Zinfandel Grille

This place is pretty good and the price is right– especially given the quality, atmosphere and service.
Came here for a business lunch. Was seated right away despite not having reservations. The place was busy but not packed.
Ordered the chicken sandwich with fries and my friend ordered a hamburger and fries. My sandwich was just fine and no complaints. It was large and quite tasty.
The thing that really sticks out at me was my friend’s hamburger. I could see that it was brown all the way thru– which is definitely not how he ordered it. But he was still happy. I think anyone who orders a burger (usually me!) for lunch typically doesn’t care if it is cooked right– as long as it’s not rare or burned.
We also ordered coffees and some ice cream. All of these items gave you the feel that you were eating at a much more expensive restaurant.
I went to Sac State and used to live in the area– so I used to drive by frequently. The place could use some updating– but you won’t be disappointed if you go.

Made last minute reservations, arrived and no waiting time.

Have been to Zinfandel Grill three times now. Twice for dinner and once just for drinks and bites at the bar. The décor is good, comfortable but modern. Usually have live music playing on the weekends. There is a general buzz in the restaurant, mostly conversations and no rowdy groups. The patio area is small but was nice during a summer evening.

Their happy hour menu has $ 8 pizzas and fried calamari and $ 5 wells and wine. I liked the chicken pizza a lot. Our group went on a slow night so service was excellent. We also ordered a pizza to go that was not on the happy hour menu and it was tiny for a medium. Beware of small pizza sizes!

Went here on New Year’s Eve. Food was great medium sized portions. Price was 30 – 45 $ an entrée for their special holiday menu. Fried calamari was excellent. They don’t take coupons or promotions on holidays.

We just had dessert and drinks and the bartender was very nice. The desserts were great! Bread pudding atmosphere was nice

Food delicious!!! Had the Kobe steak and wife hade the sea bass. Had a bite of the sea bass is was was just as good.
Need to add the dessert way very good. I had the raspberry cheesecake with coffee. The coffee was fresh brewed

Crystal our bartender was outstanding! Recommended a great Sauvignon Blanc to me from new zealand which i loved. She was on top of it and black bean soup was delicious. Bread pudding was not bad, but would not order it again. Employees were all veru close and they seemed to all really like each other and their job. Great atmosphere. Will be back to try more things! I have had the beet salad a while back and that was good too!

Always been a solid place for date night, or fine dining night, or I-just-got-paid-so-let’s-eat-out night… Fresh seasonal produce, house-​made pastas, decadent desserts, an overall good variety of options ~ seriously, what’s not to like?
Seafood Fettuccine ($ 25) — house-​made pasta w/​Dungeness crab, prawns, broccoli, shallots, tossed in a white wine-​cream sauce, topped w/​parmesan and a side of toasted garlic bread.
Arancini ($ 10) — crispy risotto cakes breaded in panko & stuffed w/​fresh mozzarella, sun-​dried tomatoes and prosciutto over marinara and pesto sauces.
Banana Foster Croissant Bread Pudding ($ 7.50) — croissant bread pudding w/​puréed bananas & banana liqueur served w/​vanilla ice cream and warm caramel sauce.
One of the better spots east of downtown for refined dining. I’d frequent the establishment if the pockets would allow. Service can be on and off, but nothing an engaging conversation with good company can’t distract. To be frank, the prices actually aren’t that bad either, in comparison to other upscale dining Sac has to offer.
So dine in, indulge, be romantic and all ~

I had not been to Zinfandel Grill in many years and was praying the awesome mushroom salad was still on the menu. I was thrilled to learn it was and even happier it tasted just as good as I remember. And the portion sizes for everything ordered at our table were more than ample. The small calzone was huge!
Our service was outstanding– both Will our server and Steven were patient, accommodating, kind and funny!
It’s nice to go back to a place you’ve not been to in years and see it just a great as you remember.

