Hook and Ladder Manufacturing Company — Restaurant in Sacramento

It's Saturday night and were looking for a place to eat in midtown that is dog friendly and takes reservations. The Hook and Ladder Manufacturing Company fits the criteria perfectly. H&L not only features local farms and ranches, but they also stock their full bar with local breweries and wineries.

H&L rustic warehouse setting gives way to an open dining room and full bar good for small and large group dining. There's also rear and front patio dining. A lovely place for a more romantic setting.

This our third return to the H&L and it is our "out of the box" place to eat. My son, daughter-in-law, Dexter (my dog), and I each like to order something, appetizer, entree, dessert, and share it three ways. It's a fun way to explore H&L's forever changing menu. H&L also offers brunch lunch and vegan menus.

I think the best thing about H&L's menu is it's eclectic mix of flavors. Take for example our sections for the evening. We chose two appetizers, three entrees, and allowed enough room for two desserts. Again all dishes were shared.

Our first appetizer: CRISPY PORK BELLY BITES $9 Sherry Maple Gastrique, Brown Butter Celery Root Puree, Marinated Apples. Take a small bit of pork and apple then marry it with the brown butter celery root puree, and the deglaze sherry maple sauce. Take a deep breath though your nose and experiencing usual mix of flavors. Just the right mix of sweetness, saltiness, and cut with acidic balance. Small bites but huge flavors.

Our second appetizer choice was: SPANISH OCTOPUS $16 Potato Confit, Paprika, Smoked Green Olive Puree. The same holds true with this appetizer. Small bites of octopus and potato mixed with paprika and a smoked green green sauce. A wonderful mix of unusual flavors.

Our first selection for dinner was one of the four offered pizzas: BRUSSELS & PANCETTA $18 Creamy Brussel Sprouts, Crispy Pancetta, Pine Nuts. We chose this one because the usual mix of ingredients and we weren't disappointed. It was very good.

Our second entree selection for the evening: FETTUCINE & CLAMS $21 Little Neck Clams, White Wine, Butter, Lemon, Parsley. Little Neck steamed clams, in the shell, served over Al Dente fettuccine in a buttered lemon parsley wine sauce.

Our final selection for the evening: BEER BRAISED SHORT RIBS $36 Whipped Potatoes, Roasted Winter Vegetables, Crispy Carrots. This was my favorite choice of all of our dinner selections. It was very tasty and quite delicious.

H&S portion sizes are on the smaller side. More European than American. Which was perfect for us because it left room for their wonderful desserts. To finish things off for this evening we chose two from the dessert menu.

Out of the four selections we chose: SALTED CARAMEL POT DE CREME $8 Crunchy Chocolate Pearls & Biscotti. A jar of salted caramel, sprinkled with crunchy chocolate pearls, and a biscotti for dipping. Yummy!

Our second choice and everybody's favorite: CITRUS TRIFLE $8 Lemon Cake, Curd, Satsuma Mandarin Oranges, Mint. A sweet and tangy lemon cake, woven with custard curd, Mandarin wedges, and with mint leaf decorations. This desert was absolutely delicious.

So what about the service you may ask? I'm glad you did. Tonight's server was Hadyn. She's as unique as her name and an H&L gem. Her spot-on service and warm smile absolutely made our night memorable. When you go to the H&L ask for Hadyn you won't be disappointed.

TOPHATT

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I met up with a group of colleagues here for dinner on a Tuesday (5/7/24) evening. We made reservations ahead of time and had no issues doing so.

Parking can be challenging with 1 hour meters in the surrounding area. There are free 2 hour street parking available if walking is not a concern.

The H&L restaurant decor is laid back and inviting both inside and out. There’s seating in the front patio as well as the back of the restaraunt. It’s both inviting and relaxing which is pretty cool.

Our group of 8 got a table inside and was seated in this VERY interesting horseshoe shaped table that was super wide and quite large. While the design allows a staff worker to easily serve every seated guests around the table, it wasn’t very conducive to guest interaction if they are seated across the table from another.

Our server (didn’t get his name) was great. He was super patient with us as we took our time through the evening with ordering from the Happy Hour menu, appetizers, dinner, desserts, and drinks for the evening.

Drinks for our group included the La Luchadora, Mister Ed, Smash or Pass, The Santanic Panic, H&L G&T, and several other orders. All the drinks turned out really good. Well assembled cocktails with good ingredients and definitely not from mixers. This is a plus!

Food order for the evening included the Fried Chicken Sandwich, Jerk Califlower, Black Cod, Brick Chicken, Pizzas, and several other items. For dessert, we got the Chocolate Budino, Earl Gray Panna Cotta, and Trio of Amaro Cookies. The food and dessert turned out quite good, all very yummy and delicious. My dish (Fried Chicken Sandwich) came with a side of fries although I would’ve substituted with a side salad instead. While the sandwich was tasty, the fries came out soft and dull. The desserts were very good. Both the Budino and Panna Cotta were enjoyable and perfect way to close the evening out.

The cost of the dinner came out to be about $75 with tax and tip for each of us, a bit on the higher side for casual dining that included two drinks, dinner, and desserts to share.

So how did H&L score? Here are the results: Atmosphere (4/5). Service (4/5). Food (4/5). Desserts (5/5). Drinks (5/5). Value to Price Ratio (3/5). Overall Experience (4/5).

H&L is a pretty neat place to grab a bite to eat. The climate is relaxing, laid back, and makes for a great place to have an enjoyable meal with good company. Be wary of the horseshoe table if closer seating amongst your group is important to you. H&L has something for everyone and is friendly to vegetarians and vegans. Drinks are authentic and made with genuine ingredients and not from mixers. Expect to pay a higher premium for the overall experience however for this casual dining experience. Parking can be a challenge especially if you plan to stay longer than 2 hours. Maybe consider taking an Uber but that would add to your cost for the evening. I would definitely return to try out some of the items on the menu.

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We had a mixed experience here, and I want to go again for sure to see if it was a fluke or not.

The ambiance is pretty cool, and the outside seating in the back is actually very pleasant. Service was a little slow, but nothing you wouldn't expect from a trendy bar/restaurant on a busy dinner rush.

The appetizers we got was the trio of sausages, which while not my personal taste, my spouse loved, and I did find one of the three I liked.

The little crostini thing they give you as a single bite was super tasty. I have no idea other than it has mushrooms, but I would so eat that again.

Our entrees are were we had issues. I got a straight up burger, along with their fries and my meal was delicious. The spiciness of the BBQ sauce was unexpected, but the burger was cooked perfect, the bacon rocked, and those fries were something that is dangerous to have because you can't spot.

My Spouse's dish on the other hand was disappointing. First off, the Rib-eye he ordered was under cooked. This is a major problem for us, because steak cook is how we really judge a location, and the fact that the steak was VERY under (just shy of Rare/Raw when Medium was ordered) was very disappointing. In addition, when the steak was cooked up to temperature, it was under seasoned. it lacked in salt and pepper, the only flavor really present was the innate meaty flavor and the grill marks. Everything else on the dish was tasty to good, but the star simply fell flat.

As I said, this could be a fluke, so we plan on going back, but at the price, it will be a while before we go back again for a...