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    The Oak

    3.8 (208 reviews)
    PriceyAmerican
    Closed 6:30 am - 11:00 AM, 11:30 AM - 2:00 pm, 5:30 PM - 9:00 PM

    The Oak Photos

    THE OAK ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Quiet
    Outdoor seating
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

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    Recommended Reviews - The Oak

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    Reviews With Photos

    Claudia D.

    Very late review but I was feeling nostalgic going through old pictures of my last visit to Ojai. I didn't stay here but I really wanted to visit to at least check it out to stay at a later time(that's still in the works) we had brunch here and it was such a lovely place to dine. Service was good. The food wasn't that memorable but it was a lovely lunch spot with nice view and if and when I return to Ojai I would definitely enjoy returning to this dining spot.

    Brunch buffet
    Victoria S.

    We had Sunday brunch with beautiful views of the golf course, attentive friendly service, live band performance & delicious buffet food with many gluten free options. They had breakfast dishes like hash brown, sausage, bacon, pancakes, french toast, muffins & make your own omelets. They also had lunch dishes like pasta, oysters, shrimp cocktail, crab, veggies & meats. If you have Amex you get $35 breakfast credit per person.

    Dutch baby with mascarpone and lemon curd.
    Kate M.

    We ate here for dinner & breakfast. The servers are the BEST. Knowledgeable and very friendly. Views are incredible and, overall, the resort is unbelievable. Everyone was so sweet and the vibes were so relaxing. I had salmon for dinner and the next day, a lemon poppyseed mini Dutch baby. I loved it with the mascarpone and lemon curd. I thought, overall, the food could have been a bit better but the amazing service and ambience made up for it!

    King Salmon
    Amanjot K.

    Absolutely would recommend this place for a dinner! It's so so beautiful and outdoors which makes it perfect. The service was great and everyone was so friendly. The food was insanely delicious and so well prepared. Each of our entrees were fresh and seasoned so well. It felt like a gourmet meal and I'm so glad we chose to come here for dinner.

    Truman W.

    5 stars for the lovely golf course view and al fresco dining on a warm spring day in April (the 'Ojai Pixie Month'). 4 stars for the food. Excellent salad and Jimmy's smash burger, both large shareable portions. Steller service as befitting a fine dining establishment. Only wishing the menu had more seafood selections. Will have to come back for weekend buffet brunch! Sure it's expensive but you are paying for some of the best views in Ojai. Parking - self parking or valet, (slow) EV charging for valet only.

    Salmon bowl
    Kathy X.

    The atmosphere here is top notch, every corner you turn is gorgeous. This restaurant has a nice view of the valleys and the golf course, and service is really great. Food here is alright, it's nothing special, but it's good enough considering how gorgeous the grounds are.

    Complimentary bread and brunch buffet
    Rebecca X.

    Inside the Ojai Valley Inn, it's quite fun to walk around the property and look at the cockatiels right outside the restaurant. Food is delicious, I usually don't like kale but the freshness in the apple and kale salad was amazing! The view of the golf course is gorgeous but they do have heaters outside if you're worried about the weather. Overall, the quality of the ingredients are at such a high level if you aren't used to Ojai freshness. A great place for a lazy brunch!

    Breakfast menu
    Jocelyn S.

    There's a reason the oak is located within the iconic Ojai Valley Inn. They have an excellent selection of breakfast, dinner and drinks menu items. During our stay at the inn, we exclusively visited the oak for breakfast, it was so good! The service is just impeccable - Michelin level tbh! Please try their avacado toast! Our last night we tried dinner at the oak. We were pretty full from a day of snacks all around Ojai. We shared many menu items including a filet mignon and Brussels sprouts which are our fav. The filet mignon sauce threw us off. It was giving A1 sauce. However, the steak was very tasty. The brussel sprouts... let's just say we left the whole plate at the end of our meal. They were so crispy and burnt, they fell apart at the touch. It was odd that it was never cleared from the table. Another thing to keep in mind is the price. Expect to be spending $$$ per person. Overall it's a great experience, the food, the people, and the scenery.

    My wife and I received a gift card to the Ojai Valley Inn, so we decided to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary and stay at the Ojai Retreat for the night which was great and have dinner at the inn. Wow. What a treat. It was a very hot day, but sitting under the shade with a view of the golf course was a perfect choice. The weather was beautiful and was quite comfortable on the patio. They greeted us with a glass of prosecco which was a nice touch. Then a martini for me and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc for my wife delivered with impeccable service. We started with a Caesar salad which we ordered because my wife wasn't sure if there were any sides with her salmon. I had the filet and added the lobster tail and we ordered the mashed potatoes on the side. Everything tasted amazing. The salmon did come with a vegetable side which made my wife happy and my filet came with an amazing wine reduction sauce. The potatoes were great too. Now granted, the gift card allowed us to splurge but we were really looking forward to this dinner and it did not disappoint. Wonderful caramel, chocolate and cream bar for dessert also wonderful and then a few minutes to walk around the grounds before sunset topped off the perfect night. Thank you the staff for making this evening so memorable!

