Al the Wop’s

Me and my husband were looking for a small hole in the wall restraint to eat at. We are from elk grove, came across this place and we love.
we had cheeseburgers… unreal taste. amazing. garlic fries were to die for. they have a bar setting in the front. will def be back.

Good food and drinks lots of fun and history in the town of Locke it may look like the whole town could fall over in a wind storm but you will definitely have fun at al the wops i highly recommend it.

Ambience inside was quirky and they get one extra star for that (except for the annoying guy outside billowing tobacco smoke and yelling at us to try the place. We already had tried Al’s a few years ago and were going to try the Chinese place, but Dude wouldn’t take no for an answer. We had a guest along and figured height enjoy it, so in we went.
This was a two-​star experience otherwise. We ordered two steaks and a shrimp plate. The shrimp was alright. The steaks were ordered medium rare and came out way over cooked– both of them. Not worth the price. They were also not tender and had too much fat. Salad was small but passable. Minestrone was good. We were not offered any dessert despite it being Mother’s Day.
After all that, our server vanished and we couldn’t get the check for 30 minutes. A party of six was seated next to us. They were seated, served, done and gone. Meanwhile, there the three of us sat, still waiting for our check, so we could go find dessert somewhere else.
Huge disappointment for Mother’s Day.

What a fun little place. Set on the Historic Main street in Locke, CA, this place has a fun personality. The food was excellent and the staff was friendly. Prices are very reasonable.

I’ll give it 2 stars… One for the décor in the bar, which is kind of cool, and another for the bread, which is grilled, and comes with marmalade and peanut butter. Very good. Came for lunch, and was not impressed at all. They have a very limited menu, which is fine, because it is a small place. However, the food could be *much* better… I came for lunch. It started with a salad, which was basically iceberg lettuce and bottled dressing. For lunch, I ordered the steak. It came the way I wanted, medium rare, but was very tough and didn’t have much flavor. It had canned mushrooms on the top. I don’t know where they get their meat, but I was not impressed at all. $ 20 without tip for lunch and a soda, dinner is about $ 6 or so more. I know this is a landmark, and I hear the drinks are good, but I don’t drink. The food… forget it.

This place is awesome.
I can’t believe with all the years that I have driven by here, that I never got a chance to get out and explore this little town they call Locke; and especially this one of a kind place, Al’s — boy, could I had made some great memories here back in my days of dive bar hopping :)
My husband and I came here recently one afternoon after deciding we wanted to go on a little drive. There really is not much to see in this little historic town, other than a few museums, local art shops and just just the overall nostalgic homes that still reside here since the early 19^th century. Al’s however, is certainly one of those quirky, bay area back road type, must visit places, that I am most definitely pleased to have gotten a chance to check out.
Old, untouched by modern day society, and just ultimately cool. I love places like this — totally non pretentious, show up in overalls, who give a crap how you looks kind of place — love it. The layout is a little award, but who expects perfection at this place? We sat up at the super large bar. We were taken care of by a super cool, super sweet bartender. I ordered an IPA beer called 808 to start off. Have to say, they don’t have the most extensive beer selection, but this beer turned out good. They do offer a pretty hearty, delicious sounding menu accommodated with some assumingly reasonable prices. My honey and I ended up ordering and sharing their bacon burger they had on special. It comes with frys. This burger not only arrived looking hands down delicious and not to mention, astronomically generous in portion, it turned out tasting like any hearty, savory, burger lovers dream! And that sour dough bread the wonderful patty was sandwiched between? Fantastic! I didn’t indulge in any of the frys, but my hun loved them. I then ended up finishing my meal off with some sort of special whiskey shot the bartender suggested. I am not a whiskey drinker or shot taking person at all, but this was pretty good :)
Oh yes, I will be paying this place another visit again :)

Great place to go. Can’t speak highly enough about it, but since changing the mushrooms on the steak dinner. I have to give the place only 3 stars. The mushrooms made the steak dinner. Bring the Original Mushrooms back.

First timer here. Flash mobbed this spot with about 15 other friends and family. Guys only event. Actually, we called in and I recommend calling them in if you’re bringing in a large party.
Locke has lots of history and character. Al the Wop’s has the same. Almost everybody ordered the steak. I ordered mine medium well and it came out medium to medium rare. No biggie, they were cooking like 11 steaks and it was delicious anyway. Side salad, thickly cut, toasted garlic bread, and garlic fries were fresh and tasty too. Fresh homemade tasting marmalade jelly was on the table as well as a full bottle of Jiff peanut butter to spread over your toasted bread and your steak if you wish. I tried it on half my steak and it was pretty good. Try it if your feeling adventurous.
Stiff drinks, a few beers on tap including Sierra Nevada, a cool jukebox, and friendly service also included.
Great place to visit and a good reason to get out of town. Only knock would be a bigger bathroom.

