CANDLELIGHT NOT YET SHINING.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Atop a hill on the left, as you enter Simi Valley on the Ronald Reagan Freeway from the San Fernando Valley, sits a sprawling restaurant facility.

It has had a number of names, some as well-known as the Sagebrush Cantina, whose original location in Calabasas continues successfully.

Prior to its current owners, Dakota's barbecue dinery resided there, eventually moving to a new Simi address.

Now it has a connection to Calamigos Ranch, a private caterer in Malibu, here with a primary name of the Vineyards and a restaurant and bar called Candlelight Kitchen.

Most patrons of the new Candlelight are escorted to an outside patio deck complete with a long rooftop waterfall.

The patio area extends around the outside of the dramatic bar, noticeably featuring several huge candles glowing in the darkness.

Besides a few tables on the deck and patio, there are bedlike couches for drinkers to recline on and watch the stars.

On windy nights, the small tabletop candles are extremely difficult to keep lit.

An early evening visit here was much more successful as a meal-taking experience than an ensuing later visit at dusk.

But both times were hampered by the lack of staffers, with food taking a long time to arrive from the kitchen.

The impression given here is that much more attention would be rendered to a large catered affair and that the bar and restaurant are merely open to the public because they're there.

Only serving food in the evening, the restaurant features a one-page menu of fairly interesting-sounding dishes priced from $9 to $19, presented somewhat like tapas, but most large enough to share.

However, many of them bring to the table much less than their descriptive promise.

Smoked salmon wrapped around burrata cheese ($9), for example, looks pretty but doesn't taste very good at all, the salmon reminding of the supermarket packaged type and the cheese lacking the wonderful creamy quality of good burrata.

Filet mignon medallions ($17) skewered and sitting on daubs of brandy- balsamic sauce with a cold crisped cheese wafer, lacked flavor and were delivered overcooked one night, but thankfully were juicier and tastier at a second tasting.

Slightly pasty crab cakes ($11) are passable, and a variation on a Cobb salad ($9) containing hearts of palm and sun-dried raisins provides a refreshing warm-weather dish.

Rum-glazed short ribs ($19) and vegetable-stuffed dumplings ($9) get a thumbs-up, but a pasta dish of linguine with chicken and pesto ($17) had mushy noodles and dry chicken.

The kitchen sends out a giant hot dog and fries ($14) with a tiny bottle of ketchup and mini-burgers made with Kobe beef ($14).

Four fried potato (regular and sweet) renditions ($9) are certainly interesting and a tad better than the tempura-style calamari ($11) that would have been more palatable if coated in a lighter, fluffier batter.

As a romantic rendezvous for a drink and a nosh, Candlelight might fill the bill, but for a serious evening meal, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Larry Lipson, [phone]

larry.lipson(at)dailynews.com

CANDLELIGHT KITCHEN AND BAR AT THE VINEYARDS

Food: One and one half stars

Service: One and one half stars

Wine: Two stars

Where: 2525 Stowe St., Simi Valley.

Phone: [phone] or [phone].

Meals/hours: Open for dinner from 5 p.m. nightly.

Food type: New American.

Cost: Appetizers and salads from $9 to $17, main plates from $14 to $19, desserts from $6 to $13.

Credit cards: All major.

Patio dining: Yes.

Parking/valet: Free lot parking.

Full bar: Yes.

Wine/Corkage: List has familiar labels, usual mark-ups, no bargains, although, noticeably, Opus One was priced at $160, the normal retail charge. No corkage fee was charged at two recent visits.

Music/entertainment: Background only. None at present.

Takeout/delivery: No on either.

Reservations: Taken.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Candlelight Kitchen and Bar at the Vineyards is on the former location of Dakota's, atop a hill in Simi Valley.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News