Foundation Restaurant & Bar

Here’s a first: My friend and I send back our Watermelon/​Blackberries Margaritas because they are TOO STRONG. Each tastes like pure unprocessed tequila and they are literally undrinkable. We’re hearty (and experimental, when appropriate) alcohol consumers, and accustomed to all kinds of drinks, but these are just awful. She gets wine, I get a Cucumber Vodka Blah Blah, which is okay but quickly turns lukewarm. No one comes to refresh it with ice.
Service-​wise, our waiter was slow. Water was slow to come, my friend’s wine came well after her salad, my (second) drink came even later.
My friend & I each had a salad and the grilled artichoke. An aficionado of Caesar salads, I usually order one when it’s featured, and on a scale of 1 – 5, this one was a 1. Strange little wisps of romaine lettuce and NO ANCHOVIES featured in the humdrum Caesar dressing. Deal breaker.
The grilled artichoke was, alas, underdone. While the rest of the recipe was tasty (grilled parmesan, garlic aioli), neither of us ate it on an artichoke leaf, but devoured it separately, since each artichoke leaf — the part you scrape your teeth on to eat — was woefully underdone. Like – hard, you know? Thus having defeated the entire point of eating an artichoke — the tender leaves — Foundation compensated for it just a bit with its yummy aioli/​parmesan crust.
Bread costs $ 3.00 at this joint.
Two TVs, lots of white people at the bar – Foundation is entirely generic in look and feel.
I won’t go again.

I’ve been to Foundation a few times now, mostly for happy hour and I love it! The restaurant is clean, the staff are friendly, and the menu isn’t too bad either :)
Although I really liked coming here for dinner, Happy Hour is definitely the time to come!

Well I have had some good visits here, but today ordered a hamburger off the happy hour menu, was not received after a half hour wait, even after I politely inquired 20 minutes into wait. Cancelled the order, they did not care.
Place was relatively empty of guests but full of employees. I am guessing no with an ownership interest was present.
There are many many restaurants in Sacramento with better service than this.

Foundation is a solid downtown dining option that is casual but has the ambience and service of a fine dining restaurant. I third wheeled it last night for dinner with Cat N. and her fiancée and we didn’t have to wait to be seated. It’s located on the quieter side of downtown but I expect that to change when the new arena opens up. It was the last night of my 6 week body fat loss challenge so I kept it healthy and got the Chardonnay salmon salad which was excellent! The salmon was plentiful and the greens were shaved brussel sprouts and lots of red onions, which I love. There were also large chunks of golden beets and goat cheese throughout. It was pretty big so I took some home in a to go box. The dressing was light and not overpowering so the salad was still crunchy the following day. I also had bites of the braised short rib (bomb!) and the pork chop (nice and tender). Our waters were filled at all times and the service was attentive but not overbearing. Overall a great dinner experience!

Yay!
Fantastic happy hour and dinner menu, located conveniently across from the Macy’s on L street. I have fond memories of this spot even before Foundation took up residence here. For years it was home to 4^th St. Grill and local businesses would always host their holiday/​special occasion celebrations there.
Lately, I’ve been visiting for their great Happy Hour menu as well as a dinner outing which resulted in one of the best pork chops I’ve had in a very long time.
Since their happy hour starts early, I recommend getting there early to land a seat near the bar. First, the Fritto Misto is a must. The fried calamari is perfectly crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. The fried shishito peppers are the perfect accompaniment between each bite. We also ordered the BBQ chicken flatbread, grilled artichoke, Foundation hamburger, hot wings, and fish tacos. The burger was quite good, and I was only able to finish ¼ of it, given the rest of the items we ordered, but the vegetarian at the table really enjoyed the fish tacos. They did a great job balancing the salty with a slightly sweet and tart slaw.
For dinner, I went with their Porterhouse Pork Chop which was AMAZING. Soft and moist (remember to order medium well with a pink center) and full of flavor. I was quite pleased with how it came out. The mashed potatoes and bacon brussel sprouts the perfect sides. My friend ordered their Braised Short Ribs and that was also very moist and soft, with the meat falling apart at the poke of the fork.
I would definitely come back to try the other items on their menu but overall, every visit has delivered in a consistent manner. Up next is to try their ribs on their Happy Hour. I watched it go by in the hands of the waiter and it looked amazing.
Great service, nice seating area, lively bar area.

