Our review of Ô Ranch restaurant in Basse-Terre

We recently tried the brunch at Habitation l’Oiseau and shared our experience in a dedicated article. At the time, we wanted to start writing more about restaurants in Guadeloupe and sharing our honest opinions, but I have to admit we’ve been seriously short on time. So here we are again with our review of Ô Ranch restaurant, in Basse-Terre, just five minutes from home.

As with the brunch article, the aim here isn’t to write a very long piece, but simply to give you an honest account of our experience at Ô Ranch. We haven’t had any bad restaurant experiences lately, and I’m not sure what we’d do if we did. That said, this is definitely not a sponsored post: we’re writing exactly what we want, although, to be fair, that’s always the case. Still, I don’t think I’d feel much like writing a short article about a place we wouldn’t recommend at all. What do you think?

To be honest, we drive past it every day, and we’d been hearing more and more positive feedback lately. So we decided to book a table for the four of us almost at the last minute for a Friday evening. We made the reservation through Instagram, and everything went smoothly: the team was responsive and very friendly.

The setting is honestly very pleasant. At the entrance, there’s a huge tree with beautiful aerial roots. I have to admit I should have asked what kind of tree it was, because I’ve seen the same species elsewhere in Guadeloupe. Next time, I’ll find out. The entrance is well lit, and there’s a large parking lot.

We booked for 7 p.m. and arrived on time, which is already something. We received a warm welcome and were shown to a table directly opposite the entrance, slightly off to one side. It was perfect, especially with two kids. Téo asked the server for a booster seat, and one was gladly brought over. That isn’t always a given, so it was definitely a plus.

The restaurant appears to be housed in an old stone building. There’s a beautiful wooden terrace that gives the place a great atmosphere. It’s fairly close to the road, but between the background noise and the music, you barely notice it, so that wasn’t an issue. Our table was right beside a small landscaped garden with flowing water and a pond. At the back, there’s an old mill wheel. You can really tell that a lot of thought has gone into the décor and the way the space blends into its surroundings.

For their meal, the kids chose the children’s menu, which included a beef burger, fries, juice, and a scoop of ice cream. For a child, that’s more than enough.

Mélanie and I looked over the menu and ordered a drink to start: a pint of Hoegaarden for me—it had been a while—and a nonalcoholic cocktail for her. We were served quickly, as were the kids, and everything was going smoothly. They brought us a few slices of bread while we waited, which the kids promptly devoured as though they hadn’t eaten in days and we never fed them at home. Honestly, it would have been nice to have something to spread on the bread. Bringing bread is a thoughtful touch, but serving it with nothing at all felt a little incomplete. Still, that’s just my personal opinion.

Mélanie and I shared an appetizer: raw tuna tartare. It definitely brought back memories of Tahiti, even though it’s obviously hard to compete with the red tuna tartare and sashimi we had there. That said, we were very pleasantly surprised by the starter. The fish was delicious and extremely fresh, and naturally, the kids tucked into it as well. It was served with wakame—you know, that green Japanese seaweed. We love it and used to buy it often in Tahiti.

The kids’ meals arrived next: huge burgers made with black buns, probably colored with charcoal, and fries on the side. The filling was a little basic, though, with just a slice of tomato and some arugula, which the kids didn’t want. In my opinion, arugula can be a bit too bitter for children. Louis loved his burger and ate the whole thing. Téo enjoyed his too, but at only five years old, he struggled to finish it.

For our main courses, we ordered an Argentinian ribeye steak and a rack of lamb. The wait was fairly short and felt just right. Both dishes looked very appetizing, and the two sides of our choice were served in small bowls. If I had to be picky, I’d say the presentation of the sides could have been a little more polished, but they still tasted very good.

Both meat dishes were excellent. Mélanie and I don’t eat meat all that often, but we genuinely enjoyed them. The meat seemed to be of very high quality, and we’d been told that this was the place to go for meat. They do offer a few fish dishes, but at a restaurant like this, I’d still be inclined to recommend ordering meat.

There’s also an excellent selection of cuts, including some designed to be shared by two people, as well as skewers and the famous Japanese Wagyu beef. Some of the cuts are obviously quite expensive, but the quality is there.

I finished with a small dessert: a tiramisu. There was a minor mix-up, as I had to wait more than 15 minutes for it, and it wasn’t the red berry tiramisu the server had told me it would be. There had clearly been a communication issue between the kitchen and the server. Nothing too serious, though—Louis happily ate almost all of my dessert anyway. Personally, I thought it was just okay.

That’s all for this article. Honestly, we had a really enjoyable evening. It had been a while since we’d gone out to a restaurant like this with the kids, apart from while on vacation, and everyone had a great time. Yes, the prices are fairly high, but in our opinion, the quality justifies them. The children’s menus cost €16, which felt a little expensive to me, while our meat dishes were priced between €35 and €40. In total, the meal came to €150 for the four of us, including our pre-dinner drinks but no wine.

Would we recommend it? Yes, absolutely. Overall, it’s a very good restaurant, with a warm welcome, good service, a lovely setting, and an excellent meal. For us, it’s definitely a place worth recommending.

See you soon for another short restaurant review.

Have you got any other places you think we should try? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks, and see you soon!

Written by Sylvain PONS

Since 2021, I've been living in the Guadeloupe archipelago with Mélanie and our two children. We are exploring these beautiful islands and discovering the treasures that we are happy to share with you!

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