WARNING: bad for groups!!! The payment process was a nightmare for such a large group (20) and would still be a nightmare for a smaller group. Can’t spilt checks?! The struggles.
I was so excited to try this place and a friend’s birthday gave me the opportunity! Too bad from the moment we walked in it went downhill. «Do you know about our cake cutting fee?» was the first thing the hostess said. Uhh, no. Apparently it’s $ 2 PER PLATE. PER PLATE. for a cake we already bought?! I know some restaurants have a cutting fee but that is outrageous. The icing on the cake was when she said «what do you expect from a high end restaurant?» *eye rolls* high end? Not really.
All that wasn’t a super big deal and we got over it pretty quick. It was just a bummer that my food wasn’t good either. I got the butternut squash ravioli and the side salad. It was way too sweet! It tasted more like sweet potatoes than butternut squash. It was so disappointing. The salad was mediocre and candied walnuts were yum but the dressing was super lacking. Not only that, they charged us $ 8 for a LARGE when I ordered a SIDE salad to go with my ENTREE. Who gets an entrée and a large salad?! Not me.

First but now dish that arrived was their Mushroom salad, it had thinly slice mushrooms with Jarlesberg cheese n garden greens, pork chop w a pear glaze, ahi w overcooked rice, n Mustard chicken w mashed potato, food is fresh but dessert was best! Blueberry cheesecake n crème brûlée! Well done!

Great restaurant to go for dinner on a date or special occasion. Has a bit more upscale atmosphere and nice interior.
Try to snag a table outside on their outdoor patio as it is so charming and has an Italian rustic vibe to it. The only thing is to make sure your waiter remembers you’re out there since we got forgotten about and I had to go inside to remind them we needed service. Our waitress was really apologetic/​kind and the patio was nice so I didn’t mind as much.
Seems like more for the older generation than for someone younger looking for a trendy cool place to have dinner.
I had the meatball appetizer which was great to share between two people on a date since it’s already divided equally. Not too heavy of an appetizer before the main courses and the polenta the meatball rested upon was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.
For the main course, I got the rack of lamb with a curry risotto and tomato/​eggplant side. Great thing about this restaurant is that if you ask for medium rare, you actually get what you ask for unlike some other restaurants that serve it up more on the medium/​well done side. Quite a bit of more fat on the lamb than I would have enjoyed but cooked nicely. The mint sauce on top of the lamb was delicious. The side dishes were okay but not my favorite. Good portion for the $ 32 dish.
If you get the 12oz ribeye you get your money’s worth as well.
Overall a lovely restaurant to dine at if you’re looking for something a bit more special.

I was down here in Sac. a few weeks ago for business, and I needed a nice lunch place for a client lunch. My client was an older woman, I mean older like 50’s, so I wanted a comfortable yet not too trendy place. This Zinfandel Grille fits the bill and worked out well.
My client is right on time and we’re seated. We order drinks, 2 glasses of the Kendall Jackson Chard ($ 10ea) and water. Small casual convo ensues mixed with some business. Looking over the lunch menu, which I had done already online, .I see a good variety to choose from and not a meat centric menu, like a sports bar. I come upon crab cakes as appetizers, always a fave, so I suggest those to share. My client likes crab cakes as well, so 1 order of crab cakes!
Pursuing the rest of the menu, I see all kinds of sandwiches and burgers along with pasta entrees and salads. I go for the Crab and Avocado Salad ($ 17), thinking that’d be more lady like eating with my client than a big burger and fries. She has the same as well. I guess that’s a good sign if your dining companion orders what you order.
It’s mid week and not too busy here, so the noise level lends itself to good conversation. Our table is not one of those dinky 2 tops, parties of 2 get stuck on sometimes, but a nice sized table where I can lay out some materials while we wait for our food. The service is very polite and competent, asking for refills on the wine … sure why not, 1 more round with the delivery of the crab cakes. The cakes were very good and no skimping on the crab. Moist enough to hold together and not dried out like some reheated versions I’ve come across. It’s a nice find!
Our salads arrive. Wow, that’s a nice looking big salad! Plenty of Dungeness Crab adorns the salad with ripe avocado accompaniment. The lettuce is crisp and the whole salad has sort of a Mexican theme with salsa and sour cream. We both enjoy our salads with the nice wine.
This ended up being a nice relaxed place for a business lunch, with good service that didn’t interrupt all the time and tasty food and a good selection of wine. I’d use this place again, and if in the area, I’d stop in just for a personal lunch as well.

