Back Door Lounge

1112 Firehouse Alley
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 442-5751

Back Door Lounge. We can't even tell you how much we love this place. Andrea is a spunky bartendress who treats us so well. Nick the owner usually takes over the shift around 7ish and is a Sacramento institution. Either one will make you strong drinks (just speak clear and loud to Nick or you'll get a greyhound instead of a gin & tonic).

No food here, except some bags of chips so you either have to plan ahead or sneak out for a slice of pizza down the way.

Pizza by the slice down the street

Gin & tonic, #ginforthewin

Ten22

1022 2nd St
Sacramento, California 95814
(916) 441-2211

We've been meaning to try this place out for quite awhile. They just participated in Dine Downtown Week and their menu looked pretty damn good and after a write up by Poor Girl Eats Well, I was really sold on trying it.

It has a street front location in Old Sacramento and the interior is beautiful! the tables are nicely spaced so you don't feel like you are sardines and the open kitchen is fun to watch. They made a giant table for our group of ten which was just super nice of them.

Their bar, which is comfy and fun to be at, has an amazing beer selection. So many so, that it was almost overwhelming. The bartender was on it! You tell him what you like to drink and he'll bring you a new beer that you'll love. And if you get wine, it's served in your own cute glass carafe. That's some classy shit.

Everyone seemed to like their food. They love their bacon so that can't be bad. The burger was said to be okay. The calamari was good. The bacon bloody marys seemed to be loved by all. And they had a BLT pizza which seems like a great idea.

Now, I've got two complaints. Mind you, I came straight from happy hour at the Grange so I might have had some high standards in my pea brain. They have a Foursquare special when you check it, but they won't honor it. Waiter said that is "should have been taken down". Either way, if you have a promotion out there with no expiration date, you should honor it. And I had a fabulous conversation on Twitter with them so they are obviously at least somewhat use to the social media realm. That was the first "no".

Then someone tried to order a fig cocktail that was on their menu and he said, "oh we don't make that anymore". They are paper menus. Either make what you are offering or update your damn menus! They are paper for a reason. Now, that could have been avoided by a more tactful server but our guy was just okay. So minus points for the service. Waiter service and for overall customer service.

Bottom line, I would still go back but would hang out with the knowledgeable and friendly bartender and get some appetizers at the bar.

Fanny Ann's Saloon

Fanny Ann's Saloon

1023 2nd Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-3201
(916) 441-0505

I was trying to figure out how long it had been since the Thursday Drunks went to Fanny Ann's and with a quick blog search resulting in nothing, I figured out that we haven't been here for at least 2 1/2 years! Cheesus, how come so long?

Fanny Ann's, located in Old Sacramento, is a narrow, three story cavalcade of cluttery knick-knackery with an old wood bar, stiff drinks and sassy service. It's very much a saloon but also serves up some tasty burgers and fries. The chicken strips were some of the best I've had lately and the chicken wings are the whole damn chicken arm with the little wing attached! Delicious, if a bit creep when all the little wings are pointing at you from the basket.

Drinks are affordable and strong! Only bummer is that you really have to go to the second or third level to find seating, but have to hoof it back down for your drinks and food. There is a bar on the top floor but I've never seen it open. Oh and there is a basement as well that usually serves up karaoke...also why we love the top floor.

The first time we came here we put our newly made Thursday Drunks coaster, circa 2005 on the wall and it's still there - displayed proudly!

This night we rocked with 6 sometimes drunks showing up to spice up the mix! It was a fun crowd and with some musical chairs we worked in some great conversations. We also had some tech support going with an old laptop that needed some help from our more computer savvy members. We are a full service drinking club.

Back Door Lounge

1112 Firehouse Alley
Sacramento, CA 95814-3207
(916) 442-5751

What can we say about this place. It's in an alley. The owner Nick has been serving strong drinks since the dawn of time. It has a certain level of kitsch that you can't usually find in Sacramento. Oh, and it's a damn fine time! If you can't appreciate this place I think we might have to go our separate ways.

Eat before you get there because they don't serve food outside of the bags of chips behind the bar. Nick can make just about anything but drink like an adult and stay away from the girlie drinks please!

Most of the drunks were there and we had some extra coworkers of TheJenny's that live close by and Nixie and ExtraBrian were back in effect. Always lovely to have some new blood to spice up the conversations. We took over the two booths near the front of the bar and played musical chairs the whole night. Sometime we leave places kind of early since they are more like restaurants but we hung around pretty late here. It's easy to lose track of time in this place so plan accordingly.