this is the first really negative review I ever wrote for a restaurant in all of norcal. I am writing this because I found this place to be pretentious, overpriced, not particularly friendly, the food was nothing special, and I had heard good things so I had some expectations. The only reason I didn't give it a worse review is that I really liked the bathrooms
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Erica Barbee
The atmosphere on the outside patio felt like a dream, the service, drinks and food were good, however my husband’s steak was on the same plate as the side salad and the salad dressing was mixing into the steak. It was a shame since the steak might have been very good if this didn’t happen.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
John Fisher
Elegant atmosphere and the service is very professional. Great menu and wine list. Chicken sandwich was delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Shanie Baxter
Super awesome spot and the food was delicious during happy hour and considerably more affordable than a lot of the fancy places around this place has class and fire pits!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Rch00d
Nice outdoor patio and friendly enough servers. We were informed by our Airbnb host that they have a reasonably priced bar menu but discovered when we arrived that they didn’t offer it outside on the patio. They didn’t have a kids menu so the server suggested a few kid friendly items from memory. -Kids hamburger with a few fries was $15 and a kids chicken breast with a spoonful of mashed potatoes was $16, added some corn which was another $6. So $15, $15 , $22 plus $9 for kid’s drinks. Three of us had the BBQ. Unfortunately the brisket was dried out as if was sitting around and the ribs were blacked on the outside but not cooked inside. They were not slow cooked. Obviously they don’t know how to prepare BBQ. The kitchen “appreciation” was nearly $10 and the added gratuity exceeded $50 which brought a family dinner with my son and his kids to well over $300. They won’t be seeing us again and our local friends who were shocked.
Camille Hoffman
When we arrived, we were first at the restaurant at 11:30am and were seated in the patio area, which was very pleasant. Waitstaff arrived immediately, took our order, brought our beverages within 6 mins upon taking our order. After that, things went sour. Guests were arriving and being seated. The waitstaff appeared to be overwhelmed and after over 45 minutes our lunch finally arrived. The quiche was salty, the pesto dish had too much pesto. The burger had barely any lettuce or other condiments to go with. Asked for crispy fries, which came crispy but over smothered with salt. Had to swipe off the salt. The waitstaff who took our order never came to check on us, only until we were nearly finished with eating our lunch, which was over 20 mins if not longer. We had to wave down another waitstaff to get our water refilled. NO ONE checked on us, we had to wave at them. Finally, the original waitstaff says, " Thank you for your patience."Sorry, not the correct response.I have worked in the restaurant industry in many different positions; line cook, prep cook, wait staff, busser, dishwasher, cashier and I was trained to watch the guests and after that first 5 mins of the food going into someone's mouth, check on them, and make sure all is OK. And then circle back after 10 mins. The waitstaff never ever checked in on us.When you go to a restaurant, you go there because #1 you don't want to cook. #2 you do not want to shop for food. #3 you want to be served like a Queen or King and #4 you do not want to do dishes.You go to celebrate different life events and just to be treated with respect, and dignity and be served and have a wonderful time. Working in a restaurant is all about timing.We, the party of 4, I was with, were completely disappointed in this service and quality of food. This was not what anyone should ever expect. I had looked forward to eating there as it is always advertised on KZST, "The Patio is Open at the Gravenstein Grill."They need a major revamping of their waitstaff as this service was unacceptable and the quality of the food was marginal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Burger
ALLAN K
We dined there while on vacation as a family of eight with three generations. All of us really enjoyed our meals which included really great desserts. Pleasing all three generations (20's tp 80's) is not that easy but Gravenstein managed it very well. In addition to great food the setting is quite elegant with a lovely dining room looking out on a courtyard. Mahoganny (spelling?) was our server and she was great. We will definitely go back when next we are in the area.
Lisa Esposito
We sadly cannot rate the food. We sat on the beautiful patio with our puppy on a rather warm day. The one waiter was totally consumed with a table of 4. Other tables were sat after us and the waiter finally approached them, ignoring us. As a former server I always tried to take care of parties with children or dogs recognizing their quality time may be limited. But to totally be ignored by the server who sat us is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. We got up and left.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 1
Ellen Blue
We enjoyed everything here... food, service, atmosphere... so much that we stayed and had a wonderful visit with friends and family for six hours!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, Classic Caesar Salad, Beet Salad
Daniella St. Martin
A+ in all areas!! Gravenstein Grill offers a beautiful, romantic atmosphere that is also wonderful for families. We were looking for a sweet spot in Sebastopol for special family dinners and the formal service we received here is everything we hoped it would be. Of course the food matters the most and they nail it in that area as well! All of us were delighted with our meal and time spent together at Gravenstein Grill.Kid-friendliness: My 11 year old loved showing off his table manners... "medium rare please" ❤️
Great food. We went 2x, once for lunch, once for the weekend brunch. The brisket Ruben was amazing and for brunch the barbecue special was pretty amazing as well. Highly recommended.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Taija Aguirre
Perfect burgers and excellent service!
