john ash & co.

best fine dinning. you cant go to santa rosa and not go to john ash. this was a favorite of mine when i lived there. steaks were always perfect and sunday brunch was always a treat. highly recommened...

over priced for the quality recieved. i've been going to john ash for many years. but the last two times, i was rather disappointed. last week i took my date there, expecting a nice meal. what i got was a small, tough new york steak for $38. her scallops were large and tender, but tasted fishy: usually a sign of age.

the service was good... until a party of twenty wedding revelers were seated next to us. their noise didn't bother me. i like the sounds of a good time. what i find irritating was that once our neighbors arrived, the wait staff completely ignored us for prolonged periods. i had to flag down the waiter just to get my check.

in fairness, he did give us our deserts for free, apologizing for the noise. but as i said, the noise was not the issue.

banish those who complain

unbelievable?  but it happened to us. last thanksgiving (2016) we had a reservation at john ash but they did not have a table for us when we arrived at the appointed time.  i was quite unhappy with this and told them so.   they told us to wait in some chair about 20 feet from the front desk.  then they proceeded to seat others who came in later.  my wife, who is japanese suggested there might be racism involved but i wrote it off.  however, i did complain about others who came in later being seated before us.  finally we got a table but the consequences where not clear until this year (2017) when we made reservations for john ash for this thanksgiving.  about a week after the reservation i had a phone message from dave asking me to call him - he didn't say why.  i did not reach him when i called back but he called me again to say they were refusing our reservation (just 3 days before thanksgiving).  why?  he said that they had a complaint from a manager who no longer worked there about our visit the prior year.  he didn't have any details and when i explained what had happened he didn't amend his opinion.  we had been banished, in effect, by a rumor from a former employee without documentation nor any chance to refute the allegations.

what made it even worse was that john ash could have emailed me or canceled the reservation the day after i made it.  and they could have said they no longer wanted us as customers after our prior visit.  they did none of these things.  these actions are not only unjust and unfairly punitive but spiteful.  of course, we will now avoid this restaurant and i hope this post will convince you to do likewise.

not what it used to be. seems to be at the end of a long downhill slide. the last meal there (6 of us) we were parked in siberia. waiter was haughty and arrogant. we have been customers of john ash since the montgomery village days (1982). i'm sorry, but never again..

had lunch with a relative from novato. he said he and his wife go here frequently. had a nice fish dish. view of vineyard behind the restaurant is great.

the $10 sunday burger. i was quite pleased with my hand-ground burger on sunday night in the bar at john ash. cooked exactly medium-rare with onion, tomato, and lettuce and served with classic condiments for you to apply is a nice deal at a well-regarded restaurant. even with our large party of 10, my burger was paid attention to in the kitchen. i'd go back for the burger.

wine country elegance!. we dined at john ash for the first time last night. beautiful ambiance, with a fireplace, white linen tablecloths and lots of windows looking out to the vineyards. my salad was very fresh and innovative and i loved my pumpkin ravioli entree, a small portion that paired well with a glass of local chardonnay. service was very attentive and friendly.

wished we would have saved room for dessert but we had a huge lunch at wiili's earlier in the day. next time! :)

overpriced and just plain. let's get this straight right off the bat. this is not the best restaurant in sonoma county as some of the travel book would like you to believe. (by the way, that honor belongs to cyrus) everything is over done at the restaurant and over priced. the food is just average. it has morphed in to tourist trap territory.

this dining experience was everything i expected & more. we sat in the newly expanded bar area with a breathtaking view of the vineyards. our server was super friendly & the food was out of this world! we shared the chocolate peanut butter mousse for dessert - simply mouth watering! very romantic athmosphere.