Riley’s Apple Farm

Suzie Q’s Fun Facts:
Riley’s Apple Farm was founded by log cabin homesteaders way back in… 1978 (did you think I was going to say «1878»? Yeah, I was surprised, too).
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Picture this: You arrange to meet up with friends at «Riley’s Apple Farm.» In the age of Google, you assume that everyone will figure out on their own where Riley’s Apple Farm is. But when you arrive, you realize that none of your friends are there.
Slowly, over several hours of phone tag and text message tag amidst near non-​existent cell reception, and through a series of near-​comical misunderstandings and erroneous assumptions, you learn that there are at least THREE Riley’s Apple Farms — each called, you guessed it, «Riley’s Apple Farm» — with each of them miles away from each other, and no way to distinguish between them for purposes of coordinating.
So you never get to hang out with your friends at Riley’s Apple Farm. Because after spending THREE SOLID HOURS searching for them, driving from «Riley’s» to «Riley’s,» you eventually abandon your search out of sheer hunger and exhaustion, having never picked a single apple.
This is what actually happened to me and my friends. And I’ve gotta tell you, I will NEVER return.
You’d think that Rileys’ staff would have been trained to assist confused customers who think they’re at one Riley’s, but are actually at another. But that would be giving the staff far too much credit. No one who works at any «Riley’s» location seems to know which is which, or even how to direct you to their other properties.
And the «Riley’s Apple Farm» website only contains this unhelpful description:
«About ten years later, we realized that there was more demand than we could handle. A good problem… but what to do? Dennis arranged for the adjacent Wilshire properties to be purchased by his father, Ray Riley; and so it came about that there are so many Rileys in Oak Glen to choose from. Good luck.»
Oh, really? There are «many Rileys in Oak Glen to choose from»? «Good luck»??!
Here’s a novel thought: Perhaps INCLUDE EACH FARM’S ADDRESS AND MAP ON YOUR WEBSITE’S «CONTACT» PAGE, AND OH, I DON’T KNOW, MAYBE DON’T CALL THEM ALL «RILEY’S APPLE FARM»???
It’s kind of like being the mother of identical triplets, and naming them all «Howard,» on the assumption that people will just figure out on their own which Howard is which.
In short: If you plan to meet up with anyone at «Riley’s Apple Farm,» make sure everyone has the exact address (or better yet, precise GPS coordinates) before arriving, because once you’re there, your cell phone will pretty much be useless.
No apple is worth this much trouble.
POSTSCRIPT: Due to the owner’s hilariously condescending, insulting and defensive response to my review, I’m dropping my review by another star. With this kind of customer service, it’s a wonder these farms are still in business at all.

The farm was very cute! We came on a Sunday morning. This review is for Riley’s Apple farm only! Riley’s farm was not open and I believe it’s separate. This place has lots to do, from Apple picking during the season, pumpkins, the farm, hay rides, archery. If you get there early you can make your own Apple cider (cold) 1 gal for $ 20. It’s very delicious. The apple pies are are amazing! The entire area is very beautiful. It’s great for all kinds of events, family things, dates, out door stuff. They have a shop, little food stand with sandwiches, pies, drinks. There’s also other things to do at the other farms and village area. Will def return next year for Apple picking. Btw oak glen is 30 min from the freeway with no gas around so come prepared. And there’s only road side parking. Come early to avoid large crowds.

We just finished our tour of Riley’s Apple Farm and we absolutely loved it! Not only were the grounds covered in gorgeous natural foliage, our tour was structured and informative for the kids and the adults! We all felt it was very organized and the crew was very friendly. We all especially loved Mr. Riley’s hayride where he stopped several times to point out historic facts and farm info. We had no trouble parking along the side of the road when we approached the entrance. We took a beautiful quick stroll down a path with trees with climbing ivy on each side. We checked in at the general store, ordered our lunches, caramel apples, and pies, then began our tour! The opening music was interactive and fun– a dad from our group was asked to play the washtub base! The kids all played music with Mr. Riley too! They had a blast pressing apple cider, making a rope, taking a hayride, practicing archery/​making kazoos, touring a pioneer cabin, sawing wood, watering the garden, peeling and coring apples, and building a log cabin! Yes, they did all of that! We ate lunch there and found that the beans and coleslaw were awesome! We also loved that we could replace our soft drinks with fresh apple cider which was so crazy delicious! The kids also had fun getting some souvenirs that they couldn’t get at just any toy store– like a real raccoon tail hat, a wooden bow/​arrow, and a quill pen, not to mention apple butter! We had a super blessed time!

