The Ranch House, an iconic steakhouse in the roadhouse vein on Wilkinson Boulevard, has closed. General manager Constance Dellinger confirmed the closing.
The Ranch House, which opened in 1951, was known for decades for steaks, menus that looked as if they had been made with a wood-burning kit and -- perhaps most famously -- the remarkably assertive (read: HOT) cocktail sauce that came with its shrimp cocktail (spelled cocktale, if memory serves, on the menu).
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Monday, June 6, 2011
Ranch House has closed
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18 comments:
Well I'm just sick about the Ranch House and Sonoma too! What a sad day for this long time Charlottean and food lover! I went to every iteration of Sonoma and have celebrated, years ago, many occasions at the Ranch House when Charlotte was a barren wasteland for foodies.
My fav memory at RH is of a Christmas party for a small group in one of the pine paneled back rooms. To get to the private room you walked right through the kitchen! Great cocktail sauce, fried onion hearts and lazy susan for baked potato toppings!
A great place for a prom date in 1978, the cocktail sauce will linger as will the great flounder and meats. Sixty years is a great run, wish they would have let us know in advance so we could visit again and give them a proper send-off.
My mom and dad used to go there on Friday and Saturday nights and eat out with friends. My mother would bring home the menus for display on our kitchen wall. I have several of them, one has Shrimp Cocktale at $1.65. I believe it was from 1964. I took my husband there not long after we started dating for a really good steak. The Ranch House, like the Copal Grill, will always be some of my favorite meal memories!
My mom and dad used to go there to eat out with friends. My mom would bring home the menus for display on our kitchen wall. I still have several of them. The oldest, circa 1964, says, " shrimp cocktale $1.65." I still make cocktail sauce that will open your sinuses. I took my husband there when we started dating for a really good steak. Like the Copal Grill, the Ranch House will always be in my favorite meal memories!
Went there for prom one year... and my Mom worked there before I was born. Sad times... I miss Copal too. Hate I didn't get to say bye to RH.
O-o-h-h-h no! My husband and I were saying just last weekend that we needed to go to the Ranch House soon. What a shame it's not going to be part of our culinary landscape anymore (and I can just see some of the foodie snobs turning their noses up -- but this was one of Charlotte's first steak houses and deserves a place in the hall of fame). I can remember when I first moved to Charlotte as a child in 1968... my dad's workplace was not far down the street and he would take us there from time to time. But we resdiscovered this little gem again about 15 years ago and lovingly referred to it as "the steak house that time forgot" with it's 50's wagon wheel and barrel keg decor. The steaks were wonderful but my fave was the salmon --huge portions that were way less expensive than most places. Our granddaughter was just a couple of months old the first time we took her there. We went for special occasions and just because. Oh, we're so going to miss this place. What a sad day...
What a sad day. The Ranch House will always have a big space in my memory bank. My mother met my grandparents for the first time there in 1958, and my wife met my parents for the first time there in 2003. My wife and I also got engaged there. You could always count on getting a great steak, outrageous cocktail sauce, and homemade blue cheese dressing, served by really nice ladys that took great pride in doing a job so many disrespect these days. You will be missed old friend.
Horrible news. We celebrated so many special occasions there. More of our history and memories erased. Charlotte has lost its soul.
This just really makes me sad. I have been a customer of the Ranch House for 25 years. My fiance' and I live in Cleveland County, and any time we come to Charlotte we would stop by the RH JUST to get a shrimp cocktail and a beer. We would also get a pint of their FABULOUS cocktail sauce to go as it is the best I have ever tasted....BAR NONE!! The steaks were like no other I have ever had and we even compare every other steak to the ones served at the RH. This restaurant's food was hard to beat and the atmosphere is so relaxing. We will miss the special ladies who worked there. I'm so sad to see them go. It was one of a kind and probably the last of it's kind. What a sad day for Charlotte and all who love good food.
So sad to hear of the Ranch House closing. My Dad introduced us to it back in the mid-70's, and he patronized it regularly for business dinners. It, and Staley's, were the nicest places on the westside of town then.
Once or twice a year, I have been back ever since. Hated it when they finally succumbed to regular menus, rather than the wood ones with the funny spellings.
And does someone have the recipe for the cocktail sauce please?
Worked across the street for 18 years. Got a lot of company from New York. Would take them there for dinner, made sure they ordered the Shrimp Cocktail would not tell them about the sause and would watch their face when they took the first bite. Had not been there for a while and have been planing to go soon. Gusess its to late now.
Don
Very sad!
Well another Charlotte Restaurant Landmark closes! What is new about this story? What culinary history do have left in this city? Most world class cites have restaurants like the Ranch House, Anderson's, Rheinland Haus, Hotel Charlotte and yes even Athens. These restaurants that thrived for years and years. Offered good food, and something unique. All the Charlotte Food Snobs are smiling today. How many articles have been written about the restaurants above, before they closed? How much publicity was given to these culinary institutions before the doors shut forever? When we do not support local restaurants and eat at the new, upscale, trendy joints the old ones will eventually be forgotten and close. This is Sad Day for Charlotte!!
Growing up in the area, the Ranch House was where my family went to celebrate special occasions. As a kid I loved the wooden menus. I moved away and sampled steaks from NY to Texas to Florida and never found anything better. Charlotte continues its unfortunate pattern of replacing its true gems with pedestrian fare. I can no longer find anything good to say about good food in Charlotte.
I took my wife to RH for a "Honeymoon" meal. I think this was her first steak dinner. I ordered the sirloin for 2. She ate the salad and then her Potatoe. She was too full to eat any steak. I really enjoyed the RH and also Boyd's Seafood next door.
What a terrible loss for Charlotte. The RH had the best steaks, onion rings, salmon and shrimp cocktail in the region -BAR NONE.
Good Night! Its 2013. I came to Charlotte with the Ranch House as one of my prime stops and nuts its closed!!!
UHHHH whats happening to my Charlotte??
The Ranch house was a favorite as was The Epicurian. The Copal grill was near the airport and always fulll back in the day. Anyone remembet The Olympic Flame restaurant? I worked there in 83. It was a cool place to be at the time. Jimmy, Lambros, Helen, mother Maria, Anne. I will just never forget them or the restaurant because it had a wooden cooler in the middle of the back kitchen that's served as a butcher's block with storage as well because they always cut their own meats, made their own hamburgers everything. I usually had to peel about three bags of potatoes a day forthe mashed potatoes. It closed in the early 90's and the building later became Cash America pawn. Jimmy had told me his uncle ran the Copal Grill.
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