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19. Tea Cup - one of my Chinese friends always used to take me here, and we used to love it, not so much lately; will have to try again, they seem to always be tagged with graffiti and homeless on the doorsteps.
20. Jim-Denny's
21. There and Back Cafe
22. Koja Kitchen - this place is interesting because they make a rice "bun" instead of a regular bun for their sandwiches/burgers. Steps from a light rail station. (8th and K streets). It gets a good Kings crowd and bar crowd at times.
23. Thai Lotus Cuisine
24. Danny's mini donuts, I "run" over here alot when taking the train, not exactly close especially if you are disabled you have to walk through a parking lot under a freeway overpass, expect some scary-janky characters to cross your path. But, it is the best way to walk to Old Sacramento from the main train station, you need to know your way around here, and don't do it when its dark.
25. The Bank, go just to see how they refurbished one of Sacramento's best architectural structures. A bank originally funded by the California Gold Rush Era. I have not been in awhile so not sure how the food and drink are lately. This place used to always be busy but after the Riots/protests/covid shut-downs of 2020 on J Street; it's never really recovered, doesn't help that the main Sacto County Jail is a block away. This place is an example of Sacramento's bad luck, timing and lack of synergy with pretty much everything we do.
I'm glad it's still open!
26. La Cosecha, lovely outdoor space, and good food and drink but you are surrounded by homeless most of the time and the occasional scary-janky character harassing people. It's weird-interesting, typical of California, you have well-dressed politico's, business types, surrounded by homeless. How can it be lovely? good food, drink music, in a leafy park. Try to ignore the craziness surrounding you as most Californians have been doing for the last 5 years. I often see the mayor here with his comrades. City Hall is across the street.
Last edited by Chimérique; 12-13-2023 at 05:09 PM..
27. Tree House Cafe - West Sacramento - I love this place! (3rd and G Streets). Goggle map-it, nice photos.
It's an adorable house turned into a cafe. The front, side and backyard have numerous tables and benches, patios; take your food and drink outside. Lots of trees, gardens with fruit trees.
If in downtown Sacramento, walk across the Golden Tower Bridge across the Sacramento River into West Sacramento, turn right onto 3rd Street, another long block to G Street.
Admittedly, one could follow the descriptions of every one of the restaurants mentioned in this thread with "But there are homeless people there and it's scary because everything Sacramento does is doomed to failure!" but that would be kind of petty, and come off as a bit paranoid.
Some more West Sacramento places worth your time and money: the petty, paranoid, and homeless are all welcome, at least I think they might be ...they didn't shooo me away.
28. Sal's Taco - West Sacramento - Yummy love this place. Mexican love. (C and 4th Streets).
29. Franquette - West Sacramento - They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner last time I was there. A lot of locals from the nearby condos frequent this place, sort of bourgeois-bougy, pricey, but fun selection of good food, coffee and wine, everything you could want. Walk from here to the River with your dog. Corner of Bridge and Riverfront Streets.
Last edited by Chimérique; 12-14-2023 at 07:54 PM..
Sacramento's train station is one of the busiest in the nation, especially considering the size of Sacramento, but,
What? After millions or was it billions spent on a rehab of that station, not a single eatery opened, except for, cough, Starbucks, and it was way off in right field not directly in the station itself. Fast forward another 5-10 years or so, still only a Starbucks,
Yesterday, as I approached to board a train bound for Oakland. I was shocked to see even the Starbucks is closed, vacant, gutted, and that place used to get really busy. I am not a Starbucks fan, far from it, but it was the only option except for some vending machines.
It seems, the Starbucks closed in part due to gov't-shutdowns, and the work-from-home era, and it was a homeless haven. But it was the only option for one of the busiest train stations in the country. Starbuck lovers must really miss it.
Lo and behold, there is now a Sourdough & Co located within the train station itself, 10 years after the rehab. So very Sacramento, luv it. Remember Sacramento's timing and synergy problem. Still, only one option at one of the busiest Amtrak stations in the country.
Sourdough & Co is a sandwich and soup chain, its ok, but overpriced, like everything in California.
Last edited by Chimérique; 12-15-2023 at 04:03 AM..
I love reading about Sacramento's food scene and can't wait to visit again sometime.
From the Sacramento train station , bike your way to these places across the Grid (downtown/midtown) to:
31. Revolution Winery and Kitchen: 29th and S Streets, sit inside or outside
32. the original Temple Coffee: 29th and S Streets, sit inside or outside -- Seven other locations as well: 4 within the Grid, Arden-Arcade, Davis, Folsom, East Sac
33. the original Pushkins Bakery: 29th and Streets, this bakery does not use wheat, gluten or dairy! But still yummy!
34. Sacramento Natural Foods CoOp:, they have yummy prepared foods, juice bar, desserts, sit outside bordered by bamboo pottery boxes in an enclosed area, or go upstairs sit inside or on the outside balcony, and watch the light rail trains go by - 29th and R Streets
35. Pachamama Coffee: this place is inside the Sacramento Natural Foods CoOp - AND six other locations within the Grid, East Sac, Davis, Placerville
Last edited by Chimérique; 12-15-2023 at 10:03 AM..
