Gatsby’s Diner

Wandered in on a whim and ordered the patty melt. The onions were well caramelized; the patty was cooked exactly as I like it (fairly bloody still), and the fries were delish. I also liked the 20s décor. The service was terrific — the waitress said she hated seeing empty glasses and kept refilling my Arnold Palmer. The food was prepared at a grill in the middle of the room, which meant it arrived at the table very quickly. Just one minor gripe and one petty quibble: (1) the complimentary homemade potato chips were cold and greasy and not fresh; and (2) I kind of expected to hear 20s-​style jazz in the background; instead we were regaled with 70s/​80s soft rock. But I suppose you can take the 20s theme too far and expect the waitress to dress as a flapper and to not accept credit cards.
And I’d return, but they closed. :(

My husband and I came here for the first time tonight. I had the beet sliders with a side salad and green goddess dressing, he had the beef roulade. For dessert we had a Elvis shake, crème brûlée and got a couple of goodies to take home with us. The service was excellent and the waiter was very friendly and even brought us out a couple free cupcakes (it was our anniversary). The food was fabulous! My beet sliders were very filling and tasted great! If you don’t like the earthy flavor of beets you won’t like them but besides that earthy-​ness they had a really great flavor. The green goddess dressing was divine and the salad they gave was huge! My hsubands beef roulade was good and tender he said, I did try a bite of the red cabbage they serve on the side and it was really really really good, when I go back next time I’m going to ask for potatoes and the cabbage only! lol
Not much else to say except try this place out! The food is good and fresh!

Review based on conflicting information– hours of operation.
Arrived at 6:20pm, side sign said open (in bright flashing lights)…sign at door said closed. Unilocal and other sites say open till 7pm and 8pm but the waiter said nope, closed at 6pm. :/​
DENIED!

This place was featured on Diner, Drive-In’s, and Dives.
The service was good but nothing particularly special about this place. This must have been the «Dive» place on the show.
It’s hard to explain but you just get a feeling about a place. The set up of the restaurant is strange. When you walk in it seems more like a coffee shop but when you get in a little farther it’s like a buger joint where you can watch the chef make the burgers in the middle of the restaurant. I felt a little uneasy about watching the cook finger all the food as he was prepping it. This could very well happen in the kitchen but the idea of watching him put a little piece of lettuce and bacon on the sliders seemed unsanitary without gloves. Also, his apron was really soiled.
It just didn’t feel like this restaurant that had any specific direction. Lots of strange decorations, colors. We sat next to the back of the restaurant where there is a long wood door, more or less there to cover up what seemed to be equipment. There was a constant draft coming from the back of the restaurant, I left freezing cold.
I felt like everything about the restaurant seemed like an afterthought. No regard for attention to detail. Servers/​chef think of it as just a job and nobody around to supervise. It’s old and run down (dirty carpets). I feel sad to write a three start reivew but I know if someone put a little TLC into this place it could be a lot better.
Why have a business when you have absolutely no interest in it.

I’m sad to say that Gatsby’s is no longer what it used to be, in my opinion. It was okay, but not up to my apparent vaunted expectations. To me, you get less for more money. In fact, unless I have a Groupon/​Living Social/​coupon, I would not go back and pay full price for what you get.
So, what changed? First off, the burgers seem smaller. Even the slider-​sized patties. I had the flappers, which are basically mini mushroom swiss burgers. Just seemed like more bread than meat; almost had a «where’s the beef?» moment. They did, however, taste good and were really juicy.
Second, where are the ranch or bbq chips as a side option? I LOVED those things, and now all you get to choose from is fries or a salad. Blah! I liked the chips option, because is was unique to Gatsby’s, but no more. Sad :(
Hubby’s bbq chicken sandwich looked good, but not $ 10 good.
Lastly, I don’t know about you guys, but when I order a shake, don’t you just kinda expect to get what’s in your glass PLUS the extra in the metal cup? Especially for $ 5.50? My previous shakes all came that way, but now you just get what’s in the glass. Boooo! Granted, the chocolate shake was thick and delicious, but there should have been, in my opinion, more.
All in all, if I have a deal, I’ll go back. But I won’t pay full price. Too many great burgers and burger joints where I can get way more for way less.

