Zinfandel Grille — Restaurant in Sacramento

We had our company holiday luncheon here. They have valet parking as it is difficult to find a place to park due to the close proximity to other businesses nearby. Plan accordingly so you can find a parking spot. We had an 11:45 a.m. reservation and the restaurant was already packed and hopping with other couples and small groups having lunch. There is not much room inside for a large party (we had nine in our party) to wait to be seated. It appeared chaotic with wait staff walking back and forth along with the busboys bring bread and water to the tables. It was quite noisy, and cramped (tables close together) that we had a hard time hearing each other talk. We were seated and given menus, water was poured and bread delivered. No one told us the daily specials or what the soup of the day was. Our waiter never told us his name. We started off with two orders of friend calamari. Cooked to perfection. Tender morsels of goodness. Served with aioli sauce and what appeared to be sweetened ketchup. It would have been better had there been horseradish in it to give it zip. We ordered the Kobe Steak. Who serves Kobe steak with sauce poured over it? It came with a handful of raw baby spinach and mashed potatoes. The Cannelloni was just that. Two freshly made crepe-like pastas and sauce. No side salad, no vegetable saute. Just the pasta. Very unfinished. It would have benefited from some freshly grated parmesan. The French Dip was okay. Sparse on the meat. Served with French fries and au jus. The Grilled Prawn Salad would have been great had the prawns been freshly grilled. Everything on the salad was delicious. We think that the prawns were what gave us issues later that afternoon. We had the Pasta special which had one asparagus spear sliced in a delicious tomato sauce and freshly cooked prawns. We ordered some desserts and had a rude woman, not our waiter, serve them to us. She was like a slap-in-the-face when she spoke to our group. To top it off she also delivered dirty spoons to us. Banana Fosters Bread Pudding. It was popping hot served with a melting scoop of vanilla ice cream. Definitely enough for two to share. The Chocolate Lava Cake was dry and the ice cream had slipped off and was melting on the plate. Not a favorite. It's the holiday season and we will not be returning to Zinfandel Grille for future company gatherings. They will not miss our business as the restaurant was packed on a...

Great local place to eat for a treat!

Popular so make a reservation or prepare to either eat outside or wait. For the same reason be patient when parking. There are many tasty selections and specials, live music, and newcomer discounts (hint: email list) so it's a low-risk venture to try.

The Friday night we dined we were spared a 20 minute wait and seated immediately outside since we had no reservations, passing by fresh food preparation on the way. Staff was friendly, attentive without being overbearing, and quite accommodating. Lots of good teamwork noted with service.

The atmosphere is fresh and light despite activity, unpretentious but stylish, and in true California mode is appropriate for the casual dresser to the gussied up romantic date. Not really a kid place, unless you're with a big party but they also do banquets.

The manager let us know there are 22 different kinds of (mostly non-vocalist) musical groups there on Friday and Saturdays. The volume was just right as backdrop music. On Wednesdays they have a myriad of specials and shenanigans offered.

Our dishes were superbly done, with clear but subtle flavors and gently sauced. They make nearly everything from scratch and are more than happy to customize your meal. I had Salmon with Polenta cake and mixed squash. It was delicious! (And I don't usually like squash) My friend had beautifully done Pork Chops served with a creamy butternut squash. Kinda made me wish we could trade. Or eat both :] Plus they made me a killer Old Fashioned with my favorite Woodford Bourbon, thanks to our fabulous server, Amy!!

If the prices were a little lower here it'd become dangerous for me! LOL Even after just one visit, I declare this one...

The rudeness of the manager, unfortunately, dominated our entire experience. We were there on Saturday evening (party of 3) and one of the people in our party was asked if she wanted the house whisky in her drink. She told the bartender she wasn't familiar with the brand but would give it a try. It was awful so she told the waiter who immediately said they'd make her a new one with the type she wanted. Two minutes after he walked away, an obviously agitated blonde woman came over to our table, smacked the glass on the table and said, "I'm bringing you back the exact same drink you ordered because you knew very well what you were getting inside of it. I'm happy to make you another one but I will charge you for the 2nd one as well". When I responded with a simple "really?" She raised her voice to nearly yelling and repeated the same thing, that we knew exactly what we were getting and she wasn't going to do anything for us. Needless to say the server was so embarrassed, and apologized profusely.

Management: if you are reading this there are two things you should know. The 1st being that all 3 of us were from different households, each of which are very big spenders. Especially during this time when we know restaurants need it so badly. You've lost not only the business of one family, but three.

The 2nd is that you should tell your management they need to watch out who they raise their voices too, because though thet may be safe in their little bubble, talking like that to people they don't know like that might be seen as disrespectful and end them up in trouble once they are no longer in...