After a wonderful lunch at Yai Restaurant we made it into Oxnard in pretty good time. Our room was actually ready when we arrived and we got a short break before heading off to dinner. I really didn't want to travel too far from where we were staying and after reading through a bunch of reviews and such, thought that the Raven Tavern would make for a nice, low stress dinner. The place was quite busy when we arrived, but we had reservations and were quickly seated outside right along the harbor.
The Servers and such were very nice; but they were obviously a bit overwhelmed…….I believe it's Covid staffing, so I won't hold it against them.
I started with the "Joe's Old Fashioned" ($15).
Too much bitters and not enough Bourbon for my taste.
The Missus looked at what other tables were having and really didn't seem too inspired. She wasn't overly hungry and went with the Veggie Hand Pie ($5).
The crust on this one was better than mine; but that sauce had a weird, almost sour tinge to it and the filling just wasn't very good.
The Missus figured that a hand pie would be enough for Her since I ordered the Steak and Mushroom Dinner Pie ($16) with Garlic Mashed Potatoes ($3).
The crust of the pie was on the gummy-mushy side and the filling was barely lukewarm. The gravy had a strange bitterness to it and wasn't hot. There wasn't very much "steak" in this pie either. The best thing were the mashed potatoes which were nicely seasoned…..the only thing the Missus enjoyed.
The food seemed very corporate and "chain-like"….
Too bad. You can't win 'em all, right?
The Raven Tavern
1651 S Victoria Ave.
Oxnard, CA 93035
We took the short drive back to the hotel and decided to take a stroll. We were staying right on Channel Islands Harbor, just north of Port Hueneme at the Hampton Inn. The harbor is quite lovely, very relaxing, and laid back.
There are many residences along Peninsula Road along with folks living on the various yachts and right next to the hotel was a quaint little park. We had a blast watching all the pooches having their evening social hour.
Right next to the park was an interesting site. We first walked along the dock and along this area there were no boats moored and this was where the sea lions hung out.
You see, right along the harbor is the abandoned Casa Sirena Seaside Resort, which closed down in 2009. I was fascinated in checking it out after reading this in Atlas Obscura. It's both eerie and depressing….the abandoned buildings looking run down and worn.
It was starting to get dark and we saw guys on bikes and other folk hanging around in the walkways and they seemed to be….well….you can figure that one out, right?
Very sad indeed. This must be prime property, so I'm wondering what the back story might be. Going down this rabbit hole a bit, I found this on the Channel Islands Harbor website, so perhaps in the near future a new hotel will stand in it's place. The Hampton Inn we stayed at actually used to be the "annex" of the resort.
Here's a photo of Casa Sirena taken the following morning.
As we sailed off to Anacapa Island……
Stay tuned for that post!