Delicious starters! Our waiter was on his game tonight as well. Ambience is nice calming and relaxing. Drinks were on point and dinner was amazing.

From the previous Unilocal reviewers pictures and reviews, I decided to go for a date night here. I wish people would have recommended this spot mainly for Happy hour and after work hang out. I walked into the restaurant and the hostess was not present. We waited few seconds when the waiter appeared. We informed that we had reservation. Then he looks around at the restaurant where to sit us. I would have assumed they would have reserved the spot. Anyways, I wish they could smile and greet. After they sitted us, immediately the waiter appeared. We ordered the meal and then he tells us about the dinner special. It must have slipped from he’s mind. In the restaurant the noise level was loud and I could hear absurd language. Typical clubbing and bar setting. Not a place to go with kids. There were few tables with young kids, hopefully they didn’t pick up any of the words. I ordered salmon risotto and it was not seasoned., the risotto tagged good after I added salt and pepper, salmon was cooked perfectly. And we ordered crab cake, that was good. My husband ordered bistro filet which he really enjoyed to the max. The waiter said it was 9 Oz. Overall the food was good. And I would recommend this spot for drinks and happy hour not for dinner dates. And parking is available in the street. So get their early to get parking close to the restaurant.

Came in on a Friday evening for happy hour. The staff was attentive and friendly. The establishment is narrow and long, so it could get a bit tight in the bar area, but the crowd is friendly and cheerful. There is a decent amount of table seating if you are going in with a larger group. The happy hour deals are good, and I enjoyed all of the small bites I ordered off of their HH menu.

My Birthday dinner was wonderful. The restaurant seemed a little empty, but we did dine at 6pm on a Monday. The crowd did pick up a little around 8 as we were leaving. The food was delicious and fresh. The wait staff was accommodating and friendly. This is a gem now, but once the Golden One Arena opens up, Good Luck in getting a seat! This place will be packed!

Located near the 5 freeway in downtown Sacramento. Fairly close to the Sacramento arena.
We had a large party reservation for lunch. Staff was able to seat is friendly and promptly. We were helped by Cameron. Menus and beverage request taken shortly.
I ordered medium Gorgonzola burger with a choice of salad or fries. I elected for the fries. The meal itself came in an efficient manner for lunch. Fries were properly seasoned and appropriately temperate. The burger was cooked as ordered. Savory and juicy. A fair amount of Gorgonzola to match the greens on a nice steady bun.
Drink refills were consistent through the meal. Bill settlement was appropriately timed and accurate. Staff was friendly and on point to provide to go boxes where needed.
Good food and service.
Bad nothing to date.
Would come back someday.

I enjoyed the Twisted River white, along with my no meat assortment during happy hour (clam chowder, calamari misto frito, fish taco & crab cake). The crab cake was more on the bread side than crab side, but the spicy sauce made up for it. The cabbage on the fish taco tasted more of a pickling sauce than what i usually get on this type of taco. Loved the mini roasted peppers that came with the calamari (& preferred the red cocktail? sauce over creamy aoili blend). Chowder was thick & not overly buttered with sufficient amounts of clam mixed in. Couldn’t fit in dessert although the mousse sounded delicious. Next time.

Came here for lunch with the coworkers recently, and left impressed! The food selection is superd — I had the thai beef salad which was a very generous portion and delicious! My coworker had the burger which was absolutely huge.

Went here for a couple drinks and light apps for happy hour. The crowd here has that sophisticated, post work drinks & dinner feel; which was a surprisingly delightful change of pace compared to my typical midtown bars.
The happy hour is legit (!) and until 6:30. The bartender was not annoyingly stingy about getting orders in by 6:30 pm on the dot for HH pricing which I find refreshing. I shared the margarita flatbread with a friend and it had fresh ingredients and lots of cheese! Delightful. The tomatoes really made it. The rest of my group ordered salad and soup and no one was disappointed.
I’d be interested to try a full dinner and come back. The vibe was sophisti-​chill (sorry, I made that up) and the service, food was great. I recommend.

