's a quaint little place with a good menu (super bummed we didn't get to try anything) and a nice ambiance but there's some serious problems when tables are sitting and then leaving. The establishment needs to Learn to manage this restaurant better. Either train your staff to manage a higher volume or staff appropriately to meet the needs of your guests. Olives and oyster shooters were good. read more

Cute inside but veggie options were bad, my boyfriend calls this puddle water tortellini read more

Rory's Place - Gross looking gross tasting - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

Truly one of the best dining experience I've had in a while. Everything from the food (obv), the vibe (on a cold Sunday night!), the staff, the cocktails, the wine selection was absolutely perfect. You can tell a lot of intention and love is invested in making this place what it is. I hate myself for saying that but i consider myself a discerning restaurant-goer, and if Rory's place were in LA i would be a multiple times a week regular. read more

My first time thanks to my nephew and niece i am from out of town always nice to enjoy a great place you can always tell when whoever is running the place knows what they are doing I love that they support there local purveyors it really shows in the quality of the food . my complaints to the chef every thing was Done With real pride . Thanks for a great experience . Will definitely see you the next time I am here read more

One of the worst meals I've ever eaten way over priced, overly salted but lacking any flavor except salt and the pairing of foods were very strange and not in a good way. The fish taste like water and the baba ghanoush was inedible anyways had hopes for the spot hope it improves read more

Such an amazing dining experience! everything was so fresh and great tasting. would recommend the steak time and time again! read more

Rory's Place - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

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It's unclear if it's intentional satire, but they manage to fill the restaurant like the sardines they offer on the menu. Although the food appeared stunning, our dining experience left us wanting. Ordering the caviar was a surprise - served with a metal spoon instead of the traditional mother of pearl, potentially affecting the roe's taste. Resorting to using potato chips as our "spoon" was our workaround for this issue. read more

I really wanted to say something nice about this place. It's relatively new to the area and if you're willing to cut a break to an upstart consider that it's less than terrible. When I was seated I was asked if I'd like some water. Yes I replied. Plain or sparkling? I said sparkling would be nice not knowing this answer would cost me six dollars. I was there for lunch on Sunday, (weekdays they open at five) but looking at the way overpriced menu I decided on a simple sandwich. I figured a $14 sandwich would include a side. Nope. So I waited for that sandwich while the very large and seemingly incompetent staff wandered aimlessly back and forth. When it finally came (just shy of half an hour later) I gobbled it up and asked for the check. Much to my disdain they had jacked up my $14 sandwich to $22.04 with the water fee, a 2.9 % processing fee (WTF!), and taxes. Finally, they provided me with a postcard that was a painting of their location a century ago. A nice touch, had they not already engaged in the art of the ripoff! I left a $3 tip hoping they'd get the point of my unhappiness rather than thinking I'm a cheapskate ( I am, but usually a generous tipper). Still, all told, I hope that's the last time I spend $25 for a salami sandwich. read more

Rory's Place - That's the "free postcard." - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

Writing this review ONLY about service. This is the worse service I've experienced. Our waitress, who said was the manager, was not happy to serve. She had a bad attitude, she lacked customer service skills and was just all around bad. My friends and I had a terrible experience, I won't go back!!! (Too pricey for the portions and the whole service) read more

Such lovely ambiance... we sat outside in the patio and the music playlist was delightful. The food was truly delicious as well as the wine list. We loved our waitress and I'm excited to come back here again. read more

My fiancée and I had dinner tonight at Rory's Place and were honestly so blown away by the quality of the food, the lovely service and beautiful atmosphere. Our server Rifka was the best. You MUST get the tuna tartare but honestly everything was really really special and extremely fresh. read more

Rory's Place - Amazing Beet and avocado salad - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