I can no longer recommend this place for burgers! It was different. It was disappointing. It was not good.
I ordered the seasonal «blood orange» burger because I liked all the ingredients on it: Gouda cheese, bacon, red onion, lettuce, tomato, and garlic mayo. The blood orange marmalade sounded interesting but not on a burger (so I got it on the side). First off, when our food came, I could tell that the patty was smaller than usual. The bun was barely toasted. The grated Gouda was not even melted. The 2 little strips of bacon weren’t crispy and was basically 1 strip cut in half. I didn’t care for the marmalade. The patty wasn’t juicy and had no seasoning. My boyfriend’s burger was just as bad. He ordered «the Gatsby» which was a basic cheeseburger and added bacon ($ 2.50). He checked to make sure they left off the mayo as requested and to make sure there was bacon. Why was there only a half strip of bacon on it? For $ 2.50!!! Really? We had our server correct it, and a few minutes later, someone brought out a condiment cup (not a plate) with a sad 1 ½ strip of bacon. His patty was dry and bland also. The best part of the meal was the onion rings. Perfectly battered and crispy. BBQ sauce tasted like Heinz 57 and the green goddess dressing was lacking something.
We last went a few months back and the burgers were delicious, and they even gave a complimentary basket of homemade fries as an appetizer. Things have seriously changed. At least service remained friendly and fairly fast. I just really felt like they were skimping not only on quantity but on quality.
I won’t be returning!

I heard this place was featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-​ins, and Dives show, and when I saw that there was a Groupon I jumped on the deal. Couldn’t be that bad right? Sigh, well sometimes TV exaggerates things.
We came here on a Wednesday night. The place was quite empty except for 2 other tables. It was really weird. I couldn’t tell if the place was open or not since it was so dark inside. Even though it wasn’t very busy, it took a few minutes before someone would seat us. Then they forgot to give us a menu so we waited some more for our waiter to notice.
We ordered the Rouladen and a Mushroom Swiss burger. I was disappointed that they «ran out of sliders». Really? I feel like it should be no excuse for an establishment to run out of food unless I see that it’s hustling and bustling, which this place was not.
The Rouladen was pretty good. We’d never had it before and it was interesting, but nothing to rave about. My burger was average. Again, nothing special.
It’s a little weird that they have these grills in the middle of the restaurant. Is it so you can see them cooking your food? It’s not like a Japanese teppanyaki. We don’t get to sit there for a show or anything. Seems to be not energy efficient. You have these hot grills, but you’ll need the AC to keep the customers from overheating.
Well, we won’t be back unfortunately.

December 22, 2013 Sunday — dinner 6:15 PM
2 adults
Atmosphere — 5 stars
Food — 5 stars
Service — 5 stars
Background — Love Dinners, Drives-​In and Dives, and we are finally getting closer to hitting all the Sacramento ones.
Atmosphere — I do not know what was here before but they have two modern teppanyaki flat tops. They used one of them while we closed out the restaurant that night.
Food
Drinks — Just water for me. My wife had hot tea; they had a variety of Stash teas to choose from.
Appetizer — none.
My Main Course — The first item on the menu was German Beef Rouladen. That is all I needed to read. It came with a huge pile of mashed potatoes and some cabbage. Surprisingly the item that I enjoyed the most was the cabbage, almost a candied apple taste to the deep purple cabbage. The potatoes had their skins in the mix along with pressed garlic pieces. The beef was rolled with mustard, a pickle, and bacon and smothered in gravy. What a great meal.
Dessert — We ordered the bacon chocolate chip cookies to go. The smoky bacon was a nice touch to a classic cookie.
Service — The waitress was friendly. My wife had substituted the fries with onion rings, it was not brought out to her, but when she came over after learning of the mistake, she told my wife to start eating and the onion rings are on their way. Excellent job on correcting the problem. We were the last customers of the night, they close early on Sunday’s. I think that is how we ended up with 4 cupcakes. Score!
Future — Yes, we both enjoyed our dinner.

Heard of this place through Food Network and I was most interested in their shakes. The service was slow but it was super busy so I understood. I ordered sliders and they were pretty good. My boyfriend got the Gatsby burger because they didn’t have the #1 seller German beef rouladen ready. Everything was pretty average but I guess my expectations were high since it was featured on food network. My favorite part of the meal was my peppermint ice shake.

