Ranch House serves the local workforce in East Hartford

Tim Leininger, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

Dec. 2—EAST HARTFORD — With the city of Hartford in the distance, Ranch House, on Governor Street, offers a quick-service menu for people on the go, or who are stopping in for a quick bite for lunch.

Ranch House opened three years ago in response to how busy the Ranch House location at 27 Windsor Ave. in Windsor, had become, said Kumar Naresh, the restaurant's manager.

The original Ranch House has been in business since 1950, Naresh said, and the current owner, Deebak Sharma, bought the place 25 years ago.

"He got a lot of customers from East Hartford, who always came to the Windsor location," Naresh said.

Ranch House

Where: 3284 Governor St., East Hartford.

Menu: Eggs, omlets, French Toast special, burgers, grinders, wraps.

Hours: Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Miscellaneous: Online ordering and delivery available.

Contact: 860-904-2039; restaurantji.com/ct/east-hartford/ranch-house-east-hartford-/

After receiving complaints about having to travel from I-84 to I-91 and traveling through Hartford to get to the Windsor restaurant, Sharma decided to open up a second location to accommodate their East Hartford customers, he said.

The new location proved to be a hot spot for service, being near many large businesses, including car dealerships, mechanics, CNG's offices, and the state's Department of Transportation, Naresh said.

"They have an account with us," he said of the Department of Transportation. "Any employee with the Department of Transportation, they can come over here and eat free food and the state pays for it."

The menu focuses quick service items like hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, wraps, and grinders for lunch and a collection of breakfast sandwiches for those who didn't eat before they left home.

Ranch House also offers breakfast and lunch combos including two pancakes or two French toast with three eggs any style, and a three-egg and cheese omelet with toast. The breakfast combos come with home fries, grits, or hash browns, and the pancakes or French Toast special comes with a choice of sausage, bacon, ham, red-hot, kielbasa, turkey, turkey bacon, or turkey sausage.

Naresh said that the big sellers at Ranch House are the buffalo chicken wings, buffalo chicken wrap, and the hot dogs, especially the chili dogs.

"We make our own chili with no beans," he said. "It's only meat. 100% beef with seasoning."

He said he doesn't even know the recipe to the seasoning that is used on the meat for the chili and that the owner makes it himself.

He said his personal favorite item is the buffalo chicken wrap, which uses their house- made buffalo sauce.

"It's perfect," he said. "Crunchy, spicy, buttery, and low carbs."

Another favorite on the menu is the steak and cheese grinder, he said, which features grilled slices of beef with choice of cheese.

"Mostly we use American slices, but you can choose," he said. "Some people want cheddar, provolone, swiss."

Ranch House primarily focuses on take-out service, as there is one indoor seat, but there is a small picnic area outside the restaurant where people can sit and admire the Hartford skyline.

"We applied to the town of East Hartford to expand the location and make the building a little bigger and make a little more room," Naresh said. The expansion would allow for more seating indoors as well as additional storage in the back.

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