Twisted Ranch

Ranch is the condiment of the gods. It’s versatile-​dressing, fried food dipper, pizza crust dunker. I love it. I dig how TR uses it in all of their offerings. It’s not too overpowering-​at least with the items I ate. The buffalo chicken dip was creamy and tangy and satisfying. The Gerber was gooey, cheesey, and quite hefty. I’m a sucker for hand cut fries and these were superb-​greasy, fresh, and crispy. Service was prompt and friendly.

Ate here a few times. The loaded fries I always order with roasted garlic ranch is always really good. The employees are very friendly. Awesome atmosphere to bring your family into but youre still able to have a few drinks while watching the blues and cards games.

Nutshell: Definitely worth a stop in. Hearty portions for a respectable price and a really fun atmosphere.
I’ve been wanting to pop in here since they opened, but just recently was able to. It’s not big, but I love the decore. It’s like hometown pub with a modern twist. I bellied up to the bar because I was riding solo. The bartender and all the servers were really awesome. I ordered the chicken fajita wrap with ranch fries. With a soda it was around $ 10 to $ 12. The wrap was huge, the order of fries was huge. You will not be going hungry. The wrap was very flavorful, but the fries were a tad dry. I will say, they looked handcut and had a good flavor. I think I’m going for potato salad next time, upon the bartender’s suggestion.

We went here because of the great reviews we heard about the Chef «Joe Dufek». We had no idea what to expect but I knew the food would be amazing. I had the brisket with fries and it was by far the BEST sandwich I have ever had. It had a bbq ranch on it and I choose garlic ranch as my side for my friends and it was delicious. My boyfried had the St Louis Gerber sandwich with fries and his was great also. The flavor in all the food was top notch. The portions are large which means I got to have the rest for dinner :) I highly recommend this place when in the Soulard area and it is worth the special trip to go here even if you don’t live in Soulard. We live in Wright City!

Went to Twisted Ranch with coworkers for a quick lunch, place was empty, service was great, until we received our food…
Started digging into the Fries and discovered hair in my food, waitress came and took the food away. Manager didn’t even come over to apologize or anything. My other friend moments later discovered hair in her fries as well.
To top it off, they charge me for my soda. Seriously? Won’t be going back.

Warning: If you don’t like ranch (obviously) do not try this restaurant.
On the other hand, I am a huge fan of ranch. Twisted Ranch has a heavy focus on ranch dry spices and different variations of ranch sauces. I started the meal off with some fantastic loaded tater tots topped with the avocado ranch and basil ranch. For my meal I tried the burger and ranch fries. At every single restaurant I have been to, I have had to salt my fries. This is the first place that I have ever been to where the fries were perfectly seasoned. Each bit was full of crispy and flavorful goodness.
The only reason that I gave Twisted Ranch 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt my $ 10 mixed drink was not worth $ 10. Maybe $ 7 at most. The drink lacked flavor and, more importantly, lacked alcohol. That being my only complaint, I would recommend this place to all of my friends.

I like the concept and appreciate the novelty of ranch centered flavors. There are about 15(?) Ranch-​based sauces, each very distinct and original. The problem is the base ranch (signature house) isn’t that great. Thumbs up for the wasabi.
The portion size of the fried pickle appetizer is shockingly small for the price. So much so that twice the amount of pickles would still not be worth the $ 8 we paid.
The burger was overcooked, but the waitstaff was apologetic and removed it from the bill as it was too busy for us to wait to have it remade. The bite we took seemed a little soggy, presumably from a ranch based sauce, but the flavor of the bite was sadly indistinguishable, so it’s hard to pinpoint what was going on.
The chicken gyro was above adequate with flavorful and tender breast pieces, crunchy fresh lettuce, and tangy feta/​ranch.
The buffalo chicken was mild for my preference, but flavorful, and I liked that it was served with Fritos scoops.
Overall, an average experience. I’m glad we tried it, but it’s unlikely that we will return.

