Famous restaurants and diners in the Sacramento

Sacramento Restaurants

Food energizes, replenishes, and revitalizes the mind, body, and soul.
Here, we provide a list of famous restaurants and diners in the Sacramento metro area. Use this guide to satisfy your taste buds when either visiting or living in Sacramento.

The Broiler
1201 K
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-444-3444

Restaurant Description: Sacramento's definitive steakhouse for 52 years, The Broiler has seen political victories celebrated, courthouse defeats nursed, all kinds of wheeling and dealing and memorable meals served to the satisfaction of thousands of carnivorous customers. The menu's most-prominent features include the T-bone steak, New York strip steak and a huge 30-ounce porterhouse. Steaks are mesquite grilled to order and can come topped with caramelized onions and mushrooms, sautéed red and green peppers, cracked pepper and/or béarnaise sauce.

The Waterboy
2000 Capitol Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-498-9891

Restaurant Description: Throngs of diners crowd into this bright and airy restaurant during the week for lunches that combine California style with French cooking -- saffron risotto, bouillabaisse, steak tartar, sweetbreads and daily fish specials. Though geared toward a more refined style of dining than most other Midtown lunch spots, The Waterboy isn't overly fancy. Linen tablecloths create a comfortable and stylish interior. Dinner is more romantic, with candles, flowers and a varied menu that includes duck breast, scallops and a daily fresh fish entrée.

Old Spaghetti Factory
1910 J St.
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-443-2862

Restaurant Description: Slip into a berth at the Old Spaghetti Factory, housed in the cavernous old Western Pacific railroad depot, and you can feel a bit of that (nearly) bygone era. The bar is warm and inviting, with a fun mix of wood paneling, velvet sofas and Victorian lamps to give it a bit of a bordello look. But this is a family place from head to toe. Kids love to eat in the trolley car in the main dining room.

The Pilothouse Restaurant
1000 Front Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-441-4440

Restaurant Description: The Pilothouse Restaurant features a stately dining room and a menu that tilts toward seafood, and if you're looking a little more interaction during dinner, head to the Suspects Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre, an interactive whodunit that involves both cast and customers and plays Friday and Saturday nights. Shopping and attractions are "ashore" in Old Sacramento.

Vallejo's Mexican Restaurant
1331 O St
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-444-2837

Restaurant Description: The best thing about Vallejo's is its location. Surrounded by a plethora of state office buildings and adjacent to a light rail station, this place gets a lot of traffic all day long (some of which are state officials). While they are served hot and fast, there is nothing very special about the eats here. The menu offers standard Mexican restaurant fare: cheese enchiladas, fish tacos and the like. The beer is very cold and hundreds of state workers find this a convenient lunch stop.

Original Pete's Restaurant
2001 J St
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-442-6770

Restaurant Description: Sacramento ought to have better pizza than it does; after all, Shakey's -- once the greatest pizza-parlor chain of all -- got its start right here in the River City. But Shakey's is gone now, and there is nothing quite as special to take its place. If a straight-ahead, thick-crust pizza-pizza is what you have in mind, then any of the Original Pete's locations will fill the bill (and deliver it to your house, as well). The pies are big, the ingredients are fresh, and the hand-tossed crusts have a nice doughiness to them.

Pieces Pizza
1309 21st Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-441-1949

Restaurant Description: Pick your toppings -- say pesto, feta and sun-dried tomatoes -- and they'll grab a nice big slice of the prepared cheese pizza, add your stuff and slip it in the oven. The dough is turned out by hand, and the toppings, which double as salad items, are also fresh. A good selection of dark beers and ales in the deli case match nicely with the pizza and salad choices. Whole pizzas are also available with a good variety of interesting toppings.

Pennisi's Deli
1237 J St
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-448-5610

Restaurant Description: Barrels of fresh fruit are part of the charm at Pennisi's -- they lend an old-fashioned air to this longtime deli. Then there are the wonderful aromas of meats and cheeses emanating from the sandwich counter. These fresh salads and sandwiches have been a mainstay for downtown workers for a long time, and we're glad they're still with us. Originally an ethnic grocery store, Pennisi's has morphed into more deli/less grocery over the years. It's reassuring to know that some things remain virtually the same, despite the new buildings and constant construction in this area.

Mary's Kitchen & Barbecue
1216 20th St.
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-442-3469

Restaurant Description: If you can forgive this restaurant its cold, concrete interiors and blaring noise level, you'll find yourself rewarded with honest-to-goodness Southern barbeque, equal to any Tennessee or Kentucky State Fair. They work hard to cook the ribs and chicken to that falling-off-the-bone state while imparting the meat with the earthy, smoky flavors of pit cooking. The baked beans are rich and sweet and the greens should please any veggie lover.

Cattlemens Restaurant
12409 Folsom Boulevard
Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
916-985-3030

Restaurant Description: Cattleman's is a favorite special-occasion restaurant, and as such can get ridiculously busy on holidays and weekends. The classic steakhouse decor -- all polished hardwood and soft lighting -- lends a note of romance, but sometimes the chatter of children and the carousing of single customers at the bar can drive thoughts of romance right out of your head. This restaurant is popular with all ages from eight to 80, give or take 10 years or so.

Other Great Restaurants in Sacramento

Outback Steakhouse
2100 Golden Centre Lane Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
916-635-3603

Mikuni Restaurant-Sushi Bar
1530 J St Sacramento, CA 95814
916-447-2111

Sushi On the River
1801 Garden Hwy Sacramento, CA 95833
916-929-2525

P F Chang's China Bistro
1530 J St Sacramento, CA 95814
916-288-0970

Huki Lau Island Grill
1501 16th St Sacramento, CA 95814
916-444-5850

Celestin's Caribbean Restaurant
2516 J St. Sacramento, CA 95816
916-444-2423

La Flor De Michoacan
2339 Northgate Blvd Sacramento, CA 95833
916-927-7265

Bistro Biagio
4422 Y St Sacramento, CA 95817
916-403-9261

Burr's Fountain
4920 Folsom Boulevard Sacramento, CA 95819
916-452-5516

Cheesecake Factory
1401 Arden Way Sacramento, CA 95815
916-567-0606

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