Rory's Place
Restaurant · Ojai ·
Wood-fired fare, raw bar, cocktails, and natural wine selection.
Wood-fired fare, raw bar, cocktails, and natural wine selection.
"With a long, buzzing dining room, a large front banquette that frames the room, and an equally lively back patio, this popular Ojai restaurant feels like the right place to end the night, even if just for a drink and a snack, so making a reservation ahead is smart for the full experience. An enticing raw bar, smartly curated wines, and cocktails like the surprisingly light salt-and-pepper martini built on a Culch vodka, orange wine, and salt-water infusion pair well with dishes to share such as roasted chicken. Standout plates include the passionfruit aguachile with plump shrimp pieces, Fresno chiles, and puffy shrimp chips that’s an ideal starter when passionfruit is in season, broiled oysters that bring the house down with fermented chile butter and are the recommended choice over raw bivalves, and more formidable, rustic-feeling dishes like Georgian bean stew, where fermented chile paste appears again, and wild mushroom polenta. A side of fries or Japanese sweet potato with miso butter and lime fits easily onto any table, and the setting works equally well for a romantic date night that doesn’t feel too fancy, girl dinners in the front banquette, or solo meals at the bar with a book in hand." - Nicole Fellah
"Warmth emanates from the narrow dining room as groups clink glasses of natural wine or IPAs before splitting trays of briny oysters whose provenance changes daily. On some nights, fish and chips coated in a thick, almost pancake-like batter and served in checkered paper appear on the menu, while dishes like a tender hanger steak and wood-fired kale remain more constant. This is the type of restaurant where you want to be a regular; it can be whatever you need it to be, whether it be an easy stop for caviar and bubbles, a special occasion restaurant for birthday dinners that end with a candle in a scoop of sorbet, or a spot for a solo dinner of broiled oysters and miso butter–topped Japanese sweet potato." - Eater Staff
"Shock turned to giddy overwhelm as the passion fruit pavlova’s mess of textures (crunchy, creamy, squirty) and flavors (kumquat, grapefruit, pistachio) set every bell in my mental slot machine ringing; earlier, the alarmingly bright pop of fennel pollen–dusted olives and a mindblowing plate of baked West Coast oysters—each bivalve as fat and creamy as a toddler’s cheek—had already primed me. My server, who is a therapist and only works here a couple of shifts a week, even helped me process it all. With a plum‑tinged glow, a gorgeous list of natural wines, and the assured presence of a place that’s become the queen of Ojai’s dining scene in just three years, this sensational restaurant—owned by Santa Monica–raised sisters Rory and Meave McAuliffe—delivers on every sense." - Lauren Mechling
"The restaurant was buzzing with an overflow of diners lingering over oysters and orange wine–infused martinis, a relaxed, convivial scene that stretched well past dinner." - Christina Pérez
"Cucumber appears as a sorbet on the menu, and the kitchen has also employed spring peas in ice cream — examples of using typically savory produce in frozen desserts." - Bettina Makalintal