My visit to Gatsby’s was well over a year in the making and worth the wait. The wait to come here would have been shorter had they been open the first time we came, sadly the Chef was ill and they had to close early. I understand, you don’t want a sick Chef cooking your food and the guy shouldn’t be working if he wasn’t feeling good anyway.
I wanted to try these Beet Sliders (
) but didn’t want to order a meal of them just in case I didn’t like them and ordering 2 meals just wasn’t an option seeing as I rarely at a whole one so I asked the Waitress if I could just get an individual Slider for Hubby and I to share which she happily obliged and even cut it into half for us which was nice. I didn’t realize until I had left the restaurant that they didn’t charge us for it either!
As far as taste goes, it was pretty good. A very simple cooked slice of Beets in a small soft bun with Red Onions and a delicious Green Goddess dressing. It was interesting and I did enjoy it but also glad I didn’t order a meal as I doubt I could eat more than 1. (
)
I decided to play it safe and went for the Gatsby Burger (
) — $ 9.89 while Hubby had the Bacon Sherry Burger with a Fried Egg instead of Brussels (
) — $ 11.39. Both of which were pretty big. I thought they served 1/​3lb Burgers here but no, they’re actually ½lb and all come with Fries, house made Chips, or a Garden Salad.
Both Burgers were cooked perfectly and seasoned nicely, I really enjoyed the super soft bun which I believe they also bake themselves. I really wished I had a bigger appetite so that I could enjoy it all in one sitting but ended up having to take half away for later. Sad as food never tastes as good cold.
We also had the Strawberry Shake to share (
) and of course, the complimentary house made Chips (
) which made for one feast of a meal!
The interior is a lot bigger than I expected and I love that they cook the food on the grill right in front of you because I hate not seeing what is going on with my food. Aside from Burgers they also have some other interesting Entrees as well as Cupcakes, Cookies and Ice Cream Sundae’s for Dessert.

We have been to Gatsby’s a couple of times now, and it has been a mixed bag experience.
Our first visit was great! We went with the whole family, our oldest daughter is a huge fan of Guy so she just had to come here after seeing it on DD & D. We had a Groupon and it was a wonderful experience. The food was good and fresh, and most of us got burgers which we really enjoyed. The Crème Brulee was one of the best we ever had.
Our second visit was a much different experience. It was just the wife and I for this one this past July. First thing we noticed when we walked in was it was HOT and HUMID ! I am not sure if the AC was broken or just not on but it felt like Florida in there. A couple of fans would have really helped. We waited a few minutes to be seated, which was annoying as there was only two other people there and they were already seated. Two employee’s lingered around while we stood and waited. Once seated we continued to wait for water/​menus. After 5 minutes of this we were hot, sweating, and annoyed so we just left. We never did speak to anyone else as the guy at the counter just watched us walk out.
We try to support local business whenever possible, we might go back one evening for dessert and coffee just to give them another shot. Time will tell.

I had a groupon for Gatsby’s Diner, so I decided to use it!
I am a big fan of their burgers. Usually, I try to make reservations the day before, but sometimes I go here on a whim! It’s a small place so it can get packed really fast. There’s only a limited staff so wait times are slow. Everyone on the staff is really courteous and nice.
I feel like you can never go wrong with their specials. I am always satisfied with their specials! I get a salad with my burgers but the fries are tasty too! I get a salad because I don’t want to feel as guilty. The bun of the burger is tasty, and I think the meat is superb. It’s quality meat. Everything is cooked in the center, so you can see the cooks preparing the dishes and such.
Since it is busy, the waiter service is slower than I would like, and the wait staff acknowledges that.
So the waitress scanned our groupon twice on accident. She scanned it and told us it has already been used, and we looked confused because we haven’t used it. So we logged into our groupon account and it shows it was used that day but it didn’t show a time. She was nice and honored it. It wasn’t our fault or anything.
Parking can be difficult at this place. Usually I just park nearby (across the street at Target or some other place) if I can find parking in this small lot.

