Cattlemens — Restaurant in Dixon

My father in law took my wife and I out to dinner at Cattleman’s. I ordered one Long Island Ice Tea (recommended by the waiter) and a “Steak & Shrimp Scampi,” which includes an 8 oz. sirloin with five jumbo shrimp sautéed in their creamy scampi butter. It costs $32.99.

Our food arrived after a medium-to-long wait. Well, most of it. All the meals were presented together, except my large plate was brought out with a steak on the right, veggies on the left, and a giant hole in the middle where the shrimp should have been.

Cattleman’s actually served my entrée WITHOUT the shrimp, then said the shrimp would be out in three to four minutes. After about ten or more minutes, five normal sized shrimp were brought out in a pool of butter in a small dish.

In my decades of eating at restaurants, I’ve never, ever, ever been served half a meal. Late food? Sure. Wrong food? Yeah, that happens. But half an entrée? This is a complete first for me. Sadly, by the time the shrimp arrived, I’d completed my steak and veggies, and was full. My surf and turf ended up being turf with a shrimp to-go cup.

The medium 8 oz sirloin was just soft and okay. Pretty poor for a steakhouse. I’d equate it to a Denny’s sirloin, or something equivalently boring.

The “jumbo” shrimp were actually on the smaller side of regular sized shrimp. I’ve included a photo so you can be the judge, but it’s undebatable that these shrimp weren’t anywhere near jumbo, just regular sized.

The Long Island ice tea was bad. I can’t even describe it. I just felt like I was drinking some sort of watery liquor mix.

The bright spot of the evening was our waiter. He was very kind, and was visually mortified and incredibly apologetic regarding the absent shrimp situation. However, zero accommodations or compensated items were offered. The manager even came to our table! But everything was still full price.

I would NEVER ask for something to be compensated, but I genuinely expected some form of free or discounted item to apologize for only delivering half an entree. Nope. I just got a to-go cup for my five normal sized shrimp, AND my father in law got charged for bacon bits on his baked potato.

Other notes - the restaurant is incredibly loud. Our waiter literally had to crouch down each time we spoke just so we could hear each other. My wife ordered a baked potato, which was advertised to include chives, but she was served cut up green onions. Green onions and chives are similar, but not the same thing. It’s not a big deal, but at a restaurant that’s charging these types of prices, chives should be chives, not green onions.

Every time I visit this area, my father in law loves to take us here. That’s not gonna happen again. He might enjoy a low quality steakhouse at big dollar prices, but I won’t let him pay for Cattleman’s in my presence ever again.

Shout out to that waiter, though, for putting up with the madness that is Cattleman’s. I hope he finds a...

I have been going to this restaurant for 30 years. The same number of years I have lived in Dixon, California. I have celebrated two birthdays at the Dixon location on the actual day.. my 59th and this year the milestone 60th. I always go to this location during my birthday month of July. Even during 2014 the year my father passed. Each time it has been an exemplary experience.. be it the main restaurant or the bar area. This year was the exception.. we ran late due freeway traffic construction on I-80 but the restaurant still accommodated us in the dining room.. Even though my favorite table is in the bar by the door, as it is only one of three low tables that will accommodate my wheelchair. A lot of the high top tables were available but the bar area is first come seating. In years past and during my past visits thoughout the years people have offered to move to an available high top table but not on this day.. even though plenty of were available. It would be my suggestion to cattlemen’s management to have the regular bar area table available for wheelchair use.. especially the one by the side exit door, as it does not impede the wait staff and exiting customers who choose to use that exit. Finally, this is first time in all my birthday celebrations I did not receive a hat.. so even though I have gone to this location for 30 birthdays. I did not receive a hat straw cowboy hat on the 60th milestone birthday.. just FYI. My family will be making it up to me by going to Ella, Zinfandel grill and my other Sacramento favorites. I would suggest the bar dining area as it is slower paced, and no screaming children, as we were all adults for a more casual experience. Great staff, great food.. a Dixon fine dining establishment.. normally highly recommended but unfortunately this birthday was a terrible experience.. especially considering I live here.. and frequently dine there.. A special thanks to Elle and all the staff. A few miscues this time but no hat.. no offer to take pictures. That’s a first in 30 years of birthday’s at this...

I only write reviews when service is exceptionally good or extremely bad. Unfortunately, this time it was the latter — which makes me genuinely sad because this used to be one of my favorite places to eat.

07/20/25 We arrived around 8:30 or 8:40 PM, and the hostess greeted us with a cold “Can I help you ?” — no hello, no warmth, just raised eyebrows. My husband and I looked at each other and immediately felt uneasy. In hindsight, we should have left right then.

My husband asked for a table in the main dining area, but they insisted on seating us in the bar. When we requested the dining room again, they said the wait would be 45 minutes — which made no sense, as the restaurant was nearly empty. Clearly, they didn’t want to accommodate us, so we had to accept the bar seating.

There, we were greeted by Jadelyn Y . She didn’t even say hi . She handed us the menus and asked, “Something to drink?” — without making eye contact or showing any friendliness. Throughout the evening, she seemed irritated and annoyed by our presence. Every time we asked for something, she didn’t respond — she would just walk away and bring it back. She barely checked in with us, avoided eye contact, and gave off the clear impression that she didn’t want to be there.

We didn’t feel comfortable bringing up any issues with the food because we didn’t want to upset her more — that’s how tense it felt. Sadly, the food didn’t make up for the service. The fries were undercooked and cold, and the mashed potatoes — which I used to love — were bland super sweet and also served cold. It’s clear that the quality and care this place once had are no longer there.

Everyone can have a bad day, but it’s not the customer’s fault . If you’re not feeling well or can’t be professional, it’s better to call in sick than to take it out on paying guests who are treating you with respect.

What should’ve been a pleasant Sunday night dinner with my family turned into a really disappointing experience. No one deserves to be treated like that — especially when spending their...