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Sunday, March 8, 2009

Ragin' River Steak Company - Independence

Posted by KandN
Review by KandN:

Attention all meat eaters! There's a great steak house in our area! Yes, it is across the river in Independence, but it's well worth a visit or a permanent spot on your short list of places to eat.
The Ragin' River Steak Company caught N's and my attention last Sunday when we ate at Andy's Cafe on the other side of Main Street. After breakfast, we strolled by their front windows and checked out the menu, making a mental note to find an excuse to return and eat soon.

And we did return - on Wednesday evening. :>) The owner greeted us as we entered and led us to one of the booths up against a lovely old brick wall. Our waitress arrived directly afterwards with menus. I asked for a run down of the beer they offered (several, plus a nice wine list featuring local wineries) and settled on a porter. N was curious enough to taste an apricot hefeweizen, but opted to have a porter, also. (I could smell apricot clear across the table! Maybe with chicken?) Amanda, the waitress answered our questions and made suggestions. BUT she made the prime rib ($21.95- 10 oz) sound irresistible to both of us. Salads aren't included with the dinners, so we both ordered a side salad ($2.25) to start things off. A basket of rolls were brought out to our table. They were light and tender, with an appealing shiny exterior. The salads had everything I like; varied greens, carrots, cucumber slices, tomatoes, croutons and dressing on the side.
While we sipped our beer, we took in the beautifully furnished and decorated interior of this old downtown building. The owner has paid attention to every detail during the renovation and he's not done. He said he has plans to add a mezzanine level with a possible martini/appetizer bar.
Our prime rib arrived, looking juicy and well marbled - fork and knife ready. The flavors of the rub came through nicely, but didn't over power the flavorful beef. They stock organic grown beef and ask that you let them know if you're not pleased with your steak.
N and I enjoyed a nice chat with the owner. He shared that he's friends with one of Wild Pear's owners and that they're planning an art/music/food/wine/beer event at the Riverview Park Amphitheater in June. Sounds like a calendar worthy event, put together by local business owners.
We were pleased and we'll definitely be back. Next time I plan to order either the halibut or the t-bone.
Ragin' River Steak Company
154 S. Main Street
Independence, OR
503.837.0394
at 6:11 AM
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16 comments:

  1. Wow, that place is gorgeous. I sure hope it thrives in this economy. Did they seem kid-friendly at all?

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  2. 'laina,
    I don't know why not- the bar and dining area are separated. Plus I always associate places with booths and an old building that bounces voices off of walls as good to bring kids, because it's going to be on the noisy side anyway. I didn't check-out the restroom, but now I wish I had. They don't have a children's menu, but I remember seeing burgers and such. I just gave them a call, but they're not open til 4 today. I'll try again later. ~K

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  3. yes they are kid friendly We have taken the children there a few times. But get there early. They only have 3 highchairs.

    Brian

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  4. Just called and the owner said (as Brian mentioned) they do have highchairs plus a mini menu. :>)

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  5. I'll pencil in that June weekend in Independence.

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  6. We will have to go there if I can get Lynn out of her chair.

    CandL

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  7. "We are working on West Bank Summer Soltice Festival for June 20th. We are doing this in conjunction with the city and hopefully some wineries and microbrews. It is still in planning stage and we would love to have help and input. Call us at 503-838-6171." I received the above information from the River Gallery in Independence. ~K

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  8. Here are a few more details about the Festival. : "Fine Art, Fine Oregon Wines, Oregon Microbrews, Fine Food Saturday June 20 10am-8pm and featuring Coyote Creek Band 5pm-7:30pm."

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  9. Ragin' River Catered our Benefit Auction for over 200 people. We switched our format from a sit down dinner to a buffet style social during the silent auction.

    We were a little nervous about how the new format would be received, but were pleasantly surprised.

    We found the food to be excellent and received numerous positive comments from long time auction attendees.

    The staff was well prepared and very professional and they had dishes that appealed to all tastes. Food and beverages were replenished immediately by almost invisible servers. They supplied everything from plates and napkins to linens as well as staff. It was seamless. The price was excellent as well.

    The food coordinators told the auction committee members that Alex and his staff were very easy to work with. I would highly recommend them to anyone with an upcoming event in the area.

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  10. Independence cheerleaderFebruary 9, 2010 7:58 PM

    As a local business owner in Independence, I am a frequent customer (and recommender) of Ragin'River. The negative comment above is definitely not typical. I have never waited -- crowded or empty -- longer than 15 minutes for dinner. Keep in mind, these are not frozen entrees, but are cooked to order. Everything is fresh -- sometimes Alex brings the salmon in whole, caught that day, from the coast!
    And where can you get prime rib, every night of the week, and always exactly as you order it? (The reviewer above must have ordered the smaller of the two size options, so got what she ordered.)
    Independence is really fortunate to have a fine restaurant that caters to its customers and has become a great place to gather or drop in. I hope the couple complaining above gave it a second chance.

