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    Foundation Restaurant & Bar

    3.9 (690 reviews)
    ModerateNew American, Bars
    Closed 11:30 am - 8:30 pm

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    FOUNDATION RESTAURANT & BAR ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Happy hour specials
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Foundation Restaurant & Bar

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    French Dip and order of fries
    Laura G.

    I've been going to foundation for over 10 years. Always a classic for a good time. Atmosphere and food is always amazing. Just went the other day with some friends and found out they are under new ownership. Still the same great menu but if you can even imagine better. New specials were great, they also have some new cocktails. The Hibiscus Paloma on their happy hour menu was amazing. They also have a better wine selection. If you've never been or haven't been in some time you must try again. This last time I went for the calamari, beef skewers and some chicken fettuccine alfredo. The brownie dessert was delicious. Bartenders, wait staff were very attentive and made sure everything was good and we were enjoying ourselves. Owners are also on site. It was a great experience. Whether you want lunch, happy hour or dinner this is a great choice.

    Braised Beef Short Rib Plate
    Janelle M.

    I've finally made it to Foundation as I have been wanting to check them out for years and I always get side tracked. My friends and I decided to try out their dinning Downtown menu which is a $45 3 course menu. All of us ordered the exact same thing. Appetizer we ordered the spicy fried green beans. Main course....Beef short rib with seasonal vegetables and potatoes. I held off on the potatoes. Dessert .... Apple crisp. The spicy green bean is delicious nice and crispy and the ranch I believe is homemade. The beef short ribs is a tender bender, juicy and so flavorful I wanted more it was chefs kiss. The Apple crisp was piping hot so good yet not overly sweet. It was topping with homemade cream. The inside the restaurant is very nice, it's spacious and if you want to dine at the bar is it ample space if you decide not to wait on a table if you don't have a reservation. I did order a cocktail from the bar. I ordered an espresso martini and it was terrible. I sent it back and ordered a lemon drop martini which is super refreshing and tasty. The service was pretty good. Our waitress seemed a little overwhelmed with all the tables she had, but still super friendly and did check un on us the best she could. I would highly recommend checking out Foundation it is a great food experience. :)

    Linda S.

    My first time at Foundation and here's what I think: the food was okay. Service was good. There's a bar and TVs to watch the games. It's dimly lit, good enough for a casual date or get together with a few friends. We did the dine in downtown menu. Spicy green beans-battered then fried. Different than what I am used to, but I really liked the crunch. Clam chowder was good. The chowder wasn't too thick and not too runny. I think it could use more clams, but the chowder tasted good. The braised beef was tender and the mash was buttery. Very rich and savory meal. This was a good hearty meal to enjoy while it was cold out. The salmon however was salty and the potatoes could be a little more crisp. This definitely wasn't what I would reorder. Desserts were good. The warm apple crisp was the best thing. I think it would've tasted better with french vanilla ice cream than whipped cream, but still tasty.

    Grilled Salmon Fillet
    Geoff M.

    **Came for the Dine Downtown event** Now, to be fair, the food and service were fine. Yelp needs an incremental rating system. I don't like to 'round up'. The overall experience was 3.6/5. Not bad by any means, not stellar, it was cool. Came in on a Thursday night and was seated promptly. Server was fine, the decor was curious, not sure if it is meant to be a sports bar, local bar, tavern, diner or a mix. Food Items: Spicy Fried Green Beans: 3.7/5 - Was fine. Nicely seasoned. Decent portion. New England Clam Chowder: 3.6/5 - Friend said it was fine, wish it was a bit thicker. Braised Beef Short Ribs: 3.6/5 - Friend said it was fine. Short rib was tasty. Potatoes were a bit firmer. They preferred a more smooth mashed potato experience. Grilled Salmon Filet: 4.1/5 - Salmon was cooked very nicely. The dish was heavily sauced, which is a pro/con as it took away from the salmon. Warm Apple Crisp: 3.5/5 - Was fine. More apples, cinnamon and granola. Missed the 'crisp' part of it. And it came with a cream, not ice cream, which was a bit different from the norm. The drinks were fine, average priced. Overall, if you haven't tried them, please do so. Come to your own conclusions. It was fine, service was quick, place was clean.

    Shrimp Caesar
    MN S.

    Second time coming in and everything was exceptional!!!!!! Great food, great drinks, great service!!! Will be back! Walking distance to old town, Crocker art and Golden One

    Pamela F.

    I've been into Foundation just a few times over many years, including for Dine Downtown a long time ago. Most recently, I joined a colleague for lunch. We enjoyed friendly, helpful and quick service. I had the grilled steak salad, he had a burger and we split some garlic fries. I requested some extra blue cheese and was pleasantly surprised to get both blue cheese chunks and dressing, so enjoyed both with my salad as well as for dipping some fries. Overall, a pleasant most recent experience. I would gladly return again.

    Flatbread pizza
    Jay S.

    Went to Foundation Restaurant & Bar today with my coworkers for lunch. The inside was actually pretty nice; chill vibe, clean, and comfortable atmosphere, so first impressions were good. I ordered the fish tacos with fries, while my coworkers went for the flatbread pizza. The tacos were decent in flavor. I'd give the taste a solid 7/10 but the portion of fish inside each taco was honestly disappointing. It looked like they tossed in a tiny nugget of fried fish and called it a day. For the price, it felt a bit sad they actually served that. To make things worse, there was no sauce or salsa, just toppings like pico de gallo, cabbage, and a lime wedge. The lack of sauce really made the tacos feel dry and underwhelming. So overall, I'd rate the tacos 5/10 (great flavor potential, poor execution). On the bright side, the ranch that came with the fries was amazing, easily the highlight of the meal! My coworkers said their flatbread pizza was okay but nothing to write home about. Overall, Foundation has a nice vibe but the food didn't live up to it. The service was pretty good though, they filled up my water several times because they serve their water in a tiny cup. I wouldn't come back here unless forced, definitely room for improvement, especially with portion size and flavor balance.

    Grilled salmon
    Amy T.

    We were lucky to get in on a Thursday night to do Dine Downtown with last minute reservation. For the starters, we tried the baby spinach salad and New England clam chowder. Salad had candied pecans, cranberries, and good amount of dressing. Chowder has lots of clams, good flavor. For main courses, we tried braised beef short rib and the grilled salmon filet. Short rib had good seasoning. Mashed potatoes could've used more seasoning. Salmon looked overcooked, but it was crispy on the outside, fine on the inside. It was served on crispy Yukon gold potatoes and thinly sliced zucchini/yellow squash. For dessert, we tried both options. My husband preferred the apple crisp. Service was good. Savannah was our waitress.

    Greg S.

    We dropped in to Foundation on a Friday night a little later than normal after seeing a show. It was during Dine Downtown week so we wanted to enjoy their pre fix menu. Located right downtown on a corner, there is street and a parking structure nearby. The interior is contemporary and clean in appearance, with lots of windows, a large bar and a separate room for larger groups or parties. The bar was packed with lots of what appeared to be locals as they all seemed to know each other and they all knew the bartenders and servers. Cocktail prices were quite reasonable. Everyone was friendly throughout the evening. Our server was super nice, but quite honestly either new, or a little off her game. Not sure which applied. For the Dine Downtown event we chose a selection from the pre fix menu so we could get a variety of items between us. Food was just ok for us. Good but nothing special in my opinion. We may come back another time that is not the Dine Downtown menu.

    Menu for Dine Downtown
    Nia C.

    I was very excited to try Foundation during the Dine Downtown experience. We did call ahead to place a reservation the day of and were seated fairly quickly after arrival. It was busy and it's not a large restaurant so we were grateful. I found the food to be a hit or miss. Good in some ways and lacking in others. The fried green beans were great and the salad was as good as a simple salad can be. The pasta entrée was on the sweet side for some reason that I did not find pleasant. I did love the salmon and the potatoes and broccolini were cooked perfectly. I would eat that dish again. I found the warm apple crisp dessert to be too sweet and would've loved more crust/crisp with the apple filling and ice cream. I didn't love the sort of jam syrup on top of the cheesecake, but the cheesecake itself was good. I don't know if I would come back here to try more of their dishes based on the dine downtown experience.