We came here for dinner last night to use a gift card from a couple of friends for our graduation (Thanks Mandy and Michelle!). We’ve been here once before our Unilocaling days so I never wrote a review before!
The restaurant interior is beautiful. And the patio looks even nicer — I wish we were offered to sit there! We got a nice cozy 2-​seater booth though, so I can’t complain. We started off with the arancini for appetizer — crispy risotto cakes with marinara and pesto sauces. I tried the arancini with pesto first — it reminded me of a mozzarella stick. Then I tried it with the marinara and it REALLY reminded me of a mozzarella stick! Not that means anything bad, because it did taste really good.
For my entrée I decided to try the ahi tuna special that the server told us about when he came to our table. Normally I don’t order these restaurant specials because they always explain them so fast that I couldn’t catch what they actually said. But it sounded delicious, paired with spinach and rice. When it came out, it wasn’t the ahi tuna I was expecting — cooked a little more than I would like, and not as «melt-​in-​your-​mouth.»
I was definitely looking forward to dessert — I had my eye on the bananas foster croissant bread pudding. I could eat that all day. it was so good! The warm caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream was perfect.

We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at Zinfandel Grille. Their «Z-​room» banquet room seemed to be the perfect sized space for our small event of 17 guests. I spoke to the banquet manager, Janet, a couple times. She was helpful, but definitely a little «curt» (to put it nicely). She was always a bit abrupt and to the point. I never felt like she appreciated our business. In fact, the two times I spoke with her, it seemed as though she did not want to be bothered by me or my simple questions.
The room was nice, and it was great that we were able to close the sliding doors for privacy and control the A/​C in the room. We had some appetizers, but were a little disappointed that they just sat in the corner. We were hoping they would be passed. There was only one waiter the entire evening for our entire party of 17. Many drinks were ordered, and we had dinner and dessert. The waiter was very friendly, hard-​working, and was doing his best, but I REALLY think they should have provided an additional waiter. We were waiting quite a while at many points for drinks throughout the night, plates to be removed, etc. A service charge of 20% was automatically added in to everything. I really feel that for that amount of gratuity, we should have had more attentive service.

My boyfriend and I had reservations to eat here on a Tuesday at 6:30pm. The parking lot located behind the restaurant was full, so we parked at spaces reserved for the office next door (they were closed at this time anyway). The outside of the restaurant is very nice as there are grapes growing in the front and lots of greenery. They even have patio seating.
When we entered the restaurant, the right side was filled with people dining at tables and the bar area. There was a tv with a sports game playing. Since we had reservations, the hostess took us to the dining room on the left, which was much quieter and tame. I appreciated this as I didn’t want to be distracted by all the other customers.
A man brought us water, bread, butter, and oil/​balsamic/​pesto dipping sauce. I was starving and dug right in. The bread was soft on the inside and tougher on the outside. Very delicious. We ended up getting two more refills and the staff did not seem to mind. Our waters were refilled several times throughout the meal. Perhaps the server’s job would be easier if the glasses were larger.
We ordered and it did not take long for the food to come out.
Arancini appetizer: two arancini patties — one served with a marinara sauce, one served with pesto. Both were equally delicious. I even used the bread to soak up the extra sauce. The arancini were perfectly crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. The arancini were stuffed with cheese, vegetables, and herbs so they were very flavorful. Two patties does seem like a small for the price, but they were tasty and I would order again.
Small Cesar salad: good portion for two to share as a light appetizer. It was more heavily dressed than I am used to receiving at restaurants, but I don’t mind because that’s how I eat my salads — as unhealthy as possible haha. I liked how the dressing was not as tangy as other Cesars. It was topped with crunchy croutons and parmesan.
Seared sea scallops with risotto: three scallops wrapped with prosciutto and served on pesto risotto mixed with asparagus, peas, bell peppers, and herbs. The scallops were cooked nicely as they were not chewy. The prosciutto was not as crispy as I expected, making it a little difficult to cut and chew. It was also saltier than expected. Maybe I’m just more used to eating bacon? It was still tasty. The risotto was nicely cooked, the rice was tender and not too soupy. I liked how the vegetables were finally chopped so it was easy to eat — no giant pieces of asparagus flopping around.
Kobe steak and mashed potatoes: my boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed his meal. I tried it and the steak was very tender. It was topped with a sautéed mushrooms and gravy. The mashed potatoes were fluffy and creamy. The meal was served on a bed of raw spinach. I would have enjoyed it more if the spinach was cooked.
Our waitress and every staff person we encountered was very friendly. The atmosphere of the restaurant is lively and inviting. The food came out fast and was delicious. The tall windows bring in a lot of light, making the restaurant feel bright and open. I picked this restaurant because it is fancy, but not TOO fancy (they have white tablecloths, but the prices are pretty fair).
I would recommend and dine here again.