NO LOCALS! This place was filled with LA and guest's of the Inn. We went for dinner and it was over-crowded. The tables were uncomfortably close to each other. My husband and I barely spoke because our voices were drowned out by the other customers sitting so close to us. Food was good....but of course over-priced. I don't mind that, it's how Ojai has become. But the atmosphere and vibe needs to be amazing to balance the prices. FAIL! I'm dairy-free and the waitress told me I could either get the mayo dipping sauce on my dish...or not, but they couldn't put it on the side?!?! (What if my husband wanted to try it.). They also don't have tonic water for my gin & tonic. WOW! They "just don't have it"?!?! We won't be going back. We left Rory's Place and went down to Ojai Pub. Much better! :-) read more

The two stars is for the staff, not the food. The food was good, but the staff was rude and acted like they didn't care to serve us. My friend and I were early for our reservation, so when we walked in and no one approached us, we went to sit at the bar to have a drink. The manager/host approached us and his tone was condescending and rude when he commented that we had seated ourselves. We explained about our reservation, and said we were from Los Angeles where if you are early, you grab a drink at the bar. He snidely said, that's not how it's done at their restaurant. He finally sat us at our table, then proceeded to give us a dirty look every time he walked by. After a while our server finally appeared, not rude, but incredibly unfriendly. We ordered and our food came out very far apart. Our server never came back to check on us and see if we wanted anything else. We had to grab other people who were walking by, who were not happy that we asked them for help. The experience was far from pleasant and even if the food was good, we would never go back. read more

Squad soup Half baked chicken Toffee pudding Decor, staff,... All so Incredible! Will definitely be coming back read more

Service, ambiance and food was on point. A must go- go with a few folks to get a nice array! read more

Food is excellent. I love the wood fire cabbage, the chicken liver pate, the bread, their tagliatelle pasta, and mezcal sour.portions are just right. Genuinely caring staff and great ambiance. My partner and I go here at least once a week to unplug from a hectic workweek. Always interesting people to meet here. Will recommend to anyone coming to visit us read more

Rory's Place - Food - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

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This is one of those overly self absorbed places where they don't allow modifications to the menu. If you have any dietary sensitivities that you plan manage by the removal of an item, or a substitution, you will be out of luck here. If you've got no dietary needs, you should be ok here. For what it's worth, what I did end up ordering was delicious, but if your only option for any dietary needs is "WELL HERE'S OUR VEGAN OPTION," do better. You're really lacking on the welcoming to all vibe, and honestly, it comes across a little ableist. read more

Booked weeks in advance for 3 people only to be seated at a cramped 2 top, (which they seemingly do to most parties of 3). We complained to our waiter, who was nice, and he sympathized and spoke to host/house manager and he seemingly begrudgingly moved us to the end of a communal table after telling us somewhat emphatically that we were treated no worse than all the other parties of 3 sitting at a tiny 2 top, as if our mutual discomfort was a sound excuse. A 7:30 pm reservation, they were out of 2 of the 4 entrees. The same horribly rude host/manager, sporting not 1, but 2 button downs, felt it was just fine that they were out of 50% of their entree selections (who also seemed to think we were asking for too much to sit at a table made for the size of our party). We chose to end the dinner early after an app. Won't be back, don't recommend it, and suggest a personality upgrade in the host department. He's doing you no favors, Rory. read more

This was the restaurant opening of the year that I was SO excited about. The inside of the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous and the ambiance is on point.. But unfortunately, what ruined our entire experience was the rude and dismissive service. For someone that works in this industry, I was disappointed that this wasn't a higher priority. Everyone from the hostess greeting you to the service at the table felt so hostile and dismissive. They gave out this energy that they were doing us a favor by being here and we should be grateful to be at their establishment. The food was okay. We got oysters and a couple salads. It wasn't bad by any means, but it also wasn't good enough to make up for having such bad service. For having such a fun, warm and playful presence on social media, it did not come across in the way they do business. I talked to some friends a week later that also went and had the same experience. Such bad vibes.. Was really hoping this was our new little local spot. Maybe they'll read this and take note: friendly service goes a long way. read more

