Juniper Valley Ranch - Colorado Springs, CO

Posted By Michael Stern on September 12, 2000 11:45 AM

A low-slung adobe house on the old road to Canyon City, open only in the summer, only for dinner Wednesday through Saturday, as well as Sunday afternoon, and only if you have a reservation in advance (generally three to four days in advance), Juniper Valley Ranch serves some of the nicest food in the west. In a region where most culinary highlights are four-alarm hot or cowpoke-crude, here is a place to sit down with a serene meat-and-potatoes meal and a glass of iced tea. It is a family﷓style retreat with antiques around the fireplace and a menu that lists the same two entrees every day.

Start with curried consommé or spiced apple cider. Then choose either skillet-fried chicken or baked ham in an oval casserole. These satisfying entrees are accompanied by hot biscuits and good apple butter, cole slaw, okra and tomato stew, and delightfully fluffy riced potatoes. Help yourself to seconds, thirds, as much as you like, then top things off with the homemade dessert of the day: bread pudding, fruit cobbler, or cake. It is a simple meal, virtually unchanged in half a century, served on faded calico tablecloths and seasoned with the rare and irresistible ingredient of tradition's charm.

Overall Rating

13 out of 13 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Brian Gabrielli on November 3, 2011 7:35 AM

What an experience it is to dine as if it was 1951, close to the year I was born. Every item served (from cherry cider to dessert) was terrific. I will never forget this restaurant and hope it remains for another 60 years!

Overall Rating

Baked Ham

Apple Butter & Biscuits

Cherry Cider

fried chicken

riced potatoes

Cole Slaw

Butterscotch Sundae

1 out of 1 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Lisa Vicek on December 19, 2005 11:55 PM

This used to be a favorite of ours when the previous generation ran the retaurant. You would make a reservation and show up at that time for a wonderful family style dinner of ham or chicken with a chicken broth starter with two Cheez-It crackers on the side. Your meal comes with riced potatoes / gravy and coleslaw, okra in rice and heavenly biscuits with apple butter. The ham has several candied apple rings on the plate. The chicken is fried and crispy good. The food has always been hot and delicious. Dessert is also included and is usually a "crumble" or pie or ice cream.

The problem is the lack of graciousness with which the restaurant currently operates. They have switched to a seating concept where the arrival times are dictated. We were one of three parties who arrived one weekend evening and we were all clumped together by the door even though there were two other rooms with tables available. We felt seated for their convenience. In the small front room we were all but included in the two other parties' conversations. With empty tables in both side rooms, we asked to be reseated but were refused.

The ham was three half-pieces for our table of three, and when we asked for the traditional "more please" we were brought an even smaller piece and a half for the three of us! Attitude came with the "seconds". In the past we have been served at least five slices of ham as a start for three people. When requesting seconds previously, as the restaurant advertised and allowed, we were always asked "who" as in how many needed another piece, and a full piece was always brought for those who asked. The price is for the fixed meal and is slightly different for chicken or ham.

The easy pleasant service and treatment of customers as guests has passed with the previous generation so we have also "passed" on going back.

Overall Rating

12 out of 15 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Paula Camp on July 30, 2003 12:32 AM

Take it from someone who's eaten at Juniper Valley for almost 50 years, the food is consistent quality. Although I've tasted the yummy ham served en casserole, the fried chicken is worth driving many, many miles for! Combine it with the riced potatoes, hot biscuits (in the pan) and gravy and you don't really need another thing! The cole slaw and apple butter are terrific too. And if it isn't enough that you get to take the leftovers home, you can buy the apple butter to grace your own table!

Each season has me driving SEVERAL times out Hwy. 115 to bask in the warm atmosphere and splurge on the great food. Out-of-town visitors find it a delightful treat!

Overall Rating

0 out of 0 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Melissa Richie on May 23, 2003 3:36 PM

This place is a throw back to the old days of eating Grandma's fried chicken with the entire family on Sunday afternoons. There is more food than you could ever eat, and it is all mouth-watering. You sit as a family around the table, and "please" and "thank you" seem to come naturally to the teenagers.

The whole family enjoyed it, and we would go back again and again.

Overall Rating

0 out of 0 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes