Ella Dining Room and Bar

The best place to eat in Sacramento as described by many and it really lives up to the hype. I ate the burger and it blew me away. great food at a fair price

Love it. Pricey but love it. The environment is cozy and staff are professional and pleasant.

Ok so one of my New Year’s resolutions was to complete more Unilocal reviews, so here we go! I’ve eaten here before a few times, and always left full and happy. This night was no different! Yes, I know the amount for the prefixed menu on New Year’s Eve is never cheap, but I figure this is one night of the year that you should really be able to treat yourself. The meal was EXCEPTIONAL. Ella and the Grange are by far my top two restaurants for fine dining in town. I enjoy a few others, but the consistency with service and food at these two establishments is amazing. For our meal we had one bottle of champagne to share, Laurent-​Perrier-​Brut. It was delicious and went well with every course. Now let’s get to the best part, the food! First, I was leery when I read the amuse bouche was a chilled hog island sweetwater oyster because I am not a fan of oysters. Congratulations Ella for being the fist place to make me not only like but crave more of that amuse bouche.
This was probably one of the best meals to bring in 2016, do not miss! AMAZING!
first course
dungeness crab salad
cauliflower panna cotta, watercress and baby mache, fines herbes,
winter citrus supremes, meyer lemon vinaigrette
second course
roasted chestnut gnocchi
black truffle fondue, braised salsify, crispy sunchoke, shaved burgundy truffle
entrée course
24 hour braised american wagyu short rib
lobster and mascarpone raviolo, roasted porcini mushroom,
red wine and braising jus reduction

One word: phenomenal!
On 1÷7÷2016, I decided to dine in for this local 1^st class restaurant located in the Downtown neighborhood called, «Ella Dining Room and Bar.» This fanciest, contemporary made restaurant delivers one of their greatest meals serve right at your reserved dining table from elegant appetizers, entrees, and of course, amazing desserts! As I entered their doors, the atmosphere is quite relaxing and warming filled with delightful customers from table to bar. The concept is very well made for this restaurant. It reminds like I’m dining some 1^st class restaurants from San Francisco nor New York City! The décor is totally top notch by mixing vintage and modern contemporary from top to bottom; left to right. Very clean and tidy!
The employees which includes servers, hosts, cookers, and managers are doing a fantastic job for making this remarkable service! The server, Nicholas is doing an amazing job for making me a great, likable customer! I really appreciate for the hard work effort! No cons at all!
Now onto the food! The food and drinks in this menu cost reasonable at some items, yet it’s worth the value to dine! Since it’s the first night of the Dine Downtown week this year, I decided to order their Dine Downtown 3 course special which includes an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert; all in one price. I chose Roasted Winter Squash and Red Curry Soup, Pasta Dave’s Handmade Cavatelli, and the Meyer Lemon Mousse. So far, all three courses that I picked are very delicious! The Roasted Winter Squash and Red Curry Soup totally flawless! I can feel the spices of the red curry well especially the rest of their flavors to make this soup remarkable. Secondary, the Pasta Dave’s Handmade Cavatelli also tasted outstanding. These ingredients of that 2^nd course: thyme roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, ricotta salata, and the black truffle make this entrée much flavorful just like eating authentic Italian food. Very rich and superb. Finally, the Meyer Lemon Mousse, wow! What a great dessert for the 3^rd course finale! The huckleberry jus is fantastic just like eating a natural made strawberry jam! The vanilla shortbread and the lemon mousse also did work that dessert very well cause it balances the flavor very well. Such a great 3 course meal!
Parking at Ella can be difficult to park. You can park it at the nearest surface street nor the parking garage if it’s available. You can also park at the valet parking near the restaurant at 12^th Street between J & K Streets for $ 5. However, if you use your Unilocal app, you can validate your valet parking for free after checking in! A great deal for your savings buck! Otherwise, you can ride a bike, walk, nor use the public transportation easier without the hassles.
In the end, Ella Dining Room and Bar is the finest local 1^st class restaurant that I’ve ever visited from the very beginning of my Unilocal journey! Perfect for date nights, friends/​family gatherings, and afternoon happy hour pleasures. A well, worthy recommend visit! My rating: 5 solid stars.
P. S. Besides phone call reservations, you can also reserve your table spot online, so it’s faster to book before coming in! I tried it, and it works well without issues!

