Mulvaney's B&L — Restaurant in Sacramento

We all have off nights—we get it—but our dinner experience in February of 2024 was a very off night for the kitchen and our server. It was more unfortunate as this was supposed to be a very special night to celebrate my wife’s birthday, which the restaurant had been informed of well in advance.

We were seated on the patio under a heat lamp, but in the breezeway. It was still cold. No one offered a blanket, but we discovered only because a departed guest gave us their blanket, that the restaurant had them if you ask. Why should we have to ask?

Our server was clearly having a bad night. After explaining the menu as she leaned on our table, she announced to us that this was her busy time, letting us know that things might take a bit longer because she was busy. If you can't handle the tables and ensure that each customer is properly served in a restaurant of this caliber, then this is not the job for you.

My wife asked our server a few questions about wine, and it was clear she was in over her head. So, she asked for a taste of a Rosé that interested her. Five minutes later—way too long for a taste—our server raced by our table and put the wine glass on the edge of the table nearest me, not my wife. She kept walking briskly by, never saying a word.

A few minutes later, the restaurant sommelier appeared. Therese began asking questions, and he began making suggestions. I have never encountered a sommelier so resistant to providing a taste when asked, and Therese did ask several times. He would only respond by saying, repeatedly, "How can I explain it better so you can understand..." She ended up with a Chenin Blanc that was good, fortunately, or we would have sent it back. I asked for a gin drink on the menu, which arrived more than 20 minutes after my wife’s wine was served.

Throughout the evening, our server continued racing by our table, dropping off utensils and courses, often where we had to reach for them to place them in front of us, without so much as a word, never checking in to see how the dishes tasted.

Our main dish arrived. We had the sesame-crusted ahi tuna with house-made soba noodles. I looked at my plate and immediately knew it was bad simply because the ahi had very visible white streaks. Any chef and server with the most basic of training should recognize the white streaks as connective tissue, which is very chewy. For this reason, sushi chefs and skilled chefs know to avoid ahi showing this connective tissue. I attempted to cut into the first piece of ahi, and no go ... too tough. My wife's ahi was not as bad, so she made do. Tina, the GM, who was super friendly and excellent, was passing by, and I stopped her and noted my ahi was not good. She immediately asked if she could have the kitchen prepare me another one. She also brought me soup so I would have something to eat while waiting. That was a nice gesture.

The second ahi dish arrived and was good.

We ordered three scoops of sorbet, walnut, Meyer lemon, and kiwi lime for dessert. It was served mostly melted. Unfortunately, our server disappeared so fast after dropping this off at the table we had to wait a few minutes until she returned so we could snag her and let her know the dessert was not acceptable and that we would not pay for it.

Tina appeared again, apologetically confirming that the kitchen and restaurant were having an off night with us. She told us she had taken the dessert off the bill. Frankly, given all the failures, it would have been more than appropriate to offer a further discount on a bill for a night that had turned into anything but a birthday celebration.

We paid our bill, but given what transpired during the dinner service and the fact that the restaurant never replied to an email sent to them the following day, we will not return, let alone recommend...

0 stars. I never write reviews, but feel compelled to share my absolutely disappointing experience. Want the details, here you go:

7:30pm, Saturday reservation for 2

Admittedly, we were 15mins late. Walking up to the location we saw 3 women trip and fall on the metal outdoor fence panel that was laying on the sidewalk. We then waited another 5mins or so to be sat. Water was served quite quickly. Took quite some time to have our server come around to take drinks and appetizer orders. Approximately 30mins later drinks arrived. Appetizers arrived around the 50min mark. Oysters and pork rillete were ordered. Both, decent. After seeing the massive NY strip steaks other diners had ordered that not a single person finished, we decided to order the crab fettecini and the NY strip, both to split. I know what you might be thinking at this point, this dude is cheap and complains about everything. Not the case. I fully planned on coming here for a wonderful dining experience when planning on spending well over $250 for 2 people. Our server did advise the the crab fettecini may be a little spicy, but nothing could have prepared us for the absolutely trash flavor profile dish that was served, nearly one hour and twenty minutes after being seated. The pasta, cooked perfect. The dish had miniscule shreds of crab and then an insane amount of spice. Burn your lips, shed a tear spice. Flavor, none, but spice. We both laughed it off a little and said oh well, the apps were decent, the steak has to be great, and the desserts we saw looked good as well. While waiting for the rest of our dinner to arrive, a table near us got up and left after being there for 2 hours without their main course. The manager then came around after speaking with the couple that left, bent down near me, and asked, "are you well?" What kind of question is this to ask your patrons? This is how you ask if service is going OK, good food, drinks need refreshing??? One hour and forty minutes after being seated our "NY strip" steak arrives. They were kind of enough to plate it on two plates. Not what I asked for nor expected, but ok. Let me remind you, we chose a single portion of the NY strip because everyone else's plates had large nearly 2in thick steaks covering nearly the entire large plate with not a single person even coming close to finishing it and leaving about 1/3 on their plate. What we were served: about a 1in thick cut in half steak, that definitely didn't look anything like what the other patrons were served. I mentioned my disdain to a server nearby and then our server came by. I expressed that these steaks do not look like what others had ordered with much smaller portion sizes. I wanted to give them a chance to say something. To say what happened. Instead we were just told sorry we are having an off night. YOU SERVED A SMALL RIBEYE STEAK IN PLACE OF A NY STRIP. Charging $65 for a steak and not serving what was ordered along with not stating that the order is not correct once brought to your attention is crazy to me. This is supposed to be a fine dining establishment. Your patrons most likely know what each cut of steak should look and taste like. Shame on you for this BS. The ribeye was cooked quite well, but this was an absolute insult to try to pass this off, not inform me if a change was needed and try to pass off a cut of meat that was not ordered. We were planning on ordering dessert, but at this point we just wanted to be out of there.

Total time just over 2 hours

You are only as good as your worst night and after scrolling through the reviews, this is clearly not a one off night. This night meant so much more than "just a nice dinner" and I have left that out of the review since it is not relevant to the service and food. F you for ruining what was supposed to be a...

This spot was on the list for the art/bar crawl locations. The person who I believed to be the manager was nice and showed us how the squid art works. She invited us in for a drink. very welcoming so we paid for some drinks. Ambience was nice and we bought some art from Karlo.

The food was 7/10. I recommend the baked brie as an appetizer not the calamari.

Red flags: 1st red flag : As I walked in the bartender lady with black hair who I believed is named DENAE LEANN asked " what are we getting into today" I responded " we are doing a art/bar cra" before I could finish my sentence she interrupted and said " I was talking about your drinks not your night " maybe I misunderstood the question.

2nd red flag: We ordered the food. We were thinking about getting one more thing. Being our first time here we didn't know what time it closed. it was about 9 pm ish 9/13/25 Saturday. I asked about the menu and if the crawfish cocktail was like a " crawfish bloody mar " again interrupted before I could finish. The bartender says " come on guys tik tok. If you want to order more food it has to be now". I just had a question if it was a spin on a bloody Mary with a 1 jumbo shrimp like I've had elsewhere. kitchen was closing I didn't want to be a burden. " just two gimlets"

3rd red flag: The bartender then started to aggressively slamming things around and saying audibly " I'm not going to make any money this shift ! ". The people next to us were also getting attitude. they didn't seem to mind maybe they work together at Mulvaney's.

4th red flag. She asked us if we wanted more water. when we responded yes. It felt as if our yes was the biggest inconvenience. I'm not exaggerating or making up this next part. She takes the whole pitcher of water and dumps it all over her hand just for one glass. It was a full pitcher ! she then takes a second pitcher full of water and dumps it, all over the place , it overflows the cup, water on the floor ,water on her hands empties the entire pitcher again ! Then passive aggressively gives us our water. She goes over to the corner where she had some friends gets a glass of wine says I'm done and says she's going on break.

Maybe a mental break ? maybe a bad night ? maybe it was late ? maybe its the economy ? we luckily were able to close out by a different bartender and got the heck out of there.

This seems like maybe its the type of vibe there ? I've experienced similar in NY Bars. if that's the type of stuck up vibe you like. Then go to Mulvaney's. To me I thought I had walked into Karen's diner if you're familiar with...