Hawks Publichouse

This place is ridiculously expensive with the tiniest food portions I’ve ever experienced. The patatas appetizer were like 7 small wedge French fries stuffed in a crème Brule dessert cup. My «full sized» spaghetti entrée (between regular and full sized) should have been more like a kids sized entrée. I was just blown away at how pretentious the portions and prices were for a simple restaurant that’s on Alhambra Blvd of all places!!! Grrr.
Service wasn’t great either. My friends and I went when it wasn’t busy and our server (maybe he was just having a bad day — we all do) wasn’t all that friendly, and took maybe 25−30min to take our order.
Will definitely not be returning. :/

Both the drinks and the food were amazing.
For drinks we got their Gimlet and Stockton. The gimlet was awesome — had a bit of spice to it and also coconut which was different. One of the better cocktails I’ve had in terms of being both different and good.
For food, we had the patatas bravas, pork belly, pasta fusilli, and braised beef with polenta. All of the dishes were very good.
Ambience wise it was a little loud in part because it has an open kitchen layout but I liked it.
Overall, this was one of the best I’ve been to in Sacramento and we’ll definitely be back.

Went yesterday and everything was unbelievably great! You should definitely visit this place.

Bingo!!! Wow! What a treat! Great drinks, service, plating, taste, and ambience. Every item comes out fresh and perfect! Spicy salami, beet salad, the kale Caesar were all awesome!

There’s a lot of hype surrounding this new place, and I can certainly see why. The space is small but not cramped, with a large wall of high end booze behind the bar, windows on all sides, and well done lighting.
We were greeted by a very polite waiter named Matt, and we chose to sit at the bar.
The bartender was definitely new, and was honest about it. He was also friendly, though pretty slow. The place became packed, and a second bartender showed up.
The service was excellent in that the waiters were friendly, the bartender, who was new, was up front about it and asked for help– which was readily given. That’s good teamwork, and makes for better clientele experience.
So, the food. Honestly? It’s WAY overpriced for what they serve. If your restaurant charges $ 18 – 25 for a plate, it had better be farm to table or high end. Hawk is neither.
We tried the Ciccioli, a lemon drop and a gin fizz. All were pretty good. I have to say the house made Ciccioli was the highlight, and worth trying.
Steak tartare– the house made rice crackers were awful, and the sauce overpowered the flavor of the meat. If you’re serving me raw beef, it’s because it’s high end. Honestly? Meh.
Rigatoni. I’ve heard people rave about it, and it was okay– the pasta was overcooked and mushy, and I just wasn’t excited about the sauce.
Burger. My honey had the burger and was so excited at the ingredient list– Gruyère, Carmelized onion. Yum. Except the burger meat itself wasn’t super flavorful. Fries were okay.
I wanted to be wowed, but this place is okay. I would return for drinks and cured meats, but not for the dishes. Way overpriced for the ingredients they use. Not worth it. I can pay $ 20 for a dish at Formoli’s or Biba and get quality that I just didn’t experience at Hawks.

While walking down Alhambra for my lunchtime walk, I noticed a sign that the Provisions side of Hawks is now open. There’s a severe drought of eateries in midtown and for those of us working hard throughout the week, we become lions during lunch and frantically search where our meal will come from. Like a Hawk, I swooped in to grab my meal.
There are two sides of Hawks: Provisions and Public House. Provisions is the sidewalk to-​go café with breakfast, sandwich, salad, and confections. I met Mike the co-​owner and he was friendly, informative, and said the food is all made in-​house.
I had the Croque Monsieur Sandwich (think fancy Grilled Ham and Cheese sandwich but with: Gruyère Cheese and Bechamel). I’m glad I took a picture before I started eating it because I found myself stuffing my mouth with the delicious french sandwich. The sandwich was crunchy on the edges and soft throughout the rest. The ham was salty as expected as with most hams and I was initially afraid it was going to be too salty. As I ate the sandwich, I was pleased that the salt did not overpower the sandwich and provided me a satisfying meal.
For my afternoon snack, I was equally impressed with their coffee cake. Generally only the top of the cake has the star ingredients of crumbs, cinnamon, and nuts. Hawk’s coffee cake had peeks and valleys — the toppings were infused during baking and I found myself, again aggressively finishing my snack.
The chips were standard and didn’t stick out like the sandwich or cake. The price is higher but well worth the quality. I can see myself eating here frequently and making it part of my weekly eateries.
Room for improvement would include: asking the customer if they would like a receipt, packing utensils, and more lunch items.

