The Cornerstone

We decided to eat at The Cornerstone after not having eaten here in a couple of years. What a disappointment. The quality of the food was nowhere near what it used to be. My husband ordered the Denver Omelet and I had the Breakfast Burrito. The food was lackluster. It just didn’t taste good. Service was very bad. Our server was friendly but really inattentive. We waited quite some time before she even noticed we were sitting at a table. We waited for our coffee and she forgot to bring my take-​out box. When it came time to pay the bill, she didn’t come to our table so I finally got up and went to the register. I won’t be coming back anytime soon. It was disappointing to see a place that I enjoyed eating at in the past, go down hill.

Glad that they’re back near their original location. Love going for breakfast and way better vibe then when they were sharing with Headhunters. Service is great (most of the same staff followed to the new location), food is off the chain (speaking on behalf of breakfast), and large open space with cool décor.
Check them out!

The Cornerstone opened Nov. 1 in its third different Sacramento location, and next to its original location, one storefront west from corner of 24^th and J Streets. I hadn’t dined at the location’s second location, but after its two-​year absence from its original home, I was eager to return.
A classic greasy spoon for years, breakfast at The Cornerstone is all about comfort food. Ditto lunches. Homemade soups and sandwiches served quickly and reasonably priced made it a «go-​to» place for lots of midtown regulars. Breakfast was (and hopefully will continue to be) all about hearty comfort food — eggs, pancakes, french toast, etc.
The only downside to the original location was the combination of poor ventilation and an old kitchen with an old grill. Comfort food is great, but clothes smelling like comfort food isn’t so great.
The new location is the former home to River Rock Tap House, an unheralded midtown pub with good service, friendly servers, a grand selection of beer on tap and a lousy air conditioning system. The new Cornerstone location has also been a few other restaurants, most notably two quick-​lunch Mexican joints.
The reason I mention River Rock Tap House is because the beer taps from the previous establishment are all still in place and if, all goes well, the Cornerstone’s liquor license will commence January 1, 2013. That means lots of beer and as well as a full bar.
I arrived at the new location at 7:45 a.m. on opening day. Most tables were empty and new servers were still learning the registers. I ordered one of the early bird specials (it’s a substantial list of mix-​n-​match fare). I had two scrambled eggs (perfect), home fries (perfect) and two slices of sourdough toast (slightly under toasted). The cost: a perfectly reasonable (read: cheap) $ 3.95. Coffee is extra.
The new Cornerstone location still needs a makeover and/​or a good interior spin-​n-​span cleaning and some new paint. There’s a good supply of unused chairs and other equipment stuff into the back corner of the room. Better lighting might help. But since it was opening day. .. the place gets a break.
The Cornerstone opens at 6:30 a.m. and will now serve breakfast and lunch. When the liquor license is approved, dinner will be served and with hours to midnight. With its proximity to other restaurants and establishments like Harlow’s, the new location of The Cornerstone could do well.
I didn’t ask breakfast if will be available at night. But a comfort food breakfast and Bloody Mary or a cold tap beer sounds like a good option before a show at Harlow’s. If the new location has a good ventilation system and leaving The Cornerstone without smelling like the kitchen is the norm, then count me in.

My friend and I get there early for the early bird special. It is awesome, you seat yourself and someone is there to get your drink/​food order and it’s a very pleasant place.
What we like is that they have Pepsi products, good iced tea and coffee and we can both eat for under $ 11 to $ 15 total.

It was absolutely gorgeous outside so the girls and I hit up the patio for brunch. I’m talking Jessica T., Debbie P. and Angela G. sitting on the patio with our sunglasses on and sippin’ on some cranberry mimosas.
We were all in a great mood, just chatting away about boys, yoga and psychics until the server brought me a teensy-​weensy junior rookie mimosa glass about half the size of the other glasses at the table. I stopped mid-​gabfest and gave him whatfor (with a smile and wink, of course). Turns out they were having a busy day and ran out of big girl glasses. He was right on top the refill as soon as I hit the dangerously low mark.
It was brunch time and I was leaning toward the «unch’ side so went with the veggie sandwich. It was a tough call because they also have three vegetarian burgers on their menu. In the realm of veggie sandwiches, this was a winner. All the vegetables were fresh and flavorful and piled on some nice crunchy grilled bread. There was no sign of wilted lettuce, no pale mealy tomatoes, and not a hint of brown on the avocado. Hooray!
My mealtime partners represented the breakfast side of brunch with some omelettes. The eggs were fluffy and the omelettes were chock full of goodies. Every fiber of my being fought against the compulsion to stab a forkful and drag it over to my plate but I am a nice, polite lady and I was on a diet that day.
At the old location on J Street, Cornerstone was known as a greasy spoon but our meals proved that they have graduated to a real breakfast contender.
*Headhunters is the bar and Cornerstone is the kitchen that is located inside of Headhunters. This review is specifically for Cornerstone.

