Veladora

Our party of ten went here last night to celebrate father’s day. The service was pretty bad. I had to get up three times from the table to find a waiter. They forgot to bring our cappuccinos with dessert. After I tracked down a waiter, my decaf came after we were finished with desert and it was definitely caffeinated. I didn’t sleep all night. I had made the reservations and wanted to treat my Dad for Father’s Day. I went to find the waiter to give him my credit card and let him know that I wanted to pay. He said he would bring it to me. They brought the bill to my father and he paid it before I noticed. The servings are so tiny that my boys had to order three bowls of french fries at the end of the meal. Between my appetizer and main course there was probably a total of 3 ounces of food. The fish I ordered did not come with anything else and was about 4 bites surrounded by some broth. The food was beautifully presented, but all ten of us were disappointed with our meals and the service and left still hungry.

Amazing place for any celebration! also for relaxed special moments and weekend getaway with family & friends

The price was way over priced for a buffet and the service. The food was good but not worth $ 125 per person, $ 65 per child. The egg hunt was very sparse. For the cost and the number of children there were way too few eggs.
I think for cost there should have been included wine or cocktails with the brunch, instead of sparkling wine in the children’s play section.

so good on so many levels. Very impressive sight, inside the exclusive Rancho Valencia, so its a nice clientele there with you. The restaurant is intimate and quiet, and no-​one is in a hurry to get you out while you are there. This could be my favorite place to eat in the area, and i look for excuses to come here often as we can. The rib caps are a delicacy of meat, not cheap, but you shouldn’t expect it to be. A wonderful and accessible wine list adds to a perfect evening. This is a grown up meal place to come, relax, and enjoy your ability to eat there.

I know, I know. I’m a little late on getting this review posted, but if you’re going to use this review to judge the usual quality of the food and service at Veladora, then just skip right over it. But if you’re interested to hear what Thanksgiving is like at Veladora, pull up a chair and read on.
This was the second time I’ve ever eaten out for Thanksgiving. And oddly enough, both of those were in Rancho Santa Fe. Anyway, the service was fantastic, as should be expected from such a high-​end establishment. The food was served buffet style with the patio broken up into four distinct sections: main Thanksgiving dinner area, a kids’ section, salads and cheese, and desserts. So let’s break these down section by section.
Mains: Excellent range of items, including lobster mac & cheese, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, green bean casserole, salmon, and roast beef. Oh, and there was turkey. We sampled a little bit of each and the turkey was expertly prepared (read, not dry) while all of the other dishes were absolutely amazing. Special mentions to the lobster mac & cheese and the green bean casserole. A plate full of either of those would have been fine by me.
Salads & Cheeses, Soups & Breads: A few different types of salads were available, but when you have so many other incredible offerings, you may as well just skip the salad. I did. For those looking for meats and cheeses, there were a number of different selections available along with some locally grown honey to sweeten things up a bit. On the other side of this section were a few choices of dinner rolls. Again, may want to pass on those rolls since you’re here for the good stuff. Finally, at the end of the patio was the soup girl serving some really good butternut squash bisque.
Desserts: And dinner ends (or begins if you’re feeling a little naughty) with the desserts. Here we had a selection of ice cream, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and a lemon tarte. We each sampled a different dessert, and the pecan pie was the winner with the pumpkin pie coming in a close second.

Tucked away in a nice gated community amidst the Rancho Santa Fe folks sits Veladora… This place is pretty much the quintessential RSF eatery complete with fantastic staff, nicely appointed restaurant, expensive art and a modern appeal. The restaurant is literally decorated to perfection. The food/​drink is also pretty dang good, complete with a substantial wine menu (coravin options) and a very nice dinner menu. The food was cooked nearly to perfection; Brussel sprouts were delicious and a HUGE shoutout goes to the Hawaiian Seabass! I mean the Seabass literally melted in your mouth and on your fork, it was amazing. Skip the apple crisp as it wasn’t all that impressive. Overall, extremely pleased with what Veladora has to offer.
Pros–
Menu
Grounds
Cleanliness
Art
Décor
Service
Seabass
Wine list
Waitstaff
Friendly valet
Cons–
A bit off the beaten path
Pricey
Average desserts