Kathe Morris
If I could give negative stars I would. This ranked as one of the worst dining experiences of our lifetime! The evening certainly gave us a lot to talk about but not in a good way.Food - Everything was overcooked across the board - $68 steak was supposed to be rare/medium rare, Halibut dry, overdone, flavorless. Salmon dry, overdone, flavorless. A waste of money.Service - SLOW!!! Waitress was more interested in talking with coworkers than proper service. At least 20 minutes between courses. She didn't listen to our needs, and frankly didn't seem to care. I don't think she fired our food on time for anything. Brought us the wrong glasses to serve pinot noir. Her name is Elicia D. Thewre was no management available to complain to.Decor/Ambience - Funky (not in a good way). The restaurant wasn't busy for a Saturday night, yet servers seemed incapable of handling the dining room. They spent a lot of time chatting with each other.Also, the booth was undersized! The banquette was stiff and uncomfortable. If you're not providing good service, you can at least provide a comfortable seat. Don't bother with this one. There are lots of good places to eat in Sebastopol that will cost you less time and money.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Daniella Caveney
A+ in all areas!! Gravenstein Grill offers a beautiful, romantic atmosphere that is also wonderful for families. We were looking for a sweet spot in Sebastopol for special family dinners and the formal service we received here is everything we hoped it would be. Of course the food matters the most and they nail it in that area as well! All of us were delighted with our meal and time spent together at Gravenstein Grill.Kid-friendliness: My 11 year old loved showing off his table manners... "medium rare please" ❤️
Cheryl Costantini
Feels like our neighborhood spot.Happy hour menu is awesome, totally affordable and delicious. We had Sunday barbecue meal tonight and it was perfect.
this is the first really negative review I ever wrote for a restaurant in all of norcal. I am writing this because I found this place to be pretentious, overpriced, not particularly friendly, the food was nothing special, and I had heard good things so I had some expectations. The only reason I didn't give it a worse review is that I really liked the bathrooms
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
The atmosphere on the outside patio felt like a dream, the service, drinks and food were good, however my husband’s steak was on the same plate as the side salad and the salad dressing was mixing into the steak. It was a shame since the steak might have been very good if this didn’t happen.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
Elegant atmosphere and the service is very professional. Great menu and wine list. Chicken sandwich was delicious.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Super awesome spot and the food was delicious during happy hour and considerably more affordable than a lot of the fancy places around this place has class and fire pits!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nice outdoor patio and friendly enough servers. We were informed by our Airbnb host that they have a reasonably priced bar menu but discovered when we arrived that they didn’t offer it outside on the patio. They didn’t have a kids menu so the server suggested a few kid friendly items from memory. -Kids hamburger with a few fries was $15 and a kids chicken breast with a spoonful of mashed potatoes was $16, added some corn which was another $6. So $15, $15 , $22 plus $9 for kid’s drinks. Three of us had the BBQ. Unfortunately the brisket was dried out as if was sitting around and the ribs were blacked on the outside but not cooked inside. They were not slow cooked. Obviously they don’t know how to prepare BBQ. The kitchen “appreciation” was nearly $10 and the added gratuity exceeded $50 which brought a family dinner with my son and his kids to well over $300. They won’t be seeing us again and our local friends who were shocked.