The original Temple Coffee was at 1014 10th Street, which later became the first Insight Coffee location and is currently vacant; the 29th & S Street location opened several years later, and an adjacent building became their main roasting facility. But Chimerique failed to mention that all five of those locations are conveniently located across the street from the 29th Street light rail station, so from the train station you don't even need to bike, just hop on the Gold Line train and it will take you right there in 15 minutes!
And this whole complex is also located about a block from Winn Park, where there is a Wednesday night public market event from May to November, and the Streamline Moderne building in the center of the park, formerly a fire alarm control station, is about to reopen as the Latino Center of Art and Culture, an arts organization with its roots in the nationally-recognized arts group Royal Chicano Air Force, and their old La Raza Galeria Posada gallery/bookstore space.
In between those two points is the Department of Human Assistance, AKA the county welfare office, and River City Food Bank; the Co-Op donates baked goods directly to RCFB regularly. On the corner of 29th & Q near the DHA building entrance is Midtown Market Deli & Grill, which has inexpensive breakfast burritos, sandwiches, and other snacks in addition to the standard array of corner-market fare; they also accept EBT.
Another block down 29th Street from the Co-Op/Temple/Revolution complex is Koi, a Japanese restaurant located in a former aquarium best known for its koi pond near the entrance, where there was a fish-food dispenser and patrons could feed the fish; Koi has maintained the koi pond and the feeding tradition. My favorite item there is a Japanese variant on the traditional Scotch egg, a hard-boiled egg covered in ground pork, breaded and deep-fried, but the breading is panko and instead of a hard-boiled egg they use a Japanese style aji-tama egg, marinated with a soft yolk.
30. Sourdough and Co. at Train Station (5th and I Streets)
So darn, what a fail, it takes a big man or woman to admit their failures, yes you can take the light rail from Sacramento's main train station to the 29th and R Streets light rail station, and I encourage one to do so.
So this really wasn't a fail, because I left out the light rail ride for a reason...
....to encourage folks to use their bike to ride across the Grid, aka Downtown/Midtown, and if you did that, you could see a good chuck of the Grid, from one end to the other, stop along the way at any one of the eateries if something catches your eye, but more importantly,
you could utilize, the new "protected" bike lanes that have been going up on the grid, afterall, millions were spent on that, so its only right to encourage people to use them.
I did the bike thing yesterday, rode my bike from midtown to the Sacramento main train station, took the Capitol Corridor train with my bike to Oakland, used my bike to re-discover Oakland's waterfront, then on to visit relatives in Alameda, came back later that night to Sacramento.
So East Bays folks can do the same bike-train trip, in reverse, and visit Sacramento's Grid!
I was happy to see that The Capitol Corridor trains were packed/busy when I used them, both directions. Free Wifi has been greatly improved and the Capitol Corridor app allows for free audio book, free movies, and a dandy map with real time status of your train's journey. The Capitol Corridor trains are clean and very comfortable too, unlike Sacramento's light rail cars.
Last edited by Chimérique; 12-15-2023 at 05:30 PM..
It's not an either/or, just another alternative--one could also take a bus from the train station to 29th & R Street. Both offer similar advantages to a bike ride on the new protected bike lanes--you can see the city from the train/bus window, and if you want to stop and check something out you can just get off at the next stop.
Or, you can do something I've mentioned a couple of times on this forum before: walk or bike one way and ride transit in the other direction. That's what I did last night--took light rail to Old Sacramento to see a noise show at the old Central Pacific freight sheds on Front Street (and while I was there noted there were big crowds present for the Theatre of Lights and the Polar Express train rides). Got some coffee at Steamer's at Front & K Street, which is also good for sandwiches & breakfasts, and noted the work going on at the old Fat City/California Fat's restaurant spaces. During the pandemic, the old plan to demolish the freight sheds (built in the 1990s as part of a short-lived effort to create a farmer's market in Old Sacramento, and used by Sacramento Southern Railroad as passenger loading areas and food/snack vendor stalls) in the 2000s) went away during the pandemic, and instead the city provided them as low or no cost "maker space" for artists, crafters, and musicians.
After the show, we decided to hike the length of K Street from Old Sacramento to Sutter's Fort. Starting from Old Sacramento, we descended through the tunnel under I-5 (well-lit and with plenty of pedestrian activity even at 9:30 PM) we passed through some of the places this thread has wandered already in Downtown Commons. The 700 block of K Street was already getting lively with activity, as restaurant/nightclub Tiger was transitioning from restaurant crowd to nightclub crowd. There was a private party (likely a holiday party) going on at Bailarin Cellars, a nice place for a glass of wine/cup of coffee. We also went by Solomon's Vinyl Diner, also mentioned upthread, although it should be noted that while Solomon's opened in 2017 as more of a Jewish deli, they changed ownership groups and menus in 2022-2023. So while you can still get a bagel with lox or a pastrami on rye, they also offer a mixture of traditional diner items (burger, 2 egg breakfast, pork chops) while some have with contemporary twists, like chicken and French toast (a variant on chicken & waffles), Spaghetti-O's (not the stuff from a can, but annelini pasta in tomato basil sauce with mini Italian sausages and meatballs), and okonomiyaki (a Japanese omelet topped with Kewpie mayo, slaw and bonito flakes.)
