THE RAVEN’S NEST
ADDRESS: 42458 60th Street W, Quartz Hill, CA 93536
WEBSITE: https://www.theravensnestqh.com/
I have my friends Angel and Julie to thank for introducing me to The Raven’s Nest, billed as a gourmet gothic restaurant, which is located in Quartz Hill. Situated at one end of a strip mall that also houses a nail salon, a dessert shop, and a pizza place, the restaurant is certainly very unassuming from the outside. But take a step through the doors and that gothic décor theme is immediately apparent. My friend Angie was recently back in town and we decided to stop in one evening for dinner.
The moment that you step through those doors, you are immediately greeted with the gothic décor theme. Black and red are your predominant color schemes used: in the paint scheme, the furniture color, the flooring, even the bar itself also had blood red accent lighting at the seating area. The bar area had an accent wall using brick wallpaper, along with a scythe mounted above the wine rack for some added effect.
From the menu options perspective, there is definitely a nice array of dishes to choose from, mostly within the American and Italian cuisine realm. Soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, burgers, along with meat or seafood protein entrées make it hard to choose what to get. That’s not to mention their appetizer selection is pretty assorted too, with poke nachos, charcuterie, or chicken wings, to name a few. But I did appreciate the fact that each dish seemed different enough from the other ones that they were individual options to help provide that diversity of flavors to choose from.
Angie and I decided to split a few different things, so we could sample more of the dishes. We ordered the Meze Board appetizer to start things off, which consisted of roasted red bell pepper hummus, tzatziki, and olive tapenade served with grilled pita bread. We also tacked on an order of the Lobster Rolls to that, along with a Queens NY Meatball pizza as well.
We got seated at one of those round high-top tables and quickly discovered that as our food started coming out of the kitchen, we were lucky to have been able to re-arrange everything to make it fit on there. The Meze Board came out first, with a really nice visual presentation to it. I thought that the earthy colors of the brown and orange were complemented by the green really well. The plate itself actually consisted of a finished tree trunk slice that was about 1″ thick.
I thoroughly enjoyed everything that was on the plate. The grilled pita was rather fluffy in texture, and the hummus had a smooth texture with some sweetness from the red bell peppers and earthiness from the chickpeas. The tzatziki was creamy, which also had that coolness from the cucumbers within. The olive tapenade was definitely pretty tart, and had a bit of a pucker factor. I’m not too big of an olive person myself, but I did think that it went well with the pita, since it balanced out the strong flavors from the olive.
The Lobster Rolls came out next, and while they did have a good presentation, I felt that I didn’t enjoy them as much as I did the items from the Meze Board. Served on top-split rolls, the poached lobster was tossed in lemon butter with a drizzle of celery lemon aioli and garnish of scallions on top. I felt like the biggest thing that was missing for me was the lemon flavor, which I unfortunately couldn’t really detect. The citrus flavor would have helped to provide another layer of depth to the lobster, which I did find actually slightly dry. Priced at $32, the plate just missed the mark, and I didn’t feel like it was worth the $16 per roll.
Because I’m trying to avoid cow’s milk, I requested to substitute the mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano that normally comes on the pizza with just feta cheese. The remainder of the pizza consists of a marinara base, Sicilian-style sliced meatballs, fresh basil, and roasted garlic. The chefs really loaded up the pizza with the feta, because each slice alone definitely felt pretty hefty with the ingredient stack-up.
I thought that the tangy and salty flavor of the feta mixed well with the brightness from the marinara and umami from the meatballs. The garlic and basil helped to add another layer of aromatics to each bite as well. Even the pizza dough itself didn’t seem too dense and also had relatively good flavor, too. I came away pretty impressed with the pizza, even if it wasn’t the original ingredient combination due to the cheese substitution.
This restaurant may look pretty unassuming from the outside, but the combination of solid food options, distinct atmosphere, and friendly service make it one of my stand-out restaurants in the Palmdale / Lancaster area. Almost all of the dishes that we tried we were impressed with, with the flavors standing out as well as the quality of the ingredients. I’ve looked forward to subsequent visits, since there’s something else on the menu that has also sounded good that I’d like to try. If you’re looking for a dining experience that you probably won’t find anywhere else in the local area, be sure to take a stop at The Raven’s Nest.
Let’s now take a look at The Raven’s Nest Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Meze Board **
Grilled pita bread, roasted red pepper hummus, tzatziki, and olive tapenade. Royal order size (small) pictured.
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Lobster Rolls
Poached lobster tossed with lemon butter, drizzled with celery lemon aioli and and garnished with scallions. Served with mini potato chips.
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** Queens NY Meatball Pizza **
Sicilian-style sliced meatballs, roasted garlic, fresh basil, and marinara sauce. Pictured with feta cheese.
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** OG Ahi Poke Nachos **
Ahi tuna, edamame, pickled red onions, clementines, spicy crema, truffle teriyaki glaze, chili oil, sesame seeds, crispy garlic, and crispy onions served over wonton crisps.
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** Westside Smash Burger **
(2) 4 oz. ground beef smash patties, applewood smoked bacon, black garlic BBQ sauce, sautéed mushrooms, onions, and arugula. Served with French fries. Pictured without cheddar cheese.
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** Sea Bass **
Pan seared sea bass filet, served on a truffle mushroom risotto, with cherry tomatoes, kalamata olive pan sauce, and roasted seasonal vegetables.
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** BGBBQ Pizza **
Black garlic BBQ sauce, chicken, red onions, Roma tomatoes, and cilantro. Pictured with feta cheese.
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And finally, here are my rankings for The Raven’s Nest:
Food: 4.75 / 5
The variety of the different food options available, from pastas to pizzas to salad, each with their own distinct flavor profile, really makes it hard for you to choose something to get. In addition to that, you could taste the quality of the ingredients and the presentation is really great as well.
Atmosphere: 4.5 / 5
The gothic theme of the restaurant is fully embraced, with the drinks even called “potions” on the menu. The restaurant is only open for dinner service, and nighttime definitely helps to maximize the ambiance with the dark color schemes used within the restaurant itself.
Service: 4.5 / 5
Our waitress, Harmony, was very welcoming to us during our time at the restaurant. She often stopped by to check in on us and see if we needed anything else for our meal. Our dishes also came out of the kitchen at a pretty good pace, with our two appetizers coming out in succession and the pizza not long behind that.
Price: 4.5 / 5
Even though the pricing of the food leaned more on the expensive side (some of the appetizers are as expensive as the entrées), I thought that the quality of the food as well as the overall dining experience at the restaurant make it worth it.
Overall:
18.25 / 20
(91%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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