Cafe Plan B

First time here tonight. We’ve been to their other upscale restaurant on Sierra Oaks. It’s real food that’s made from scratch so it’s very good. We are a family of four and we ordered the bass with blood orange sauce which was cooked to perfection. Hubby ordered the mussels, absolutely delicious. Kids ordered the scallops and shrimp dishes. We also ordered the seasonal tartlet for appetizer, delicious! We would highly recommend this place.

Plan B should be everyone’s plan A when visiting Sacramento. One of the best meals I have ever had, from the soup (wild ramps? Who knew?), salad with blue cheese, entrees (special: Scallops on a bed of whipped parsnips, with roasted Brussels sprouts); and Branzino with tarragon cream and roasted parsnips. Then dessert, something I have never had: crème brulee. I would eat here every night if I lived here.

The St. Jacques salmon is to die for. Extremely fresh, finely sliced and beautifully seasoned.
The staff were attentive and made us feel welcome. The cocktails… spot on!
A relaxed atmosphere with great food. We’ll be back.

Amazing food, great service and a fantastic atmosphere. You have to have the nantaise mussels. The sauce is to die for. Will be returning many times in the future.

With Patricia G Howell. Enjoyed the place. When the menu says «anchovy» with your caesar salad — -they literally mean 1. Very nice atmosphere

Very yummy French soup and Caesar salad with A anchovy. Hotter soup and more anchovy, but I didn’t speak up. Joe was sweet. My first time here.

We visited Café Plan B on a Friday night in April. We tried various things but no main entrees.
I was craving some French Onion Soup. The soup here did not meet my expectations. It appeared to be made with a light stock, not the hearty beef stock I’m used to. The flavor just didn’t fulfill my craving. We tried the special tartlette and it was ok. The mussels my husband order as well as the french fries were very good. I really like the Prawn Stix.
The atmosphere was nice, cool that it was open to the warm evening

a gift certificate was purchased, (we have the credit card statement) by phone from LA. A certificate was not received. I was just called a LIAR by an extremely rude individual. DO NOT USE THIS PLACE FOR A GIFT. Lido’s in Carmichael is much better.

One of the best dinners I’ve ever had. Stumbled across Café Plan B randomly. My wife and I are adventurous so we decided to give it a try. They just take care of you by promptly greeting and seating you, giving excellent recommendations and serving professionally, giving you just the right amount of attention. It’s a romantic setting — lights low with candlelight on table; open windows with plants growing on the ledges. We shared an onion purée soup, brie cheese and caramelized onion on flat bread, coconut garlic mussels and duck. I don’t know what the fancy french names are for each, but the chef is a master. I’ve been to lots of high end restaurants in Sacramento and Bay Area and this affordable place is, in my opinion, far superior. The food is better and it’s not so stuffy. We’ll definitely be going back.

Walking up to this place it looks kind of sketch because the restaurant structure is made out of tent like material. I was extremely hesitant to go in but nothing else in the area sounded and looked enticing to me at that moment. I made a good decision because the food I ordered was tasty. For appetizer I ordered the goat cheese and tomato tartelette. It was extremely scrumptious but the portion was super duper tiny. For the main course I ordered steak frites. My rib eye was cooked to perfection and the gravy like sauce on top was awesome. The fries on my plate were overly seasoned but I still ate them all. As for the ambiance it was great due to the fact I’m a fan of dark settings. The service was good but at the same time a friend and I were the only patrons in there.

