Hawks Public House — Restaurant in Sacramento

It's a get together dinner night with a bunch of great colleagues.  Hawks Public House was chosen for our group of 10 on a Tuesday (7/30) evening.

Hawk’s is located off a fairly busy street off Alhambra Blvd.  Free parking is available off Sutter Medical Plaza.  The restaurant is pretty small and the dining area seats probably 75 people or so is my guest.  There's an amazing bar inside decked out with all kinds of spirits along the wall.  Decor is warm and inviting.

We were seated along the West side of the building.  Given the timing of our get together (5:30pm), a couple of us were seated facing west while the sun was setting, which made it really bright and warm.

Our server was awesome.  She was very patient with us.  She got us started with drinks while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive.

In terms of the food, we had ordered Deviled Egg and Kennebec Fries for appetizers.  The Deviled Eggs were delicate and full of flavor.  Each order had 6 little Deviled Eggs.  The Kennebec Fries were good but nothing special.

For our main course, we ordered the Rigatoni, Spaghetti Fra Diavolo, Rotolo, the Grilled Pork Chop, and the Dayboat Scallops.  All sounded very interesting.  Our food arrived within 20 minutes upon ordering.  The presentations of the dishes were all amazing.  However, the portion size for some of the dishes were much smaller than expected, especially the Dayboat Scallops.  The dish was so small it was actually comical.  We had joked that we'd starve and would need to fill up on booze instead.  I personally had the scallops and while it was very tasty, it was on the saltier side.  The three pieces of scallops were full of flavor and very yummy.

The cocktails were good but did fall short of expectations.  I had ordered the Hawks Tonic, a cocktail made with gin, homemade mediterranean tonic, and lime juice.  The lime was too much and overpowered any taste of herbal that I was expecting in a gin cocktail.  It tasted more like a limeade than a gin cocktail.  The presentations of the cocktails looked amazing though.

For desserts, we had ordered a Mocha Pot De Creme and a Lemon Olive Oil Cake.  Both turned out really good.  It wasn't too sweet and had the right balance of flavors.  Some ordered the dessert wine and said it was excellent.

Our dinner came out to be about $100 per person for the evening which included a couple of drinks, appetizers, main course, dessert, tax, and tip.

So how did Hawks Public House score in my book?  Here it is:

Service is a solid 5/5.  Our server was awesome.  She was a great host and wasn't over bearing but was always available to us.  Dining area is a 4/5.  The windows could use an upgraded shade to block the sun from beating down on guests seated facing west.  It just got too warm and we were practically sweating.  The drinks are a 3/5.  The cocktails look better than it tasted.  Mine tasted more like a limeade.  I ended up switching to a glass of wine after and it was so much better.  The food is a 4/5.  The presentations of all the dishes were amazing.  All were very tasty but portion size for some were much smaller than expected and left some of us still feeling hungry!  Desserts were very good.  Value to price ratio is about a 4/5.  Overall experience is about a 4/5.

While we all had a great time at Hawks, the overall experience was mixed. With the small dining space the noise level got up there and made it challenging to carry a conversation especially as the evening went on.  I felt like we had to raise our voice and yell in order for us to hear each other.  Do ask about portion size before ordering so you don't go hungry.  It's unlikely you'll have left overs.  For drinks, stick with the wine instead of the cocktail.  I've had my fair share of cocktails and Hawk's cocktail fell short of expectations.  Plan to pay a premium for the overall experience.   Make sure you're with good company to make it worthwhile. I certainly was.

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Takeaway: Maybe it was just an off night, but great food and cocktails can't make up for an unprofessional and frustrating dining experience.

Hawks Public House came highly recommended by a Sacramento friend. As three travelers from the PNW, we were impressed by the menu and looking forward to a delicious meal after a very long day of driving.

Mid-afternoon, I set up a reservation via Resy. I was surprised by how many openings there were, and booked 7:30pm to give us time to rest a bit after the drive. On our way in, we saw the back patio looked full. We arrived at the host stand at 7:30 and saw that the restaurant was extremely busy, with no open tables.