I’m willing to update this review, should I try Ella again in the future and have a better experience. With the amount of glowing recommendations we got for this place, our expectations were high and not fulfilled to any degree.
I came here on my 31^st birthday, which is already depressing enough, so I wanted booze. We wait. My family and I all order very expensive cocktails. We wait. In the meantime, we ask our server if we can order appetizers and she disappears. We wait. The drinks arrive and they’re all weak and watery. Our server is nowhere to be found. We wait. She returns, we complain about the drinks and she doesn’t really seem to care, so she gets the manager.
Manager comes over and I’m not sure if he’s ever worked in customer service before. He goes around the table, telling each of us one by one that we’re essentially wrong for being unhappy with our drinks. Lots of excuses. He tells us he «doesn’t want to be argumentative,» but just saying that pretty much means you are. He leaves to go do… something, I don’t know what.
We’d been there about 50 minutes (with bad drinks for only 10 of those minutes). No bread, no appetizers. We call him back and tell him we’re leaving and to cancel our appetizers.
Not.
Into it.

I think I’ve finally learned my lesson regarding going to a normally reliable place on a holiday. Four of us came to Ella for NYE and all had the prix fixe menu @ $ 135 per before tax/​tip. Also ordered a very modestly priced bottle of red.
Our server was extremely efficient and attentive even though they were slammed. Did have trouble sometimes getting our champagne poured timely. Our table was very nice and good lively atmosphere.
Therein ended the good for the most part.
Bottle of Champagne — decent
Amuse bouche: oyster with caviar w/​apple champagne granita — was overly sweet for all at the table and didn’t get a whiff of the caviar.
Crab salad and cauliflower panna cotta — table was split on this one; I thought panna cotta was tasty, others not so much. Crab was shredded into miniscule pieces.
Roasted chestnut gnocchi w/​truffle fondue — worst dish of the night! Gnocchi was literally burnt (not caramelized or roasted) and they were rock hard. Same for the sunchokes on the plate. This dish should never have left the kitchen. Where was quality control? None of us finished and shame on us for not speaking up.
Short ribs and lobster raviolo — best dish of the night only because I think short ribs get better the longer they braise and raviolo wasn’t overdone.
White chocolate mousse cake with fruit — extremely dry and forgettable.
At a total tab well north of $ 700 it just didn’t live up to the hype (or taste) in any way shape or form. Maybe for a $ 50 dinner each I could be a little more forgiving but not at this price point. Everything should be stellar.
It really pains me to write this because I’m a huge Selland’s fan. Just wondering if too extended with the number of restaurants and another one on the way (along with The Kitchen being relocated). Would rather see attention paid to one or two restaurants than mediocre food at a bunch of them. Have better luck at the café on H street.
Will just stick to HH here in the future.

We were at Ella’s for New Year’s Eve. Really excellent. In the top five of any Sac restaurant for foodies but without ‘tude.

Where to begin…
Don’t be mad when I say the food in this restaurant is over rated. Don’t get me wrong, the service was great and the ambiance was just perfect for our little romantic dinner out. However, I was disappointed — a bit. I read great reviews for this gem of a place in Sacramento but I have to say the food is just good, compared to some other restaurants of course, but not great.
I love our server, she was very attentive and on the spot. They even squeezed us in when we were running late for our reservation. Great, great customer service. 5 stars!
The reason I’m a tad disappointed was because of the beet salad. I love beet salads and I believe the one from Prime Steakhouse in Bellagio, Las Vegas is one of the best ones I’ve had. The beet salad I had here at Ella didn’t get to bring out that great flavor and texture of the produce. In other words, it can be better. I guess I just had a higher expectation from this restaurant when it comes to handling produce.
The salmon was great, they cooked it the way I liked it — pink in the middle. The sides of greens and potatoes I cared for, but the little cous-​cousy thingy of a side I really didn’t care for. Fried chicken was on the spot, good eats! Food is prepared very well, though nothing special that struck me as amazing.
This is a great place to hang out, to have great food, and to celebrate a special occasion. We will come back to this place as we had a great experience and will recommend to others as well.

What a great recommendation from a fellow Unilocaler!
From start to finish this was a class act. We were greeted cordially upon arrival and were shown to our table after a brief wait; we were a bit early for our reservation. Water, bread and drink orders were taken care of quickly and were were given time to look at the menu and look around the attractive, modern, elegant setting — upscale without being stuffy.
For entrees My husband had the rack of boar, I had the venison. Both were excellent. They were both specials offered during the Farm to Fork Week.
We got an excellent recommendation for a Shiraz that paired nicely with both dishes.
Service was attentive, but not intrusive and water and wine were kept filled.
All in all a most enjoyable experience. We were staying downtown and it was fantastic to have such a great restaurant within walking distance of our hotel.
This is definitely with a return visit next time we are in Sacramento.

