Scott's Seafood on the River — Restaurant in Sacramento

Years ago I enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the Oakland/Embarcadero location, so naturally the signage from the freeway at this location caught my eye as I drive by it often. It's in an amazing location right off the freeway. Prior to my visit this past weekend, I envisioned a beautiful venue overlooking the river (I didn't bother looking up pictures or any further information simply based on their reputation in the Bay Area). So I excitedly made reservations for my husband and I to celebrate his birthday and our wedding anniversary with a note to seat us outside. We had room reservations next door at The Westin so getting there was easy, and I'm glad we didn't have to deal with parking because it turned out to be quite busy that evening. I was impressed with the fancy staircase entrance... but sadly that was about as fancy as things got. We were asked if we still wanted to be seated outside but declined because the view of the river was completely covered by a vinyl mural installed to disguise a temporary construction wall. I wasn't aware that there was construction happening along the riverfront prior to that day so needless to say it was a huge disappointment. The second disappointment was the fact that my husband and I followed the "smart casual" dress code as specifically indicated by the restaurant when making the reservation, yet we received the strangest looks as if we were overdressed by the patrons who were already seated. We waited over 10 minutes to be acknowledged by someone for water and bread, and another 10 before our server finally came with menus. The third disappointment came when my husband ordered a very simple call drink, a specific whiskey and root beer. The server said that the root beer was bottled and asked if it was okay that we were charged for it by the bottle (as opposed to paying for a drink mixed with generic soda out of the bar gun) but my husband was fine with it, assuming he would be handed a mixed drink with the remaining soda left in the bottle. Instead, he was given the whiskey neat with a bottle of root beer on the side. I guess the server sensed the confusion on his face because he then asked if my husband wanted a glass with ice. So in short, my husband had to mix his own drink. We're not sure if it's the bartender's lack of experience or the server, but clearly neither of them know how to serve alcoholic beverages or how to ask a customer how they would like their drink to be served. We continued on with the evening with high hopes that our food would at least be our redemption, and thank God for that with a bill of $150 for two people. Could have definitely been a worse experience but I guess I was just expecting more in terms of atmosphere and service from such a prestigious restaurant. We may come back after all the construction work is done and give it...

We chose Scott’s Seafood to celebrate my mom’s birthday and made a reservation for 14 people two weeks in advance, confirming all the details including my contact information. A few days before the dinner, I called again to increase the party size to 20 and re-confirmed everything. We felt confident everything was in place—until we arrived.

After driving two hours from San Francisco (in traffic), we were told our reservation had been canceled via a text message sent the night before. The problem? We never received any message—because it had been sent to the wrong number, despite me confirming my contact info twice over the phone.

When we explained this, the hostess and floor manager showed no sense of accountability. We were told this wasn’t their fault and were given two options: sit in the lounge on couches and small tables, or wait three hours to be seated. When we pressed for clarification, the manager told us they weren’t “playing the blame game”—but still made it clear they weren’t taking any responsibility. No apology was offered at any point.

Once we uncovered the mistake and proved the error was on their end, the general manager was brought in. He handled the situation with professionalism and grace, and immediately arranged a table for us on the patio. We truly appreciated his willingness to make things right, even though the damage to our experience had already been done.

Once seated, our server Chris was outstanding. Managing a party of 20 on his own, he was friendly, attentive, and went above and beyond to keep things running smoothly. He was easily the highlight of the evening and deserves recognition.

The food was solid, but we waited nearly two hours for our main courses, which arrived in waves and at inconsistent temperatures. While the delay was frustrating, we don’t fault our server—it seemed like a kitchen issue.

A few additional notes for large parties: there’s a $12 per person cake-cutting fee (which adds up fast), a corkage fee, and they only allow a single check—something that would’ve been helpful to know in advance.

In the end, the night was salvaged by the general manager and our excellent server. But the lack of ownership, poor communication, and complete absence of courtesy at the start of the evening cast a shadow over what should have been a special occasion. We expected more from a restaurant of...

Came here for a nice refreshing evening with the ladies after being stuck in the house for over a year. This was the first place we thought about after remembering how great the service used to be. The weather was nice as we dined outside and our server Diana was great; however, after a bug was located in my plate things turned not so pleasant. We called over Diana who then called her manager (didn’t get his name); however, first thing he says to us is “oh the bug flew into your plate”, I said “no” I was eating and I would have saw the bug fly into my plate and explained when I went to pick up my fries the bug was under there on it’s back, unable to move or fly. Keep in mind my food had just come out maybe five minutes prior with enough time for me to eat two of my Beer Battered Prawns. Manager insisted that the bug flew in my plate while he sat there at our table and picked him out not removing the plate just picking him out as the other ladies were eating. I told the manager as you can see he can’t fly as he’s in your hand still struggling to move, manager just turned and said do you want another plate, no apologies or anything. I’m not sure if he thought I just wanted more food or what but I had just gotten my plate and had barley eaten anything so I said yes still trying to support the establishment and enjoy the rest of my evening as the manager says “we don’t have bugs in our kitchen” I stated I never implied that I just know between my food being prepared and walked out to me a bug was in my plate and it didn’t just fly in there cause again it can’t fly even though it has wings, if it could fly it would have flew out your hands once you picked him up. Bottom line is the manager was rude, so wish I would have gotten his name, he never came back to even check to see if we were ok and never even offered a discount/ drink on the house- not cocktail but a soda, ice tea anything. And to top it off remember when I told you I ate two Prawns off my plate well he made me whole by bringing me four new Prawns (I hope new). unbelievable, last time I’ll be dining here. I will also be posting this on Yelp/ and my social media so people will know how rude the manager was....Not sure how to upload...