Wife and I stopped by here for date night, and we were absolutely pleased. We each had a drink and split a flat bread. The drink and food happy hour prices are very competitive, and lasts until 6:30 (even on Friday and Saturday). I liked the beer glasses. Weird observation I know, but nonetheless I appreciate a little different glass than the standard pint glass. The Margarita flat bread was solid, and this place wasn’t crowded. We were also able to park right out front. Close and easy weekend parking is always a plus in my book. We had just came from Old Sac which was a pain in the ass. The wait staff was very friendly, and one gentlemen chatted us up about the history of the location. I’m sure this place will be jumping off once the arena opens.
Having all of these pluses is hard to find in one establishment. There were a couple of slight negatives, but they are nit-​picky. The bartender seemed a little green and inattentive. However, her disposition was friendly. The TV situation could be upgraded, and a few more people in the bar would have livened it up. Very small minuses. I like this place.

Came here for a friend’s birthday Saturday night. It was pretty packed because there was a company holiday party going on in the other room, but because reservations was made we didn’t have to wait or anything. The menu wasn’t big or overwhelming. Started off with some crab cakes and dumplings. It was small, but they were good. I ordered the Asian short rib salad which I loved. One of my friend had the steak which was cooked to his liking. I had a bite and it wasn’t that bad. I thought it was good and did not need any type of A1 sauce at all. Birthday girl ordered the short rib Stroganoff. She was a lil disappointed. I tasted it and yes I had better. Overall, for me I had a good experience. Oh yeah can’t forget their cucumber lemon drop… now that was a delicious drink and my water glass was never empty an that’s a good thing!

Before heading towards the Sacramento theatre to watch Cinderella we came to eat here. We were thinking «it’s empty tonight» it was a Saturday night and there was maybe only two groups of customers. We told the host «2 please» and she says to us that they’re booked for the night. I guess they were waiting for their reservations. Someone comes by and told her that they only have their 4 sweaters available and if it’s filled that’s it for walk ins. Oh well we got our seat.
Our server was really nice. We ordered our drinks. A Guinness for the lady and blue moon for the gentleman. We used our Unilocal resources to pick what we wanted to order and since it was happy hour we ordered EVERYTHING.
What we ordered: calamari, chicken wings, BBQ chicken flatbread, and for the main course, we ordered a burger and the salmon main dish for me.
What I thought: the misto fristo (calamari) was great, they had grilled sweet onions and grilled jalapeños or peppers over it. That was delicious. The chicken wings were wings. Taste the same everywhere. The BBQ chicken flat bread though, I don’t know why but that was very good. Maybe it was the BBQ sauce or the chicken or maybe it was the whole flatbread itself. It was really good. The burger was ok, a little dry. And the salmon reminded me of a paella. It was creamy and delicious.
I would definitely come back, and I’ll remember to make reservations.

Decided to check out this restaurant thanks to hearing about «Farm To Fork» restaurant week on Unilocal… and I’m really glad I did. I decided to check out the Farm-​To-​Fork website for participating restaurants, and Foundation stood out as one of the places I wanted to try, and did so Friday night.
I tried making reservations a couple hours before arriving, but the website doesn’t allow reservations so close to the requested time. So I took my chances on having to wait, and got there around 8. This Friday night was a quieter night, so as soon as I told the hostess I’d like a table for two, she was escorting us to our table! Both the hostess and our waiter were very friendly, both asking us is if it was our first time dinning at the restaurant. Which to both we told them yes, our waiter told us of the specials for that night which were very tempting, but we decided to go the with special menu for Farm-​To-​Fork event. While we waited I decided to try Purple Crush drink which was really good. It had a light taste of a purple Otter Pop, and my girlfriend had some wine.
COURSE ONE: Sweet Brentwood Corn Soup & Roasted Beet Salad.
I order the soup but tried the salad as well. The soup was comprised of a sweet corn, micro green & chile oil. White gave you a mixture of both spicy and sweet. The salad was very refreshing and helped to cleanse the palette. I’m not a fan of beets, but the pairing with Sonoma goat cheese, capers, baby green beans & citrus — dijon vinaigrette. Masked the taste of beets very well.
COURSE TWO: Poached Local Sturgeon.
Celery & radish salad, laid on top of a perfectly cooked Sturgeon, which then lay onto of steamed spinach, with adorned fingering potatoes. First off, A+ just on presentation, BUT that doesn’t mean jack if it doesn’t taste good. This had so many elements of flavor to it, that you wonder how they all went so well together. Not a fan of radishes either, but everything tasted great together.
COURSE THREE: Vanilla Beam Crème Brûlée & Dark Chocolate Berry Parfait.
I chose the Crème Brûlée and my girlfriend had the Berry Parfait. The Crème Brûlée had a perfectly done, candied sugar top with a warm and sweet French style custard below. And the parfait was amazing; dark chocolate layered with whipped cream and fresh raspberry sauce and fruit. All of which was served in a wine flute!
OVERVIEW: Great location, nice classy atmosphere, friendly staff, and great food!