    Our view
    Boj o.

    Food and service was exceptional! Their brunch was probably one of the best; perhaps the best! The quality and flavor of ingredients were outstanding! The service was excellent. Kate made us feel welcome and we appreciated her. To compare - way better than Terranea Resort and Pelican Hill. Reasonably priced - you get your money's worth. Place was beautiful and the best thing was it's pet friendly. We'll definitely taking our dog next time. Cozy and friendly environment. It's like Pebble Beach but you don't need to drive far to get the wholesome experience. Pretty awesome

    Winter Squash Salad
    Matt J.

    I'm going to give The Oak the benefit of the doubt; while my meal was a letdown, my dining partners' non-vegetarian entrees looked excellent so it feels unfair to judge on a salad and a side. Even so, the squash in my salad was significantly undercooked and the overall flavor wasn't very strong or precise, other than the phenomenal sun-dried tomatoes. But my main gripe was that it took over an hour for our food to arrive. Hunger overwhelmed my ability to enjoy the food to the max or to assess it fairly.

    Suzanne K.

    We had our anniversary dinner here and it was great! The staff was friendly and helpful. They even put a special cheese plate together to go with our wine (it was off menu). We had the filet minion and scallops which were perfectly cooked. After dinner, they let us take our drinks to relax by the nearby fire pits. It was an evening well spent!

    Our Blue Grass entertainment!

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    Ask the Community - The Oak

    Does their sunday brunch breakfast buffet have a lot of gluten friendly options?

    Breakfast/Brunch buffet offering? Do you have to be a guest to enjoy a meal here?

    During Covid yes, otherwise no.

    View All 3 Questions

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    Joplin's

    Joplin's

    4.2
    (83 reviews)
    1.2 mi

    Foodie Alert! Joplin's Ojai is a Masterclass of Fire, Smoke and Flavor…read more Some restaurants serve food. Others tell a story. Joplin's does both. BBQ seems an understatement. Saw, the chef-owner, was raised in Burma with an Indian father and it seems as if he was blessed with an instinctive understanding of spice and flavor. His culinary journey includes 4 years at Tallula, (Mexican) in Santa Monica and today he's creating something uniquely his own in Ojai. Open-Fire BBQ with an artist's touch that makes even cornbread elevated. I promise- you'll be a fan too. The spiced compound butter with honey and flaked salt takes this dish over the top. I ordered the Smoked half chicken with lemongrass curry and rice. The meat was perfectly tender and smoked and complimented by the fabulous curry sauce. I wanted to lick the plate- it was that good. We shared the pulled pork with tamarind BBQ sauce and it too was a flavor bomb. The tamarind sauce was both Smokey, a tad spicy and just enough sweet to balance it. As sides we shared the beans and the garlic slaw. Each dish had its own garnish and flavor surprise in my mouth. Both were delicious. I can't say enough about the food other than -Do yourself a favor and eat at Joplin's. The setting is equally inviting with a charming outside patio with plenty of shade and Mountain Views. It's an ideal spot to linger over lunch. The indoor dining room is dark and dramatic with the bold rock-n-roll soundtrack playing in the background. The front of the restaurant is run by Saw's wife and you order before you're seated. They are gracious hosts and the service is good but remember- they are busy. Be patient and take your time to enjoy your flavor experience.

    Disappointing experience. We stopped here after visiting a local art gallery and decided to share…read morethe pork ribs and cucumber salad. When we asked the server for a recommendation between the beef and pork ribs, she gave a vague answer about both being "bone-licking good," which wasn't helpful. The food itself was a major letdown. The portion was tiny (just three small pieces of ribs) and the meat was undercooked, greasy, and mostly fat. The cucumber salad was essentially a strange-tasting cucumber soup filled with soggy cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Glad we only ordered one dish to share, because this definitely ruined my appetite for ribs!