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  11. Had the chance to meet my family for dinner here. We had a wonderful dinner! Started with the salad and rolls, then came the Delicious Prime rib that was very tender.....Finished off with a heavenly dessert! The service was wonderful; very attentive staff, and the atmosphere was quite nice. What a gem! We definately will be back! What a great find!

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  12. We are from Independence and are thrilled to have Ragin' River as a dining option in town. We have dined there 15-20 times since River opened and we've never had less than a great experience. Sometimes we bring our kids to choose something from the kids' menu, sometimes just us parents go and sit at the bar to eat. We've invited our family to join us there for dinner as well and all our guests have always been impressed. We've found the food to be delicious and consistent.

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  13. we have eaten at ragin' a few times and have found the food to be consistant and very good every time. the seafood is always my favorite! thank you for maintaining your quality..see you on valentine's day

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  14. Ragin' River Steak Company
    Never going back
    by Normal Eater
    Just wanted to let everyone know what my wife and I thought of Ragin River Steak Co. This is our first post on any blog but hopefully the start to many more. My wife and I decided to give Ragin River a try last week because we heard that they served great steaks and pasta. We drove out to Independence for a nice casual dinner all the way up from Corvallis. First we found a parking space right away and couldn't believe how nice downtown is with the amphitheater and all. Then we found the restaurant and couldn't wait to eat and see this place. This is where it all started to go downhill. I don't want to complain about everything that went wrong but I thought I should let everyone know what we saw and dealt with. First, it took almost twenty minutes to get seated and it didn't seem that busy, 2nd the server was kind of rude and didn't bring us water until we ordered which was 20 minutes after we sat down, 3rd it took another 45 minutes to get our food and we only were able to get our server to get us one drink (would have had 3 with how long we waited), 4 During all this wait time I decided to look around the restaurant and see what it was all about and sadly I found the kitchen at the end of the place had no doors, what I saw was not good. The cooks had raw meat sitting out all over prep stations, I didn't see one person wash their hands in the three minutes I watched them work, and worst the guys cooking would go from dishes to plating to cutting raw meat back to plating and to top it off right before i turned around to go back to my table one of the cooks grabbed what looked like a tray of fresh fish off the top of the ice machine checked it and then put it back up. I assumed he was thawing the meat out by letting it sit on top of the ice machine which was right next to the grille and hood. Really glad I didn't eat any seafood. I was appalled by this and almost said something but I was a little uncomfortable. I got back to the table and told my wife what I had seen and that was it. We had some of the bread and barely touched the food. I did order the prime rib and it was decent and my wife had the chicken pasta which was more like cream soup with noodles and a bunch of diced bits. The worst thing is we couldn't enjoy the food because of what I saw in the kitchen. If you eat at Ragin River just beware of the kitchen and hopefully they will read this and clean up their act back there. All in all it was a pretty bad trip up to Independence for dinner. Wish it was different and I wish our first post had to be such a bad one. Better luck next time.
    NormalEaters

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  15. Just returned home from dinner. First off, I would like to say that when the restaurant first opened we went quite a bit, but after a while we felt it went downhill so we stopped going! Well a few weeks ago on a Thursday, after we heard there were new owners, we thought we would give it another try and we were pleasantly surprised. Service was good, food was excellent, and we were excited to return. Tonight (Friday), however, we were not very happy with the way things went. Where do I begin. We ordered the crab cakes as an appetizer, but they were out of them. A second drink came 15 minutes after our glasses were empty. Our salads came 20+ minutes after ordering and our dinner 40 minutes after the salad plates were empty. The potato was not fully cooked and cold - the bacon on the filet was not fully cooked - the ribeye was black black on the outside(crispy crispy)and still grazing on the inside - the blue cheese crumble on our steaks ended up being blue cheese dressing poured over them. To top it all off, I went to the restroom and had to use the seat protector as toilet paper as there was none available in either stall. Will not return.

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  16. My wife and I love the restaurant. We've been dining there since they opened. We love the ambiance and comfortable cozy feel of the restaurant and bar. They also have a beautiful patio setting in the back. The service has always been great, attentive, helpful and knowledgable. We love getting the crab cakes to start with. They are amazing topped with a berry sauce. I usually get prime rib when Im there which has always been consistently tender and favorable. By far, the best prime rib anywhere around Salem. My wife sticks to mainly seafood. She usually gets either the salmon or seafood pasta. I've tried them as well and they are delicious.

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What do you think? Please keep your comments civil. Personal attacks are not welcome and do not lead to constructive or even interesting discussion. If you believe a restaurant is in violation of county ordinances please bring that matter to the county health department at (503) 588-5346

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