    Heather C.

    Although this was not the best rated restaurant, we decided to give it a try as part of the dine Sacramento series we came into the foundation restaurant so excited for a three course meal the appetizer that was pretty good was the green beans deep-fried I liked the taste and texture of them My entrée was the beef short ribs, which unfortunately were far from beef short ribs. I would've expected the short ribs to be soft and flavorful, however there was not much flavor other than the sauce on the side the mashed potatoes were plain . The meat Itself was actually on the dry side - very disappointing The salmon, however, was delightful along with the squash, which had a touch of salt and sweets finally for dessert we had the New York cheesecake, which was actually good and the apple crumble, which honestly was not crumbled at all . There should've been more of a crisp to it

    Shortrib
    Alan J.

    Came here for the dine downtown menu tonight. I really want to like this place but it just doesn't get it for me. I like the location and a couple times i've been here at parking seems to have not been an issue. The hostess on this occasion, just as the last couple seemed to be very nice and accommodating. I feel that they are trying to do a very good job. Maybe it's just me.But when i'm seated, I would prefer not to be right next to a bunch of other people. Having some space helps. On this night, it seemed like they were sitting table after table in order from front to back. I would have liked to have it maybe every other table? For our starter, we had the baby spinach salad. This was okay.The dressing was a little vinegary but still. I would have liked the dried cranberries to not have been slumped together.... For the entree, we had the short rib. This came bland lacking seasoning in the meat. The sauce seemed to have good seasoning and flavor however, it was inconsistent part of it was seasoned.Well, part of it didn't seem to have any flavor at all. The mashed potato that came with the meal was very liquidy. This lack consistency, almost as if it were out of a box. The carrots that came with it though my dining companion enjoyed them.I thought was undercooked.I prefer my carrots on a softer side. For a dessert, we had the apple crisp, and in New York cheesecake. The applecrisp was okay, seem to have something kind of crunchy or nutty in it? That kind of distracted from the apple and the whipped cream. I would have preferred apple to be more apple tasting.Instead of sweet and the whipped cream to have more consistency, rather than so light. The cheesecake I felt didn't have a lot of cheesecake flavor to it....and my serving seemed small. The service I felt was also awkward. Timing was an opportunity. There were long waits between appetizer and main course and dessert and the final check. Are servers seeing tentative, though, friendly and seem like she really wanted.If I'll lose you to do a good job. The ambience is good.I like the way the place is set up. If the food were better, the service can be overlooked. The service just needs your little fine tuning.And perhaps some training, however, the food needs some work.

    House Salad
    Vira P.

    So I just had the house salad and a glass of wine. But the salad was so delicious that I needed to write a review. The house salad consists of mixed greens with chicken, tomatoes, and avocado with a raspberry vinaigrette. I was worried about the vinaigrette because they can be too sweet, but not this one. It had a good balance among the sweet, tart, and acidic flavors. And the mixed greens weren't bitter at all! The chicken was moist and anything that already comes with avocado is a plus! The white wine I ordered was also delicious! Despite it being a light meal, it was rather filling. Service was really friendly and accommodating as we were a group of six that didn't make reservations. It was a Tuesday night so there weren't many people around the area anyway. The ambiance has steakhouse vibes with its dark decor, but it's not pretentious. The music they were playing was eclectic, from top 40 to some EDM. I'd like to come back here again to try a heavier entree. The menu has some variety, from burgers to fish tacos to Korean chicken.

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    6 months ago

    Excellent service, good food, reasonable prices and close to nearby attractions. There is even an area you can reserve for group gatherings.

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    Page 1 of 18

    Foundation Restaurant & Bar Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Foundation Restaurant & Bar

    Is there any outdoor dining?

    Hi Cary, Yes but it's dependent on weather. If it's too windy or rain is in the forecast, we do… 

    Is there a corkage fee?

    Yes. $13 per bottle.

    How much room is there in there parking lot and is it park for free?

    We do not offer free parking. There is usually plenty of street metered parking and also garages in the surrounding area ($1.50 - $2.00 per 1/2 hour). If there is a schedule event at the Golden 1 Center, it can jump up to $25. Unfortunately this… 

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