Really underwhelming diner with underwhelming food.
I visited Gatsby’s after seeing it featured on Guy Fieri’s show and came out extremely disappointed. We ordered the beet sliders, a cheese steak, side of French fries, and a salad with their special green dressing. There were also complimentary homemade potato chips.
Food:
The beet sliders were just ok and not as outstanding as I thought they’d be, I only ate 2 of the 3 mini sliders. My friend ordered the cheese steak and she thought it was good but would’ve been great had they offered cheese whiz and had the meat been more shredded. The French fries were the worst, as they tasted old, overly fried, over salted, and hard. The two redeeming items were their salad with special dressing and the homemade chips, but these items wouldn’t get me to return.
Service:
Everyone who works here was pretty friendly but the service was so slooooowwww. I felt bad for our waitress as she was the only one serving food and had to run around the restaurant serving everybody their dishes.
Overall despite having many other choices on the menu, I probably wouldn’t return to this establishment mainly because of the slow service and under seasoned food.

We’ve tried Gatsby’s a couple of times now and I still remain impressed by the food. The décor itself is funky. Old teppanyaki place but they found a way to make it work. Bottled beer only stinks. Please get some craft brew on tap. It will only help. Sac town does not compare to the burger joints in LA but this place would probably hold its own anywhere. Good beef, cooked perfectly to order, and they’re paired with great french fries. The only suggestion for the burger I would make is to change up the bun. Too big and bulky for the burger and it leaves a dry feel in the mouth. A brioche would be better.
Gatsby and cowboy burger were both good. Fire burger was my favorite. Spicy enough to make you sweat. Good enough to make you yearn for more. This place could be great.

Pretty disappointing.
I have heard a lot of good things about this place.
Today was not their day.
It all started when my family and I decided to grab a quick bite to eat while my sister was visiting on her lunch break. We walked in the door to find a sign that said «Please wait to be seated». We did. We waited some more… and continued to wait. When we were about to turn around, we were greeted from behind the counter by the server that said «I’ll be with you in a little bit»… awesome
After he seated us, he took our drink order. We were ready to order almost immediately, so we did. About five minutes later, we decided to «check in» on the appropriate social media outlets (foursquare, facebook, Unilocal, etc.)
We sat and chatted and noticed that it was taking a little long to get our food. We looked around and noticed that the diner was not even close to full. Maybe at 25% capacity.
We waited. The server finally came back up with empty hands and asked us if he could refill our beverages. We said yes and inquired about our food. He stated that it would «be a little bit». He sure likes that phrase… He did apologize for the wait and stated that they were extremely short staffed.(just him and the cook)
We understood. I felt for him, I would have hated to be in his position.
Though the experience was pretty bad, it does’nt even begin to compare to what they served us, or as they called it «food»… It was flavorless, soggy, and disgusting.
I will post a picture to their Unilocal as well.
I ordered a patty melt. It was falling apart and tasted so bland that I added salt and ketchup to season it.
The kicker is: The server came back and asked us if it was worth the wait!!!
It was not even worth its weight in aluminum. (play on words)
I do not reccomend this place AT ALL, nor will I be returning.

Bought a deal on LivingSocial and it was about to expire the following day so I decided to give this a shot after a long run. I also research and they were on Diners, Drive-​In & Dives. They have some creds so I was expecting good things from this place.
Came and was sat shortly. Wasn’t busy as their website mentioned to make reservation. No need. Ordered The Gatsby burger and Beet Sliders (was on tv). Beet Sliders came out first. I was excited to see how the sliders will taste like. Looks pretty good and scrumptious. I dug in and it was pretty good. Love it? Not there yet, but pretty good. A different taste. After a few minutes, my burger came. I was surprised by the portion. They weren’t undersized. Looks awesome too. It has a unique taste. We were in and out there about an hour. Maybe less. We were pretty hungry.
Service was good. Our waitor was helpful and tentative. He mentioned about the Gatsby Challenge. Week day from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. you can do a their challenge. Three patty, fries and shake in certain amount of time and it’s free. I’m not sure, but I think he said under 20 minutes? You guys can ask. I may give this a shot.