Until I can come back and have a bit of food or perhaps spend brunch here this place just SUCKS.
The entire headhunters/​cornerstone collaboration has SUNK down a long, long ways.
Used to be fun and open now packed and filled with horrid live music and long wait times on food, blah…

As much as I like the idea and location of the Cornerstone, I think it needs some work to become a spot people will really gravitate to as a nightly hangout. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic when it comes to summer breakfast on their handsome patio. Their service is also fairly spot on and the food is above average. But when I came here with a large group on a Friday night during Unilocal Drinks week we just wanted to leave right away. Why? They had some sort of awful piano/​karaōke/​showtune disaster going on and the place was ridiculously crowded. Service kept up and our food came in a timely manner, but it was mainly the musical train wreck that spurred us to go somewhere else in the district that had some booty-​shaking tunes. Nix the showtunes and you’ll have yourself a more diverse crowd on a Friday.

I love Cornerstone, at the old dirty corner on J Street, inside the HeadHunter, under a bridge, whatever.
The new digs are fine, (everyone is trippin’ ignore them.) They even have a great patio and TV’s.
I only eat at Cornerstone for BREAKFAST, not sure why, but I digress. The BACON people is DIVINE… salty, thick, chewy goodness… only served at the Cornerstone…
My son & I went on Christmas Eve, very festive, very nice wait staff… I had the Bacon and eggs… cooked to perfection with the potatoes and toast, M had French Toast and ate every last bite (that never happens) and kept asking me as he is eying my Bacon «Are you gonna eat that???» as I threw him a half of a piece we both laughed and remembered all the great times we’ve had at Cornerstone…
It’s as GREAT as ever. Oh, get there before 8:30am and get a slammin’ great price on some breakfast specials…
C-​Ya Cornerstone… PS: Save some Bacon for me XOXO LL

French toast that’s looks like it was rolled over in the parking lot? That’s how un-​fluffy it was. Vanilla… didn’t taste any. Cinammon? Nope. Grease/​butter? Oh yeah. In fact, it was greasy enough to leave a nice French toast outline on my plate. The sunny side up eggs were unsalted, but otherwise well cooked. The bacon was crisp, but seemed a little tough. Now, the sausage. It kind of looked like they came from one of those frozen packages you find in your local supermarket. If that wasn’t bad enough, the sausage were small and dry — overcooked by far.
Despite the mediocre food, the wait staff was nice and came by often to refill water or coffee.
Décor seemed a little disjointed to me, but otherwise not distracting. It seems to try to be both a night spot and a regular restaurant which I guess makes the décor seem a little bipolar or schizo — unable to decide what it wants to be.

The scrambles are yummy. The omelettes are good (but I am not a big fan of the chili omelette – the chili is subpar, in my opinion). The coffee was good and my cup was refilled without my having to wave someone down. The potatoes were good. Another reviewer said something about the potatoes being bland, but I liked them. But then, I’m Irish, and I haven’t met a potato I didn’t like.
Staff were friendly. We didn’t have a wait. There’s fun art displayed.
Parking can be a pain. Bring quarters for the meter.