Twisted Ranch, surprised the hell out of me. I’m not a «ranch» person so, I was in no hurry to go here. When I saw that there was a UYE on a Saturday that I was off from work, I thought, «why not give it a try». I was expecting chicken tenders, wings, salad and plain olé Ranch dressing. WOW! I had no idea there were so many different flavors of Ranch dressing and that it went with so many other foods.
They immediately won me over by having Fried Pickles. It came with two different Ranches for dipping. Being a fan of Jalapeños, I choose Jalapeño Popper and I don’t remember. However, I can tell you I loved the Jalapeño Popper one. The coating on the pickles was coarse like bread crumbs, not a finely ground powder like many other places. I loved the texture, it made them stand out from the typical fried pickle.
For my entrée, I went the safe route and ordered; the Twisted Ranch Burger. It was a ¹⁄₂ lb prime ranch seasoned ground beef patty, grilled and garnished with lettuce, onion, tomato, pickle, choice of cheese. For me the cheese was Pepper Jack and for my ranch, I had to repeat Jalapeño Popper. All of this was served on a warm brioche bun. I like my burgers medium and they got the temp, right. I think ordering medium is more difficult then well done or rare. I recently went low-​carb and I now dream of the fries served here and it ain’t no nightmare, it’s savory dreams.
Now let’s talk cocktails. I started out with The Grinch, since it was the holidays and I had done some serious shopping before my arrival. I’m no Grinch, but I just had to try this green drink with a peppermint garnish. It was like the punch at a school dance, after one cup you’ve had enough. I then moved on to a very flavorful Bloody Mary, that spiced things up after the sweetness of the Grinch.
Our server Robin, was a rock star waitress. We were a large group of 12 and she didn’t mind splitting checks and she kept everything straight and organized. The kitchen also did a great job getting the food out to the table in a timely manner.
My experience at this UYE was so positive, I will be returning to the Twisted Ranch to try other items on their twisted menu. I learned that Ranch goes well beyond the Buttermilk at Hidden Valley.
When: December 12, 2015
Why: UYE Luncheon

Twisted Ranch is another place that has been on my list since they first opened but it has taken me a while to get around to visiting. For those unfamiliar, Twisted Ranch has a heavy focus on unique ranch sauces and a variety of items on their menu, I believe I counted over 15 varieties of ranch.
I arrived on a Saturday for lunch with a group of friends, I had made reservations earlier just because there were going to be a large group of us. Needless to say Twisted Ranch handled everything wonderfully, the table was ready once I arrived and our friendly waitress started to get things in order. Once everyone arrived she came back around and took our drink orders, being around the holidays I decided I would try their Gingerbread Martini, no ranch here however the drink was an adult version of a childhood cookie, it was great. I also ordered a size of mozzarella sticks for the table, and quickly noticed that these were not the frozen variety they seemed to be house made, and seemed to go together perfectly. For my entrée I went with the Ranches St. Louis Gerber, which was thinly sliced smoked ham, served on Italian loaf bread with roasted garlic ranch and topped with baked provel cheese.
The staff here was great, our waitress was fun and had a great personality. Prices were reasonable with almost all of the lunch items costing less than $ 10, however be advised the lunch menu is much lighter with a focus on salads and sandwiches, whereas the dinner menu features pizza and the Big Kid Mac & Cheese, which will be my next order when visiting again.
Overall Twisted Ranch is a solid and unique addition to Soulard and makes for a great place to grab a good bite to eat.

Two UYEs, an Elite Hour and an official Unilocal event all in one week?!? In STL?!? Yep, that just happened!
Thanks to Brian M for putting on a second UYE this week and I’m glad there was a last-​minute cancellation such that I was able to attend. Kid 1 was pretty happy that she was able to come with me also. Great food, great company and a little bit of booze are the right combination for a great Saturday brunch.
Not sure if they have a patio but we probably would have sat out there on this balmy mid-​December Saturday had it been an option. Regardless of the patio situation they did have a Bloody Mary for me. It wasn’t cluttered up with a bunch of toppings and seemed a little more plain than the menu description but it still really hit the spot. The kid was very intrigued by several of the drinks on their menu but she’s not at the point of ordering her own booze with brunch just yet so the Bloody Mary was as deep as I went into their cocktail offerings.
Next up were their pickle chips. They were freshly fried and served a bit too hot to eat immediately. Appetizer plates would have made a lot of sense but weren’t offered. The kid decided she wanted to try them on a whim and I’m glad that she received a good example of this little indulgence. They were crispy and tart at the same time. Paired with two ranch dressings of her choice (she selected the basil and the roasted garlic) this made for one great appetizer. I thought the garlic was a bit muted but the basil flavor came through big time.
I had the Ranched St Louis Gerber with a side salad that I promptly ignored because the sandwich was both huge and delicious. This is an open-​faced sandwich that gets toasted under a broiler. The hoagie roll they built the sandwich on was soft and slightly chewy. The ham was slightly smoky, shaved thin and moist. The provel (this sandwich is a far better place for provel than a pizza) added a creaminess that paired well with the slight crunch on the bottom of the bread. I chose the cheesy bacon avocado for my ranch dressing with the sandwich but used very little of it because the sandwich was a success all by itself.
Screaming kids notwithstanding (who the hell thought this was a good place for a bunch of 5 year old soccer players?!?), this was a great UYE. Also, it was quite possibly the first time that I’ve gone somewhere with a group of fellow Unilocalers who were all trying the place for the very first time.
Some of the other reviews make it seem as though this place went through some real growing pains. I was pleasantly surprised that none of them still seemed evident.