I am a fan!
I will be honest… when I walked in here, I was not expecting that much. I thought it was going to be yet another restaurant in Sacramento that had let me down, but I was pleasantly surprised!
We had just missed happy hour, which was unfortunate, but the prices for non happy-​hour dinner were still pretty reasonable. It was somewhat disconcerting that there was hardly anyone in the restaurant when we walked in, but this can be somewhat misleading because the main entrance opens up into a bar area and then when you walk past the bar area, it opens up into another room that has some larger tables and booths. Still, a place like Foundation should not be this empty during dinner time, given that they are actually serving pretty good quality foods. I suspect that they are busier during the lunch rush and during happy hour.
Food:
+Gorgonzola burger: I had some misgivings about trying this burger, but my friend saw a picture of it on Unilocal and was like «we must get this,» and so we did. Thick cut bacon, caramelized shallots, and creamy gorgonzola sauce? Yes, this was as good as it sounds. Anytime there are caramelized shallots, I am a fan.
+Bacon garlic flat bread: This is $ 10 normally and $ 8 during happy hour and oh my goodness, this was so delicious. I could eat this all day. This flatbread has white garlic sauce, bacon, mushrooms, and green onion, and as I am a fan of all of those ingredients, this was automatically a winner.
Drinks:
+Passion fruit lychee martini: I mostly ordered this because I like passion fruit and I like lychee, so why not try them in martini form? Turns out I was right to suspect that this would be a tasty combination.
+Berry drop: This was pretty good as well, though in my opinion, not as good as the passion fruit lychee martini. It was a bit more sour than I would have liked.
tl;dr: Overall, a definite good find in downtown Sac. Farm to fork with delicious food for a reasonable price. I will definitely be back at some point to try some more of their flatbreads and other offerings– hopefully at happy hour!

A couple of years ago I checked out this place when it was called 4^th Street Grill. I’m not sure if they just changed names, or if they went through a complete change in ownership. Nonetheless, 4^th Street Grill was delicious, and my recent experience at Foundation was equally satisfying.
Upon entering the restaurant we were warmly greeted by a staff member who promptly led us to our seats. Shortly after we were seated by our waiter Cameron. Our group was pretty indecisive in regards to what we wanted to order (it takes an extremely patient waiter to handle these kind of situations). Cameron was kind enough to give us a detailed rundown of the popular items on the menu, and provide us with his personal favorites. I ended up selecting the Gorgonzola burger (one of his recommendations).
Everyone in my group were satisfied with their selections. The only complaint (it’s really no biggie), was that there was a long waiting period for our food. However, because the food was fresh (not the norm at all establishments), we didn’t feel the need to mention it. Customer service + food was noteworthy, I will definitely be back!

Foundation was our lunch stop during a private charter of Sac Bike Bus. Our group had several menu options including:
–Cider brined pork tenderloin, grilled with an oyster mushroom and apple risotto, moscato-​thyme simple syrup and goat cheese crisps
–Housemade meatloaf, sweet tomato jus, mashed potatoes, braised garlic spinach and a crispy fried oyster mushroom
–Blackened salmon and crisp white corn polenta with shellfish heirloom tomato-​fennel broth and California olive tapenade
–Grilled Portobello and asparagus tortellini with oven roasted tomatoes, shallots, basil, olive oil and fresh parmesan
Beverages ranged from iced tea, lemonade, soda, draft beer, white or red wine.
I had the salmon, and although portion size seemed a bit small, it was a very good meal, the perfect light lunch since we continued to pedal our way toward Old Sac for more eats/​drinks. The staff at Foundation was ready with our food, had the tables/​chairs all set up when we got there, etc. Our tour guide recommended the Happy Hour as well, I may have to try it sometime. This spot will definitely benefit from the new ESC.