As I’m still pretty new to the Sacramento area, I’m always on the lookout for fun places to eat. However, I still hadn’t found that special combination of great food and drinks in a place where you can also just feel free to hang out. I guess I’d call it a unique combination of not-just-a-restaurant but not-just-a-bar either. Last week, I really think I might have found it in Burgers & Brew.
The Sac Foodies have raved about the Davis Burgers & Brew location before. So when the Sacramento location at 14th and R Streets finally opened, I jumped on the opportunity to review it and had no trouble convincing a few friends to join me for a Friday evening excursion. Although it was busy, we were seated right away at a prime patio table. Now, of course I knew it was called “Burgers & Brew” but I wasn’t nearly prepared for the amazing beer selection that was available. Actually, I think the menu consisted of about two pages of food and four of five of beers! We sampled a few Belgian beers, including Delirium Tremens (a personal favorite) as well as Hoegaarden, a white ale. After that it was on to Japan for a ginger beer called Kiuchi Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Brew. They even had a Banana Bread beer on the list but unfortunately they were out – next time!
When we finally got around to placing our order, it was a tough call as usual for me, but I went with a turkey burger with avocado and pepper jack cheese and upgraded to the curly fries – how can you not? One of my dining companions went with a buffalo burger and side salad, another with a cheeseburger and garlic fries and the third had the jalapeno bacon burger and curly fries. The garlic fries were so good that I am not sure if I’ll go with the curly fries next time or the garlic – decisions, decisions!
We left feeling stuffed and happy and agreed that we could envision many more summer evenings spent on the patio at Burgers & Brew. Have you tried the Sacramento location yet? How does it compare to the Davis location? What did you order? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave us a comment below!
Burgers & Brew
1409 R Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 442-0900
Do they have a website? I want to see what they get on tap.
Hi Tom – As far as I know they don’t! Here a little more info about what they have on tap though – http://www.sacmag.com/media/Sacramento-Magazine/Dining-Blog/April-2009/Would-You-Like-a-Burger-With-That-Beer/
Love the slide show, Liz!
Um……..how about the burgers? No comment about them?
Love, Love, Love this place. I’m currently in obsession mode. My husband and I have eaten there several times within this month, trying many different items on their menu. We have not been disappointed. If you’re looking for a large, tasty, and fresh burger…The Double Cheeseburger is the one, just try to finish it if you can…and don’t worry about your fries…you will be lucky if you can finish them as well too. I can’t leave out the Avocado Cheeseburger…Wow, so good! For the fish lovers out there…OMG the battered Tilapia fish sandwich is the bomb! The customer service is a fresh breath of air, you really feel as though you are a valued customer and after you have finished your meal you leave knowing you got your monies worth and you find yourself quickly deciding when you will make your next trip to eat their again.
I work right next to this restaurant and it’s my new favorite place to eat. I had the philly cheese steak sandwich with an upgraded order of onion rings. It was the most amazing version I have ever tasted. It was filled with skirt steak, red bell peppers, sauteed mushrooms, onions, and provolone cheese. That is what I will order probably all the time however the burgers sound really tempting. The onion rings were also very light and easy to eat opposed to the garlic fries (they were delicious but I prefer the onion rings).
You should go back and try the Roasted Garlic and Brie Plate, (with some wine & beer of course) my wife loves it.
Some food items (like this one) are only available at night.
The burger was tasty, the fries were good. The problem – and this is a huge problem – is that the place simply WASN’T CLEAN, which we failed to notice until we were mostly through our food. Their windowsills had bugs nesting in them and from the thick layer of dust, it appeared as though they hadn’t actually been cleaned in about 6 months to a year.
Now, I’d like to clarify that when I say there were bugs I don’t mean a few bugs were attracted to the windows. That could happen anywhere. I mean that there were dozens of little tiny fruit-fly-looking bugs (and a couple of black, pincer-bug types) that appeared to be nesting in just the window closest to us. All in all there were three different types of bugs that we observed. We stopped eating immediately upon noticing and we all walked away feeling pretty nauseated that we’d just eaten food prepared there. I can honestly say I’ve never been that repulsed in a restaurant before.
It’s a real shame because the food alone would have made me want to come back. But personally, I’m not down for a game of Food-Poisoning-Roulette when I eat out.