Vegan dining at Stanford Inn by the Sea resort, est. since 1996. Open to the public for breakfast and dinner - reservations recommended. Serves vegan cuisine with menu featuring freshly baked bread and specials such as king trumpet "crab" cakes (pan-fried mushroom and zucchini cakes), roasted beet salad, personal size pizzetta, eggplant cannelloni, and grilled portabella flatbread. Vegan desserts include Raven's chocolate tart and pecan torte. Fine dining atmosphere with views of redwood trees. The Inn maintains its own organic garden. NOTE: vaccinations required for dine-in. Please also note that some wines are reportedly not vegan. Open Mon-Sun 7:30am-10:30am, 5:30pm-8:00pm.
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44850 Comptche Ukiah Rd (at The Stanford Inn), Mendocino, California, USA, 95460
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Last update on 31 May 2022 by Forager
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76 Reviews
First Review by annice
Kjeffy
Points +118
Wish I could eat here every night! - Edit
It was so nice knowing there was a completely vegan restaurant near where we were staying in Mendocino. We made reservations, and for a Tuesday night, the restaurant was full. We started with some great wine and a flatbread. I loved the enchiladas and the mint chocolate torte I got for dinner and dessert! It was a bit pricey but I know the whole area is. The restaurant isn't in the downtown area, it's in a private location within a nice hotel. The hotel also has many vegan books in a bookstore as well as a cookbook for their recipes. The wait staff was extremely knowledgable and attentive, our drinks were always full. At sunset they opened the windows so we could see it, it was gorgeous. I would highly recommend this place and would go back over and over again!
Read morePros: vegan, gluten free, Attentive wait staff
Cons: pricey
Guest
r2277388
Points +74
Great gem hiding in the trees - Edit
This was a great find. Vegan options are hard to find when on vacation and to find a whole restaurant is a boon! The ambiance was warm and cabin-in-the-woods like. It's basically a nice Mexican restaurant.
Read morePros: Everything is vegan! They had several non-vegan op
Cons: The food was pretty good but on the expensive side
IBunnylover
This is not a Mexican restaurant. Did you eat at the same place as the rest of us?
Read moreRikkiR
Yeah... I don't think they offer anything non-vegan either.
Read moreGuest
Yolante101
Points +116
Vegan, Amerikanisch, Teuer - Edit
Das Essen war lecker, die Mitarbeiter freundlich, auf Grund des gehobenen Preises hätte ich jedoch besseren (routinierten) Service erwartet. Die Bestuhlung erinnert an eine Jugendherberge.
Read morePros: rein veganes Restaurant
Cons: teuer
Guest
HappyVeganCouple
Points +132
Amazing food! - Edit
We stayed at Stanford Inn for two nights and had dinner twice. The food - from starter to dessert - was exceptional both time. We especially need to emphasize the competent and helpful staff that recommended the perfect meal including wine given our preferences. We will definitively visit the Ravens again when we will be in the US.
Read morePros: Selection of special dishes, Healthy choices, Cosy and nice atmosphere
Guest
ShantiPeace
Points +496
Mixed interests. - Edit
The food is made with care and certainly there are some lovely dishes but certainly everything is not completely whole food if you are a whole food vegan like myself. It is very expensive and they use plenty of wheat in their dishes and sugar in there deserts as well. Lots of mushrooms (and onions and peppers-non yogic foods) in many dishes and since I have been long time cleaning up my diet, in the late nineties I started experiencing, to my surprise, psychedelic effects from any mushrooms (mainly reflected at night in my dreams), so they are out of the picture for me. I do realize that this area of the state is mushroom country (and pot country). Lentils is on my top five list and I did not find them anywhere on the menus. Also, don't expect a dining room full of vegans or vegetarians. At breakfast the table next to me was talking of going to a Salmon bake for lunch and it is clear that many of the staff are not veg. One morning I asked my waiter to make a very simple custom whole food smoothie since their two $12 selections are made with ice and juice. The waiter said that it was not possible because the cucumber would contaminate the blender! I then called the manager over to help out, which he kindly did. The sugar caramelized fruit compote with my nice buckwheat waffles had an alcoholic tinge to it and it was commented that I had a very good sense of taste and I said, "I thought that's what went with the territory." At this point I certainly started to feel out-of-place as this is clearly a place for crossovers, want-to-be's, and the food-as-entertainment people. I don't personally need convincing as proof is in the vegan pudding. I really wish I had a better report. I suppose I've been spoiled by good simple whole home vibrant vegan cooking as well as the fabulous southern California creative vegan spots that are popping up all over the place there. Thank goodness for that! Eventually may it be so for everyone.
