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Dawson's Steakhouse
Prime steaks and classic elegance in the heart of Sacramento.
3.4(5 reviews)
restaurant
$$
Prime steaks and classic elegance in the heart of Sacramento.
Dawson's Steakhouse offers a refined dining experience with USDA Prime steaks, fresh seafood, and an extensive wine list. Located in downtown Sacramento, we specialize in expertly grilled cuts, signature sides, and decadent desserts in an upscale atmosphere. Ideal for date nights, business dinners, and special occasions, our attentive service and classic steakhouse menu aim to deliver memorable moments. Whether you're savoring a ribeye or enjoying our bar menu, we strive for quality and sophistication.
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Expertly grilled cuts including ribeye, New York strip, and filet mignon, served with classic sauces.
Fresh options like lobster tails, crab cakes, and salads to start your meal.
House-made sides such as whipped potatoes and mushrooms, plus decadent desserts like chocolate peanut butter cake.
Craft cocktails, premium spirits, and an extensive selection of wines to complement your dinner.
Upscale space available for business meetings, celebrations, and special occasions with customized menus.
Third time at Dawson's because we loved it that much. The quality of our New York Steaks was not even close to those we had last year. A lot of gristle and they were tough. This definitely was not restaurant USDA Prime. Hopefully they'll rectify this. Our sides and dessert were delicious and the wait staff is an efficient as it gets.
Okay, if you're advertised as high end, charging high end prices, I would expect your steaks being high end. This is not the case. I was disappointed with this place. I would rate it as average, on par with places like outback steakhouse. I got the rib eye, medium rare, it took them way too long to get it out, steak was cold. The taste was ok, and yes they did cook it medium rare. Overall I would rate it as average. Totally not what I was expecting from an 80 dollars steak. This place is not comparable to Mortons or Ruth's Cris. Their crab cakes were too salty. On a positive note the server was super nice, the lobster tail add on was delicious, and their cocktails was pretty good. In summary I would recommend Outback steakhouse over this place, you'd probably enjoy it more and pay a lot less!
What can I say? It's a high end steakhouse that definitely justifies its price tag. One of the best steaks I've had the pleasure of eating. Thanks for being a great place for my pops and I to enjoy a great dinner!
I recently tried Dawson’s because I heard good things. My wife and I spent date night here on a Friday night at 8:30. The place looks nice and service was friendly. Unfortunately, that was the best part of the night. We spent $420 for 2 people and my review is based on that price. For that price, I expect to have a good meal, and this wasn’t that. We received bread and butter promptly, but there was a coffee bean in the butter. Not disqualifying by any means, but a data point for the night. The bread was bland, kinda cold and seemed like a sourdough multigrain. Mediocre bread isn’t disqualifying, but just another data point. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco, and it was served with filmy, dirty glasses. My wife noticed it right away and asked for new glasses. The service was adequate/average for a mid tier steakhouse, not exceptional, but not bad. We ordered the Crab Cakes to start. I liked the crisp of the crab cake, but the flavor wasn’t great. It tasted mostly of Old Bay and I couldn’t really distinguish the crab or crab flavor. We are used to crab cakes from another local steakhouse and they are infinitely better and cost less. Also, the hummus and pico de gallo seemed to be what they were relying on for flavor and taste. Side note, all the extra hummus/pico from the crab cakes did go nicely with the bread from earlier. Crabcakes - 2/10, have had better crab cakes from the frozen section. For our meal, my wife and I both ordered the Ribeye (medium rare for me and medium for her) and added on the Lobster tail. We also had the bacon/bleu cheese jam, whipped potatoes, and mushrooms for accompaniments/sides. The ribeyes were overcooked and tough. These are supposed to be Prime steaks, but they were not good. There was not a stitch of salt or pepper. It seems like they rely on the sauces/crusts/sides to provide flavor. I cooked Choice NY strips for my kids before coming out and I would have rather had that. Ribeyes - 2/10 - Not even salting steaks before cooking is an unforgivable sin. The Lobsters were bland, like they were just boiled and put on a plate. Seasoning was lacking and a little color would have made it better, a little sear or grill or something. My wife didn’t even finish it. Lobsters - 0/10 Carnival Cruises has better Lobster. We got the potatoes, the mushrooms, and the bacon and blue cheese jam. The potatoes were whipped decently, but average at best. Flavor was just meh. The mushrooms seemed like they were boiled, I expected more of sautee and a little color. They were also just meh. The bacon and bleu cheese jam didn’t add much and isn’t really necessary. Very forgettable. Potatoes - 5/10, Mushrooms - 3/10, Bacon/Blue Cheese Jam- 6/10. We did get dessert (we weren’t going to at this point because of how things were going) and the restaurant gave them for free because I guess the time got away from them and the kitchen was closing soon. This was a nice point. I ordered the Chocolate Peanut Butter Molten cake and my wife ordered the Apricot Pistachio cake. The Apricot cake was light and airy, but the flavor felt basic and muted. The Molten cake was great because I’m a sucker for peanut butter. Apricot Pistachio cake - 5/10. Chocolate Peanut Butter Molten cake - 9/10 - This was the highlight of the night. All in all I was very disappointed with this meal for the price, but also just in general. Even if I spent half, this still wouldn’t be a good review. TL:DR - Overpriced, bland and underwhelming with a nice atmosphere and decent service.
Very good option when downtown for dinner with excellent menu selections and fantastic bar menu. Bread service with sea salted butter and fresh sourdough was great. Crab cakes and carrot cake with best in class! Enjoyed the NY steak and sprouts but did not stand out like the other items
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