Morton's

• Reservations: Required
• Closed: holidays

They are a chain of very classy steakhouses with a location in most major cities. They have a bar stocked with high end scotches and other expensive and refined liquors. In most cities, they have cigar smokers, but obviously not in Sacramento. The wait staff wears formal wear, and is very attentive without being intrusive. Morton's can be described as the Denny's for the C level executive (CEO, CFO, CIO, etc)¹. Ironically, the Morton's in Sacramento is perversely located at the Downtown Plaza Mall. They try to downplay this by having curbside valet right between 4th and 5th Street, as an alternative to parking in the Mall parking structure. This is also conveniently the last downtown stop of the 42 bus. Various vagabonds can be found in front of here going up the down escalator or reading a Sacramento News and Review while waiting for the bus.

Reservations can be made by phone or online at http://www.opentable.com.

Morton's also provides private dining in special rooms closed off to the public. They will create a custom menu and provide specially trained wait staff.

Quite nice and a very good deal for what you get, although it is expensive.

Like most high end steakhouses, everything is ala carte. You want vegetables? $7.00. Baked potato? $8.00. Salad? $12.00. Part of that is they cater to a more wealthy clientele, so the high prices are intended to drive away the aforementioned riff-raff. Definitely not cheap food.

If you want a good steakhouse experience without as high of a price, try The Buckhorn.

Footnotes

1. Some people travel around the country for work. Truck drivers eat at Dennys. CEOs eat at Morton's. They both provide a similar, comfortable experience for people on the road: you can eat at one, travel two time zones away, and get the same thing. They both have safe, conservative menus that are not regionalized at all.