Great place for foodies. We needed translation on almost every menu item Lots of unfamiliar terms and ingredients. Who knew a sunchoke was a tuber closer to a potato?
We started off with a couple of cocktails, which are quite interesting productions. My friend had the liverwurst and I had a carrot salad with burrata, which was so delicious that my friend ordered a second. He needed a second because the salad is only five small carrots — which is my only complaint about this place. The portions are intended to give you a taste not a meal. I ordered rigatoni, and decided to get the «large» serving. Good thing I did — their «large» is a small everywhere else.
I’d go back, but not if I was hungry.

My friends and I came here a couple weeks ago. All of us were excited to try this place out. As other Unilocal reviews have mentioned the restaurant is small. We were seated in the middle section between the bar and the tables against the windows. It was a little uncomfortable for me. I was seated as close to the table as I possibly could and I was still getting hit by people as they walked by. Maybe high top tables in this section would be better? I think the tables would create more space for patrons.
Anyhow, all of us really like our food. We started with the patatas bravas and salami with parmesan cheese. I then tried the roasted sun chokes. This salad has mini artichokes with bacon, walnut, red frisee, and provolone cheese. The salad tasted a little salty for me, but I still liked it. For dinner, I had the fish. Again, I thought the dish was salty, but I still enjoyed it.
For dessert we shared a lemon and chocolate type dessert. (I can’t remember the exact names, sorry). The lemon was definitely my favorite between the two.
Our server was very nice and attentive. I’m definitely glad I came. However, I would like to try other dishes the next time I come.

Since this place is a couple miles from home, really wanted it to be good. Weeeelllll, it is and isn’t.
Ambiance is nice albeit kind of small. Only bad table in the place is the two top that’s only about 3 feet from the kitchen area so you constantly have servers walking right behind you. Didn’t have any trouble getting a table on a weeknight about 8 pm and bar seating was plentiful.
I think there were only 2 wines by the glass under $ 12 so opted for martini w/​blue cheese olives at $ 11. Would like to see more wine selection. Took a while for my first drink to mosey on over but second was served promptly.
All staff in house were very nice and food was served in an acceptable amount of time. Food as follows:
Pork belly @ $ 12 — feel we got gypped on this one. Our serving looked NOTHING like the pix of other posters. We received two pieces that were ¼ inch thick. Flavor on one was good, the other overcooked. Charred veg that accompanied was very nice.
Steak Tartare @ $ 14 — serving portion was generous. Like a decent sized hamburger patty. Only problem is that it was severely under seasoned. I mean like none at all. I added a few dashes of S&P. Could have used maybe a mustard oil drizzled on the side. Quality of beef was excellent though and rice cracker was tasty.
Polenta w/​braised beef @ $ 26 — well cooked small fist size serving of beef over ½ cup of polenta.
Dessert @ $ 6 — some type of cake w/​ice cream — cake dry and forgettable; ice cream was excellent.
All told, $ 91 before tip that included 2 drinks only. Luckily DH and I aren’t huge eaters or we would have walked away hungry. Pretty small portions over all for the price so bring a wad of cash or cc! I «assumed» this was supposed to be a more casual version of the Hawks restaurant but the pricing doesn’t warrant that designation. Not a place we will visit every week or two and I’m disappointed about that. The place has a Formoli’s type of vibe at a much higher price point for comparable food. Just not worth it at this time.

Wow! We’ve enjoyed food throughout USA, Montréal/​Quebec, Europe and Asia. The dining experience here is super. We’ve been twice for dinner enjoying liverwurst, steak tartare, soup, trout, and the braised beef. All prepared perfectly. Service was spot-​on. Yes, it’s a little busy and perhaps slightly noisy. And, maybe the owners should have leased a larger space. Yet, this is only a minor issue; and, frankly the layout is well done and instills a positive dining atmosphere. Besides, some Americans need to slow down when dining IMO. Food of this quality is quite difficult to find in Sacramento even at some of the major well-​known midtown establishments.