Read moreGuest
KikoOla
Points +410
We loved everything about it! - Edit
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Ravens. Though the entire menu is plant-based, they have some adventurous selections for those accustomed to eating plant-based on a regular basis, as well as selections for those who might not be. The cocktail menu is very creative! It’s so wonderful to be able to dine in a restaurant that keeps the environment, your health and the welfare of animals in mind. We loved everything that we had. Be sure to check out the large selections of cookbooks/books and other items in the inn's lobby area.
Read moreGuest
Happy2behere
Points +35
Search no farther - Edit
This is a fantastic plant based restaurant.
Read moreFor vegan dining, one of the best ever.
Worth every cent.
Guest
Griffyote
Points +16
Best Vegan Food I've ever had from a restaurant. - Edit
My wife and I first visited here on our 2nd honeymoon.
Read moreWe typically cook for ourselves simply because we can prepare our food how we like better than most any Restaurant, and because my wife is a chef. Coincidentally, the couple sitting next to us had also recently gone vegan for health and ethical issues,were also there on their 25th honeymoon. They had come all the way from North Carolina to stay there, being one of the few vegan friendly restaurants/resorts that exist.Like the title says, Best vegan food I've ever had in a restaurant.Just a little pricey but not outrageously so.The coolest thing is walking through the bio-intensive organic garden where they grow much of what they serve!
Pros: Good Healthy food, Grown on site, Organic
Cons: a little pricey , a few pretentious guests
Guest
SonjaCPA
Points +5270
all vegan eco resort and restaurant - Edit
Where to begin? Stanford Inn is just magical. We stayed for 3 nights which included breakfast each morning. We had dinner twice in the dining room as well as a quick meal at the bar. Your stay begins with chocolate chip cookies in the room and also includes afternoon tea/coffee with dessert each day. The dining room overlooks the grounds and nearby river. The grounds are gorgeous and they grow much of their own produce. We had lovely sunny weather which just capped it all off.
Read moreFor breakfast, we tried the chickpea crepe, portabella benedict, tempeh Florentine, French toast, citrus polenta and chilaquiles. Most dishes come with a side of country potatoes, sweet potatoes or refried beans. Tea and coffee are also available along with orange, apple, tomato or carrot juice. The crepe was nice, but more like an omelet consistency. The benedict and Florentine both have a lovely Hollandise sauce, but the Florentine was my favorite breakfast entrée. The polenta was unique and the chilaquiles hearty. The carrot juice was lovely too.
For dinner, there is complimentary bread with a different spread each night. An amuse bouche is presented as well. For salads, we tried the grilled peach, beet and frisee and grilled mushroom salads. The grilled peach was our favorite. For starters, we tried the mushroom soup and the almond crusted sriracha tempeh. The soup was amazing! For entrees, we chose the ravioli, mushroom beggar's purse, BBQ sandwich, and the encrusted mushroom sandwich. The ravioli was so good we ordered it another night at the bar. The purse was excellent as well. The sandwiches were tasty. Everything is also so beautifully presented and paired with greens from the gardens. For desserts, we tried the pecan torte, mint chocolate ganache tart and crème brulee. The torte was our favorite. Yum!
Cocktails are available at the bar or with dinner, but there is also a happy hour that coincides with the afternoon tea and coffee. We enjoyed the bloody mary, the mojito and a martini. The afternoon desserts were a brownie and a lemon bar. Just lovely. Everything is lovely at the Stanford Inn. The service is attentive and friendly. The rooms include wood burning fireplaces and there's a massage center and solarium pool area too. Truly a wonderful place to visit without having to ask any vegan questions. Go if you have the opportunity.
Pros: all vegan resort, gorgeous location, gourmet meals
Guest
moretofuplease
Points +507
Go for breakfast - Edit
We had three meals at Ravens. Not excited about dinner, but breakfast was very good. Vegans offer a lot of gringo Mexican items, but they are not necessarily good at Mexican spices. That was my problem with the tamales for dinner -- mild to the point of bland. Garden scramble with tempeh was better, and the Florentine was the best. High prices, like the rest of Mendocino, but where else can you get gourmet vegan food? One funny thing -- for dinner I called ahead and asked if we needed reservations. Yes, we were told, and when we showed up the entire dining room was empty!
