Cavi at The Big Oaks

My brother, son, and I took a ride up the canyon, and stopped for lunch at The Oaks. The patio, with music piped out through speakers in the rafters, was occupied with well mannered bikers, and we ordered a pizza and a cheeseburger with soft drinks (one free refill). The guy making the pizzas in the pizza shack was shaping the dough by hand, tossing it in the small room like he’d done it before~ He cooked them one at a time in the pizza oven, and put the toppings on the ones stacked already brown and crusty partly to save time. The ($ 13) pizza was loaded with cheese, and tasted great! We complicated the issue somewhat by requesting the BBQ’d chicken on one half, and pepperoni on the other. This requires two different sauces, but the waitress assured us, «he could handle it». The burger order was forgotten for 20 minutes, and it took a reminder to get it started. Flavor on both was great, though the burger wasn’t anything you couldn’t do at home, but when you’re hungry, a burger hits the spot. Customer service was friendly, but not a major focus… We’ll be back!

I saw this biker bar/​hangout on the way out to Lancaster. Thought it looked neat, so I stopped on the way back. I ordered a double cheeseburger. My friend ordered a single cheeseburger. The food was nothing I couldn’t do myself, but the atmosphere of the place was great. Music played from a small speaker hung up, the people talked in the small outside dining area. The biker at the table next to me inquired about my burger and said it looked good. The burger was tasty enough. The iced tea was cold and delicious. The older gentleman who prepared my burger was extremely helpful with the display of condiments. He made sure to tell me where everything was, and what all the bottles were. All while staring out in to the dense forest across the street. The whole vibe of the place was great. I’m curious about the pizza, but I’m sure it’s the same. Great place, food is okay. Don’t park under the trees though. They’re full of poopin’ birds. And I just washed my car yesterday.

Oh travesty of travesties! Cavi at the Big Oaks used to be owned by the wonderful folks of Cavi Cucina on Lyons Ave (now, sadly, closed). With that understanding, my husband and I went there for one of our very few date nights now that we have a new baby. We anticipated all of the amazing dishes and the fabulous wine list — we got… joe average food and a highly limited wine list. NEW OWNERS. sigh.
The place appeared to be in transition — there were beer signs leaning against the walls — so we assumed that they were planning to make it more of a bar/​grill. We each had the highly recommended pork with balsamic reduction, as well as bruscetta. Both were decent, but not exciting. I could easily have cooked the meal and made it sing. Unfortunately, It did not sing as it was served. With that said, it was good fare for a bar/​grill where one might eat surrounded by beer signs.
This is not a terrible slight, just not what we were looking for. My understanding of the regular clientele at that location is motorcyclists out for their weekly ride. (It is an absolutely beautiful location!) The previous owners offered wood-​fired pizza on the patio during the day, which was a huge hit. The current owners may be trying to attract those same customers during the week by toning down the atmosphere and menu. (It used to be very sophistocated.) The question is: Will people make the long drive for food that they can get at The Olive Garden? I won’t be going out of my way… (hence the two star rating) but I don’t eat at The Olive Garden anyway, so what do I know?!
Here’s my free, unsolicited advice to the new owners — Don’t work too hard at making it a generic bar/​grill. As it was, the atmosphere was appropriately eclectic. Instead, get customers to come by offering unique, delicious food. Even one amazing specialty can do it, if word gets out. To get folks to make the drive, a show might be in order. To match the atmosphere, how about a pig-​on-​a-​spit or turkey legs? If you want to go classier, how about wood-​smoked duck with hunter’s sauce? Also, music would be a hook. How about a blues club?
Bottom line: SCV has TONS of bar/​grills and generic box restaurants — and if this restaurant has nothing special to offer, the location is far enough away that it will keep customers from coming. Make it special and we will come. Let me know when that happens and I will give it another try. Until then, pass.

Great burgers.

We called today to ask about our reservations for tomorrow, and the woman who answered the phone said that Mike, who was leasing the place «decided to bail today.» They hope to re-​open the dining room in a few weeks, but will have their sandwich menu for the weekend.

WORSE DINING EXPERIENCE EVER (BAR NONE)
Don’t know how else to put it. When ants came out of the bread basket we should have left right then. Instead we stayed and waited 15 minutes for a salad to be delivered. Ordered a coke and waited 20 minutes to get that. Our waitress was walking around in the dark on the other side of the pretty much vacant restaurant looking for the party that ordered the coke. I really thought at this point we were on Candid Camera. Finally after waiting some 40 minutes our waitress came by with an order and what a suprise in that it was NOT our order. I guess she totally forgot to even place our order. At this point I told her to give me a bill for the salad and soda and guess what. she did. Amazing. Rather than aplogize and tell me to forget it she actually gave me a bill.
I have been dining out for some 40 years and NEVER had an experience like this. I wrote to the owner who was listed on their website and of course to no surprise never heard back from him.
I think these other reviews must be plants from relatives that work here. There is no way that this is the same place. Enter at your own risk.

Very cool quirky place…
I have been here two or three times now, and must say that I love the beef carpaccio. It is nothing out of the ordinary, but rather prepared really well. They slice and pound out filet and top it with shaved parm, capers, and some sort of arougla type lettuce (which is tossed in some sort of lemon vinaigrette). The key is to ask for some lemon wedges on the side, to give it a little extra kick!
The pizza and steak both showed a lot of promise, but unfortunately were not prepared well on either of my visits. Filet (side note: tried both sauce options and thought they were both pretty good) was cooked to medium-​well as opposed to the requested medium-​rare. The pizza had good flavor, but was under cooked in the middle both times.
The service has been great every visit, and will keep me coming back. I am just waiting to get the perfectly cooked meal, and I will be writing a 5 star update.
If you are planning on making the drive out for dinner on a week night, be sure to call and let them know you are coming… they may close early.
Give them a shot…

i love this place! its in the middle of the forest and you can see deer and other wildlife while you dine. service is WONDERFUL. pizza tasted like pure italian pizza! you cant get pizza like that just anywhere. steaks are good too. its beautiful!