The 800 block of K Street is still dark (with a big vacant lot owned by the Kings waiting for them to build a long-promised apartment building), but there is work going on at the old Kress department store building (it is being converted to apartments, likely with some sort of ground floor retail) and the lights are still on at the historic Bel-Vue Apartments (affordable housing, like most of the units at the 700 K block's residential element, the Hardin.) The Taco Bell Cantina and Coin-Op were the only things going on the 900 block, but the 1000 block got energetic again--while Pizza Rock is still waiting for its new tenant to reopen, there were a lot of people at Dive Bar, and District 30 was just opening up. My favorite food stops on this block are Nash & Proper (hot chicken) and Hao Bao Dumplings, along with aforementioned There and Back around the corner, but they are still limited to lunch hours (or, in the case of There & Back, early evenings with special events and gaming nights), likely to remain that way until there are a few thousand more people living downtown. But things got bouncy again at 12th Street, where there's a whole cluster of restaurants: Café Á Côté, Brasserie du Monde, Mayahuel, and Osaka Sushi. Upper Crust Pizza with its phallic logo was closed for the evening.
Passing through the quiet but well-lit Convention Center/Community Center Theater and entering Midtown, there were a few blocks with one restaurant on the corner--Capitol Garage and Bento Box sushi at 15th& 16th, but there were other evening restaurants/nightspots visible in either direction on J and K and a modicum of pedestrian activity, which ramped back up again in Lavender Heights at 20th & K Street, including popular weenie spot Lowbrau, and the also aforementioned Roscoe's (had a breakfast burger there when I attended a nightclub there a few weeks ago, not the best ever but I'll be back to try it again.) Faces, Badlands and Mango's were getting busy but the new axe-throwing place was already closed. Temple Coffee at 22nd & K was just closing as we went past, and we saw well-known local busker "Downtown James Brown" holding court with some Midtown travelers.
On the block between 23rd-24th we wander back to some already mentioned places like Mother and World Traveler, which were closed, but Burger Patch, the vegan burger joint at 23rd and K, was still active, recently took over the closed corner boutique to make more room for indoor dining, and is apparently open until 2 AM on weekends. Pizzasaurus Rex had a lot of activity on the sidewalk and their side patio-they do a respectable pepperoni slice--and things were just getting crowded at Golden Bear, with a comfortable level of activity at Der Biergarten, Sacramento's first shipping-container restaurant, back when the insistence of a few other local business owners forced them to step the containers back from the sidewalk and cover the containers with different materials and conceal that they were even made from such mundane materials (since then a couple other places have opened with less-disguised shipping containers, but I think the container fad has since ended.)
Past 24th Street things got quiet again, but there was still some street activity at the laundromat and evidence of neighborhood pedestrian travelers and visitors. The Hyatt House restaurant located in the historic Eastern Star Hall at 27th & K helps light up the block a bit across from Sutter's Fort; while the hotel project demolished most of the hall's interior spaces, the facade is brightened up and intact, as is the original lobby and side meeting rooms, with grand staircases leading to their Star Lounge dining room, which I discovered a few months ago also does a good burger. The fort itself is undergoing a roof restoration, but of course after 10 PM all was quiet, but thanks to a lighting installation that lights up the walls of the Fort at night, it wasn't unduly dark or unsafe-feeling.
All in all, it was good exercise on a cold but clear night--there's apparently some rain in the forecast so we figured we'd get a good hike in, and despite the cold we stayed comfortable with some brisk movement. And we got a chance to update ourselves on how some local restaurants are doing.
Admittedly, one could follow the descriptions of every one of the restaurants mentioned in this thread with "But there are homeless people there and it's scary because everything Sacramento does is doomed to failure!" but that would be kind of petty, and come off as a bit paranoid.
It's not paranoid, it's not petty, it's the truth. The homeless situation is a big problem downtown and it is hurting the restaurants and bars downtown. Who wants to do any type of outdoor eating when you're going to get spare changed or you might be smelling stale urine while you are trying to eat?
As you have fewer people outside, just walking alone downtown, especially as a woman after dark, the less safe you feel, so you avoid going downtown and try to leave downtown before dark because it doesn't feel safe.
Lastly being stuck on a light rail train or bus with some angry mentally ill homeless guy smelling of urine and possibly on meth means public transportation downtown doesn't feel safe and is really unpleasant. That creates the problem of taking a car downtown and will the homeless people try to break into the car to try to find drug money or steal the radio to try to sell for drug money, which creates another reason to not go downtown.
The inability to deal effectively with meth and fentanyl is one of the things driving the homeless situation downtown.
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...they didn't shooo me away.