Celebrated our anniversary at Ella, & made the reservation through open table. They call you to confirm the registration a couple days before.
Valet is on 12^th (before K). You can get free valet by checking in, & you just let your server know that you checked in.
The atmosphere: wow. I really appreciate that although this is a high class restaurant, it doesn’t make me feel like it’s too proper. It’s not too quiet here which I like. The restaurant is very spacious! We sat by the window, but next time would like to be seated somewhere near their kitchen ;)! It was raining the day we went, and the hostess stored our thick jackets and umbrella. Nice touch!
We had a server (forgot her name), and she was very informative with the menu. We started off with the steak tartare & 3 types of oysters (6 total). The steak tartare, if you can stomach raw meat, is amazing! I enjoyed the oysters as well but the steak tartare takes the cake. For our main course, I ordered the steak Diane while my boyfriend ordered the prime rib. My steak Diane was so smooth and delicious. I could tell my boyfriend also enjoyed his dish by his facial expressions haha. He also ordered a side of potato gratin. Not bad but not amazing. For dessert we got the egg nog crème brûlée! You have to get this if you get the chance! It comes with a little gingerbread man (also delicious).
I can’t wait for my next time back! I enjoyed every bit of my dinner experience here.

Went to Ella for a annual company Christmas party, and I’m kind of debating whether or not I want to give it 3.5 or 4 stars…
I’m not a «fine dining» kind of person, so thats probably why I’m on the fence of giving this place a wonderful review. Upon arrival, I was greeted and seated promptly, and even though I was the first person there, I was immediately offered water and any other drinks.
As people started to slowly trickle in, we met our server and got to look at the menu. My first impression of the menu was really fancy, upscale, but way way pricy! I was almost nervous to order anything because it just seemed so high. But, I get it, fancy restaurant.
Our server, I wasn’t sure if it was just her face or what, but I wasn’t feeling her attitude. I felt like she was constantly annoyed by our questions and never did she give any acknowledgment when I thanked her for refilling my water or changing my plates, slightly turned off already.
Food wise, things were pretty great, but for me, I can’t say I’m too big of a fan of small plates. Flavor was good, but just seems like such a small plate for a such a high price. We all ordered the bone marrow appetizer, which I highly recommend, especially if you’re already a fan. Toast is nice and crunchy, wonderfully flavorful marrow. I had the cauliflower soup which had cauliflower purée with a nice fried oyster in the middle. Oyster was nice and crispy and the soup was extremely flavorful, considering I don’t even like cauliflower that much, I was very impressed with flavor and texture. For the main course I ordered the Steak Diane which came with mushrooms and potatoes. Considering this plate was 45.00, I would have hoped for more than a few halves of potatoes, two mushrooms and a small steak. Taste wise, the steak was just okay, I would probably try the scallops next time. For dessert I had the sticky toffee pudding topped with vanilla ice cream, and this dessert took home the gold medal. SO rich and delicious, warm and yummy with a nice refreshing ice cream. YUM, highly recommend it!
Refills took awhile, bread didn’t come out until after our appetizers arrived, server was okay. Service 3, Food 4, overall experience definitely 3.5.

Ella!!!
This is by far my favorite place to have happy hour in Sac. The atmosphere is flawless — clean and classy. The service is always excellent and the food quality is always outstanding.
If you go during happy hour, grab the oysters. These are the best oysters in town! The HH menu also includes the steak tartare, the Caesar, and the fried chicken. I’m a big cocktail fan, so I always grab a Manhattan when I’m there. The pear and blueberry mojito is also really good.

I’m a sucker for a good cheese plate. I order it most everywhere I go. This was one of the best! They have honeycomb, olives, fruit jam, and nuts to go with the cheese. I like that!
The food here is amazing too. This is a place to go if you want to treat yourself or take co-​workers to a special meal. I know I’ll be wanting to come back when I’m in Sacramento again!

ENVIRONMENT
Strange interior, farm, modern whatever. What the décor lacks is made up I’m food innovation, service and experience.
Massive restaurant with all types of seating. Excellent for large parties or events. Beautiful bar.
MENU
Very robust drink menu with lots of cocktails, beer and lot selections.
We came here in November, which is «wild game» month, so the food menu had offerings such boar, venison, buffalo and TURKEY ICE CREAM. Other monthly themes have been lobster and bourbon and bacon.
SMALL PLATES
Bone Marrow — Wow! The presentation alone is worth ordering this dish, but the actual seasoning and combination is outstanding.
ENTREE
Venison — Prepared on the rarer side, this dish came with an incredible mole and the side was to superb.
DESSERT — Amazing and unique
Turkey Pecan Ice Cream — Definitely tastes like Turkey. I didn’t experience this, but apparently you can get chunks of caramelized turkey.
Carrot Cake Donuts — YAS! So good, the icing pacts a powerful cheesecake taste.