Went here this past 2^nd saturday with my bf and his mom for dinner. Guess we were looking for a mom & pops type of diner and my bf had suggested Cornerstone, I had no clue why cause it most definitely was far from it. Service was great, food uh, not so much. I ordered the patty melt and it was a bit disappointing. My onions were choppy and was not sauteed completely with no flavor whatsoever, meat was seasoned pretty funky, tasted a lot like black pepper and not like real beef? Side salad was delicious, but who can f*ck up a side salad right? My bf’s mom enjoyed her breakfast platter and my bf just kind of ate his breakfast sandwich? Eggs, ham & cheese I believe. Service was excellent, but the food was not yummy, sorry. Reasonable pricing for mediocre food.
On a happier note, the band that played that night was great ;)
I probably won’t eat here again, but will go for some drinks and the great band.

Meh — I wasn’t too big a fan when it was in its original location and I am still not too big a fan. However, I do applaud the partnership which allowed two midtown businesses to keep on trucking.
I have only been for breakfast food items. The Benedict was cold and the hollandaise was lacking flavor. However, it wasn’t prohibitively expensive and I left full. I also like the unique way they do their potatoes (but I always have to add salt and I am not that big of a salt person which is a give away that they are waaaaay too bland.)
I have been with friends when they have ordered lunch items and I must say the veggie burger looks tempting — but it hasn’t happen organically yet and I am not going to go too far out of my way to eat here.
I am glad they are around for when I need that cheap and easy greasy spoon breakfast. They also have a great patio!

Overall, this a decent place to get a meal. I like the location, it’s not crowded, and the selection of items is pretty good. The service can be a little slow, but all the servers are very friendly. The food always tastes good and is cooked well.
I can’t give anymore than 3 stars for two reasons. First, I have noticed lots of cost cutting. For instance, the jelly/​Jam on the table is the cheapest possible, it tastes pretty lousy. Also the generic Equal and Splenda sweeteners available can ruin a nice glass of iced tea. Second, the place is falling into disrepair and is starting to seem dingy. It is a beautiful space, but one trip to the bathroom and it’s clear this place isn’t maintained very well. All the black sinks and urinals are dirty. For months there have been huge jagged holes in the walls by the urinals where there were once privacy barriers. The cement floor in front of the urinals is soaked with urine. I could go on, but you get the idea.
Just seems like the first priority of this business owner is cutting costs. Too bad, because with just a little attention this could be a 5 star establishment.

Yes it is now in Headhunters, but… the food is incredible as everyone knows (except the biscuits and gravy that came out cold, I didn’t eat them and the waiter actually asked what was wrong with them and took them off the bill). That’s what I call service-​people that pay attention.
I was brought the wrong beer twice (allowed to drink them) and not charged for them. I hope I don’t get anyone in trouble for that.
It doesn’t really sound like that great of a night out, but the waiter made it all better and was friendly, talkative and funny. Amazing how being acknowledged can make all the difference.
If you haven’t tried it DO, if you have go back. It wasn’t that busy for Second Saturday when all other places we tried had 30 – 45 minute waits.

We were en route from Mokelumne Hills to the Bay Area. And starving. I saw a number of reviews of this place and dragged my family here based on a bunch of good reviews.
To be fair, most reviews were about breakfast, and while they might make a terrific breakfast here, their lunch leaves something to be desired. I’m trying to be nice, but to say that it was a massive disappointment is an understatement.
I love dive bars, greasy spoons and native places so we went in search of that based on the many Unilocal reviews I read about the place. Let me say it again — I love great food and good people and I loathe writing bad reviews. Unless they are truly warranted.
This was kind of a seedy little place with no charm and the food was unimaginative at best. My MIL had a turkey sandwich, the kids and I burgers and my husband the sorriest excuse for a salad I’ve ever seen. Honestly, I could probably have had a better meal at McDonald’s — and I gave up eating there 20 years ago.
Save your time and your pennies — pick somewhere else. If you are in the market for a good breakfast, this may be for you, but if you love food — and places that serve it will, don’t end your search here. You’ll thank me for it!

