Just attended my class reunion in the barn and I cannot say enough good things. The committee did a…read moregreat job decorating and putting memorabilia out at the venue. The food was fantastic! We all had such a great time! Highly recommend for your event.

10/10 if we could. Whitney's Wild Oak Ranch went above and beyond our expectations for our recent…read morewedding. Joey, our coordinator made sure the day went off without a hitch and to say that the food was incredible is an understatement! We had chicken in a 'white Alabama sauce' and our guests STILL cannot stop talking about it! All other food was also just as great. I will update this post as soon as I have pictures back but the Estate, ceremony site, beer donkey, food, bar, and of course, the barn were above and beyond our expectations. 10/10 recommend Whitney's Wild Oak Ranch for any upcoming event

My husband and I got married at Cottonwood Barn in April 2026. Tami and her staff are amazing! The…read moreproperty is beautiful and immaculately maintained. It was easy for our outside vendors to coordinate with Cottonwood and the setup provided by the Cottonwood staff was exactly what we asked for. The on site bridal suite was a perfect getting ready space. I can't overstate how stunning this venue is!

I was in a wedding here in July. It was 115 degrees outside. Early in the morning, the AC…read moremini-splits stopped working (you heard me right - not a real AC unit, MINI SPLITS). They began spewing ice and that was it. The coolest room in the apartment/bride's room was 98 degrees from that point on. The rest of the room was hotter. No air flow. No cold water. Not a single place in the entire venue to escape the heat. The infrastructure couldn't handle an ice trailer that needed to be plugged in and it popped a breaker - my husband had to run it off his generator. The level of intense heat and lack of water (the fridge in the bride's room didn't work) was horrific and, frankly, a massive health risk. We were sweating out of our makeup and dresses. Unacceptable response from the venue host. who did NOTHING to fix the AC problem except tell us to close the windows and doors that were ONLY OPEN BECAUSE THE MINI-SPLITS HAD SEIZED UP AND WE NEEDED AIR FLOW. Little kids were on the brink of heat exhaustion and franikly, so were we. We spent all day chugging Liquid IV and hoping we didn't pass out. The heat was unbearable. Putting people through that kind of intense heat is a massive liability on the venue's part - INSANE. I am appalled and repulsed at the total lack of concern and infrastructure from the venue on the issue of cooling. Summer weddings should not be offered here, period. They are NOT set up for it.

The Darling Hotel was an absolutely wonderful experience from beginning to end! The building itself…read moreis historic and incredibly unique, with so much character and charm that really sets it apart from your typical hotel. The staff was super friendly, attentive, and accommodating throughout our entire stay. They truly went above and beyond to make the experience memorable, even arranging beautiful flowers, roses, and a fruit platter as a special touch. It's those little details and thoughtful gestures that really make a hotel stand out. The restaurant on the top floor was amazing! I had breakfast there, and between the food, atmosphere, and excellent service, it was definitely one of the highlights of the stay. Another huge plus was the security. I felt very safe and comfortable throughout the property. The parking lot is gated, secured, and accessible only to hotel guests, which provides additional peace of mind. Overall, The Darling Hotel offers a fantastic combination of historic charm, beautiful accommodations, excellent dining, outstanding hospitality, and security. The staff genuinely made an effort to make our stay special, and it absolutely showed. Highly recommend this hotel, especially if you're looking for something unique and memorable!

We've stayed at The Darling a few times now as we have family in the area. We tend to gravitate…read moretowards boutique hotels beyond "big box" properties and The Darling definitely fits the bill in that regard. The rooms are always clean, the Elderwood is an ice touch, and the vibe is always fun. During this trip, all was fine when what sounded like the HVAC system above our room started to knock. It's an old historic building so, things happen. The knocking though quickly turned into a roar. We contacted the front desk and this is where the true professionalism of the hotel crew, and particularly Maria, shined through. Maria quickly came upstairs, assessed the situation, triaged with other teams inside the hotel, and identified a solution within 20 minutes. Given the scope of the repair was unclear at the time, she moved us to another room and even upgraded us (even though she didn't have to!) for the inconvenience. Things happen, that's not an issue for us, it's how the team addresses them when they come up. The Darling team rose to the occasion with flying colors so seamlessly in this situation, especially Maria. So for us, just underscores a series of positive experiences at the hotel. This isn't an ultra luxury 5-star hotel, so don't come here expecting that. But it's a great place to stay in Visalia with a premium, boutique vibe, great restaurant, and clean well apportioned rooms. We will be back.

We had The College Minions as our wait staff for our wedding, and they were absolutely amazing…read more Their entire team worked so hard from start to finish. With last-minute rain, they had to move things around multiple times, and not once did they complain. Everything was done with such a positive attitude and a smile. Tables were always cleared, glasses stayed full, and every staff member was kind and attentive. I especially want to shout out Bernice and Jonathan. Jonathan was there all day and truly worked his butt off--he impressed all of us. Bernice's customer service is top tier. She made sure we actually ate and always had a drink in hand, which meant so much during such a busy day. Our guests were complimenting the staff all night. I highly recommend The College Minions. Thank you for being such an important part of our special day!

