Bear & Crown — Restaurant in Sacramento

My wife and I visited Old Sacramento on the Sunday before Labor Day. We had a nice brunch on the Delta King. We then visited three restaurant/bars to get drinks with no luck. The first restaurant/bar we visited was “Brannan Manor Restaurant”. This pace is terrible with an extremely rude manager. Please see my other post regarding “Brannan Manor Restaurant”. You will be shocked!!!

We then visited two other local bars. We were at each bar for at least 10 minutes without anyone even looking at us, let alone saying something like, “I’ll be right with you”. We then walked into Bear and Crown and were immediately greeted by Leo at the bar. We were so happy that this restaurant was so welcoming and actually wanted our business. We sat at the bar and ordered a couple of delicious Bloody Mary’s. We felt so comfortable with this restaurant and with Leo, we decided to stay at the bar and have lunch and ordered fish & chips. Leo was explaining to us that they use separate fryers for their fish and chips; one for fish and one for chips (French fries) which we thought was quite impressive. We ended up staying there for quite a while, much longer than expected and ordered a couple of more Bloody Mary’s. We were so happy with Leo’s service, the food and atmosphere, we asked to speak with the manager. We spoke with Britney and praised her for having such a remarkable employee as Leo and managing such a wonderful restaurant. Britney, herself, was so nice with a warm smile and greatly appreciated our compliments. We highly recommend Bear and Crown and will be visiting this restaurant...

Lack of proper staffing resulted in slow service. The front of the house staff were trying hard despite being overwhelmed and our server was always smiling despite the difficulty. We waited too long for our drinks and the bartender looked harried given the workload.

We tried Bear & Crown during restaurant week and the dishes available were poorly conceived and executed even worse. The starter was bland and presented poorly on a thin layer of wilted greens. The beef stew was more of an oily, tasteless soup while the alternative cod chowder tasted okay if maybe a little thick for made to order. The steak was undercooked yet somehow also tough and chewy served with cold fries that stuck together - likely caused by crowding in the fryer. The pat of herbed butter would be better suited to a flatter cut of beef as it was difficult to spread evenly across the steak. The alternate entree was a filet of bland, overcooked salmon on a pile of rice that tasted like something from a box.

The crowd was lively throughout the large bar and restaurant. Parking was difficult. The inside stayed too cold thanks to the front door being kept open on a chilly...

This is to update the 5-star review I posted in February.

And three months later...

I again ordered the fish and chips to go. Home is five minutes away. The fish was soggy and the chips were limp. Not edible. It wasn't a "one-off" - this happened once before but I just chalked it up to a different cook. They agreed to refund. One week later, no refund.

Over the course of four weeks, I called four times, spoke with two managers and twice to the owners. Of course, I was told the refund was coming each time.

It took me going down there and asking for the refund in person. Clearly, they had no intention of refunding the money and hoped I would go away. When they did, though, the owners told me they have no control over the food once it leaves and asked me not to order to go.

Sorry, but food should be prepared so that it stays fresh and edible for a five-minute ride home. And, the other reviews here point to a quality issue rather than a to-go issue.

The only thing worse than the food is the owner's attitude. Business must be pretty bad to have to worry about losing a customer who wrote a very positive review over...