After 5 minutes of standing at the host stand (with other new arrivals waiting outside; not much space to queue inside), a host/server approached and asked us if we were the reservation for 7:30. We confirmed and she let us know that the reservation system had overbooked them and that we would have to wait. We asked if we could order a drink while we waited and were told to stand at either end of the bar to order.

We did so, though the end of the bar is the service well. After a few minutes standing there, we asked the bartender for a menu and he told us "someone" would be right with us, and then went back to serving. A few minutes after that, someone told us to move, which we did, to open seats at the bar. It took a while longer for us to be acknowledged, at which point we placed drink orders.

Then, a few minutes before 8pm, we were seated on the back patio, which was completely empty. A server came to ask us if we'd like water, then left and never brought water. A different server approached a few minutes later, saw we didn't have water, and brought some. We ordered appetizers, which came out pretty quickly and were delicious.

We then ordered additional dishes (soup, salad, main courses), and were told that they were out of several items of their very small menu and that the kitchen was backed up. We adjusted our orders accordingly, though we had to ask about gluten-free options due to dietary restrictions.

Orders were placed with the kitchen; fifteen minutes later the manager came out to tell us the dressing for the salad had gluten in it and ask for me to choose an alternative. I had no issue with that, but there was a strange attitude from the manager regarding my non-celiac (but doctor-required) gluten free restriction, but I tried to let it go.

Shortly thereafter, the manager had to speak to the table next to us about issues with what they had ordered.

Our food took nearly two hours to arrive. Lots of this time was spent sitting and waiting for drinks, which took 10-20 minutes to arrive each round (we wouldn't have been having so many rounds had our food arrived quicker). We expressed to the server (who wasn't at fault for this) that we were a little frustrated at the repeated delays, and asked to speak to the manager. He came out, stood silently at our table and waited for us to re-explain, then told us they had been busy for a variety of reasons, etc. etc. We did receive some items comped for our trouble, but I can't in good faith recommend this restaurant. It was an unpleasant experience that I wouldn't...

Update: it seems like they tried to fix the Monday fried chicken special ordering process except,… not only is it not fixed, it’s worse. Now they open the window for ordering the week prior, which is inconvenient as they’re forcing us to place a to-go order days ahead. What if plans change? I really preferred the same day ordering. And when I attempted to place the order today (Thursday) for next Monday the item was available, I placed my order, I received a confirmation email and, just when I was getting excited, I received another email cancelling the order. What the heck? I went back into the ordering system and my choice was still available. Instead of reordering, I tried calling the restaurant several times to get clarification but each time was routed to voicemail. I ask again: if they cannot execute this special, should they be offering it?

Would be five stars except for one really annoying problem they seem unconcerned with fixing: the broken ordering process for the Monday fried chicken special. More on that later after the good stuff.

I’ve enjoyed Hawks for dine-in and takeout on numerous occasions. The food quality is great. Apps I’ve enjoyed include the deviled eggs and onion dip, which are both elevated examples of classic party dishes. I’ve tried several tasty entree pastas, the flat iron steak was nicely prepared and the burger features a dynamite bacon onion jam topping.

Happy hour is a great value!

Now about that chicken special: for whatever reason, Hawks is incredibly inconsistent regarding availability of this special. Sometimes I’ll go online well into the evening and it’s available. But other times I’ll have missed out. Fine. But when I login at 5:15 AS INSTRUCTED and it’s not available, I’m suspicious that they really don’t have a handle on this offering. Today, when I called at 5:20 to find out what was happening the manager told me it often sells out days in advance. What? The Hawks website clearly states sales begin at 5:15! When you’re lucky enough to win the Hawks chicken lottery (lol) it’s a fine meal, centered on chicken that reminds of manna’s classic Betty Crocker esque crumbly coated pieces. It’s not the overly crunchy chicken that all the rage these days and that’s okay with me! The sides change and are thoughtfully considered but I have had on occasion gotten home and found an item missing.

So for me, despite the clear issues they have with their special offering, it’s still four stars but could be five if they sorted out their issues or, perhaps, skipped the special if unable to execute...