16 Best Restaurants in Sacramento and the Gold Country, California

The smell of waffle cones will guide you to this town treasure whose Portuguese-Swiss namesake has been making ice cream since she was a young lass. Handcrafted flavors include Chill'n Cherry Chip (cherries and dark chocolate) and Wake Up Murphys (coffee, cocoa, and fudge).

For a place as small as it is, this bakery-café produces a staggering array of sweet and savory pastries, sandwiches, salads, and desserts you can enjoy with a well-brewed (if not always swiftly made) coffee, espresso drink, or tea. The croissants are golden and flaky, the quiches moist and filling, and the scones large and flavorful; the breads for lunchtime sandwiches include sourdough, focaccia, and polenta wheat.

Inside the historic American Block building, which dates from 1856, you can see this craft operation's beers being made through glass walls behind the dining room, which serves burgers, fish-and-chips, short rib and fish tacos, salads, sandwiches, and other decent gastropub fare. Gold Country Pilsner, Old Town Brown, and Gold Digger IPA are all Great American Beer Festival award winners.

One of Auburn's favorite old-time breakfast and lunch spots entices patrons with waffles, pancakes, Monte Cristo French toast, and a slew of egg dishes you can wash down with an award-winning Bloody Mary or two. Feast on burgers, sandwiches, and more Bloody Marys for lunch.

Centrally located Charles Street, its rustic decor heavy on the wood and Old West adornments, at once evokes both the gold-rush days and the 1980s, which is when it opened. The extensive straightforward menu includes hand-cut steaks, honey-barbecue baby back ribs, several pasta dishes, chicken, pork loin, lamb, a few well-adorned burgers, and some vegetarian options.

With exposed brick walls, a tall ceiling, and a well-worn bar and floor, Cirino's serves up a vast menu of hefty Italian American favorites like Corsican rosemary chicken, steak à la Gorgonzola, and pork chop Milanese. The bar crew, which slings the signature Bloody Mary and other specialty cocktails, is as friendly as the rest of the team.

Zesty pies like the Miner Moe's BBQ Chicken with red onions, pineapple, bacon, and cheese make this casual spot a few steps off Main Street a fitting choice, particularly for lunch or a midafternoon snack. You can also build your own pizza or order a sandwich; there's some indoor seating, but when the weather's good most folks eat outside on the front patio or the creek-side one in back.

Since 1956, the Gillman family has been serving up its famous two-patty "Moo Burger"—so big it presumably still makes cow sounds. The convivial diner is also known for milk shakes and floats.

The scene's light and lively indoors and out at this pub whose 16 taps dispense everything from pale ales to studly stouts. The kitchen turns out well-made snacks, salads, burgers, wraps, and a slew of sandwiches on various breads.

Comfort food crafted with care makes a trip to this low-slung restaurant on downtown's edge a pleasure whether you dine inside at linen-topped tables or on the dog-friendly, street-facing patio. Several burgers, one vegetarian, another named for a local winemaker, entice the regulars, but don't overlook dinner entrées that might include shrimp curry, lamb and grits, or grilled Indian-spice tofu with pistachios and Sriracha.

Exposed brick walls and a pressed-metal ceiling heighten the air of nostalgia at this restaurant whose theme is the golden age of road trips and automobile service stations. Half-pounder burgers and pulled-pork, tri-tip, and other sandwiches and wraps count among the menu's highlights, along with small plates like nacho fries and fried calamari and entrées that might include chicken, grilled salmon, or steak.

Homemade lunches and breakfasts served with warmth and cheer are the trademarks of this restaurant and coffee shop in Sutter Creek's historic district. Egg scrambles, pancakes, bagel sandwiches, French toast, and biscuits and gravy headline at breakfast, with soups, salads, sandwiches, and wraps on the menu for lunch.

Locals flock to this always-busy diner on a Victorian's ground floor for lobster Benedict, a spiced-up Mexican chicken scramble, and other dishes that are anything but your ordinary eggs and pancakes (though you can order those, too, as well as vegetarian versions of several items). Imaginative burritos, wraps, burgers, and more lobster in the form of a melt sandwich appear for lunch.

A circa-1865 Victorian that was expanded willy-nilly over the years houses this downtown spot known for made-from-scratch fare. Scrambles, four-egg omelets, pancakes, waffles, and French toast get things going for breakfast (served until 1 pm), with salads and well-built sandwiches the main items for lunch.

Baked goods, wood-fired pizzas, excellent coffee (teas and kombucha, too), and microbrews made on-site draw locals and tourists to this redbrick spot with a high, heavy-beamed open ceiling. The food's ingredients come from nearby organic sources; the beers on tap range from blond and pale ales to triple IPAs and several porters.

Careworn flooring, wainscoting, and a high tin ceiling lend an old-timey feel to this ice cream shop whose house-made offerings include quirkily contemporary ones like saffron-rose pistachio and blueberry matcha gelato. Double-chocolate, vanilla-bean, strawberry, and more conventional flavors from other brands supplement the Treats selections.