When we arrived, we were first at the restaurant at 11:30am and were seated in the patio area, which was very pleasant. Waitstaff arrived immediately, took our order, brought our beverages within 6 mins upon taking our order. After that, things went sour. Guests were arriving and being seated. The waitstaff appeared to be overwhelmed and after over 45 minutes our lunch finally arrived. The quiche was salty, the pesto dish had too much pesto. The burger had barely any lettuce or other condiments to go with. Asked for crispy fries, which came crispy but over smothered with salt. Had to swipe off the salt. The waitstaff who took our order never came to check on us, only until we were nearly finished with eating our lunch, which was over 20 mins if not longer. We had to wave down another waitstaff to get our water refilled. NO ONE checked on us, we had to wave at them. Finally, the original waitstaff says, " Thank you for your patience."Sorry, not the correct response.I have worked in the restaurant industry in many different positions; line cook, prep cook, wait staff, busser, dishwasher, cashier and I was trained to watch the guests and after that first 5 mins of the food going into someone's mouth, check on them, and make sure all is OK. And then circle back after 10 mins. The waitstaff never ever checked in on us.When you go to a restaurant, you go there because #1 you don't want to cook. #2 you do not want to shop for food. #3 you want to be served like a Queen or King and #4 you do not want to do dishes.You go to celebrate different life events and just to be treated with respect, and dignity and be served and have a wonderful time. Working in a restaurant is all about timing.We, the party of 4, I was with, were completely disappointed in this service and quality of food. This was not what anyone should ever expect. I had looked forward to eating there as it is always advertised on KZST, "The Patio is Open at the Gravenstein Grill."They need a major revamping of their waitstaff as this service was unacceptable and the quality of the food was marginal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 1
Recommended dishes: Burger
We dined there while on vacation as a family of eight with three generations. All of us really enjoyed our meals which included really great desserts. Pleasing all three generations (20's tp 80's) is not that easy but Gravenstein managed it very well. In addition to great food the setting is quite elegant with a lovely dining room looking out on a courtyard. Mahoganny (spelling?) was our server and she was great. We will definitely go back when next we are in the area.
We sadly cannot rate the food. We sat on the beautiful patio with our puppy on a rather warm day. The one waiter was totally consumed with a table of 4. Other tables were sat after us and the waiter finally approached them, ignoring us. As a former server I always tried to take care of parties with children or dogs recognizing their quality time may be limited. But to totally be ignored by the server who sat us is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. We got up and left.
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 1
We enjoyed everything here... food, service, atmosphere... so much that we stayed and had a wonderful visit with friends and family for six hours!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, Classic Caesar Salad, Beet Salad
A+ in all areas!! Gravenstein Grill offers a beautiful, romantic atmosphere that is also wonderful for families. We were looking for a sweet spot in Sebastopol for special family dinners and the formal service we received here is everything we hoped it would be. Of course the food matters the most and they nail it in that area as well! All of us were delighted with our meal and time spent together at Gravenstein Grill.Kid-friendliness: My 11 year old loved showing off his table manners... "medium rare please" ❤️
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Ahi Tartare
Restaurantji Recommends
Great food. We went 2x, once for lunch, once for the weekend brunch. The brisket Ruben was amazing and for brunch the barbecue special was pretty amazing as well. Highly recommended.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Perfect burgers and excellent service!
If I could give negative stars I would. This ranked as one of the worst dining experiences of our lifetime! The evening certainly gave us a lot to talk about but not in a good way.Food - Everything was overcooked across the board - $68 steak was supposed to be rare/medium rare, Halibut dry, overdone, flavorless. Salmon dry, overdone, flavorless. A waste of money.Service - SLOW!!! Waitress was more interested in talking with coworkers than proper service. At least 20 minutes between courses. She didn't listen to our needs, and frankly didn't seem to care. I don't think she fired our food on time for anything. Brought us the wrong glasses to serve pinot noir. Her name is Elicia D. Thewre was no management available to complain to.Decor/Ambience - Funky (not in a good way). The restaurant wasn't busy for a Saturday night, yet servers seemed incapable of handling the dining room. They spent a lot of time chatting with each other.Also, the booth was undersized! The banquette was stiff and uncomfortable. If you're not providing good service, you can at least provide a comfortable seat. Don't bother with this one. There are lots of good places to eat in Sebastopol that will cost you less time and money.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
A+ in all areas!! Gravenstein Grill offers a beautiful, romantic atmosphere that is also wonderful for families. We were looking for a sweet spot in Sebastopol for special family dinners and the formal service we received here is everything we hoped it would be. Of course the food matters the most and they nail it in that area as well! All of us were delighted with our meal and time spent together at Gravenstein Grill.Kid-friendliness: My 11 year old loved showing off his table manners... "medium rare please" ❤️
Feels like our neighborhood spot.Happy hour menu is awesome, totally affordable and delicious. We had Sunday barbecue meal tonight and it was perfect.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Truffle Fries, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, Beet Salad