    Photos
    Joplin's
    Joplin's
    Joplin's

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    Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill

    Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill

    3.9
    (343 reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$
    29 years in business
    Family-owned & operated

    So, felt like a short drive. My posse (most of them today, some were MIA)...drove up to Ojai and…read morewhoa!-Music Festival and Pottery Festival going on. Traffic all around but we did get out and walk around. Someone said, "I'm hungry, anyone else?"...Of course they were obliged by ALLLL of us! We decided to walk a few blocks from the crowds, came upon Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill + the cantina. We went in and ordered. The service was very good and a few of us saved a large booth as the others went next door to the cantina...there was a good number of folks in there already eating...some locals, you can just tell-made me feel better. Our food arrived: Smash burger I had ordered was great. The pickles as someone else mentioned were a very tasty yet the meat flavor was still there. A chicken burger, some tacos, and some buffalo wings, fries..Cold beer(it was a warm afternoon)-rounded off the 'posse' order. Everything was very good. Jim & Rob's serves some very tasty food. Nothing pretentious, just down right good food. I will stop back in next time I am in Ojai-good food.

    The New Philly Smashburger they added to the menu was not available on the online order portal so…read morewe had to go in and order and wait. Hopefully they can get that updated soon. I asked for no pico-de-gallo on my alota tostada, but it was on there. The food is generally bland, but in the best way. They don't go over the top. It's simple flavors which is how I like it. It sits easily in the tummy. This place is for a comfort Mexican meal. Not the fancier foo-foo style you might expect at a destination restaurant. That's why this place is a go-to for the local crowd.

    Photos
    Grass-fed Watkins Ranch beef Cheeseburger and Fries at Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill Ojai and Lisa's Cantina
    Grass-fed Watkins Ranch beef Cheeseburger and Fries at Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill Ojai and Lisa's Cantina
    Fajita Platter looking delicious at Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill Ojai and Lisa's Cantina
    Fajita Platter looking delicious at Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill Ojai and Lisa's Cantina
    Adult beverages on the Lisa's Cantina bar at Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill Ojai

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    Adult beverages on the Lisa's Cantina bar at Jim & Rob's Fresh Grill Ojai
    Rory's Place

    Rory's Place

    3.7
    (250 reviews)
    0.9 mi

    The food is exceptional. The service is a bit lacking. We arrived and they had a hard time finding…read moreour reservation, which was weird because it ended up being under exactly the name we gave when we arrived. But it truly was met with the skepticism of a hostess trying to prevent someone from scamming their way into the establishment. When she ultimately found our reservation, she seemed shocked and suddenly her tone shifted. But it was a weird few minutes of feeling like we were some kind of con artists pulling a fast one. The place was jam packed, so service was very slow - we waited probably 15 minutes for our server to arrive. Which was strange because it's not like they were unexpectedly inundated with a crush of people, this place had been booked solid for weeks! The amount of activity was 100% predictable. Nothing about the menu was really explained, but we were prepared so we just helped the person out by giving our full order immediately using the internet for guidance on what to get. Again, once the food started coming out, it was genuinely fantastic. Not a bad item on the menu. But be prepared to know what you want and be ready when they have time for you. And absolutely come with proof of a reservation! You'll be glad you have it. And get ready for a delicious meal!

    Great food. Truly awful service…read more I really wanted to understand the hype around Rory's Place, and honestly, the food was good. Several dishes were genuinely delicious. Unfortunately, the service was so bad that it completely overshadowed the meal. The pacing was bizarre from the beginning. After our crudo, we waited close to 50 minutes for our salad. At that point, we finally had to ask our server if it was coming. She told us there had been some kind of "glitch" in the kitchen and brought us a bowl of olives while we waited, but it honestly felt like our order had simply been forgotten. The bigger issue was that no one was checking on us. We went roughly 40 minutes without seeing our server after ordering. Drinks sat empty. The only person who consistently came by was the busser, who was lovely and frankly provided more attentive service than anyone else. The experience at the front wasn't much better. The welcome felt cold and indifferent, and even getting seated took a few awkward minutes with very little acknowledgment. Nothing about the hospitality felt warm or particularly interested in having us there. Then came the grand finale. While clearing our entrée plates, our server dropped a knife covered in pesto onto my skirt. My skirt is now stained, possibly permanently. She offered soda water, which, fine, but somehow brought out the spoons for our dessert before actually bringing the soda water for the pesto she had just spilled on me. At that point, the entire experience had crossed over into comedy. Even the bathroom was a mess, with paper towels overflowing from the trash and onto the floor. I understand restaurants have bad nights. Kitchens get backed up. Mistakes happen. But this wasn't one mistake. It was an entire evening of poor pacing, lack of attention, weak hospitality, and one problem after another. The frustrating part is that the food was actually good. With even halfway decent service, I would have left with a completely different impression. Instead, this was easily one of the worst restaurant service experiences I've had in years. Two stars, and they're basically both for the kitchen.

    Photos
    Interior looking towards the outdoor patio
    Interior looking towards the outdoor patio
    The two tiered seafood platter
    The two tiered seafood platter
    Seafood tower

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    Seafood tower

    The Oak - tradamerican - Updated August 2026

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