Tank House BBQ & Bar — Restaurant in Sacramento

Hey so I’ve been here 4 times in the last 3 months and it’s hit or miss with the service. The tone of the place is set based on who is bartending. You do not have a waitress or server, so anything you need, you have to keep getting up and asking for and waiting in a line. The food was decent, the pulled pork doesn’t have any smoky flavor so we wonder if it’s just cooked in a pan in all honesty. The grits with sausage should be taken off the menu, they don’t have enough proportions in the recipe and every occasion I’ve ordered it, there’s no meat. The bartender says you have to look for it and it’s chopped up… I am not 5 and wanting to look and play in my food, I just want what I thought was sausage and grits based on the menu item. This bar is kid friendly but with no kid amenities, so while you and your friends try to enjoy a beer, there’s kids screaming and falling face first on the nasty ground and then crying for their drunk parents. One of the worst things about my experience is all 4 times I’ve been, the bathrooms have been disgusting. There’s no paper towels or option to open the door with your foot, and the hand dryer doesn’t work unless you touch it, this all sounds normal except every surface in there bathroom is uncleaned, and does not look like it has proper restroom checks upon the hour. It smells in the restrooms and there is black mold caked into the grooves of their flooring. It ruined a part of my appetite and i had to go sit back down at my table with wet cold hands. When it was time to cash out I got up and asked the bartender to close my tab and she said “if you want to close your tab you’ll have to come over here and stand in line.” I have no issue with following a restaurants protocol but after she said that I said okay, and went to my table to get my jacket because I can’t be in two places at once, and she left. So I waited for her to come back and she does but she helps some other people. I am waiting in line and she smiles at me and leaves from behind the bar to go to the kitchen. It’s been a few minutes now and she comes back and helps someone else. I don’t understand if she was single me out and being rude on purpose because I openly expressed what I needed, she made me wait in an area to do so, then kept leaving me alone and coming back with empty hands doing nothing. Just wasting everyone’s time and leaving a rude impression. I’ve never heard of a bartender that didn’t want to close out a tab and simply walk it to the customer to ensure atleast a good tip even for them. All in all -2 out of 10 due to the black mold in the bathroom. I’m giving up on this place for a few months and coming back to see if they make any improvements on...

Tried this place last night with some friends, and was really disappointed. My bf and I ordered the Meat Treat to share; we chose the pulled pork and the ribs for the meats, and onion rings and greens for our sides. My boyfriend also got an order of buffalo wings. Our friends also got the Meat Treat for themselves; they chose the brisket and pulled pork for the meats, and tater tots and mac & cheese for their sides. I also got a vodka cranberry.

The ribs were incredibly dry. Not tender at all. No idea what they were going for with those. Our friends' brisket was very dry and tough, too. I didn't have any wings, but they looked dry, too, and my bf said the meat tasted "off" somehow. The pulled pork was just okay, but compared to the other meats it was the best thing we had.

The onion rings were pretty good. The greens were really bad. Overly salty, and a weird sourness to them. Our friends said their mac & cheese was surprisingly good. The tater tots were fine.

Both of the BBQ sauces they gave us (one sweet and one tangy) were not great. The sweet one is too sweet. The tangy one has a watery consistency.

Honorable mention to the vodka cranberry I had (Tito's vodka). I get some people appreciate when their drink is poured heavy so they get more liquor for their money, but even my bf who can handle strong drinks said it was pretty bad. However, the staff were more than willing to give me an extra splash of cranberry juice on the side and they were really nice about it, so props to them for that. I was able to sip it down and mix in some extra juice and it was fine then.

The line to order moved pretty quickly, and once we ordered, service was reasonably fast - our food came out after not too long, and they were pretty attentive, clearing away empty plates and glasses regularly for us.

The atmosphere was good. There were plenty of seats available when we arrived. We got a table in the front corner, and the music wasn't too loud there; we were able to hold a conversation just fine. Closer to the register at the bar, the music got a little loud, so I imagine if you sat at a table closer to that speaker, holding a conversation might be a little more difficult.

2 stars because the service was pretty good and we had a nice time hanging out there. Maybe I'm spoiled for BBQ because I grew up in the Kansas City area where good BBQ is easy to find. But I wouldn't go back here, because...

Well I got hyped on the food as being one of the better BBQ places in sac. I got the midtown feast ($100) with two sides: onion rings and tater tots. My issue with midtown feast is that it comes with no sides unless you think of the onion rings as one. I personally find that pretty baffling because all the other bundle/specials have sides LOL so this meal turned out to be a bit more expensive than I thought for a bbq meal. Midtown feast doesn't actually feed 6 people unless you think 1/4 hot link, 2-3 ribs, 1/4 brisket, 1 of either HALF a chicken breast or thigh, some pulled porks and 2-4 onions ring would feed someone. The answer was no for my group so that was a bit disappointing because sides are usually the fulfilling ones.

ANYWAYS, how was the food? Flavor-wise I would put it at Sac's second best after Urban Root and better than Momo's meat market. Textually, I have NO IDEA how they thought the chicken and ribs were acceptable. Holy cow! The chicken skin was so goddam tough and the meat being under-cooked I think I almost threw up. It was such a shock to my tastebuds. The ribs were so dried not even the sauce could save it. I couldn't tell which was tougher the chicken skin or the bark on the ribs. It was not juicy at all and extremely salty.

What really saved it for me was the hot links, briskets, and pulled porks that reminded me of Midwest bbq like Kansas City and St Louis. Hot link was one of the best hot links I have tried anywhere while everything else was mid.

IF YOU EXPERIENCE BBQ OUTSIDE OF SAC LIKE IN MIDWEST OR THE SOUTH, I swear to god don't come with high expectation. If you must try really good BBQ, go to placerville. NEVER EVER ORDER MIDTOWN FEAST, that chicken is included and it's nasty. You can thank me by buying from our local chicken shop anywhere within 5...