Read morePros: All vegan, Atmosphere, Fresh ingredients
Cons: Price, Flavor, Pretension
Guest
Veganessss in SF
Points +67
Stanford Inn and the Ravens Restaurant Are A Dream - Edit
The wonderful, vegan Stanford Inn and the Ravens restaurant are located in beautiful Mendocino. The Stanford Inn is surrounded by gorgeous floral and vegetable gardens, and include a tropical indoor pool. As an Inn guest, your room rate includes a full vegan breakfast at the Ravens Restaurant. Rent a canoe at the Big River, and when you return to your room, there may be freshly baked vegan chocolate chip cookies waiting for you! The Ravens' food is gourmet vegan fare.
Read morePros: Vegan., Beautiful., Amazing.
Cons: Expensive
Guest
bagwasher
Points +132
I can't wait to go back - Edit
I recently stayed at Stanford Inn for two nights. I had two dinners and two breakfasts and all tasted absolutely delicious. It is such a treat to stay here and have a full vegan menu to choose from, not to mention the cookies left in the room and free afternoon tea with dessert.
Read moreThe first dinner I had the Thai special which was delicious. It came with soup, and a lettuce wrap, both very flavorful. My hushand, who is not a vegan, had the ravioli and really enjoyed it. Everything was very filling. The second dinner, I had the sea palm pastry which tasted wonderful but the filo pastry inside was not cooked. However, they were happy to get me another one, which was an improvement but still had some undercooked pastry. I loved the taste combination though. It seems problematic cooking it with pastry wrapped inside and not just on the outside.
Breakfasts were great. Too many things to choose from. I tried the frittata and the benedict. Both delicious. Great breakfast potatoes too. I took a scone to go and it was really good.
I can't wait to go back there some time.
Pros: All vegan, Gourmet, Delicous
Cons: High price, Remote location
Guest
heyheyrenee
Points +199
Good - Edit
Food was good but I wouldn't say it was great. For the prices I expected great. The service was very good. My mushroom salad was just okay. Same for the barbecue tofu. I did really like the Sea Palm and Root Vegetable Struedel but for $14.00 the price was a little steep. I would have been happy paying half that price for the size of the portion. Give it a try but don't have high expectations.
Read moreCons: Expensive , Small portions, Average food
Guest
jamber79
Points +376
Nice idea - Edit
This restaurant has an extensive all vegan menu, and beautiful views out all of the windows. Had breakfast three times and dinner three times while we were staying at the hotel. I really didn't enjoys any of the the six meals I had. There were odd flavor and ingredient combinations, too much seasoning a lot of the time, and the lettuce in the salad wastough and bitter. On top of that, we couldn't ever get refills on drinks, waiter didn't know anything about what the wines tasted like, asked if one of the teas was black tea, they said yes, and it turned out to be herbal so I had to send it back, couldn't find our waiter for quite some time when we needed him, etc. The restaurant seems like a really nice place, and is priced to be a really nice place, but the food and service didn't live up to what I expected.
Read morePros: atmosphere, all vegan menu, views
Guest
gr8vegan
Points +2369
Best restaurant for breakfast and dinner - Edit
Nothing beats Raven's in the entire state. Stanford Inn by the Sea is the most fantastic place in the world. If you stay here you usually get a free breakfast, too! Raven's does such an amazingly good job at breakfast, there are a bunch of options to choose from, and likely you won't be staying here alone and can share. Recently, they have changed to an all plant based menu, even more reason to celebrate this magical place! Its the perfect location for an anniversary, celebration, romantic date, etc. I would be a regular for breakfast if I lived about 8 hours closer.
Read morePros: 100% vegan, romantic
Guest
Djfnw
Points +25
The Best Vegan Restaurant Ever!!! - Edit
My wife and I have been to the best vegan restaurants in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. We both agree that Ravens' has the best food. That's all I want to say. Try and it and you will see that the food is absolutely incredibly good! All the dishes and all the meals are amazing. I can't wait for our next trip to the Stanford Inn.
Read moreGuest
kimward8
Points +574
Healthy - Edit
We stayed at the Stanford Inn and ate here for breakfast and dinner twice. The vegan chocolate chip cookies they leave in your room are super good. The bananas foster for dessert with chocolate vanilla and strawberry ice cream on top was amazing and the highlight for both me and my boyfriend. I also really enjoyed the grilled maple-tamari tofu that came on top of the caesar salad. It was soo good. The BBQ tofu and corn cakes I had for the main course were not as amazing. The citrus polenta for breakfast was not my favourite either, due to lack of enough sauce. The pineapple scone that came with my seasonal fruit was excellent though. The best vegan scone I have ever had, served with vegan butter. The kamut-oat pancakes were good, if a little healthy tasting for me, as I prefer my pancakes white and processed! My boyfriend had the same thing to say about the kamut-oat waffle. The tofu florentine with hollandaise sauce on an english muffin was good, but my boyfriend complained that the sauce was too lemony. I liked it. I did not like the country potatoes that came with it though, they had some sort of red pepper flavouring on them. Overall, I would say that if you want a health food retreat this is the place to go. As a bit of a junk food vegan, I prefer things more tasty and less healthy most of the time. For instance, the pizzetas had only veggies on them and no vegan cheese.
