Rusty Duck

To Doug Wilner. I'm not sure if your uneducated or have just never eaten out beofre. Everyone in the World understands how important Mother's Day is, but with that said they also understand that it is questionbly the bussiest day of the year for most resturants. This can cause for your time spent with your server to be cut a bit short, this may also cause, and i know this may seem shocking, for other individuals to come by your table to deliver drinks. Most importantly, when you set reservations at 5:00 p.m. in the evening, understand that a restaurant that had been open since 10:00 that morning may have ran out of an item that had been on the menue all day, a popular item at that. I would say that you should maybe take this all into consideration when evaluating someone's performance and to call the server out by name is just distasteful. You lack the true character that any establishment would want from their patron. Take this all into consideration before stepping out of the house next year. I mean no disrespect to your mother, she deserves her perfect day, and she may have recieved it on that particular day but you were the one who was unhappy. You were the one who didn't recieve their entree and this is your way of telling the world and in the end you were probally the one who ruined her Mothers Day, not the Rusty Duck! They have a great staff who takes care of me regularly. I have been visiting the Duck for over two years and people have started to address me by the first name and the food never ceases to impress me. I never thought i would ever become a ""regular"" at a resturant but at the Rusty Duck, that can happen alot easier then you think. Pros: The wait Staff and friendly Kitchen Staff Cons: Decor could be updated more

I have visited this restaurant on two seperate occasions both in the evening on weeknights. Both visits were more than mildly dissapointing. Both times had appetizers that were unflavorful and run of the mill, before dinner salads seem to be pre-bagged salad mix unwashed on a plate with cheap bottled dressing, entrees were nothing special nor memorable though they were cooked appropriately both times and desserts were standard and left me wanting... more. As did both experiences in whole. If menu prices were 5-8 less per plate the food would be more acceptable, but in Sacramento where there are literally a hundred interesting establishments to frequent $25-$40/person for mediocre food and service seems silly if not stupid. My mistake for trying it twice. My reccomendation is to skip the Rusty Duck and travel to the mid-town/downtown pleathera of wonderful eats. Pros: Beautiful view and building Cons: Food, Service, Value more

I researched the restaurant and set up reservations for 5:00pm on Mothers Day 5/11/2008. Our service was pretty awful from Sean - he visited our table very infrequently and had other helpers serve the drinks for us (did not even serve all of our party initially). After ordering the appetizers and the main courses for my party of 3 we again waited for a fair amount of time. The appetizers finally came and then I was notified that they were out of the course I ordered off their special menu for Mothers Day. Realize that this is 5:00PM not 8:00PM - why would they be out of anything that quickly? So I asked just to have an appetizer for my main course since nothing else on the menu seemed appetizing at that point. About 10 - 15 minutes later a different person arrives and sets the appetizer down for me - the rest of party still doesn't have their entries yet. Their entries came about 14 minutes after mine arrived. To his credit Sean came around later and claimed he was afraid that they might bring the appetizer before the main entries thinking it was just another appetizer. My question is - why didn't he take charge and make sure the food and drinks were arriving as planned and not have others deliver the food and drinks? He seemed to have more time to spend at another table that had 9 or 10 persons at it. My table and one other table that had Sean as our server were very upset and very dissapointed. What was supposed to be a nice evening turned into a rather dissapointing one. This is not the Rusty Duck I remember from the past. Pros: Easy Parking Cons: Poor Service Even Early in the Evening When Business was light. more

My boyfriend treated me to a romantic dinner. I live really close to this place and every time we go over the bridge on the way home I mention it looks cool, so we went here. It is pretty expensive. Drinks and food = $100. Normal...But I see all these reviews about the manager coming over and the wait-staff being so good. I think it is a bunch of hoopla! Our waiter sucked! He paid attention only to families and the customers that the manager was visiting. Which one old couple got a visit from the manager, and he sat and talked, but we went entirely unnoticed by both the management and the waiter. (I had to drink my boyfriend's water because the waiter was not attentive enough to bring me any). The bar was the best part, it's upstairs. The bartender was nice and personable. If I would have known that the service would be so crappy downstairs, I would have requested to dine in the bar area. It's a nice place, but it's a bit overrated and all of the people saying they get special visits from the management are either lying, or friends of the management. Maybe it is just the simple fact that my boyfriend and I don't have kids, which, HELLO!!!!! If we are paying over $20 a plate for food LEAVE YOUR KIDS AT HOME!!!!!! NO one wants to deal with the annoyance of children when they are attempting to have a nice, expensive dinner. Also, drink up! The food takes FOREVER TO REACH YOU! AND MY DUCK WASN'T COOKED ALL THE WAY THROUGH! It wasn't even busy! So come'on folks, what's the deal? Kids? Slow and bad service? Maybe if the duck was over cooked it would be ok to make me wait forever for it! For the price, children should be like smoking, BANNED! Pros: Cool upstairs bar with a view and fireplace Cons: Lame downstairs area, bad wait staff, too many annoying kids!!!! Even with a reservation we had to wait! more

