Sportsman Restaurant and Lounge

Food was very good, service was very good. The only negative is there wasn’t a hostess to seat us at first. However a waitress came walking in for her shift and offered to seat us-​the place was empty so we were able to choose our own table. Prime rib was cooked to perfection!

The shoe leather that they called a steak was probably horse meat, I saw the marks where the jockey was hitting it. I ordered a steak medium rare and what I got was PURE garbage. This place deserves to be closed and condemned for food poisoning. The long loyal customers of this place should all gather and file a lawsuit for trying to feed there customers horsemeat for all those years.

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For dinner tonight I was craving a prime rib, so using my hefty Unilocal search Sportsman was one of the top 3 near my location. After reading other reviews, it was safe to say that the prime rib here is the best you’ll find in downtown, so my husband and I made the trip in.
Located across from Lure on California Street, it may look closed and dark inside but it’s open so come on in. The restaurant has been open for 60 years, so the décor looks very authentic. As soon as I walked in, I immediately felt the old school diner feeling– super old school and Cheers-​like. You aren’t greeted with anyone so we just walked in and sat at the bar. I would say the bar area is such a dive bar. Old school stools and the mirrors lining the liquor counter.
Our bartenders, Mandy and Connie were awesome, definitely made our visit enjoyable.
We came is shortly before 8:30pm on a Saturday come to find that they had already ran out of prime rib when they started serving it at 7pm. So plan to come early if you want to try the Prime Rib.
I then ordered the next best thing, the Rib Eye dinner. The dinner consisted of a soup or salad starter, then steamed veggies and a side of your choice for $ 27.95, plus unlimited bread rolls. The steak was huge, quite delicious juicy and full of flavor; my baked potato was very fluffy and full of toppings. Could definitely share one dinner between 2 people which is what I’ll do next time.
Overall, we had a nice experience. A few regulars were sitting a few seats next to us, and they made our visit a memorable one. Will have to come back some time to try the infamous Prime Rib.
***FYI: You will be paying a shiny penny or two for the food here, pretty pricey for the type of restaurant they’re trying to portray. I was surprised to find that our bill was $ 80+ dollars because the dinner plates are quite expensive, just not why I expected. We MIGHT back to try the prime rib…
P. s. Great place to people watch, especially with the old, drunkie locals. Oh, yeah.

So charmed by this place! A legend among locals. We aren’t from Ventura tho, so we felt lucky to find this“joint“last Christmas. We were served a GREAT holiday turkey dinner, but promised ourselves to come back for Steaks. Last nite we did, and everyone in our party agreed that it was some of best Steaks we had ever been served. We ordered the twin bacon wrapped filets in bernaise sauce. A classic dish ,
Perfectly prepared. Melt in your mouth tender. Also ordered a Ribeye that was almost as tender as the Tourenados. Our perfect waitress Paula, even brought us a little «extra» bernaise because we loved it so much.
This place might be a little «faded», but I hope they keep it just the way it is.

A red-​leather booth place in downtown Ventura.
We went here because our favorite seafood place across the street was packed to the gills, though it was not our first visit. We enjoyed delicious steaks cooked to perfection, sales and baked potatoes. The service is professional, the rolls are fresh and hot from the oven. The cocktails are legendary.
PS B-​list celebrity sightings are common here.

I grew up in and our family frequented the Sportsman in the ‘50s and ‘60s. I returned to town a few years ago, and have eaten at the Sportsman several times since; always on holidays, so I can save up – it is, by Ventura standards, a bit pricey. That said, I’ve always gone for the atmosphere and the entrees. As mentioned in other reviews, the «mixed vegetables» are more like a garnish, though the baked potato is fine. Today, I had the rack of lamb (about $ 30), which was terrific; my sister enjoyed her prime rib, which was good sized and a couple bucks less. The server was attentive enough, considering that it was fairly busy, and certainly nice. I’ll keep coming back.