The Most Flavorful Diners in Sacramento

Cantina Azteca

★★★★☆ 4.2 (564) • $$

"Great service, attention to our children, and food. The best experience we had in any restaurant in a while. Prompt seating, hot food, perfect amount of attention from our server, Gloria!"

Chubby's Diner

★★★★☆ 4.4 (502) • $$

"The service is fast and the food is amazing. Their number 10 item on the breakfast menu is chicken fried steak with gravy, hash browns, and toast. I eat a ketogenic diet. When I take vacations, this is the bomb!"

Rey Azteca Restaurant Bar

★★★★☆ 4 (588) • $$

"Visited again yesterday, consistently amazing food and friendly service. Never a bad experience."

Roc & Sol Diner

★★★★☆ 4.4 (413) • $$

"First visit to Roc & Sol Diner. Attentive servers got us seated pretty quickly. We love the Oregon Blue Cheese salad and follow these folks wherever they offer it. Branched out to try the vegetable scramble with hash brown. Large entrees with lots of vegetables allowed me to take home a generous portion, yum. Pleasant and professional folks. Acoustics pretty good, easy to have conversations. Easy parking. We'll be back."

Mel & Faye's Diner

★★★★☆ 3.6 (520) • $$

"Found ourselves in Jackson tonight and there were only a couple of restaurants open within walking distance. We didn't want to pay for the more expensive Italian restaurant and ended up at Mel and Faye's. The place was hopping! Inside and outside. We ended up getting and splitting a 10 oz NY Steak w/salad, vegetables, Texas toast and baked potato. It was more than enough for both of us. Our server was adorable! I can't remember the last time we got that kind of attention, especially when they were so busy and missing a couple of servers. It was obviously a favorite for locals and it was enjoyable to watch their interactions."

Pancake Circus

★★★☆☆ 3.1 (554) • $$

"Nostalgic atmosphere like your from the 70s. Loved everything about the old decor reminded me as a child growing up eating with my parents in the 70s. Flavorful. Really good breakfast and their pancakes were good as well. This is an old gem"

Flapjacks

★★★★☆ 3.9 (340) • $$

"A classic diner with a friendly staff that provides exceptional service and delectable dishes. The portions were generous and the prices were reasonable considering the amount of food provided."

Bert's Diner

★★★★☆ 3.5 (404) • $$

"Great diner that takes you back in time! Food is delish, service is fast and friendly and you will leave stuffed! Love the atmosphere as well, they still keep it very retro with the jukebox and you can still play songs from your table! They also have an outdoor patio as well. I was craving breakfast and splurged with the chicken fried steak breakfast with hash browns. Hubby had lunch and opted for the mushroom burger with fries. The chicken fried steak was epic, cooked perfect and huge! Hubby loved his mushroom burger and satisfied his craving for a good burger. I saw that they have some great specials on Fridays and Sundays so I will need to return soon!"

The Original Mels

★★★☆☆ 3.1 (498) • $$

"Came here for dinner. Customer service was great. The location and vibes were good. Ordered chicken and waffles. Which was good. The chicken tenders were above average. While also being nice and crispy. The waffles were really good."

Original Mikes Diner

★★★☆☆ 3.4 (375) • $$

"10/29/2023Visiting our old stomping grounds..I know I've had reviews in the past..So good to see they are doing really well..Lots of regulars and buzzing with friendly staff..Orders: breakfast burrito- big and full of ingredients..Two egg with bacon - perfect and hit the spot for me..Son got the scrambled eggs and sausage and he devoured it!So glad we came!Coffee was always filled to the brim!Can't wait for lunch.."

California Burgers

★★★☆☆ 2.9 (466) • $$

"I had a chili cheeseburger with fries.Burger was cooked perfect and the chili was on point.Fries were good as well.The man at the counter was personable and the food was ready within 5-10 minutes.Restaurant was neat and clean.I will be going back here again.Thank you for the pleasant experience."

The Original Mels

★★★☆☆ 3.3 (263) • $$

"So happy to finally check out this Mel's Diner after being closed for construction upgrades! I love how the hostess asked for our drink order after she sat us down. It was a hot day and we were thirsty! Next Jessica took care of us as we ordered our delicious Mel's Sampler (chicken strips, buffalo wings, beer battered onion rings, fries, mozzarella sticks, BBQ sauce, ranch dressing and marinara dipping sauce), Philly cheesesteak sandwich, corned beef and hash, and kid's grilled cheese sandwich. Delicious food, great hospitality, reasonable prices, clean restaurant and restrooms, love the music from back in the day and cheerful ambience! Thank you, Jessica, for taking great care of our family!"

Sterling Café

★★★☆☆ 3.3 (263) • $$

"Food is make fresh and server is friendly with big smiles. Playing nice jazz music great breakfast/ lunch place."

Firehouse Cafe

★★★★☆ 4.1 (74) • $

"We stopped here for breakfast burritos and yes they were the best in the county I'd say. Kind family establishment. Service was good."

Royal India

★★★★☆ 3.5 (45) • $$

"Mixed feelings.... the food tasted good, the issue was there wasn't much of it. It's been a good minute since I've been to an Indian AYCE lunch buffet but the ones I've been to usually had a selection twice the size. Ambiance is non-existent, didn't feel like you were stepping into little India or anything, more like a basic dining room. My family loves goat curry (over lamb curry) and we were happy to see that it was one of the very few items to choose from....HOWEVER.... there was hardly an anyy meat in the container, it was 90% sauce and so we asked him to refill it. Each time he put in basically enough for 1 person, we asked about 4 times over the course of an hour so since there are 10 of us, most did not get any. I personally prefer butter chicken and it tasted pretty good here. There was another curry with chicken but didn't try it because I'm happy with my butter chicken. Buffet includes fresh made naan but only the plain kind, most other places included garlic naan. Not a deal breaker since it tasted amazing fresh out the oven but noteworthy if you're expecting garlic to be included. Tandoori chicken was decent, didn't bother with desserts. They didn't even have samosas, just some strange deep fried thing that resembled a finger. The guy running the front of house seemed a new, he didn't know about the yelp check in deal and he rarely checked on us for water etc. My family were already a little mad at him with the goat curry situation, maybe it wasn't his call but you know, we need to blame somebody lol. It had the potential to get 5 stars from me, I don't need a big selection since I'm happy as long as my favorites are present, plus your eyes are bigger than your stomach. But since I'm reviewing in behalf of our entire party it loses a star due to the goat situation. Here's my reason why it lost the 4th star also..... they charge for babies/toddlers! Anybody under 8 pays 50%, we had a 2yr old and a 3yr old that were basically content with rice and naan. I'm not sure if this common now but I don't recall a time when a restaurant charged for people this young. Toddlers can't eat 50% of an adult, they probably struggle with 10%, 5-8yrs old I understand but below that? Ridiculous."