You’re not lost! Let the nice man at the gate booth know you’re there for Veladora and he will let you pass. Valet only for restaurant. Wonderful décor, ambiance and the friendliest service.
The food. My oh my! Everyone loved and enjoyed the food. I was able to try the aged duck, 8oz rib cap, filet mignon, and salmon, corn soup, lobster citrus salad, apple crisp and autumn tart (pistachio cake).
My bf and I first tried Brandt Family beef in Portland and we fell in love. When we saw several items from Brandt Family on the menu we knew the meal would be great. The filet mignon was the best I’ve had. The rib cap was just as tender as I expected. The duck was mind blowing… perfectly dense and rich in duck taste. Since they do not alter their menu for SDRW, I’ll be back to revisit and try their amazing food again. Will definitely try the braised short rib soon!
Knocked off a star because the speed is very slow… 3 course meal and it took just about 2 and a half hours to sit down, order, eat and pay the bill. Luckily we had a nice sized group and laughed our way through the waiting times.
My favorites: corn soup, filet mignon, rib cap, aged duck, and pistachio cake.

The food is delicious and prepared very well! Delicious and unique. The portions are nice as well. Our server Chip was wonderful. Thank you, we will be back!
We tried so many things but our favorites were the octopus and the lobster spaghettini

Dined at Veladora for sunday brunch during Thanksgiving week with my family.
The restaurant and the grounds are gorgeous. The perfect place to dine for a special occasion. We dined in their outdoor space. In our case, it was my parents 60^th anniversary.
The service was excellent but the food was ok. I had the turkey bacon and avocado omelet. It was lacking in flavor and incredibly dry. Not pleasing to the mouth whatsoever. I requested salsa because it needed something to help it out. The component that was quite tasty was the diced bananas, pineapples, and blueberries. It literally saved me from the tasteless depths of my omelet.
It is possible that perhaps I ordered the wrong entrée. My sisters ordered the huevos rancheros. They were pleased. My father had the corned beef hash and poached eggs in staub and he was happy as well. My mother ordered the 3 yolk egg white entrée. She had the same impression that I did.
In summary, our healthy choices were uneventful and a bore. Avoid them. Aim for the high caloric breakfast entrées and you will be pleased. An experience that’s completely worth it because the restaurant is beautiful.

For full disclosure, I stayed on the resort. Was very impressed by my lunch from Pony Room so tried Veldora.
If you’re on the resort already, then this will be a three star dining experience. I found better dining experiences off — was disappointed by the food and service was ok.
However, I wish I could give it a 3.5. Rancho Valencia itself is beautiful and if you’re looking for somewhere to eat, with a beautiful ambiance, this is a great place. Just more about the ambiance than the food.
Still, you have an option to get to four stars. If you don’t mind lobster tacos over filet mignon — just go to the Pony Room. Same place, just different food «destinations.»

My friends and I, four of us, were looking forward to a lunch date at Veladora, located in the Resort of Rancho Valencia. The location was wonderful, the greeting mediocre, the service was disappointing. The food was lovely and tasty. Just took forever to get it. Our server never checked back to see how we were doing. We flagged someone down for water, as it was a very hot day and we were seated on the patio. It, again, took forever for someone to come with water. I was a bit embarrassed as I had built up Rancho Valencia a a great restaurant experience and completely worth the price and time for us all to drive there for lunch.
A suggestion for your management would be to train your wait staff and ask for periodic reviews from your customers, just to make sure they are up to snuff, especially with such an exquisite site.

I recently dined at Rancho Valencia’s restaurant with 13 other family members for dinner and it was one of the best experiences I have had dinning in a large group.
The wait staff did a fantastic job delivering the food to the table so that everyone received their plates at once, the presentation of the plates and especially the Corn Soup was fantastic, the portion sizes were plenty generous and everything tasted amazing.
I could go on but I think the photos speak volumes!

Stop! Veladora is great. This is a special place to enjoy the entire experience of fine dining. The food is fantastic, the room is elegant and the staff is not pretentious. We have enjoyed a number of wine dinners there also.