Horrible. We actually picked our apples at the Willowbrook Farm next door which was quite charming but alas I wanted a slice of famous apple pie so we walked down to Riley’s. So disorganized… no clear signage and uninformed staff. Had to walk around cars with no idea where to find pie. Finally, someone I asked thought they knew where to get some. The girl was very nice but the pie itself was disappointing… the apples were nicely cooked but the filling was gloppy and the worse thing was that the dough on the bottom of it was COMPLETELY RAW! Unacceptable. Especially when we had traveled 2 hours and were looking forward to some good apple pie. Also, I bought a jar of blueberry preserves for $ 10 and just saw that it has HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP in it… unexpected for farm fare. Never again.

First off the place is only open on the weekends unless you want to make a weekday appointment. Second, the trees were picked clean. The trees that had apples we weren’t allowed to pick from. There wasn’t even a place to just buy apples by the bag incase the trees were empty. They also ran out of apple cider!!! Their pumpkin patch was a pretty sad excuse, most of the pumpkins on the vine were rotten… we had better luck at the farm next door to get apples to make the trip worth it.
If you’re gonna go, go earlier in the year maybe then they will have apples. Don’t count on the website, they said they had a few more weeks worth of apples and the only ones there were the rotten ones on the ground =(
Update: apparently the trees that were marked off limits have been opened up because every tree that had a tag on it was indeed empty. 4 hours of countless walking in circle to get 3lbs worth of non-​wormy or rotten apples. I think we checked all the trees. Probably better than this «sharon» has. I stand by my review and we didn’t sign up to MAKE cider I wanted to buy a gallon jug of which, you were sold out of (plus who wants to pay $ 20 for a gallon of cider!!!)

Trees picked clean. Employees forcing apples off the ground into our bags when we have no idea how long they have sat. Employees chasing us out to the shade because we have not bought the apples yet. Never worked so hard at having a good time.

We had made plans to meet with friends at Riley’s farm but there are several so we were the only ones who made it here. I couldn’t have been happier with our choice!
First off — plenty of parking. Beautiful, well kept and charming grounds. Was apple picking expensive? Yes — but the photos we got and memories we made were priceless. I wouldn’t go there to buy 10 lbs of apples, but we did walk around with my little boys — talk about trees and pick «just the perfect ones» and it was great.
BUT — what I do highly recommend — make SURE you press your own apple cider on their vintage press and takes tons of photos. We made apple cider with Ruby and she was amazing. So fun and animated for my kids — they were chuckling and giggling the whole time! We LOVED Ruby, she made our experience just that much better!
To make things better — we then tried archery and tomahawk throwing with Christy and Lester — and man, did we have an extremely fun time. Worth every penny. Even my 4 year old tried his chance with a bow — loved it! I even managed to hit the bulls eye after a little practice and some tips from Christy.
This is definitely going to be our go to apple farm forever. Everyone was super friendly and engaging. Worth every penny we spent. Can’t wait til next year!

Nice orchard for apple picking and field trip gold rush experience. Very engaging for the kids and many activities for students. The crew gets into character and makes the kids feel like they’re in the real Gold Rush. Very well thought out activities and nice crew.
P.S: For large attendance days beware there is only three stalls in the restroom.

Riley’s apple farm is the perfect, low-​key getaway for friends or family. It’s definitely centered around children, but my girl friends and I had a blast walking around the expansive farm and picking several apples, which were $ 3 per pound. Everyone was really helpful and sweet.
We came near the end of apple season so we missed the pumpkin patch, and some of the trees looked sparse (but we had no trouble getting our fair share). Although it’s a pretty large area, everything is compacted together so you’re able to see the entire farm, pick apples, do some family activities like decorating doll houses, dipping candles, making cider, or making fabric dolls (each activity for $ 5) within an hour or so.
We also went to the central area where they have a restaurant, perform a little old school show (with gun powder and pioneers, or whatever you call them) and have stands that sell apple turnovers and chicken pot pie and caramel candy apples. Everything is a bit pricey, but it does have an amusement-​park feel so you kind of forget about it.
Although it’s not the most thrilling activity and for us, it was quite hot and didn’t feel like fall at all, but it was still such a peaceful fun day.
I’d definitely do it again. but maybe when I’m a senior ;)

We came out 2 weekends ago and had a great time!
We filled a box full of apples (red delicious & rome) in less than 30 minutes. They opened the rome orchard that day so there were plenty of apples, and we did not have to walk far to find them!
Before heading home, we shopped at the market for cider and apple butter and had a BBQ lunch (mediocre).
In hindsight, I should have bought a pie! I heard how amazing they are AFTER we left to come home.

