Sampino’s Kitchen at Joe Marty’s — Restaurant in Sacramento

2.5 stars.

After being a big fan of the previous iteration of Joe Marty's, I have to say I was really underwhelmed with this.

First, though, the positives: • Great service. Female server and male manager were very friendly, helpful, and competent. • The place looks great. I love the baseball memorabilia and other local sports stuff, and the scoreboard is a nice touch. Definitely looks really nice and you can tell they put a lot of thought into it. • Drinks are good; they make the lemonade from scratch (!). • The burger was perfectly decent, maybe even slightly better than average, and cooked perfectly rare as I requested. The fries, while nothing fancy, were done just right, too, and the portion was large.

Now onto the rest: • Menu is tiny. Usually that's great – it means they're not going to try to do anything they can't do well. But here it's really boring as well. • Food is way overpriced. I'm sorry, for a burger to cost $12 it had better be fantastic, not just good. And a $10 hotdog? Are you serious? • It's not really Joe Marty's.

My last point isn't completely fair, but it's not unfair either. For decades, Joe Marty's was known for one thing (other than being a friendly local sports bar): BROASTED CHICKEN. They even had a big sign in front noting that. People came from all over – it was the best chicken dish in Sacramento. You'd think the new management would realize that, and that probably 80% of the diners at the old place came for that dish. Certainly the only reason I came to the new version of JM's was for the broasted chicken.

Which they do not serve. Which is a shame. Which is why I won't be back.

Too bad – they had a huge opportunity right there, and for me at least, they've...

I would give it an ok. This was my second time eating there, once for lunch and now dinner. I had heard good things about the minestrone soup, but was told I couldn't get it at lunch. I had a burger then, and it was nothing special, tasted like a frozen patty. We were driving by and I thought I want to finally try the minestrone, so we went in and ordered an appetizer of fried zucchini and a couple of beers to start., The zucchini did not taste fresh, most likely frozen, it tasted alot like Carl's Jr zucchini. This was disappointing because we are in the middle of summer in Sacramento where home gardens are overflowing with zucchini. We ordered the minestrone entree and a side salad, I would have assumed since it was the entree, it would come with bread, what Italian restaurant doesn't serve bread with your meal, every other table had bread right away. The owner was helping in the dining room, I recognized him from previous visits to his deli on 16th St, the meatball sandwich there is pretty darn good. The minestrone soup was good, but not one of my favorites. The wait staff were nice and friendly. I have tried twice now and have left underwhelmed both times. I wish them the best of luck, but I won't...

Best service and Italian food in Sacramento, hands down! If you haven't tried Sampino's/Joe Marty's restaurant, you're definitely missing out! The food is absolutely delicious, that it makes you want more (and that is exactly what we did)! My friends and I stopped in to grab a drink and catch up. Instantly as we walked through the door, the hostest greeted us and seated us. We were then greeted by our waiter Gio, he told us about their menu and recommended a few items. Only wanting appetizers, we ordered the antipasta plate, bread with the balsamic vinegar & olive oil dip. Oh goodness, each bite was fantastic! So, we wanted to try more, we inquired about their wine collection and Gio recommended their merlot that just arrived! Our merlot was perfectly paired with our order of meatballs in marinara sauce! The night was wonderful, ending with another bottle of wine and spumoni for dessert. Service at Joe Marty's beats any place in Sacramento, it's been a long time since we enjoyed our time being foodies and great service! I will be back and 100% recommend this place to everyone who reads this! Wish I had taken pictures, but I was too busy enjoying the food! Thank you...