Sellands Neighborhood Cafe & Bar Broadway — Restaurant in Sacramento

On the way back from downtown on a Saturday late afternoon, decided it was close enoigh to dinner time and stopped in - I had only eaten at the (H street?) location before, for a takeout lunch (salad sampler trio thing and a lemon br, yum), so I figured it was a good bet on good variety, delicious food and choices for 1 semi/sometime foodie and 2 picky eaters (1 adult, 1 not yet but heading there full-speed ahead).

Walked in, past the bike/brew/dog place next door (making a mental note to maybe bring the 4-legged member of the family by sometime and grab a pint on the patio) and we were pleased with the sights and smells, decided to give it a try (ordered at the counter: grilled cheese w added ham + 2 cookies + a bottle soda; french dip + parfait + a canned soda; small side mac n cheese, small side asparagus salad, small side of melon salad + chocolate idk + a canned soda) They hand you your sodas and desserts to carry to your table. Got the first shock w/ the tab of nearly $80. Wow. Well, ok, I thought, I know it'll be amazing so... ok. Grabbed our silverware & napkins and sat outside.

Stole a couple nibbles of the desserts (hard not to), and maybe a 10 minute wait, and then our food showed up. Smaller portions that I would've expected but, hey, I need smaller portions anyway. So.

Not sure why but I was surprised that there was nothing on the plates w the sandwiches - no fries, chips, pickles, fruit... nuthin. Ok. His grilled cheese was decent (I think - he didn't complain except about the size and price, then again, he also never said anything about it so couldn't have been that great). Iced cookie w sprinkles was gone before the food; snickerdoodle, left 3/4 on the plate.

The best part of my french dip was the bread (nice crunch to the outside, sift inside, good flavor) - was luke-warm at best, the roast beef was pretty dried out/quite a bit of fat, and totally tasteless. Even the au jus was like it was made from instant beef boullion powder, and not even enough of that to give some flavor. But I soaked as much of it as I could up in that sammy to as an attempt to rehydrate it the only way I could. Maybe I should've added the horseradish. I don't like horseradish, but really... I should've added it. The parfait (crumbled chocolate cookie bottom, chocolate pudding middle, whipped topping w mini whoopers...) was actually really good. I could only finish half, as bad as I really really wanted to, especially when I looked at the receipt and saw the damn thing was almost $6. Probably because it came in it's own mini Mason (oh sorry, Kerr) jar. Think, KFC's discontinued Lil Bucket Parfait, but 3x as dense and 5x as expensive.

Mac n Cheese was all cheese, no mac, lukewarm (kids eat mac n cheese... it's mac n cheese... this kid was like... there's no MAC! And it's cold!); asparagus salad had a nice texture and decent flavor to the dressing when it wasn't so spicy it made me regret a bite (I know because after her first spicy bite she was done so I had some... she normally loves asparagus btw and picked all her own stuff; fruit salad was... fruit salad. Dad at some. She picked the shaved chocolate curls off the top, a bit of the whip, and a bit of the mousse. And the rest of it stayed on the plate.

All in all... maybe it was just an off day? Bad timing (just pre-dinner rush... maybe we got lunch leftoers?) but we were floored by the bill and quality. He couldn't understand how the total was that much for what we got, so I double-checked (it was correct). Only way I could really explain it was... well, there IS an entire section of the menu dedicated to Avocado Toast, so... if we try it again, we'll leave the youngin at home and wear our hipster hats?

*Side note, neither of us was feeling so hot when we got home. Not saying it was the food exactly just... it...

finally, after lots of great reviews and recommendations from my friend, i had to go and try it. My friends are regular customers and have recommended for a long time especially their Mac and Cheese. the atmosphere is pretty nice and reminded me of many places i have visited in Seattle or in New York. the place is spotless and the staff very friendly. the food is precooked and ready to go (except for the sandwiches and pizzas i think), so you pick and pay accordingly. i ordered a small Mac & cheese with bacon and Mushroom chicken and my wife got a Lobster roll and ranch heart (a small stuffed romaine lettuce cut down the middle). Total bill was around $47. Price is bit too high but again it is worth it if the food is good.

Food service was quick and within few minutes we all got our food ( 4 people on the table). Food tasted OK but was disappointing: My Mac and cheese tasted good but was room temperature. it was topped with bacon but not sure if they forgot to heat it up. my friend who is a frequent visitor did mention to me afterwards that her order also was room temperature and usually it is hot. My chicken was dry but the sauce was good. My friend's chicken was also very dry.

Spoke to a manager about the chicken and informed him of its dryness. He came back few minutes later informing us that both chicken plates on display have been removed after checking their dryness and apologized for the incident. He was very pleasant and appreciative of the feedback and informed us that any desserts ordered will be on the house.

i tried the Chocolate Mousse cake and it was pretty good. Not too sugary and very light. i am glad i tried their dessert to at least have a reason to re-visit the place.

Overall: If i was to visit the place again is only due to the customer service. i am sure that even if i asked for our table to be refunded, he would have been happy to do so. That encourages me to try them one more time and see if my visit today was simply a fluke or if their chicken is always dry and Mac & Cheese lukewarm. Hopefully my second visit will earn...

August 2023 update: I'm not sure where to start. I guess I'll start with what I found to be the most frustrating part of my trip to Selland's this weekend. Josh the manager, he was absolutely horrible, hopefully an owner talks to him about his customer service skills absolutely terrible. We have been going to this location for at least the last 6 years and enjoyed it every time we have gone. We have always brought a cake with us to celebrate birthdays and haven't ever had anyone have any issue with it. There are some of us in our group of 14 that can't do the sugar packed pastries they offer and no one has ever cared. Josh came over and told us he was kicking us out for bringing in an outside item. We told him come on man we just spent $500 or more on pizzas and meals for all 14 of us, he then proceeded to call the cops if we didn't immediately get up and leave. Such a disappointment and to top it off half the pizzas we got looked like the ones in the picture with huge gaps of missing toppings. We didn't complain and make them remake them or anything just moved forward, but Josh was so rude and lied telling us it's a health code violation which he quickly stopped using as he yelled at us with the entire restaurant watching. I yelled back true, I'll admit I was super offended when he started telling us we were trying to hide because the kids were standing trying to get cake. He needs to learn how to act towards people and come on Selland's you got your cash out of us.. Needless to say we will never go back and I will make sure that everyone I know hears my story and I'll ask them to share.

Really good, had the Cubano sandwich really great flavor! Would have been nice to have a better option than a $7 salad or $4 little cup of fruit to go along.. the other item that would have been appreciated would have been a drink option other than just tea that...