Directly from their website «Open every day for u-​pick — 10am to 4pm.
Now Picking: Newtown Pippin (small), Rome Beauty, & Winesap
YES, WE HAVE U-​PICK APPLES!
Cider, Hayride, Archery, Tomahawk, & Knife Throw are on Saturdays & Sundays.
ALL OF THE INFO ON THIS PAGE IS TRUE & CURRENT. PLEASE DON’T CALL TO CONFIRM INFO, AS WE ARE SWAMPED BY APPLE SEASON! THANK YOU VERY MUCH. WE WILL GLADLY TAKE CALLS TO BOOK TOURS.»
So going by their website, we traveled the 1 hour 20 minutes to Oak Glen to pick apples on Friday October 31^st.
Walked into the barn store and was told that the owner of Riley’s Apple Farm didn’t feel like opening up the business today… we were directed to go down the road to Riley’s Farm (Colonial) for U-​Pick apples.
I thought the employee made the best out of a bad situation, but the message delivered to me after I drove all the way to Oak Glen and the message on Riley’s Apple Farm leaves a very bad taste.
I’d recommend going to any of the other locations around Oak Glen
Riley’s Farm (did not have any U-​Pick left, but store employee was very friendly)
Los Rios (nice store and had U-​Pick apples still available — Granny Smiths and Romans)
Snow-​Line Orchard (although not U-​Pick, their apples tasted the best, and the most interesting store with mini-​apple donuts)

Terrible costumer service! I went once before. Terrible costumer service but it was a fun experience. I wanted to go again this year but I’ve recently sprained my ankle and am on crutches. When I called asking if they had wheelchairs the man laughed and said «this is an apple farm not disneyland.» I’m sorry but that is definitely not how you treat costumers. I most definitely will NEVER be returning.

TOURIST TRAP BE WARNED! PRICE-​GOUGING and bloviating owner excuses.
PLEASE READ ALL OF THE REVIEWS, In every bad review Mrs. Sharon Riley says, «you did not visit our farm!,
DONT PICK UP OUR DOG and it wont bite you.»
NO WARNING SIGNS NOT TO PICK UP DOG WHO ROAMS PROPERTY,
NO WARNING SIGNS THAT APPLE TREES ARE BARE,
NO WARNING THAT NO RESTROOMS ARE AVAILABLE WITH HOT WATER,
NO WARNING THAT OUTHOUSE PORTAPOTTYS HAVE NO FULL SEPARATION BETWEEN TWO WHICH ARE NOT LABELED Boys and Girls.
This place is partially-​organized chaos. from lack of parking, to apples that are literally $ 1 a piece for a 3oz apple. ONLY HAVE PORTABLE potty outhouses. this place is a bit of a joke. Heard so much about this Oak Glen. Looks to me like about 10 separate acres of apple orchards. same ol pumpkin patch rip-​off. seriously disorganized from the moment before you park. Make the trip to Julian or Washington for real apple farms. I made the best of it by purchasing an overpriced stuffed animal and little change purse for my 6-​year old daughter.
Response to owner comment below: we bought 5 small apples that works out to $ 1.00 each. POSiTIVE. The apple tasted OK.
You do not have restrooms with toilets. These are portable potties in what looks like an illegal partial room addition without complete separation between the two. So if a male or female is next to you be prepared. You just admitted this and then contradicted yourself. See folks. This is what it is like to visit here. In addition, no one disclosed that All of the apples were picked and that we would be actually going into what workers said was Son Rileys farm next door by an open gate. This Happened. AND THREE TREES HAD APPLES. No disclosure. This owner is quick to respond on Unilocal and only offer excuses, no apologies, no intent to fix, no concern except to defend bad business practices.

Drove into the middle of no-man’s land to fulfill my East-​coast nostalgia of apple picking. This place didn’t wow, but it delivered. You kinda climb up a rural-​ish road into the mountains, where you’ll find Oak Glen, a funky scenic loop dotted with historic farms and farmer charm. I kinda liked it for how weird it was, definitely didn’t feel like anything close to a big city or LA. The grounds of the farm were pretty and the staff were all nice. The apple variety was OK, but none of them were delicious, although the «Pippins» were really good. Obviously the fun was picking them, and the farm did a great job labeling the map and trees. Very cool day trip overall.