I would give this restaurant 3 ½ stars. A nice addition to the Sacramento food scene. The ambience was quaint. The service was good. The food was good. There was plenty of free parking in back lot of the restaurant.
We ordered several appetizers, the kale Caesar salad with egg, roasted sun-​chokes, and steak tartare. The appetizer portions were small and although good, they are not satisfying enough. I would recommend in lieu of ordering from the appetizer list, order a main course to share as a starter.
I had the roasted trout for a main course. The plate came with two decent size filets and was perfectly cooked. I would order this dish again.

Good quality, but pretty pricey.
We tried several menu items and all were good quality. Nicely done too. The pork sausage in the Radiatore is house made and nicely seasoned. The pasta is not house made, but everything else is and everything we had was a real taste sensation! They have a full bar and several draft beer selections.
Still, all in all, it’s just ok. The phenomenally high prices for the diet sized portions are a real detractor. The dining room is quite small and super loud. When we described that we wanted a burger served «pink but not bloody,» the server demanded we choose a traditional label like «medium well.» That’s a real annoyance for me.

This place was fantastic! It’s walking distance from our apartment so the Hubbs and I headed over for an impromptu date night on a Wednesday evening. It was not crazy busy we’d but we chose to sit at the bar because it was so beautiful. This place is very nicely decorated. We were greeted right away and given water. It did not take long to place our order and our food came out very quickly. Our experience with the service was quick and friendly. I had the pork belly and my husband had the burger. Both were absolutely delicious!
My only reason for rating it 4 stars is I believe the drinks are way over priced for being a Sacramento restaurant just over from the freeway. My sparkling rose was $ 12 a glass. Kinda ridiculous. Most of the cocktails were $ 12-​$ 15. These are prices I would expect to see in the city in San Francisco. Not just off the grid in Sacramento. My husband and I would love to come back here often if it wasn’t so overpriced.

Was so excited for this place to finally open up. First impression is a very small restaurant, but it has cute charm.
Also, my boyfriend and I both work in the industry, so we are not «picky» diners who want to sub this and remove this, or complain that something is taking to long, cause trust me we get it.
What was weird was that it took almost 10 minutes for our server to greet us, ok maybe he was tied up with something else. But then another 10 minutes just for water. But everything else was nicely time after that, but just was a little odd that after a 25 minute wait to be seating, we had to wait another 20 for a glass of water– but no problem. I’m sure our server had a lot of other things going on at that moment.
This is the thing that got to me– this was the hairiest meal I have ever had, you heard me, hairy. The first one was found with the bread, then the fries, you get the point. No it was my hair, although I’d love to have thick luscious hair like the ones in my food. We should have said something, but we didn’t because I know these things happen every once in a while and when I’m the one serving a table I know how it feels to get that complaint, I can get past one hair, but it was quite unpleasant when you come across multiple.
Hopefully this isn’t an issue for anyone else, but when you dropping 75+ you don’t want the «extras» lol

This place is the same owners as the Hawks in Roseville but the menu is different. The place is really cute, I enjoy the cozy and classy atmosphere. The food was overall pretty good. I like how they offer smaller portions of the pasta so you can order try multiple items to try. The burger was really juicy and tasty. The pasta I ordered was bit salty. The kale Cesar with the six minute egg was okay.
Their lemon drop and Riesling was great. They bring the bottle of wine to your table and pour it in front of you. Nice touch! Will be back to try other the items on the menu.