I am here several times a month… my Fav burger! I don’t know why… it’s pretty simple… but they grill french bread for the bun part… LOVE Johnny-​O the bartender!!! it’s just a good destination… and the peanut butter and peppers amazing!

Located in the Chinese town of Locke. A lot of history here, look it up. So we road our Harley down and it was an amazing ride, a little chilly but worth it.
This place is cool, I felt like I was in an old cowboy movie? Kinda… Anyway food and overall experience was good.

Al the Wop’s had been on my list of places I wanted to try for a long time. Somehow, seeing all the motorcycles and bikers around the restaurant on the weekends discouraged me from stopping in. That finally changed when I was on a Scott Kelby photo walk in this small town. In fact I went in twice on the same day, first for just a quick soda as I was very dehydrated and then with our group of eleven for dinner.
The interior is pleasantly divey. The long bar runs the length of the room there are dollar bills tacked to the ceiling and a large common area that people, with drinks in hand, seem to stand around in. The dining room is entered through the bar. The linoleum top tables harken back to another area. Al’s has been in this building since 1934, the building was constructed in 1913.
Like most of the group I order the special of the Day a steak with fries, garlic bread, and a side salad. I ordered my steak rare and that was exactly how they served it me. The steak was very tender, it did not have a lot of taste until I splashed it with Worcestershire sauce, and then it was great. I ate all my salad and as much of the garlic bread as I could without looking piggy. My then I was able to take half of my steak home. The server did not bat an eye when we asked to be billed separately. The cook was standing in the door when we all getting up, I stopped to compliment him on cooking the steak rare. He was pleased and told me how if I want to be sure I get a rare steak ask for a blue steak. Hum, blue steak, I never heard of such a thing but when I got home I looked it up, a blue steak looks like a perfectly cooked steak.
I’m not sure about the bar, but if you are in the dining room this is not the place for fancy cocktails. A rum and coke was perfect for my steak dinner. The prices were reasonable my sinner and drink was only a little over $ 17.00. The bathroom was very clean
I would like to go back for another meal. I usually wander around on my own, I’m thinking that I might want to bring a friend along with me. I don’t want to be mistaken for an old bike babe on the prowl.

The town is so cute and interesting, and the food was surprisingly delicious.
We were up at a wedding faire at Grand Island Mansion and wanted to stop for a bite to eat on our way back to the East Bay.
The place is one of the funnest and most interesting bars I have been in for a while. The place is full of character and I especially love the dollar bills on the ceiling.
Everyone was extremely friendly and made it easy and fun.
And the food was EXCELLENT.
Three of us had hamburgers and one of us has the prawns. The salad was fresh, the salad dressing delicious, the prawns were fried and delicious.
The burgers were juicy and cooked well, and love the sour dough slices bread as buns, it was fantastic.
The only really negative I have to say is that the fries were overcooked, even a couple were to the point of burned.
And If you plan to swing by, I highly recommend the steak as well, none of us were hungry enough for the giant steak, but someone at teh next table got it and they looked AMAZING.

Funky dive bar down the river. Great atmosphere. Shared a steak with the wife for lunch. No frills. Great jukebox. The beer was ice cold.

Meh. The bar itself is pretty cool, very old school and rustic. Doesn’t have a stale smell like many old bars do. Bartender was kinda rude. Sat down and took her over 10 minutes to ask if we wanted any drinks. It was not busy, she just kept walking by ignoring us. After that we ordered a burger to split, came out in about 15 minutes, not too bad. The garlic fries were delicious. I asked the bartender for some ranch to go with them and she rudely informed me they don’t have ranch there. Not a huge deal but she did not have to have an attitude about it. Burger was not that great… just kinda plain, didn’t really have any seasoning, dry. It’s not a bad little bar to come have a cocktail at, and maybe a simple appetizer. Nothing special, I don’t think I’ll be back. Like a few others have said, go check out the museum! Cool little place.

I love the town of Locke. It is just getting better and better. I crave Al’s steak sandwich and fries. Throw a $ 1 on the ceiling if you can (I haven’t been able to make it stick). Good juke box.
Go to the Chinese gambling museum down the street — FREE but put in a donation please.