Went here for Sunday brunch. Food is awesome but service sucks and is extremely slow.
The slowness of the food showing up at the table made me rate it 3 stars instead of 4. My party of nine arrived today at 930am… we put in our orders by 945 and didnt get our food until past 11! However the american brunch food tasted excellent. I ordered the corned beef egg and hash and man it was good especially the crispy hashbrowns. The kids silver dollar pancakes were fluffy and savory.

Veladora was a great experience for Valentine’s Day. We arrived to a gated entrance that seemed like the middle of nowhere. A lovely drive up to a grand lit tree. Complimentary valet. Romantic plaza entrance and intimate restaraunt. Live band and fireplace. 4 course dinner was exquisite. That was the most tender lamb I’ve ever eaten. The desserts were just ok but I think places like this set their focus on the other delicious courses. I’m ok with that. ;) Richard, our waiter was superb! The only complaint I had was that the support staff forgot to bring me a soup spoon for the appetizer and both of our dessert forks. All is forgiven for a wonderful meal. Oh, and we noticed that we were by far the youngest people there (we are in our mid 30’s). Thanks Veladore!

We tried Veladora for breakfast and it was good with great service! They have a nice selection of breakfast options including healthy and not so healthy. I had the Belgian beer waffle with Apple butter. Great flavor but if you don’t like very crispy waffles you won’t like this one. It’s very crunchy! I also tried the apple chicken sausage which was good. I’d come back again!

What a wonderful evening we enjoyed in the Veladora’s wine vault last Saturday night at Rancho Santa Fe. While being separated from the main dining room and kitchen has its drawbacks sometimes, the wonderful, private atmosphere reminiscent of a Tuscan cellar with heavy oaken table, antique brick walls and arched ceilings was fantastic.
The collection of (very) large format bottles was impressive, even for a resort the caliber of Rancho Valencia. The vault including a Balthazar (12L) of Silver Oak Alexander Valley and numerous Methuselahs (6L) of various mostly California origins. One of my guest wanted to bet me the Balthazar was a display bottle. Had I taken the bet, which I was tempted to do (because it was under refrigeration on its side and not standing upright in the seating area where you typically see display bottles), I would have won $ 1,000. The server confirmed it was a real bottle. Better to not embarrass the guests.
The wine list was extraordinarily impressive. We poured at ’91 Joseph Phelps Backus Vineyard a younger Bordeaux’ and an ’08 Brunello di Montalcino, none of which disappointed. I ordered the Risotto special appetizer with a 9-​oz filet mingon, grilled asparagus, and pureed potato. I also tasted the swordfish and New Zealand lamb loin (substituted because they ran out of Colorado rack of lamb). For dessert, I had the warm apple-​cinnamon crisp with home-​made vanilla ice cream and coffee. All were expertly and perfectly prepared.
Despite the «out-​of-​site, out-​of-​mind» threat you nearly always face when seated so far from the kitchen in a secluded, private space, there was always an attendant in our presence and the server was deliberate and patient with our group when not given an opportunity to explain the specials, and then pestered and rushed when people started getting hungry. Our server knew the menu backwards and forwards, was extremely attentive, and professional.
I’d be delighted to return to Veladora and Rancho Valencia any time, but would probably prefer the main dining room next time now that I’ve experienced the wine vault.