Fix your flipping air conditioning. Your patrons deserve better.
I come here every so often, as it is located in my ‘hood and the food is GREAT. Sadly, at the first wink of summer, this place needs to be avoided.
We popped in last night, excited for some beet sliders and to try another dish we hadn’t yet. It was a beautiful day, 80 degrees, maybe? We remembered why we never come here in the summer as soon as we walked up to the restaurant and the front doors were wide open.
We were seated near the grilles (they have two grilles right in the middle of the restaurant so you can watch your food be cooked– cool for effect, not so much for the amount of heat it adds to the dining room). Thankfully only one grille was running last night. It was sweltering. We asked to be moved to a different table and of course they were kind enough to move us over by one of the many fans set up around the restaurant. Even in the slightly better location, we were sweating. And lets face it, it’s not even close to being hot in Sacramento yet. Another couple was seated by us, at our to some degree cooler location, and it was unbearable for them and they asked to be moved by the open front doors.
The food was top notch, as usual. The price is good and even the corkage fee is only $ 8! The service is always decent as well, but it is so frustrating that every time we have been here (other than winter) it is uncomfortable at best. Fix or add air conditioning to your dining room. Please!

Despite the 3.5 stars on Unilocal,I stand behind my love for Gatsby’s! Okay, I’ve only been there twice now and I didn’t even remember to review it the first time. However, this second visit confirmed it! I haven’t read through the negative Unilocal reviews so I’m not sure why Gatsby’s is getting any bad reviews at all. Both my visits entailed great service, great food and a great deal; first time was a Groupon, I believe and the second time, a SacPerks deal. However, deal or not, the bf and I would probably come back because, not to mention, it was also on Food Network!
Their pork chops are one of the items featured on DDD and what’s amazing is that they change it up from time to time, but maintains consistency! Our first visit, it was cooked with apple juice and this second time, it was cooked with a vanilla bean and coffee essence. Both times, the pork chops were well portioned, perfect pieces and juicy. You can’t go wrong with brined, smoked and grilled pork chops! However, the star of the dish was the twice baked and stuffed potato! Everything went great together. As for me, I ordered the Gatsby’s Burger last time and the Blood Orange Burger this time because it’s only seasonal. The burger was cooked perfectly medium on a plain bun. In between the fresh lettuce, tomatoes and onions were thin slices of blood orange, which added a sweet component that wasn’t overwhelming. Their burgers are good, nothing too impressive but for $ 8 a pop, I would take theirs over Red Robins any day. My best choice was choosing their homemade chips over fries! You have a choice or plain, ranch, BBQ or a little of all 3. Of course, I chose all 3! Their homemade chips were crispy and flavorful, delicious with my burger. Even better knowing all seasons are homemade!
In the end, we were too full for dessert but they offer crème brûlée, cakes, cupcakes, milkshakes and more! Our server was always checking up on us, always had a smile, apologized for the long wait and was very friendly. The ambiance definitely portrays a diner and the chef/​owner is entertaining. Gatsby’s is definitely worth a try, especially after a trip at the mall!

This place is so overrated. I thought it would be good just because I saw it on diner drive in and dives, granted I didn’t order what triple D recommended which I believe was a beet sandwich just because I dont like beets. I ended up having a western bbq burger that had bacon and onion rings with a side of fries. The fries were okay at best and same with the burger. I expected the burger to be on pair with burgers and brew but it was nowhere close to that. The service was slow since they made all the burgers in the middle of the dining area on a grill so it took a while. The patty itself didn’t taste like much and i wished they seasoned it more plus for $ 10+ a burger I expect the burger to be amazing. Now I can understand why I see groupons or living social deals for this place because it is mediocre at best.

I’ve been wanting to try Gatsby’s Diner for so long, but I feared for my stomach… and my heart. So when I finally got a friend who was willing to brave these burgers with me, I was ready for the Gatsby burger, medium rare, with chips on the side.
They cook the burgers on a grill in the middle of the room, which is adorable. I cut my burger in half and dug in. WOW. So buttery and juicy and delicious and wonderful. It’s worth every cent of the hype and then some. The chips were awesome too, but the burger was one of the best I’ve ever had.
Eat fast, or else you’ll be stuck taking it home. I wolfed down my burger and almost food coma’d right away. Come for a Gatsby burger. You won’t regret it.