Service:
We arrived at 6:55, and were told reservations would be 30.mins. After 35 minutes of waiting we were assured that the table would be ready soon. At 50 minutes I start to get hangry. Finally we were seated at 8;09 pm. It would have been nice to know that it would take that long to wait that way we could weigh our choices to stay. But after trying the food I’m glad that I waited.
Our server and the bar tenders provided excellent service. My water cup was always full and our server was very good at giving recommendations.
moral of the story get reservations for busy times.
Food/​Drinks:
They have all types of drinks at the bar. Specialty cocktails range from $ 9−15ish. I’m not really much of a drinker; I’m more of a food person. My friends had the Stone Coffee Milk stout, and they really liked it.
The water is filtered and they have Sparkling water as an option for a small fee. Our table decided to do family style and ordered the pork belly, Berkshire pork chop, Tartar, and rib eye special [serves 2].
Ribeye — Fan Tas Tic! OMGEE this meat is good. The order comes with fingerling potatoes and creamed kale. The potatoes were nice, and roasted, but the creamed kale was a bit on the salty side. The ribeye was tender, chard, and very flavorful. As soon as I ate it my «hanger» went away. I’m salivating right now as I write this. heh.
Edit: After looking at Empress I have to say that the Rib eye here is quite a deal.
Other things worth mentioning: coffee gelato, Tartar, even the bread was good.
One cool thing is they have a pre-​fixed 4 course meal on Sundays. I’m definitely going to check this out the next time I get the chance.

Get here early if you don’t want to wait and there isn’t a lot of room for that, but for me that’s the biggest downside. In all other categories…2 thumbs up! Though this spot is small, for me that is part of what makes it cool and fun. Wait staff was very busy but kept their good humor; were well versed on menu items, wine list and I saw some beautiful cocktails made in front of me as my friend and I sat at the bar.
Between my friend and I we sampled the following: spicy salami, potatas, kale Caesar (beyond yummy but a tad salty), and delightful chocolate dessert. All were wonderful. Our barmates to left and right had beet salad, pasta w/​clams, burger and romanesco/​smoked trout. Based upon all their accounts and our experience I can’t wait to go back.
As for the price… it may not be for every weekend but worth it when you make it your choice for a nice evening. It’s the price of quality food and drink in a great atmosphere. Cheers!

Great new place! Small but they’ve really done a great job with the space to not make it feel cramped. Very cozy and cool. Nice bar space, don’t feel like the tables are on top of each other, and you can have your own conversation. The service was fantastic. Julian, the manager, stopped by to make sure everything was taken care of and gave a wonderful personal touch to our experience. A very nice guy showing they’ve done a great job with staffing this place too.
The food was awesome; well worth the wait of this place opening. One of the best burgers in town, the spicy salami and parmesan killed it, the cauliflower was really unique, the carrot salad was a real winner, the pork chop and halibut were perfectly cooked.
The cocktail menu was also a winner. The three of us tried several and there were still more good looking options to try. The concept is one we have several of in Sacramento, with Grange and Localis among a few others to do really elevated farm to fork fare. The great thing is that they all have something unique to share in their vision and this is no different. Hawks definitely stands on its own with some of the dishes it serves. We will definitely be going back.

So excited this place opened in Sacramento. We just lucked out and found it three days after it had opened. We absolutely LOVED everything. It’s kind of small and cozy. Hip, urban décor, friendly staff and amazing food. It was the perfect date night.
The menu isn’t huge, but we sampled several dishes and they just kept getting better. Amy, was our server and she was awesome. Super friendly and fun.
I had a lemon drop cocktail and it was so fresh and delicious… I had to have two. I can’t wait to go back and try everything else. Great addition to the Sacramento restaurant scene. Will definitely be on our regular rotation.

Well East Sac/​Midtown, you are moving on up. This place is pretty high end. Its not for everyone, as one of my buddies that was with me, said the place was not enough «meat and potatoes for him.» I see this place being a great date place.
Smaller plates. People will probably complain about the prices. Its quality food. You have to pay for quality. If you just want a regular burger, go under the biz 80 to Suzies. I had Liverwurst for the 1^st time ever in public. It was awesome! I also had the homemade olives and the Steak Tartar.
The people next to me at the bar sampled everything. They ate like it was their last meal. They loved everything too.
Like I mentioned before, the plates are bit small, even the burger, but the quality is way up there. The service is the same high quality as the food. The wine and beer prices are equal to the quality of the offerings. There was actually a nice glass of white wine for 5 bucks. You wont find Bud light here.
I see the place being really loud when its busy. Concrete floors, glass walls, high ceilings. The only other knock is the parking. I see people getting frustrated because the only entrance is on Stockton. So if you are coming from the West, you have to make a left across 2 lanes, if you come from the southeast, and you miss it, you have to go around the block. Supposedly a sign is coming.
If you want to class up your dinner, come here. If you complain about prices and small plates, go to IHOP down the street.