Saddlerock Ranch Restaurant Closes Six Months After Opening

West Coast Restaurant Ventures has closed Saddlerock Ranch, a family-oriented restaurant that opened in June in Irvine.

The restaurant was in the space formerly occupied by Zuni Grill, a West Coast Restaurant Ventures eatery that closed earlier in the year. West Coast Restaurant’s executive chef, John Sharpe, linked Saddlerock’s closing to extremely tough competition from national restaurant chains operating in the same area.

“The economies just weren’t there,” Sharpe said.

West Coast Restaurant Ventures, based in Newport Beach, operates many of Orange County’s best-known restaurants, including Diva, Bistro 201 and Kachina.