What a great experience! I was very impressed by the service and awesome food.
I went here yesterday for a business lunch. Brent was amazing from start to finish. He made sure to check on us periodically but wasn’t overbearing.
I started out with shishito peppers– bomb! So delicious and fresh. Brent recommended the fried chicken so I decided to order it as my main. So glad I ordered the chicken! Juicy on the inside and nice and crispy outside. I had brussel sprouts for a side and my colleague had french fries. We shared crème brûlée for dessert.
They have $ 5 valet which is free if you check in on Unilocal.The valet guys were a little rude, one of them was on his cell phone while getting out of a car which made me cringe for a second. I heard him say, «lemme call you back, I’m at work» as he slowly made his way to the valet stand. My colleague and I were surprised to see this behavior after such a great dining experience at Ella with Brent.

5 years since my first visit and multiple meals later, Ella has certainly cemented itself as the best destination for upscale dining in Sacramento. My most recent visit for my girlfriend’s birthday was just phenomenal as we ended up having the best salmon we’ve ever tasted along with a fantastic trio of lamb. Even the butter lettuce salad to start was simply outstanding in its flavors and freshness.
If possible, it’s absolutely worth trying to score a table right by the windows to get a sweet view outside. Our server did such a nice job of taking care of us and provided much background on the specials being served for the month.
The best dishes we’ve had to date in Sacramento and I look forward to more in the future.

Very consistent, food is excellent and always features local ingredients with a twist.
If you are up for happy hour, there are only a few that can rival Ella’s.
A must try!

This is the type of place you go to if you really want to impress your date. Went here for lunch with a friend who was on jury duty break and he suggested to try out this place because their steak tartare is impressive. Couldn’t disagree with him when I tried it. Too bad we weren’t there during happy hour because the tartare would be just $ 6. Also ordered a dozen oysters because we were feeling like a fancy lunch even though we were probably the most underdress people there. Everyone here was dressed smart in business suits and looking like lawyers who came out of the courthouse.
Also got shishito peppers and fig salad which is nothing really to write about. I’ll definitely be back for the steak tartare instead or heartier entres.
Service was on par to the ambiance and tartare and I was slightly distracted because our waiter had a distinct accent I couldn’t quite place.
Ella must be short for elegance.

Came for lunch but was only able to order off their happy hour menu. This is probably the only time I’ve ever been disappointed to have happy hour! I really wanted a few items off of their lunch or dinner menus but happy hour time is strictly happy hour time. However, we made the best of it and still left satisfied! First off, $ 5 for valet but FREE with Unilocal check in! I didn’t check in until I was leaving so I wasn’t aware but it’s okay because I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to use it in the future.
Keep in mind that their menus change and Unilocal’s version isn’t up to date! We ordered their steak tartare, fried chicken, pâté and blistered shishito peppers. The steak tartare was paired with torn garlic popovers but I couldn’t taste the garlic at all. The tartare itself was delicious! Fried chicken came with two pieces, white meat and housemade tabasco, which tasted like a cross between tabasco and buffalo sauce. The chicken was crispy and moist, seasoned herbs brought a nice finishing touch! The shishito peppers were deliciously topped with crispy garlic and addicting! I shamelessly ate more than my half. And finally, the pâté was actually added onto our order last and I’m glad we decided on it because it was very delectable.
As for drinks, I’m amazed by their drinks! I ordered a Guava Mojito and it was perfect. So good, I broke my «one drink per lunch break» rule and ordered another one! My coworker ordered their «real» Gin and Tonic and though I usually dislike Gin and Tonic, theirs was so good, I almost ordered one of those instead.
Can’t wait to be back! Service is just as great as the food! 4 food items and 5 drinks totaled to $ 64 so it is a bit pricey but you get what you pay for!

Beautiful restaurant, friendly staff, and food is good as well. Heres what we ordered:
Steak Tartare: The boyfriend and I shared this one as it came with 2 slices of garlic popovers. This dish came with a nice helping of the steak tartare which was good because every bite would be a huge chunk of it!
Surf & Turf: Luckily, we came during August which is «Lobster month» for Ella’s and they changed the menu to include a variety of lobster dishes. I chose this surf and turf which came with grilled beef tenderloin and butter poached Maine lobster. IMPECABLE! The beef tenderloin was cooked to perfection, medium rare just how I like it. incredible flavor and the lobster was amazing as well — very luscious and tender. perfect amount of butter soaked to not overpower the lobster taste.
Herb marinated New York Strip: The boyfriend didn’t like this one very much. He had me try a few pieces and I was not a fan either. Maybe it would be better with a different cut of steak… but this dish could use some work!