It's close to being a great restaurant? But damn. The service is AWFUL. We had a guy who seemed to want to be more of a chill guy at a bar than a waiter? And I think having all the entrees come out at different times is ridiculous. I've been here before where there were 4 of us and each one of us got our dish like 20 minutes before/after anyone else. Who wants to eat like that? Also the seafood tower was not worth it, which made me sad. The clams were good, the bread is good. The cocktails are good. The wine is good. And the dessert we had was great, the chocolate mousse! Really wanted this place to be somewhere we go regularly but sadly, not worth it yet. Hopefully they do a service revamp because I did like a lot of things! read more

The food is good but service-primarily the kitchen-leaves a lot to be desired. We ordered the steak for one and 2 orders of the tagliatelle and chicken for one. All had good flavor but the steak was delivered 20 min before the tagliatelle. We could have dealt with this but the chicken order took over 45 min to be delivered to the table. Well after everyone had finished their meals. The wait staff came by exactly 2 times. First to say the chicken would be right out and again 20 min later to say it would be out in 5 min. The bad news is the chicken arrived 20 min after the 5 min warning. This is unacceptable! The wait staff brought bread to attempt to appease us and I said we do not need bread but she left it and disappeared for another 15 minutes. This place needs to get it together before I give it another try! Charged full price for awful service. Carolina should have made some concessions for the obvious poor service read more

Rory's Place - Overpriced for bad service - New American Near Me - Ojai, California

Went to Rory's Place for my daughter's 21st birthday celebration and I gotta say we were very disappointed with dinner. While the servers were professional and courteous the management was a lacking. The food was mediocre at best. Kind of a B-- attempt at what are probably good recipes but soggy results. But what really ruined the entire dinner was management asking me to move my bike halfway through dinner. Why they needed me to move it I can't comprehend but complied without much complaint. What topped it off though is after I did move it they then needed to drag my locked bike away from their window seat at the sidewalk! I for the life of me can't see what bothered them so much about my bike parked on the sidewalk! in this day and age and in this particular bike friendly town, why wouldn't the restaurant install at least a minimal sort of bike rack where they deem acceptable but don't tell me there's one down the block at the library. That was stupid to say. Provide at place for bike or shut up. So that's it dinner wasn't anywhere worth the cost and the attitudes just plain need to go back to LA! $500. Down the drain. read more

I've eaten here 3 times since Rory's opened. The first time was perfection! Everything we put in our mouths was stunning, unexpected and delicious. The avocado salad, salmon and pasta were stand outs. I dreamt about returning and 10 days later.... we were baaaack! The menu had changed...the crudo was good, not quite the same. This time we each ordered our own avocado salad but it wasn't the same... good but the lettuce was different (only frizee). There was different citrus, and different ratios. It just wasn't the magic of the first visit. On both my second and third visit we had the crudo w passion fruit. It must be popular, but wow, is there fish in there?...all I taste is the overwhelming passion fruit. One time we got the steak long before our appetizer's or salad. Weird. Even though the last two times weren't as stellar, I still think Rory's is the best restaurant in Ojai. I do understand the challenge they've taken on by serving local, seasonal farm to table. Like Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, the menu changes. It's all good...I'm just looking forward to the same menu stability and rhythm of service that Rustic Canyon found over time. They'll get it! I'm routing for them. read more

Oh my gosh!! What a delight! I am passing through for work and was recommended this gem by the Capri Hotel, which is also a surprising delight!. This place is magic! The Hello Satan cocktail is divine and worth the 3 hour drive in and of itself! The Tuna Tartar Tartine with fried capers was probably my favorite. But really hard to surpass the stone fruit salad. Absolutely delicious. I need to come back hungry, as honestly everything sounded and looked so good and the tables around me were raving about their food. One thing I wish I'd had, but didn't have the room for, was the oysters with the Uni. Next time! I'd like to shed particular attention to Carolina! She was very kind, patient, and gave great recommendations for cocktails, food, wine pairing and made it an all around lovely experience. Can't wait to go back! Wish I lived closer! read more