My first UYE at Twisted Ranch meeting new Unilocalers and old Unilocalers (by old I mean I’ve met them before). Thank you to Brian M for organizing this event. That being said, I’m not really sure how I felt about this restaurant. It is all things ranch, which I love, but I don’t know if I would go out of my way to come here again.
I didn’t order an appetizer but I did try some of the sauces that came with them and they were good but not overwhelming. I did try Steven B.‘s fried pickles. Although the menu said that they were fried dill pickles, I’m pretty sure these were bread and butter pickles.
I ordered the Rotisserie Chicken Salad. Buttermilk ranch chicken salad served on a croissant along with lettuce, cheese and tomato. For a side I chose the ranched pasta salad. I loved the pasta salad, it had a nice ranch flavor to it. The chicken salad fell a little flat for me. I think I should have ordered one of their different type of ranch sauces to put a little on the sandwich.
The place is intimate (small) and we were able to get two of their longer tables to put together. The other tables were high tops with bar stools. Our waitress was wonderful and was very professional. She didn’t even wince when she found out that we were separate checks.
Would I come back? Like I said I wouldn’t go out of my way to get here, but if I were in the area I would try it again.

Girls Day in Soulard had us finally trying out Twisted Ranch, which was very good!
When we arrived, we were surprised at how small the main floor was. The tables are somewhat crammed together so if the place had been crowded there wouldn’t have been any areas for people to wait. We got seated right away at a high top in the middle of the room — if there had been any other people there, we would have been sitting on top of each other.
The waitress didn’t come around too often but did eventually take our orders — there were 2 grilled cheese orders with buttermilk ranch as a dipping sauce for their ranch fries, as well as a ranched St. Louis gerber with a southwest ranch for their sauce. I enjoyed my grilled cheese, interesting to have ranch on it, but with the bacon and cheeses it was a great mix. The fries were great, sprinkled with ranch dressing and there was a lot of them in the basket. The sauces were interesting because there’s an after taste that we believed to be basil which makes them unique. My friends enjoyed their meals, the fries the best as well.
Overall its a great establishment and something unique in the restaurant industry. I would like to go back once its been here awhile and maybe if their menu expands more than it is now. I do say check it out, you’ll be intrigued!

Pretty bad. I dragged the husband there and it was pretty bad. He is still throwing it in my face. It’s basically food with a unnecessary amount of ranch. It should be called drenched in ranch. We asked for «light ranch» which I kind of laughed at my husband for doing. We got the flatbread and ate one piece. I told the waitress it was too drenched and she kind of blew me off. The Mac and cheese was ok. Not worth returning for. The beers were pretty cheap. If I were to have to go back it would be for beers and maybe like fries. Something where I could control the amount of ranch.