Made a reservation for two (through Opentable) and since it is located in Rancho Santa Fe, you already know that it is either overpriced and shtty (excuse ma french), reasonably priced and just okay. IMO it’s not really a culinary mecca but hey, why not give it a chance.
We get to the hotel. which was kind of an adventure. Pretty much isolated from the rest of the world. You probably have to drive about 10 minutes to get into the property and I wanna say it may be worth it. Reminded me of Pebble Beach resorts.
There was valet, obvi. Also not too far from the country club. We got there at about 2:00 pm and there were a few parties at the pony room but absolutely no one at Veladora. There were also no hosts present at either side of the restaurants. — half a star just for that. We waited a few minutes and my party and another even joked around that we would just sit each other at the patio. tsk.
Someone finally came to assist us and were seated at the patio at the Pony room. The guy who seated us gave us the wrong menu and traded us for the SDRW one. Okay sure, it’s Sunday afternoon but come on people get it together. Note that I did make a reservation for Veladora and not the Pony room (you don’t really need to make a reservation for this one since it’s more of a bar area across Veladora). We wanted to get seated inside Veladora but there was absolutely no one in there. so weird.
FOOD:
Margherita Flatbread — love the buffalo mozz on this one. Very subtle flavors but naturally tasty.
Beef sliders — you get 3 little sliders which were a perfect size. love the crisped onions and bearnaise. noms. also quite filling.
Rancho Burger — again a great size and also comes with frites. absolutely love pancetta and was glad to see it paired with a black truffle aoli.
Fish Plank — fish of the day was swordfish. got a huge meaty serving of swordfish, cooked beautifully. I have nothing bad to say about this one. loved the succotash that came with it as well.
However, eating out is not only about the food but also always about the overall experience. It being a world renowned resort and the only Relais & Châteaux property in Socal, you would expect a five star service in all aspects of the resort. Although the food was great and eventually service did improved, it could have been seamless from the moment we were seated.
May or may not come back for dinner here but we do wanna make sure we get seated at the area that we made a reservation for.

I have nothing poor to say about the multiple amazing dining experiences I have had at Rancho Valencia’s Veladora. The waiters are superb and know their menu extremely well, and to top it off they have beautiful wines that the sommelier has an extensive knowledge of. I collect wine corks and their sommelier went out of his way to track it down and save it for me.
I can only brag even further when I think about the mouth watering steak I had here, or perhaps the amazing array of appetizers that could inspire true foodies worldwide. I usually like to stay away from bread, but the bread served here? Any day — it is simply to tasty to pass up. If you want the perfect cocktail then I would have to also recommend their sassy sangrita — perfect concoction to have before dinner or any meal. This spot is a bit pricey but worth every penny — treat yourself to an incredibly memorable anniversary, birthday, or night out!

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary/​Thanksgiving at Veladora last week. We usually just go to the spa at Rancho Valencia to celebrate our anniversary, but since we were there on Thanksgiving this year, we decided to splurge on the $ 89/​person buffet.
Food:
The food was very good and not your regular buffet, but a very upscale one. They had a nice take on traditional Thanksgiving dishes and even had carving stations with turkey and ham. There were plenty of sides to choose from including marshmallow sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, roasted veggies, brussel sprouts w/​pancetta, cranberry sauce, roasted squash soup, mac and cheese, made to order risotto, turkey penne pasta, and more. They also had a nice selection of salads, shrimp cocktail, crab legs (the claws), lobster rolls, cheeses, meats, and breads. And the desserts included a donut station where they are made fresh and you can choose your toppings along with cheesecake pops (covered in chocolate), crème brûlée, cookies, and more. I didn’t take pictures of all the food, as I was stuffed by my third plate. I wanted to try everything, so I left very, very full! My husband and I both really enjoyed the food and if the food was this good for a buffet, it is probably even better when dining off the regular menu.
Service:
They had plenty of staff on hand for the buffet. There were two servers that were taking care of us. They made sure we had enough to drink, cleared our plates quickly, folded our napkins, and brought us new cutlery when needed. They were very friendly and prompt. The staff working the buffet were also very friendly and made sure that the food was replenished quickly.
Atmosphere:
I thought the ambiance was very nice and for a nicer restaurant wasn’t pretentious at all. We really appreciated the relaxed environment because my husband wasn’t dressed up as much as he had wanted (he forgot his pants at home and wore shorts to the spa, so that’s what he wore to dinner). Fortunately, the staff didn’t care and our dinner was earlier in the afternoon.
All in all, it was a very nice buffet and definitely a splurge. We were a bit surprised when we saw that 22% gratuity was automatically added to the bill, but then again, it was Thanksgiving and we were in Rancho Santa Fe. I knock it down a star because of the large gratuity for a buffet, but everything else was great.