We had the pleasure of getting our wedding coordinated by Maria and her team and to say they did an…read moreamazing job is an understatement. Maria was so helpful throughout the whole process, from planning from the beginning to the day of the wedding she was always available. Her and the college minion team did such a fantastic job setting everything up . All our wedding guests were truly impressed. We also had the college minion team for clean up during dinner time and it was a big help. I feel so blessed to have found college minions to help with my wedding. It took so much stress off of my shoulders on the wedding day and the days leading up I was confident they would handle everything and they did. We had some hiccups with one of our vendors and Maria handled it so gracefully. Thank you so much to Maria , Lucina and the rest of the college minion team for your hard work and dedication. I'm truly grateful. If your wondering about getting a service from Them I 100% recommend.

The venue and grounds are beautiful but we were disappointed with some of the services. As parents…read moreof the groom, we offered to pay for the bar. First off, we were limited to 6 types of alcohol. When I arrived I saw three 750 ml bottles of each liquor behind the bar. I assumed there was more in storage, but just as dinner was starting I was told they ran out of some items and they closed the bar. WHAT?? I paid to have the bar OPEN all night. Our "day of coordinator" offered to go buy more but they wouldn't serve it. We had to wait 45 minutes or more for Director of Operations to get more from another venue and eventually they reopened. Meanwhile they refused to serve what items they still had to guests who came to the bar and were very RUDE to guests. My nephew came up to get the bride and groom a drink and was denied. Fortunately he persisted and they reluctantly made him some drinks. They wouldn't even give my brother a Diet Coke which he could clearly see in the fridge behind the bar. Another thing is....the contract says "no shots". I get that they don't want groups of people throwing back shots and becoming unruly, but some people just like to sip on some scotch or bourbon neat or on ice. They wouldn't prepare that. They insisted you had to have a mixer. I don't consider Crown on the Rocks a "shot". The Director offered me a $500 credit on a $7000+ bar bill but that doesn't excuse the rude behavior of the bartenders. I'll leave the other shortcomings for my daughter-in-law to review but very disappointed with the bar.

I enjoyed the wood carvings out on the course. The golf carts were very updated. Check in was…read moreeasy and the food selections were nice.

So we gave river island another try heard they got a chef. Not disappointed! Got the turkey club,…read moreI'm gonna say the best in the area including Porterville . Thin turkey, bacon crispy. Excellent. Also gave the fried cauliflower a try. So good, from the crispy batter to the sauce it comes with. We are excited about this place look forward to trying more items. Heads the portions are huge

We went to Braised tonight and, admittedly, we haven't been there in a few years. Not because of…read moreanything negative--it just hasn't been one of the places that comes to mind when we're deciding where to eat. Well, after tonight, that's going to change. We started by sharing the wedge salad. I am a blue cheese girl, and this blue cheese was BLUE CHEESE. Rich, flavorful, and absolutely delicious. I could have happily made a meal out of that alone. We also ordered the calamari, which came with two dipping sauces. One was a sweet and sour-style nuoc cham sauce that was incredible. The other was a fresh, flavorful tartar sauce. The calamari itself was prepared perfectly--light, crispy, not oily at all, and cooked just right. For dinner, I had the pistachio-crusted salmon over vegetable quinoa. The salmon was excellent. The quinoa was good, but probably just not my personal style. My husband ordered the pork chop with polenta, and wow--both were fantastic. That polenta was especially memorable. We sat at a table in the bar area (that's our vibe), and we had the pleasure of being served by Orlando, a newer bartender. He was outstanding. From the moment we sat down, we felt welcomed and genuinely taken care of. He introduced us to a mezcal that complemented our meals perfectly and was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, and professional. Top-notch customer service. This isn't an inexpensive everyday dinner spot, but the quality of the food, drinks, and service made it absolutely worth it. We had a fantastic experience and will definitely be back. If you haven't been to Braised lately, go check it out--and if you're lucky enough to have Orlando take care of you, you're in for a great evening.

Made reservations online for lunch here! The inside is very welcoming and nice. Definitely feels…read morelike your transported to a big city and definitely not Tulare. We picked to sit at the bar area, the booth padding is very comfortable. The bar is nice and filled with all the liquors you can dream of. Our server was very friendly. I ordered the tri tip sandwich with fries; I had to pick off a few pieces of fat, but other than that was good. The roll held the sandwich together very well. My mom ordered the hanger steak sandwich, she said the meat was very tender , and she ordered the onion rings. If you like blueberry, try the blueberry soda, it's different but very good!

We hired Darren from Stoic Events as our wedding officiant for our June 10th wedding. It was so…read moremuch fun to get to know Darren and work with him on our ceremony script. We were looking for someone who could do a non-religious ceremony with some aspects of our Latino traditions. He was great at researching the Lasso ceremony and finding a way to incorporate it with our own spin. His initial outreach was fun and informal. It really helped us talk about our relationship in a way that was genuine and brought out the important parts to add to the ceremony script. He was willing to meet us wherever worked best for us and he was willing to change the script multiple times to get it right. On the day of, we had a few mic problems, but Darren was able to work through it and even the guests in the back of our ceremony seating said they could hear him perfectly clear without the mic. We had many of our guests say that our ceremony was the perfect representation of our relationship and personalities. We truly have Darren to thank for that! Stoic Events will truly take time to understand you as a couple. I highly recommend working with them!

Vanessa and Noahs wedding was beautiful. The venue is very nice and Jill is great to work with. I…read morerecommend this place and we will use them again.