I went here for lunch with my dad and his wife. Overall, I’d say it was okay.
It was about 1pm or so, and there were a few tables occupied when we got there. The owner’s wife was the server, and she let us sit wherever we wanted which was kind of nice. However, she was the not attentive in any way. When we were ready to order, she ignored us until my dad’s wife started calling out. This was basically a theme the whole time. When it came time to pay, ignored again until stepmom sat there calling out to her and the owner while waving the cup with the bill and a card.
Food wise, I’d still say it was okay. I got the chicken sandwich. On the menu it says it comes with pancetta but if it did, it was minimal. It came with a sort of small salad, which was just a few leaves of the same oily lettuce that was in the sandwich, which also made the sandwich incredibly oily. The chicken was cold, which I can live with, but the whole sandwich tasted strongly of balsamic vinegar. It was good, in an interesting kind of way.
My dad got the bourguignon sandwich and he seemed to enjoy it. But he does come here fairly regularly as he works right by the place. Stepmom got the duck confit that was a special. Honestly seemed really, really tiny and the duck looked overcooked. But she ate it and didn’t complain.
Overall I’d be interested to try this place again, though admittedly it was more expensive than I think it deserved.

This place should be called PlanA! My husband and I decided to try this place last night. It was very empty and at first I thought maybe it’s not good and that’s why it’s empty but that was not the case. It was AMAZING!!! We started with the Escargot which I had never tried and to be honest I was scared to death to try it as I am not the most adventurous eater. Let me tell you it was absolutely delicious and didn’t look scary at all.
I ordered the roasted chicken and it was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The Rosemary frittes were soooooo good, I couldn’t stop eating them!
Now to the service: Some of the best service we have received in Sacramento! Because it was empty it literally felt like we had a personal chef. My husband commented «this is how rich people with private chefs must feel»
So to conclude, the service and food both deserve 5 stars and so does the ambience of this cute modern little spot. Don’t make this restaurant your Plan B go here first! You won’t be disappointed!

This place is a hidden gem! Don’t let the humble exterior fool you, the food is amazing and the service is great.
Been here several times, everything we tried was amazing!!!

We went with a buddy of mine that was born in France and were hoping he had some great taste buds that are catered to my liking. :-)
Didn’t know what to expect from this place, it was small and very noisy with people practically yelling when they are sitting across from each other.
There were 7 of us and we all ordered a different arrangement of goodies. My favorite item was the St. Jacques which was raw salmon & scallops with a mint citronette. Also had the Branzino Mediterranean bass with a nice rich flavorful sauce on it. Not only were those 2 dishes excellent and then tasted the gnocchi with a wild mushroom cream sauce.
Can’t wait to come back, but this time bring some ear plugs. LOL

Came here for the first time for dinner. We wanted to try their Dine downtown 3 courses for $ 35 promotion. We ordered the soup, salad as the starters. Then we had chicken and the pork filet. Finished with the pear and chocolate mousse. The food was very good.
The service started off strong but the entrees took way to long. The place wasn’t very busy as it was Monday night. The tables around us had all received their food. Our waiter offer us a round of free drinks since our food took so long.
Overall, it was a good experience. I don’t know if I come here if I had to be somewhere after dinner. The whole dinner took 2 hours, way too long.

Great ambiance, amazing service, and most importantly, phenomenal food. The food is authentic French with subtle touches of the chef’s vision. Try the nantaise mussels, St. Jacques appetizer, and pretty much everything we tried was amazing. Really great service to top it all off! Definitely coming back for more.

We came here to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I knew this place wasn’t going to be the best if the place wasn’t so busy on a Saturday night. This place can easily be missed if you go here at night because it’s so dark and Jack’s Urban Eats basically covers it up. They do not have their own private parking lot so I ended up parking 5 blocks away. The ambiance is really dark and romantic like. They do not have Windows here and just have hallow openings with the air vent making sure that flies do not come in. The menu variety isn’t too large. They have about 25 things on their menu, so it isn’t too much to choose from if you want a large variety.
The food here isn’t anything To die for or crave because it is quite pricey for the portion. This is my first time dining in a French restaurant so I can’t really compare it to any other ones. I ordered the special tartelette which had carmelized onions with goat cheese, arugula and some other veggies. It was quite delicious but the food came out a little slow (⁴⁄₅). Next we ordered a Calamari and it came with a tangy tomato sauce which was quite complementing with the dish itself. The calamari was fresh and chewy. (⁴⁄₅) Lastly, I ordered the Nantaise mussels which were nothing too special. The sauce was a little too thick for me and I wish there as more flavorful with more spices. (³⁄₅)
Overall, the experience wasn’t anything spectacular. We brought our own cake so we can have some dessert afterwards. They informed us that that they will be charging $ 1.50 for each slice of cake that we cut inside the restaurant. I thought that was a little ridiculous. If we are paying so much for the food, shouldn’t they at least let us cut the cake for free even if they’re not going to give the birthday girl a dessert…
Therefore, they got ³⁄₅ stars ~~~