I went to the Rusty Duck a few nights ago and the food was awesome. The server was very attentive and made our evening special. We had the crispy duck which was awesome with the grand marnier demi glaze. yummmmm. The chef Steve and the Manager Joe both came to the table to check on our dining experience, which I have never experienced at any other restaurant. We made reservations and our names were printed on the menu. WWWWWOOOOOOOWWWWWWW. I will absolutly be going back very very soon. We loved it. Thank you Rusty Duck Staff. Pros: Great Food!!!! more

I brought my Mother to the Rusty Duck for her 89 Birthday dinner in the hope of getting some good seafood. This was a 40 mile drive for us and we were very disappointed in the meal. I liked the restaurant decor and view of the river. The service was pretty good and the food was reasonably priced. However my plate was half full of overcooked broccoli with a very small piece of overcooked and not so fresh Sea Bass. The rice was good but I got a real bad case of you know what from the oysters on half shell. Thank god my Mom didn?t try the oysters. This may have been a good experience if we stayed away from the seafood and had a stake instead. Pros: Nice Decor Cons: Thumbs down more

We went to eat there, we did not know what to expect, I had the Duck App. platter, my wife had the crab stuffed mushrooms, They were both excellent, I love the tempura calamari that is on the platter, For dinner my wife had the crab stuffed tilapia and I had the chef's daily special, it was a kobe steak plate, they were excellent, We cleaned our plates spotless. We shared a lava cake for dessert. Pros: Specialized menu's, Ambience, Food Cons: Stairway going to the restaurant. 2 levels. more

The atmosphere was nice but the food was not tasty. Our food was cold and was put on our plates in a sloppy manner. I was expecting better quality and was disappointed. I guess the reason I gave it two stars was because on the weekends when you purchase two dinners you get half off the wine selection. more

This place was pretty awful and horribly overpriced. I ordered the filet mignon and I am pretty sure it was not filet mignon. It was dry, over-cooked, and flavorless. Probably not even the right cut. My wife ordered a seafood medley platter, the salmon and crabcakes tasted about 3 weeks old, over-poweringly fishy tasting. The shrimp was decent at best. The food was on-par with Denny's, no better. The only bright spot was the service which was average. more

The food was excellent. I had the Halibut, it was perfectly cooked and very flavorful. The service was awesome, the manager visited the table and made us feel extremely welcome. I did notice that the waitress sounds like a robot, saying the exact same thing at every table. But she was just doing her job. We had a lave cake for dessert, and it was sooooooooooo good. I would absolutely recommend this restaurant to all my friends. And I will be going back to this restuarant very soon. THE BEST DINING EXPERIENCE EVER. more

I used to go here years ago and remembered it being kind of lively. We recently went on a Friday night and the place was dead. The server was nice and polite, but looked like she should be apprenticing at Denny's, and did not know the menu or about the food. Didn't know if the salmon was a steak or a filet. Pros: Good location, friendly service Cons: Clearly a kitchen where pride in the product is missing, and management that should train the help better more

One of Sacramento's premiere dining spots! Four of us went and enjoyed a friendly, relaxed, and yet high quality meal. Attentive service and very cozy atmosphere. We were not disappointed! This is the perfect place for a special occasion, a romantic meal, or just a couple of hours remembering the sometimes forgotten joy of a truly pleasant dining experience. Pros: Ambience, Service Cons: None experienced more

We went there and had a wonderful dinner. Group of 4, and all of us had excellent food, and the service was the best. This would be a great place to go for a birthday, or Valantins dinner. A+ Pros: Romantic, Large Menu, Service Cons: Reservations more

The Calamari alone is enough for me to visit once or twice a year. Hands-down one of the juiciest and healthiest strips of deep fried squid available in Sacramento, and the dressing is exceptional - spicy and rich blend of flavor! The dimly lit environment and candles cultivates a attractive and romantic atmosphere. The mix of traditional meat dishes and fresh seafood makes the Rusty Duck a good candidate for dates and romantic evenings... Pros: Calamari, Fresh seafood, Romantic Cons: Expensive, Boring meat dishs more