We just had a great time picking apples here. Full on pumpkin patch and apple picking in season here. Lots of parking and quite a few open acres to pick from. You’ll see cows and a horse here too. One of my favorite places in Oak Glen with many Oak Trees here as well.

What an incredible place to pick apples and spend time with friends and family. The workers are beyond helpful and they love what they do

My sons’ went tho this place for a fifth grade class trip. They loved the lessons they learned about history and regaled me with stories from the revolutionary war. They can’t wait to go back again.
The only part that I can vouch for personally is the food. If your kids go, and you are able to, GET THE CHICKEN POT PIE!!! I love chicken pot pie and this was by far the best I have ever eaten. If my grandmother were alive I would not be able to say that without massive guilt but OMG this was better than hers. The crust is light and flakey and delicious. The filling is perfect with lots of shredded chicken, diced potatoes and peas. It is a family sized pie and it fed my 11-​year-​old twins, my wife and I for two dinners.
Stay for the education, go for the Chicken Pot Pie.

I believe I was here with my sister in 2008, but yesterday we went here and a few things looked familiar and other things did not.
Anyway, I am sooo glad we came here yesterday, as I was in Oak Glen a month and a half ago, and we didn’t have time to stop here before it closed for the day. This place is legit! The staff dressed in historical dresses and had a great spirit about them. They really loved what they were doing and it showed. I also was convinced that they lived the old fashioned rustic lifestyle, even though Heather said she was going to be a pharmacist. She was a cutie and a sweetheart, by the way, hehe. Heather, if you’re reading this, I think you’re awesome!
I believe the lady who made the costumes and our Hoe cake, was named Lois. She is an awesome lady too, and has real talent with her costume making skills. I wish I had a chopper to drop me off here on a regular basis.
The general store had a old rustic feel to it, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The only thing that I was surprised about in a not so good way, was the price to press my own cider being $ 20 vs a pre-​existing jug being less. I realize the experience was fun, but just expected it to be similar in price.
Oh well, that was a one time thing, and I still enjoyed myself. I hope Heather is there next time, hehe.

Great little farm, lots of fun if you have kids. As people have said, Cider is $ 15 /​gallon for you to make which seems expensive for a gallon of cider but you are going for the experience here. Cider is hand pressed and as such they have a limted number of slots.
This and the little orchard below are all a family. Great little family business and if you have kids this is one of those places that will create memories they will always remember. My daughter is six and this is our second year coming. She already starts to ask when fall is coming when we are going apple picking.
Nice drive up here, couple of tips, get here early, they open at 10. Parking is $ 5. If you are here early, do it. Don’t just go for the closest trees, ask the staff where the best apples are and they will guide you to the best sports.
The apples you pick from here will last a good deal longer than store bought apples, today is just about two weeks since we came and we just finsihed the last apple this morning and it was really crispy.
Take in the activities, if you have kids they will have a lot of fun watching you throw tomohawks and knives.
Great family place

After a long hectic week my family & I decided we would go to Riley’s Farm, The Hawk’s Head Public House for breakfast. Even though I was a little hesitant because it is a tourist attraction we need to get away & I’m so glad we did. The Riley Farm is oldest & largest remaining orchards in Southern California & it’s open year around
Riley’s Farm is where Hawk’s Head is located it was beautifully covered in Snow! There wasn’t any traffic on the 10 freeway going east,.as we exit @Beaumont Ave. We traveled north 9 miles & it is located on the right
When we finally arrive the air was so crisp & clean! As we entered the colonial American themed restaurant I quickly felt as if I was transported into a 18^th century pub. As we walked across the wooden planked floors to our long wooden table & chairs, to the right was a huge welcoming fireplace. It was absolutely beautiful! Picture perfect.
As our waitress, who was dressed in a colonial style clothes with a bonnet to match, tells us that due to the weather their apple pies are half price. I had to order 2 to go! So we had enough people in our party so each one of us order a different breakfast meal which included home style potatoes, bacon or sausage, toast or biscuits n gravy with 3 eggs. I had the frontier which was 3eggs w/​red peppers, onions & cheese. My daughter ordered french toast & she was pleased. They also have a childrens menu which i appreciated.
Furthermore, if you want to get away & want to eat real home style food & enjoy history this is the place for you this is truly an experience. They feature apple, pumpkin, pear, & raspberry picking when in season. And there is living history reenactment of all sorts including the popular Revolutionary War. I hope you & your family enjoy Riley Farm