The Cornerstone at its old location was one of the first places I ate at upon moving to Sacramento. It was 110 degrees outside and 95 in the restaurant. I called home and told my mom, «It gets so hot here that even the restaurants are hot.» The food was marginal and the coffee probably less hot than the temp outside, but more hot then the temp inside. :)
When I saw that the Cornerstone had relocated to Headhunters, I got an Edith Bunker expression on my face. It didn’t compute at first. After being there a couple times, I think its cool, but what is the deal with the service? I feel like Cornerstone moved into Headhunters and the bartenders were told, «Okay, now your waiters.»
When I have gone to the Cornerstone at Headhunters on week days, the service has been fine. When I went last Sunday, I don’t think the waiter ever wrote down what seat was getting what and forget some of our items. I was told he was new, but it seemed more an issue of training him rather than him being new.
I do think the food has improved. Even our dingy diners in Chicago had better food than the Cornerstone in its old location. Now, everything is more fresh and presented better. The restrooms at Headhunters are swanky compared to the ones at the old location. The restrooms in the old location were worst that freeway rest area rest rooms.
Cheers to Cornerstone and Headhunters for creating a unique marriage between restaurant and bar. I like the improvements I have seen. Let’s acknowledge that waiting tables is different than bartending and requires a system.

The Cornerstone used to be my favorite place to go for breakfast in Midtown. It was just a dingy little diner where you could get greasy food at the bar while reading the newspaper and down refill after refill of coffee. Every neighborhood needs one of those!
I was sad to see it was leaving it’s J Street location, but I finally got around to checking them out at their new spot this morning. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t seem the same.
Inside Head Hunters, a prominent member of the Lavender District, seems like an odd choice for the little diner. A lot of the atmosphere is lost in this new spot, and the service isn’t what it used to be either. In the old place, you couldn’t finish an article in the paper before your food was delivered, and your coffee cup was never less than half full. Coffee (and water) wasn’t flowing nearly as freely as it used to, and food took a while to arrive. We got 2 of our 5 meals, then the other 3 came out a good 5 minutes later. It’s tough to be polite and wait to eat for that much time!
On the plus side, their menu seems unchanged (it actually looks like they are the exact same menus). As long as I can get my veggie potato platter, I am a happy bruncher. Also the sign says they’re open late night, and I wouldn’t mind having one of those after a night of boozing, although I’m not sure how this restaurant would fit in with the late night Head Hunters atmosphere.
Other pluses: they now accept credit cards and serve booze.
Glad to see they’re still around, but it’s not quite the same Cornerstone.

What a great breakfast place. It is not the nicest looking place but the food is excellent.
You can sit down, order your food and eat all in 30 minutes easily. The prices are awesome and you get a ton of food.
The only thing I ask for is well done potatoes. They come out a little undercooked for my liking.
recap: great food, good service, great prices. If you are in midtown you have to come here for breakfast

Cornerstone is a greasy spoon in the best of the tradition — cheap plentiful food is what it’s all about. In the age of the Cheesecake Factory it’s nice to see a place like this still around.
No — it’s not got that corporate designer sterile cleanliness thing in the least — yes the flatware is beat to heck and you may just see a hair in your food. What that means to me is in the kitchen there isn’t a teen in a hair net reading the corporate recipe book like over at Starbucks. There is one of the owner’s family back there cooking your meal. Shoot me — I think it’s got a nice home town laid back feel.

I love the warm Sacramento sunshine, and I decided to take advantage of it on Friday morning. My legs finally felt normal again following Sunday’s marathon so I decided to do a brisk 5 mile walk zig-​zagging streets in Midtown. It was nearly 11 AM and the Cornerstone Restaurant just happened to be at my 5 mile mark. I had walked up an appetite, and I was ready for a hearty breakfast.
The restaurant wasn’t too crowded inside as most of the diners had occupied the handful of tables on the outside. I was greeted by two smiling waitresses who asked that I take a seat wherever I’d like. There are menus at the end of each table and there is a small board hand-​written with daily specials facing the front door as you enter. I don’t often see chicken breast used in omelette selections so I decided on the Ultimate Omelette (
), a glass of orange juice and lots of ice water.
My breakfast was brought to me in no more than five minutes. Exactly like Unilocal friend Miika M had reviewed, this omelette was HUGE and the chicken is moist and flavorful. I did like the home fries even though they were just crispy browned potatoes. Neither the omelette nor the potatoes were overly oily. It’s a mountain of food, and I managed to consume most of it which left me so stuffed I decided to skip dinner.
While the food is not spectacular or extraordinary this restaurant will wow you with quality ingredients, overall friendliness, efficiency and big, big portions. Come in with an appetite, and you’ll leave here happy too!