Powell's Steamer Co. & Pub

Probably my 6th time coming in and it's always great! Good food, good service and I always get the Mermaid! Highly recommend!

My sister and I stopped in tonight for some of their special lobster bisque. Everything on the menu sounded great and I was was not disappointed with my Lazy Man's Cioppino. It was flavorful and chock full of yummy seafood, but one thing surprised me. They serve sourdough and butter while you wait and we were expecting toasty , crisp rolls, and butter. We got sourdough, but it came as a few slices of par-baked soft sourdough with pats of butter. My sister's crab and avocado "sandwich" was loaded with the good stuff...on top of the same soft, crumbling slices of cold sourdough. We both agreed that based on the menu's description, we were expecting warm, crusty roll. I know this is primarily a bar, but changing the bread would be a simple change for the kitchen, a minimal cost increase for the owners, and a HUGE improvement for the customers. I owned a very successful restaurant so I know what the cost to make a change like this would be. It's just a recommendation. Otherwise, our service good and the ambiance, although on the loud side, was fine. After all, people were there having fun and drinking together so it should be on the loud side. It's a good sign :-)

Let's start with the positive. The oysters tasted fresh and they were shucked fairly well. That's it. The crab and shrimp sandwich tasted like what you'd expect a seafood sandwich from a gas station would taste like. Bread was dry, tasted old. The clam chowder was not New England and not Manhattan. Skip it. The pasta was nothing to write home about. Boxed noodles. Added "prawns" but they just tossed in a few precooked small shrimp. Sauce was tasty but there was not enough of it to overcome the rest of the issues. The male bartender that took our order was nice and attentive for as long as he could be (the bar got busy). They waitress that took over didn't know what she was going,

I can't believe I've never wrote a review for Powell's (as locals call it) This is one of our favorite places for entertainment and seafood. It's a restaurant and bar so they have live music every other Tuesday till 7pm for taco Tuesday. And on the weekends there's always live music or karaoke too! I love that I my loves to dance, and I do too! The shrimp tacos are yummy and the fish tacos are huge. They have a mango salsa that keeps me coming back for more! The patio out back is dog and smoker friendly right above Hangtown creek where we love to go feed the fish and crawdads that feast below with a frenzy! Everyone is always very kind and friendly that we've meet there it's a good vibe place! My only complaint which is silly, is I wish they would get a bread warmer for the sourdough bread that comes with the chowder ect. It would really make it yummier. I grew up in Monterey so I'm spoiled by the warm bread there they serve with the chowder. Lol

So frustrating ! We used to come here every Sunday afternoon for a great Lovie salad, clam chowder...almost everythingon the menu was great. And fantastic live music. We quit coming cuz it went downhill after covid. We tried again today. AWFUL.No Louie on the menu. Clam chowder looks like thickened corning starch and the lack of chowder favor is disguised by overwhelming spice. The shrimp cocktail was too spicy to finish ... gobs of sauce a big layer of shredded celery and a small portion of tiny shrimp. And the prices have tripled!!But the music absolutely ruined it. So loud we couldn't hear our server or talk to one another. That might have been ok if one of the singers seemed to be unable to carry a tune. The guitar playing was amazing, but it couldn't rescue the bad singing and overwhelming volume.I left with ranging ears as though i was in the front row of a Metallica concert. Just sad....

The food is great; the staff is very friendly and provides excellent service; and the venue has a fun relaxed atmosphere; and the live music is also very good. It's on Main Street in the beautiful town of Placerville, CA - a sweet town in the foothills of California, about 35 miles from Sacramento, the state's capitol.

The doors were open but kitchen not open until 12 so we had a drink while waiting. I had 1/2 lazy man's chiopino, no shells, it was excellent served with fresh bread. Our waitress was friendly. The place was clean.

I finally got back to try the cioppino and it is great. my wife had the special lobster bisque and it was so delicious she didn't even want to give me any. If you are going past Placerville this a great place for a stop and a great bar as well.

So we've eaten here 3-4 times and gotten drinks there 3 separate times. The drinks are always good, affordable and quick (they're also open late and serving drinks to go on nights like Oktoberfest and the Block Party) but the food is a 2/10. It's always over cooked, seafood is flavorless; they're cutting corners on quality. Service is usually pretty good, quick and very friendly. We'll come back for the drinks but unfortunately I do not recommend it for food. We've gotten everything from the crab burger, shrimp salad, shrimp scampi, clam chowder, and of course the 1/2 shell oysters. If I said unremarkable, it would be a compliment- it's all pretty remarkably bad.

I'm a regular here. The cool Cheers vibe where everyone knows your name is welcoming and Sheila the owner is funny and great. They have great garlic shrimp linguine and lobster bisque. It's definitely a stop on your way to Tahoe or if you're a local welcome to your local Cheers bar.