17 Best Restaurants in Sacramento and the Gold Country, California

The tale of how the couple running this spot for to-go or dine-in French food became husband and wife says all you need to know about their passion for beautifully crafted cuisine—he won her heart with his escargot sauce. In a casual space with ocher walls, six utilitarian stools at the wine bar, and a few tables inside and out, the two serve baguette sandwiches; salads; crepes; stews; and entrées like coq au vin, cassoulet, and pork tenderloin.

The menu describes this restaurant inside an ivy-covered redbrick building as "a comfort kitchen," but the term doesn't do justice to the sophistication displayed in the cuisine and presentation. Dinner items on the seasonally evolving menu have included mushroom dumplings in a shiitake ginger broth, diver scallops with pureed cauliflower and bacon jam, hanger steak with smashed fingerling potatoes, and a corn polenta bowl with asparagus and mushroom gravy.

A cheery, sometimes boisterous vibe prevails at this ode to Black cuisine and culture that former NBA star and past Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and his wife, Michelle, founded in a high-ceilinged, quasi-industrial space 3½ miles southeast of the Capitol. Expect heapin' helpings of soul food's greatest hits—gumbo, shrimp and grits, oxtails, and fried chicken, catfish, and pork chops among them—that you can pair with sides that include hush puppies, black-eyed peas, candied yams, and collard greens (with turkey necks).

From potato pancakes for breakfast to grilled rib eye for dinner, this bustling bistro with a series of wainscoted rooms and an outdoor back patio has something for all palates. Lighter grilled vegetables, chicken, sandwiches, salads, and homemade soups always shine here, as does heartier fare that might include elk medallions and prawns, forager-mushroom risotto, and cioppino with a relatively delicate yet full-flavored broth.

A casual spot on the eastern edge of town, Alchemy serves sturdy comfort food like meat loaf, pan-seared fish, and mushroom bourguignon over polenta. Fried calamari with roasted jalapeños and a Caesar with smoked-Gouda croutons are among the starters that pair well with the many Calaveras County wines on the list.

The exposed brick, reclaimed wood, and natural light streaming through large-paned windows of this easygoing comfort-food hangout make a great first impression. Favorites like tater tots (in truffle oil), French onion soup, and chicken and waffles (with pecan butter, maple syrup, and pork gravy) prove simultaneously familiar and intriguing.

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.

Inside an exposed-brick 1857 former assay office where miners exchanged gold nuggets for the coin of the realm, the Heyday is a happy haven for salads, panini, and thin-crust pizzas at lunch and dinner entrées like seared salmon, hanger steak, and pasta with mushroom ragout. The mood is casual, but the food is prepared with style.

Youthful and compelling, with found-art decorative elements and exposed vents, this historic former fire station is a favorite stop for cocktails, craft beers, and farm-to-fork fare. The area's year-round farmers' markets supply ingredients for the delectable salads and soups, and the pizzas, beef, poultry, and seafood entrées are always good.

This Midtown eatery with a vaguely industrial look and a casual vibe takes its food seriously: nearly all the produce is sourced locally, and the chefs prepare only sustainable seafood. BLTs and grass-fed beef burgers (and a plant-based option) are among the staples, as are steak and fries and pan-roasted fish with seasonal vegetables.

The wood-fired pizza oven blazing away on the sidewalk turns out this café's handmade pies, but the lunch and dinner fare extends beyond them to pan-seared fish, a tri-tip sandwich, and fresh salads with ingredients from a local farm. The brick-walled dining room has been a farmers' hangout for breakfast (you name it) for decades.

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.

Ease back in time at this rustic roadside restaurant dating from 1921, when its namesake, an Italian immigrant, opened a boardinghouse for local miners. Run by her descendants, Teresa's serves unfussy renditions of Italian-American classics—pasta dishes, wood-fired pizzas, veal and chicken dishes, and steak and seafood.

The chef-owner of this restaurant also known as The "Little Italian Place" describes the menu's influences as his East Coast grandmother's multicourse Sunday family suppers, his later culinary explorations, and his zeal to create "fresh and original" Italian cuisine. The country-road setting accentuates the just-like-home feeling, as do the calzones, pizzas, pasta dishes, and truffle risotto.

After paying dues at area restaurants, husband-and-wife team Oscar and Alejandra Sanchez struck out on their own in 2023, opening this tile-floored trattoria with a bar and indoor seating and a covered street-side patio. Carefully selected ingredients and a light touch with Italian sauces elevate dishes that might include shrimp scampi, cioppino, and chicken and veal piccata and marsala.

Inside a glamorously renovated Hudson Motor Car showroom from the 1920s that looks out of a movie set, Zócalo puts an upscale spin on Mexican classics. Pair the house margarita or its blackberry variation with pozole or a guac or ceviche starter before moving on to enchiladas or a burrito bowl with chicken, salmon, carne asada, or vegetarian ingredients.