this is a new series reviewing where you can go in sacramento, california safely during the covid-19 crisis. my first review is of capitol garage restaurant on the corner of 15th and k streets at the edge of midtown sacramento. we’d had lots of take-out (and i’ll review some of those retrospectively, come to think of it) but this was our first real restaurant in sacramento to return to.
i chose this restaurant as the site of our very first covid-19 restaurant experience because it is a restaurant with good food and outdoor seating that takes reservations. i initially thought of tower café at 16th and broadway but didn’t trust it for a couple of reasons: it doesn’t take reservations and its over-crowded at the best of times. everyone wants to be at tower. i thought to myself, where else is there that has good food, a decent outside experience and yet wouldn’t be swamped?
that was certainly capitol garage. our reservation was for 5:30pm outside last saturday. we biked over from our home in the southside park neighborhood, put on our masks and stood outside near the hostess station that asked us to wait to be seated. we followed our friendly masked hostess at a safe distance to our choice of outside tables. another table separated us from the nearest customers, who actually were just finishing up and left. the hostess kept her distance approaching when absolutely necessary. the menu at capitol garage is california electic, relatively few choices but they change frequently. and everything is good.
i chose a vegan “tofu rancheros” with beans, salsa, vegetables, fried tofus and corn tortillas, came with very salty but pretty hard to resist large potato fries. i thoroughly enjoyed it all.
my husband had chicken roja–seared chicken breast-pintos-salsa roja-spanish rice-fajita veggies-elote slaw—also found it very tasty.
we got out of there for a little over $30 including tip.
this being my first mask-based rating, i’m not very scientific about it yet. i’m interested in the degree to which the establishment and its employees seem genuinely committed to public health as opposed to just trying to follow the rules so that they can be open. there’s a detectable difference between a staff member who you can sense understands the care and love they are displaying for the public by wearing their mask and taking precautions and one who is going through the motions. it starts at the top. if the business is also trying to educate and protect employees, it’s also palpable.
i felt that our waiter and the business were both doing their best to keep us healthy. the indoor-outdoor design of the interior helps because air is just flowing through that whole place all the time. that means to me that the employees/chefs are less likely to be exposed to the disease.
i’ll deduct one face mask not for covid reasons but because there’s a fair amount of noise and exhaust on that busy corner. there’s nothing that capitol garage can do about it. it goes with the location. but one could imagine an even better experience.