Excerpt from Lowdown on Locke Chinatown:
Finally, my last stop was at Al the Wop’s. I originally went in for just a glass of water and ended up staying for an ice-​cold Shock Top, a steak and banana peppers. For the first time in my life, I shared (and finished) a jar of Jif with a group of bikers as we each took turns slathering the creamy peanut butter onto our food (both the steaks and banana peppers). We watched as the bartender showed us how to attach dollar bills to the ceiling with just a quarter and a thumb tack. She provided some history of the establishment, telling us that Al Adami ran the only non-​Chinese business in Locke Chinatown and served the same delicious steak for decades. I would say a trip to Locke wouldn’t be complete without dining here.
To read more about Locke or other Chinatowns across the world, check out Lowdown on Chinatown. The url is in my profile (can’t post here per Unilocal’s regulations.)

Was it good food? Yes! Was it welcoming? Yes! We checked out both the eating area and the bar. We wanted the local experience so yes we had the steak and peanut butter. But also mention the house made jam of apricot and pineapple. Now combine that with the grilled bread — oooo la la. I typically order my steak medium but ordered it medium rare which was a better idea b/​c if I did medium, it probably would have been overcooked. The hamburger would have been nice to try but they didn’t have any patties made that day only frozen so we skipped and stuck with the steak. Its a great local experience to go period.
The bar was fun. We sat and had a drink than threw dollar bills on the ceiling. Just look up and you’ll see. They give you the tack, etc. to do the experience. It was just fun to try with the locals there. Now if you are at the bar, the other local eating experience is to eat the pepper with the peanut butter and jam. I know — different — but yes we did it and it was something of a taste infusion which was good. Go in, relax and just have fun.

In the area for a nice Sunday drive and Unilocal Mobile showed this to be one of the only games in town.
We walk in on a Sunday afternoon and the bar is full of bikers, all wearing the same colors, and looking like typical bikers.
There was no signage on what to do if you wanted to eat, so we walked to the back area and eventually asked someone how we order food. She advised us to just take a seat wherever and someone will be with us.
The menu is basic and is basically fried food and a few grilled items.
We ordered the Burger and the Steak.
The Steak came with ZERO seasoning… like no salt, no pepper… It was cooked properly, but it wasn’t the best cut of meat either… As others on Unilocal mentioned, it was served with peanut butter. It tasted like a grilled piece of meat with no seasoning and peanut butter.
The burger wasn’t much better… again ZERO seasoning and ZERO salt on the frozen french fries.
This was a unique place… and if I was a biker looking for crap beer, this would be my hang out. If you are looking for some quality food, you will be disappointed.

Gayle and I took an excursion into the Delta last Saturday. We had Lunch in Rio Vista (Foster’s Bighorn), drove through a lonely historical Iselton, and got as far as the «Twin Cities» of Walnut Grove and Locke before heading home.
As we were wandering around Locke, Gayle suggested that we stop for a drink at Al the Wop’s. It’s on the «Main Street» and the building was originally constructed in the early 1900s as part of a Chinese restaurant. It was later converted to what this place is today by «Al».
The interior consists of a large common area in front, a long bar, and a linoleum infused dining area in back. Money is still thrown to the ceiling, but I didn’t see any neck ties or attempts to cut them short. The floor was creaky and slanted (as does the bar), the digital juke box was rocking and rolling, a baseball game was on, and an interesting mix of patrons cycled through.
Pints were $ 3.75 which I though was reasonable. The food order served to the guy next to us at the bar also looked really good. This place seems to have the right divey cred, certainly enough gravitas to come back, and maybe when we’re hungrier.

I first discovered Al the WOP’s 15 years ago when my boss took me here for dinner. How he found this place is a mystery to me. Al the WOP’s is located in the historical town of Locke. Locke was established in 1915 by Chinese immigrants. It was a thriving Chinese community during its heydays in the 1920’s through the 1940’s. Al’s was a Chinese restaurant constructed By Lee Bing and three partners. But, in the 1930’s it was sold to Al Adami, where it became the only non-​Chinese business in town. I’ve been to Al’s several times over the years, and felt compelled to come back since I scheduled some work around here.
I arrived after 3 pm. The dining room had just closed for the day. The bar was open. I was able to speak to the Richard, the new owner of the place. He apologized for closing the restaurant so early. I didn’t mind, since it wasn’t hungry. He told me to come back on the weekend when they are open all day long. I told him I couldn’t since I was on a business trip. I sat at the bar with a couple of the regulars. Richard treated me to a free coke. Sorry, but, I can’t drink and drive. I had a good time listening to the old timers.
Al the WOP’s official name is Al’s Place. They changed it after some complaints. But, the sign out front and Unilocal has them with their politically incorrect name. Al’s is a dive bar and restaurant. Dollar bills are stuck to the ceiling. You can try your hand at sticking a bill to the ceiling as well!
I can’t say anything about the food since I don’t remember. But the bar is pretty cool and divey. It was a great place to visit if you are in the area. This is the type of place that makes learning about history fun!