Special Dinner Here
Ever since moving to New Mexico, we have eaten our nicest of meals at Cattle Baron in Ruidoso. They are usually busy, so we like to sit in the lounge and have a drink first. We've had exceptional service here with excellent food. We love the salad bar as it is kept up well and is clean. Every waitress we've ever encountered was very friendly, nice and considerate.    [23 Jan 2005 21:17:03]

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     ­Anonymous   krayson1 at msn dot com

Not too bad, not that great either
We always visit the Baron when we are here. However this visit the three times we were there only 1 time was truly good. One visit for lunch they brought out a wrong menu item, which was a steak, which I accepted in lieu of my chicken fried steak, but they did I really thought I was doing them a favor by just eating it, really didn't have the time to reorder. Salad bars are great! Second dinner we had was wonderful, no complaints. The third dinner (we stayed for 14 days) was not so good. The restaurant was very crowded, we had to wait over an hour for a table, then were seated in the back room, very dirty and dark. Lots of food on the floor from the previous 3 tables that had lots of kids. Our entire dinner was eaten surrounded by dirty dishes and waiters walking thru chunks of potatoes and stuff. When we got there our waiter didn't know we were "his". So we waited over 15 minutes before I asked a manager if we had a waiter. My hubby's steak was over cooked (he ordered med rare, got both cooked at well done) the second time he just shut up and ate it! Ugh. My steak was yummy, I had a strip steak both visits and both were cooked just right. It amazed me most was that they had people waiting for over an hour yet they wouldn't clean the tables so people could eat! Maybe just a slow night for bus boys, I'm not sure, but I never remembered it being so nasty. It was always more of a steak and ale ambience. Oh well. I would try it again, but no more chances if it turns out remotely like our last visit, which for 65 bucks for 2 people wasn't an enjoyable experience at all!    [21 Feb 2005 18:21:36]

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Recommended Dishes: Strip steak, salad bar

     ­Anonymous   

Loved it!
My husband and I stopped on our way through the beautiful town of Ruidoso. Being from Michigan, we didn't realize this was a chain until we saw one in Las Cruces. We had a great meal. It was a Thursday night, we didn't have to wait to be seated, our waitress was so fast and efficient. My husband had the Filet Oscar and I had the Rio Pollo. Yum, for both!!! I would go back again.    [04 Nov 2005 23:55:41]

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     ­Anonymous   

Not worth the money
We had prime rib dinner which was almost warm and tasted like it wasn't seasoned. How can an end cut be tasteless? Will not go back.    [27 Sep 2006 19:37:33]

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     ­Anonymous   

Don't take them a large group!!
Normally, I would recommend the Cattle Baron...but when I called LONG before I had a group of 50 people coming into Ruidoso, they would NOT make reservations on a weekend. They told me to show up and everything would be fine. All 47 of us showed up on a Friday night, and the front girl freaked out, saying it would be 2-3 hours before we could sit down.
Granted, having a large party has its downfalls, but a little proactive thought would have helped them leave a good taste in our mouths. After asking to talk with the manager I had arranged this with, we assured him we could wait in the bar area and get seated a few at a time, which we did.
My party of 6 got put back in the back, where the waterfall was SUPPOSED to be running, but it was not. I had been bragging on that waterfall for months!
So all in all, I can not recommend this place for large crowds, but for the tourist looking for a steak house, it will suffice. The food was not the best in Ruidoso, and overpriced.    [10 Jul 2007 00:57:44]

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     ­Mountain Mamma   

This place sucks!!
We are a local family of 3 who decided to go to Cattle Baron the night before Thanksgiving. We walked through the doors at 8:00 (closing was 9:30) and the staff was very rude. They rolled their eyes as if we had walked in 5 minutes before closing. We were seated in the back where no one acknowledged we were there. After waiting 15 minutes for someone to take our drink orders, we decided to leave. The place was not busy and there was no excuse for my family being ignored. We left and went to Denny's (the only other place open at 8:30) and had a wonderful time.    [27 Nov 2007 18:21:47]

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     ­Anonymous   

What the Hell happened to this place!!!??
I used to LOVE LOVE LOVE the Cattle Baron! I have been to Ruidoso over a dozen times in the last 20 yrs and ALWAYS eat here atleast 2-3 times. 2 years ago we ate there and had a good and a bad experience, but the bad was REALLY bad. So fast forward 2 yrs., and we eat there again. OMG HORRIBLE. The place is now dirty, dingy, rips in the seats etc. Food not good at all, and lunch is even ridiculously priced. No meal ever comes with the salad bar, which is retarded because everyone wants the salad bar (or smart cuz people will pay extra?) We had lunch twice there, once with small steaks that were dry and tasteless and tough (sirloin doesn't have to be tough..ask the folks at Salt Grass), so the next time we just ordered the salad bar..which is always a joy..that is the one saving grace for this place..the salad bar. I recommend this place ONLY for lunch and ONLY for the salad bar. Its plenty and yummy, the rest of the food sucks. The wait staff has taken to be disgruntled employees who complain about their jobs at the table. We too came in one night at 9pm (we had been to White Sands all day) tired and worn out and just wanting to eat. Even though they don't close until 9:30, the manager said he couldn't serve us since they actually CLOSE at 9:30 and we wouldnt have time to eat???? HUH?? wth? If you close at 9:30, you should serve people until 9:29.5 and let them finish as leisurely as they like, or else close at 8:00.

I'm done, except one time per trip to eat salad. I'm sad tho, I never minded paying 80.00 for 2 people to eat a nice dinner, but no more.    [25 Jun 2009 01:17:03]

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     ­Anonymous