Half the fun of Cavi at The Big Oaks is getting there. After a windy ride up into the forest who are greeted by an old style restaurant. Yes the Bar /​Restaurant mix is a bit bizzare, but it is part of what makes this place such a fun place to go with friends. The menu is diverse in its choice and many of the entrees are very good
Just went back in August 2010 … not the same. Dining room was a little dirty … Won’t be going back

It pains me that this is my first review on Unilocal.
To preface, please know that – based on previous reviews – that I plan on visiting Cavi at The Big Oaks again to give their pizza a try. I may even give the dining room another go as the food was not bad. However, my first visit was shaky from the beginning.
PROS:
*Staff is friendly and accommodating.
*The courses on their limited Valentine’s Day menu (see CONS, below) varied from not bad (mussels and roasted pepper soup) to very good (bleu cheese tortellini in white wine sauce). In fact, the quality of food is the only thing that brings it from 1 star to 2 for me.
CONS:
*Making a reservation. You can’t get anyone on the phone. I had to leave 2 voicemails to get a reply about Valentine’s Day, and even then my reservation was not listed when I arrived. Also, the reply from Mike Milligan (owner) was that we would have to come in by 5 p.m. if we wanted «90 minutes.» Ahem. I don’t believe I requested the deep-​tissue massage, although I appreciated the offer. I realize that it is the restaurant business, but don’t come right out and tell me that you’re looking for a finite turnover. Lie to me. Especially if your menu is Italian. There is no turnover in Italy. It’s a minimum 3 hour visit. You leave when you ruin your shirt. Not with pasta sauce, but by popping buttons with your happy, bloated torso.
*Going on Valentine’s Day is ill-​advised if you are not okay with having a limited, pre-​determined menu. Like I said, the food was okay, but there were certain courses I would never order. (I’m going to give it another try with the regular menu. Especially because I loves me a good pizza. Maybe that will change my rating.)
*They were out of our first 2 choices of red wine. Mike Milligan suggested a 3^rd. It would have been a very good choice had it not been ice cold. It was suggested to us that we keep our hands on the glass to bring it to room temperature. That’s like giving me a sweater vest for Christmas that you know I’ll probably just return. Don’t give me an errand.
*The final course was Tiramisu. No, that’s not the con. I LOVE tiramisu. But they didn’t have any. They limited our menu and then they don’t have what’s… on it? They brought us cheesecake instead.
*Final bill: $ 132.75. I don’t mind paying this kind of money for dinner – especially on V-​Day – but for that kind of coin I’d like more say in what I eat and not drink 37 degree Italian red wine. Next time, I’ll opt for Le Chene.

Ooh I had a whole review typed out for Cavi and my computer crashed — three stars for now.

Finally had a chance at a proper meal. Sampled four pasta dishes, all excellent. Sampled four deserts, all excellent. Tried another pizza, still excellent. A slight but apparent step up from the original Cavi, with a different menu as well. Easily in the SCV top 5, maybe top 2.
Only complaint was with the bread: undercooked and bland. This seems like the kind of place that would really nail it, so I was disappointed.

Good pizza. The crust was crunchy on the outside, yet soft and chewy on the inside. All the ingredients were top quality. I uploaded pictures of our pizzas.
The place is a little bizarre, and you aren’t quite sure how to order. We ordered with the bartender and a little while later out came out pizza.
THere was a little too much cheese for our liking to give it 5 stars. Will definitely be back and want to try out the dinner menu too, the dining room is beautiful.

Well, Mike D was raving about the pizza, so for sure I had to make the trip. I’ve driven by the place many times before, always took it for a biker bar. We went late on a Sunday, sun was low in the sky, there were more cars than bikes in the parking lot.
We didn’t know what to do, there’s a sit-​down restaurant inside, a bar next to that and a patio outside. So we went into the bar and told the bartender we wanted to order some pizza. She told us to sit outside and she’ll be right there. She also offered us to sit inside the restaurant, but we just wanted to try their pizza.
The menu has the dinner items on it as well, so we ordered up some pizza and a pesto dish from the kitchen. There were a few bees buzzing around but the wait staff was helpful in trying to shoo them away. There was a table of loud bikers nearby, but seemed to be kept in line by the bartender & manager.
First they brought out some bread with oil & balsamic vinegar, that was a nice treat. Then the pizza arrived, it was good, the crust was thin. We ordered the Demonio pizza, hot salami, crushed red pepper. I usually smother my pizza with crushed red pepper anyway, but this wasn’t really that hot without it. The farfalle al pesto was good also.
I did have a tough time eating outside, with the bees and the Jäger-​bombs, the loud bikes, I didn’t feel like I enjoyed it as much as I should have. I regretted not eating in the dining area, next time I’ll eat in there for sure.
The finale of the evening was dessert, we split a «bomba». It was really good, a unique dessert, gelato covered in chocolate. Next time I’ll get my own, no more halfsies.
The service was really friendly, they did seem to want to please us. This place seems to be struggling with their identity, they have a real nice Italian restaraunt inside and bar and outside patio. Like the oil and balsamic, the two don’t really mix. But as long as the food is good, I’ll be back.