Read moreGuest
spizyxoxo
Points +84
Best Vegan Restaurant I've Ever Been To! - Edit
I am not going to write a lengthy review because I just got back from a nice weekend in Fort Bragg/Mendocino. During our stay, my husband and I dined at Ravens for several breakfasts and dinners. Are the portions gigantic? No. Are prices low? No. However, what you do get on your plate is organic, vegan, beautiful and amazing in flavor. The service is great as well. To sum it up, this is the best restaurant I have ever dined at and I am counting down the days until I can eat more of Ravens' innovative, detail-oriented, perfectly portioned food.
Read morePros: organic, great service, even better food
Guest
CLRtraveller
Points +8994
Delicious, wonderful food - Edit
Dairy and eggs are offered at breakfast; otherwise, all is vegan. Virtually everything is organic. Dinners are all vegan, healthy, imaginative, tasty. Main-dish servings were very large. The "crab" cakes were absolutely delicious. Meals are attractively presented with edible flower garnishes. Prices are reasonable. Some of the wines, beers and liquors are organic and vegan. If you're an inn guest, you get breakfasts included, plus complimentary afternoon tea and vegan dessert. You can view the menus on the website: http://www.ravensrestaurant.com/dinner.html and http://www.ravensrestaurant.com/breakfast.html. I enjoyed the Moroccan lentils dish, served with a pyramid of couscous, a skewer of roasted vegetables and two sauces. Wednesday is Indian night, but I was able to order something from the regular menu. I had their signature dish, sea palm strudel, which was interesting and not something I'd make myself, so I'm glad I tried it. The sorbet trio for dessert was heavenly!
Read moreFreshly squeezed juice is available at breakfast. I had a tempeh florentine with creamy tahini sauce on a whole-wheat English muffin, with the "house potatoes" - hash browns with thinly sliced, glazed onion. My second day, I had an enchilada topped with lots of fresh salsa (see photo). Quiet music and pleasant view.
Pros: delicious, healthy food, wide selection of dishes, reasonable prices for the quality
Guest
Mitch Cohen
Points +140
Try the Sea Palm Strudel! - Edit
The Ravens' unique dish is its delicious Sea Palm Strudel. Sure, some might think [the other] entrees are too expensive or portions are too small; some might need salad & dessert to be filled. Tasty as everything is, 3-course meals add up. So, save up & go here once in awhile for special occasions. And, of course, bring your dog!
Read moreSure, one can get a fine meal & excellent desserts for less at nearby Ft. Bragg's Living Light store. So, try both!
Pros: excellent food, dog-friendly
Cons: expensive
Guest
devinevegan
Points +39
Great! - Edit
This place is great. The owner is vegan and he is one quirky, but hilarious guy! My husband and I got married here, the staff is fantastic. Yes, this place is very pricey, but it is organic, and grown right there at the inn! They sell artwork by local painters and the mushrooms are hunted up in the surrounding forests! This is a place to splurge. Sometimes yes, the women at the hotel desk are pretentious, but once you talk to them they are very nice, but yes a little snooty. The wait staff and Jeff the owner are not, however. They are very nice. The restaurant is 100% vegan at dinnertime, but at breakfast they do serve eggs, as well as "tofu eggs". The grounds at the inn are beautiful, you may wander around them as you wish You may walk through their garden or visit the llamas! There are vegan dogs and cats there too!
Read morePros: Great food!, Beautiful location!, The owner is a hoot!
Cons: So expensive!
Guest
annice
Points +102
Somewhat pretentious - Edit
We ate here twice on our recent visit to Mendocino, once for dinner and once for breakfast. While the food was good, the portions were small and the dishes overpriced. I had a spinach souffle appetizer that almost needed a magnifying glass to be seen!
Read moreThe service wasn't great. My husband ordered a large grapefruit juice,and the waiter gave him a glass containing at most 4 ounces of juice. He called the waiter over, and asked if that was the large size. The waiter said no, and replace it, but offered no apology.
I found the restaurant rather pretentions. I would go back if I'm in the area only because it's the only game in town.
Pros: good food, nice atmosphere
Cons: overpriced, small portions, mediocre service
Guest
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