Another wonderful dinner at Café Plan B. We arrived for a late dinner shortly before closing and quickly ended up being the only diners left. Never once where we rushed or made to feel like an inconvenience. On the contrary, staff made excellent recommendations, chatted with us after dinner and offered coffee and dessert. Très classe!

Second location is just as good as the original Plan B in Carmichael. While the name is a letdown, the food is amazingly good, especially the mussels. During HH, they’re only 10 bucks and they come with pomme frites or fries! The nantaise mussels are amazing, perfectly cooked, juicy, moist, and well-​seasoned. While the coconut curry one was also well-​cooked, the nantaise’s creaminess is just better. The fries have a good sprinkling of rosemary and salt and the aioli matched it perfectly.
The scallops were perfectly cooked, with a good mixture of salt and smokiness. Surprisingly, the brussel sprouts with the scallops had enough olive oil, salt, and char that it actually tasted pleasantly crunchy yet smoky.
One of the appetizers of prawns and bacon was also juicy and smoky from the bacon, but I prefer shrimps over prawns since the prawn was a bit more sinewy than shrimps. On the other hand, the escargot pastry puff wasn’t fishy or overpowering, instead they were able to mix a fluffy pastry puff with oil and the escargot, but overall, the dish was a little too oily, but a good exciting adventure for people wanting something exotic.
However, the star of this dinner was the poached pear tarte. It was exactly like the ones in France, with the pears being perfectly poached so you can cut it apart with just your fork. The crust it was in was easily breakable also with the fork and it was a perfect bite of carbs and sweetness.
Service at Café Plan B did well for me– they were prompt in clearing our dishes, getting our food out in a timely manner, and they were polite and accommodating. Overall, definitely come back for their happy hour which has the best deal for your money.

This was my first time dining in this restaurant. I was told that it was a sister restaurant to a more upscale/​formal Plan B. I don’t usually eat French food when dining out, so this was a special treat.
I love the relaxing and comfortable environment. The ambiance is very laidback but is also fancy at the same time. It’s a great place to come with girlfriends or as a date night as well.
The service was good, the waitress and waiters had good recommendation and would always come by to check up on us/​pour us water periodically.
We ordered the Carpaccio (which the waitress recommended), mussels (Nantaise and Marinière), the steak, the Branzino (bass) and the Gnocchi (white red tomato sauce). Out of all these dishes, my favorite was probably the Carpaccio and the Nantaise mussels. I would recommend the Carpaccio because the truffle oil mustard complemented the thin slices of raw meat really well. The Nantaise (butter, shallots, and crème fraiche) was really rich and the broth was really good for dipping bread. The Branzino was also very fresh tasting.
The steak, on the other hand, was not as great as the other ones. Even though the peppercorn sauce was good and the steak was very tender, it wasn’t cooked medium rare (it was medium/​medium well done). Other than that dish though, everything was very satisfying.
For dessert, we had the chocolate lava cake and the carmelized apple tart/​pie (both served with vanilla bean ice cream). They were both very good, especially the apple tart. The only thing I would complain about was that the crust was a little too hard.
Even though this place is a bit pricey for regular dining, I would come here again for their Carpaccio! Maybe next time I’ll try the escargot too!