I finally made it down to Twisted Ranch the other day. I was meeting up with some friends in Soulard for the afternoon and made the recommendation we grab lunch. I am so glad I decided to try Twisted Ranch because it really was delicious!
When we arrived around 2 pm on a Saturday the place was packed! As in, not a seat available anywhere! People seemed to be enjoying their meals and the food looked great. Since we had a part of 5 we opted to wait outside since there isn’t much of a waiting space inside. That’s the only reason I removed 1 star. The place is tiny. In colder months I don’t know where people will be able to wait since standing outside is not really an option in winter months. However, when we were waiting outside it was a beautiful fall day and the sun was out so it wasn’t too bad.
After about 10 minutes of waiting a server came out to grab our group and brought us to our table. It was a high top table in the center of the room; I was almost sitting on top of the person at the table next to me. Seemed like community seating to me!
Anyways, our server came over to get our drink orders and then gave us some time to review the menu. When she came over to deliver our drinks my group wanted to order a few appetizers; they ordered the nachos and the chicken dip. The appetizers came out fairly quickly and looked great. My friends all seemed to enjoy the food and recommended I give them apps a 5 star review!
Our server came back over while appetizers were being eaten and took our orders. I ordered the turkey wrap (no bacon) and I asked for the pesto ranch to be included in the wrap and then I ordered fries with garlic ranch. Those are the 2 best sounding dips to me! I know my fiancé ordered the burger, and I think there was a gyro wrap and 2 grilled cheeses ordered as well. Everything sounded so good!
We each ordered another round of drinks and waited for our food. Within 15 minutes all of our food was brought out and looked fantastic. Unfortunately, the server forgot to say «no bacon» to the kitchen with my wrap, but kudos to her because she realized it as soon as she saw the plate. She immediately brought it back to the kitchen and had them make a new one without bacon. No biggie! I had fries and garlic ranch to snack on in the meantime.
Overall, I am very pleased with Twisted Ranch and I really do want to go back! The only downfall is that the space is so tiny and with it being a packed house it was hard to really have room to myself. They definitely have a good business going and I look forward to seeing how they are doing in few weeks!
Go check them out! Yum.

Ever since we heard about this place opening, I’ve been dreaming of trying it out. So I arranged an all day sitter and my husband and I made the 4 hour drive (each way) to try it for lunch. We were not disappointed. We ordered way too much food, but it was the best way for us to try all of the ranches that piqued our interest.
We started out with the loaded fries and fried mozzarella sticks. The fries come with buttermilk basil ranch on top, then between the two apps we had a total of 4 ranch choices. We ordered pesto, roasted garlic, cheesy bacon and sunny in fetadelphia. (I listed them above in order of my preference.).
The fried mozzarella sticks were perfect dipped in the pesto. And who can resist crispy prosciutto! I would come and order those over and over again if we lived closer.
My husband ordered a burger with American cheese and BBQ ranch. I had a bite and it was seriously tasty.
While I was enjoying the food and sipping on my Twisted Bloody Mary, we got a chance to chat with the owner and our waitress. Really great people.
Needless to say, we really enjoyed our lunch. 5 stars all the way.

You had me at ranch, aka the glue that holds all Midwestern people together.
When I found out there was a restaurant dedicated to one of my favorite condiments in St. Louis proper, it was bookmarked for a future visit. Heck, you might even say it’s what prompted me to book a plane ticket to the Lou. And it was definitely one of the first stops made after getting off the plane.
In addition to the traditional classic ranch dressing, Twisted Ranch offers several different flavors, including sriracha, buffalo and Greek. The latter goes well inside a chicken gyro, that’s for sure.
As with most restaurants in this part of the country, portions are quite generous. Two can split one dish and be satisfied. Unlimited refills on your soda, too.
Overall a nice, casual foray into the world of ranch dressing.

I have to admit I never thought of creating an entire menu on the back of a condiment, but I am a ranch dressing lover. I heard the owners interviewed by John Carney during his show, on KTRS 550 AM, while I was out running errands. I was so intrigued I changed my plans. WOW!!! am I glad I did.
Let’s start with the negatives: 1^st My Buffalo Chicken Dip wasn’t as hot as I would have hoped, and the ceiling fans created enough of a draft that it cooled even more before I could eat the ample serving. 2^nd Two of the four items I got came garnished with LOTS of fresh chopped green onions. (not mentioned on the menu description) Not a fan of green onions, but they were easy to pick off.
Now the positives:
WOW… the Buffalo Chicken Dip was fantastic. I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy Buffalo flavored items. I normally ask for the mildest choice, but the menu didn’t offer options, so I took a chance and was pleasantly surprised. This dip is mild enough to appeal to most tastes, but had enough of a Buffalo kick to make it very enjoyable. Again a little less green onion garnish and more temperature would make this the best appetizer I’ve had in a long time.
My main course was the Ranched St. Louis Gerber. I have to admit I am old enough to remember Ruma’s Deli Gerber and I was looking forward to this open faced ham sandwich. It comes on an Italian roll with ham and provel cheese, like the original, but they have kicked it up a notch with a wonderful Garlic Ranch spread. I have to admit that I would be willing to pay an extra dollar or two for a larger portion of ham and cheese. Honestly another minute or two under the broiler would have melted the provel cheese and toasted the bun a little more, but it was a great tasting blast from the past. It comes with the Twisted Ranch fries and I added an additional side of Ranched Pasta Salad. The fries were great and I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of French fries. The pasta salad was a great twist on plain pasta salad and except for the green onions on top was very flavorful.
I can’t wait to go back and try many of the other Ranch options. They are currently open for lunch and Happy Hour, but they mentioned on the radio interview, they are working on a dinner menu. If it’s as good as the lunch options, I’ll be there often.