Came her for my anniversary with my boyfriend. The scene was very nice. Sort of fine dining but it could also be causal if you’re willing to spend the money. There was live music which I loved, but also had TVs playing the Giants game, which is something I also loved. When we were seated, we were presented with bread, butter and oil balsamic vinegar with basil. Very tasty start!
We ordered the crab cakes (3 small pieces with a side salad) and Arancici that had two different sauces. Both appetizers were really good, small in portion for me, but tasty. I think I liked the Arancici a little better.
For entrees, we ordered the filet minon and the mustard chicken. The filet minon was soooo delicious with onion crisps and potatoes and asparagus. It was also cooked just how I ordered it. My bf was eating more of my plate. Lol. He got the mustard chicken which had a crispy batter with some mustard type sauce drizzled over it.
For dessert we had the banana bread pudding with ice cream. OMG to die for! The caramel in it just topped the whole meal off. We were dying at the end with some small left overs. For drinks we got a strawberry daquiri. Similar to any other place for the daquiri.
The service was amazing and very attentive. They would always refill our water. The waiter would come by to check on us from time to time. He answered our questions about the food and everything. He was the one to recommend the banana pudding. Everything came out to be around $ 125 with tax and tip.
Amazing.

I don’t know why it has taken so long for me do a review for this given I’ve probably been here more times than the duchess!
Friday nights is the night of the week you will see me there most, now with my little one in hand, we both enjoy the food immensely. There is usually a 3 – 4 pcs band there (sometimes with vocals and sometimes without).
This place brings a lot of big parties and an older crowd; the energy is alway nice in this place.
Although it can look intimidating to new parents who don’t think their child might not belong there (kind of fancy looking), they are actually quite accommodating. My child has gotten up and walked around and has gotten doted on by the young waitresses and the older couples (who probably have grandchildren at home).
I can’t say I have ever had a bad meal there. EVER. Their specials have always been so good that afterwards I’m a bit sad that it was just a «special».
Some of my favorites:
–The clam chowders (only served on Fridays)
–Braised beef short rib appetizer (I can have this as a meal on its own with a salad)
–Crab Cakes (I can also have this as a meal with a salad)
–Mustard Chicken Entrée
–Meatloaf Entrée
–Kobe Steak
–Bread Pudding Dessert
I haven’t had the pleasure of having any of their sandwiches but a few friends really enjoy the steak sandwich.
They have a good selection of wines. My mom’s favorite is the Honey Ginger Lemon Drop.
Hope to see ya there!

The best lunch date and sandwich that I ever had.
Nice atmosphere for lunch date with full bar if you need some buzz ;)
We had Z steak sandwich, really good sandwich full of flavor and pretty well carrying the restaurant named for sandwich, but kinda disappointed with soup of the day chicken tortilla soup, a little more chicken please if we can.
Chicken club sandwich was good too with their house salad.
If you check in via Unilocal you got a free dessert offer, we will used it for some other time, want to go to other place for dessert now ;)