I give this place 3 stars, for now. The food was solid and if this review was based on that alone, the food easily gets ⁴⁄₅ stars. But the restaurant itself was so smokey when we walked in, we kind of wondered if they’d had a small grease fire or something in the back. It wasn’t cigarette smoke, it was kitchen smoke and it pervaded the restaurant during our entire meal.
Onto the food! Our table got the pulled pork sandwich and the chicken wrap. The pulled pork was delicious, smokey and sweet, topped with a great coleslaw. Side of the ranch fries with Greek ranch dipping dressing was awesome. The Greek ranch makes me excited to go back and try the Gyro. The chicken wrap was also good. If you don’t enjoy jalapeños, ask for the wrap without. Nothing special with the cheese, just a basic shredded American cheese like you’d put on a homemade wrap, but the flavors overall were good. The southwestern ranch on the wrap was excellent and the fries with the house made ranch was good, though the fries were a little over cooked.
I think this place would do well to take a note from Mission Taco and lose the goofy polo shirts they make the staff wear. Give them cool t-​shirts and outsource the logo and wording so that they look cool. Additionally, the logo doesn’t make sense and the menu looks like it was made on Microsoft Word by someone without any design or marketing experience. This place has great potential but I think it needs to decide if it’s a bar or a restaurant.
The staff members who helped us were good and the prices were also good. Nothing on the menu was over $ 10. I’ll be going back.

My sis and I LOVE ranch and are quite the connoisseurs. So we had to come to lunch here! Parking sucks. I had to park a few blocks away. It’s even worse when Soulard Market is busy. We were seated right away. I like the décor in here but it’s super cramped. I’m actually surprised it passed fire inspection because it is so cramped with the furniture. You can tell they spent time to make the place nice. The bathroom looked recently renovated and was clean.
The food… I liked the pesto ranch the best. The mozzarella sticks were delicious! Very fresh, hand breaded — not frozen. I had a salad and fries too. Both were good. I tried the creamy basil ranch, pesto, avocado and garlic. The pesto was the standout and the garlic was pretty good. The other two were sort of bland. My sis had an awful experience. The fried pickles slide out of their super hard «shell» so she didn’t enjoy them as much. Her meal came out and it was wrong. The waiter took it back to get another one. That one came out and was burned beyond recognition. It was embarrassing how bad it looked. I couldn’t believe that the people who set eyes on it between the kitchen and table let it come out. Sent back again. Our meal was comped because of this, which was nice. But service was not good — instead of filling our waters with a pitcher, they took them away to refill, which left me without a water on two occasions (server forgot to bring them back). I can tell the owners want it to be successful as they were present — but these little details need to be attended to. I think I’ll come back, but doubt I can convince my sis to.

Ranch Lovers… Twisted Ranch is now open for LUNCH ONLY. Current hours are Tuesday-​Sunday 11:00 — 3:00. They will be adding evening hours in the near future.
Here is a fact– I am not sure I have ever requested a side of Ranch in my entire life. I am a full on Buffalo Hot Sauce type of girl. Twisted Ranch has a Homemade Buffalo Ranch!!! They have Avacado Ranch, Bacon Cheddar Ranch, Garlic Ranch, Southwest Ranch… and on and on… Sandwiches come with fries or a side salad. There is no up charge for a side salad with your sandwich (very cool). Sandwiches come with one Homemade Ranch Sauce and the side comes with a second Homemade Ranch Sauce.
Now let me talk about the Twisted Ranch French Fries. Holy wow! The team at Twisted Ranch sprinkles Dry Ranch Powder on the French Fries!!! Do you hear me… I think these may have been my favorite fries ever. I ate every single French Fry on my plate (don’t tell anyone). I had fun dipping my fries in the Buffalo Ranch and the Greek Ranch.
I cannot wait to go back and try more of the flavor combinations at Twisted Ranch. Great new, locally owned place in Soulard. Plenty of street parking. Check them out soon!