In the last few months I’ve made a few trips downtown to some of our city’s newest eateries. Amongst the hullabaloo and fanfare, some interesting places have emerged to tickle our palette. (Yeah, I know it’s a mixed metaphor. So what? It’s called poetic license. Get off your high horse, jerkwad!) One of the newest features of the landscape is the “foodplex,” a connected combo of various dining establishments offering differnt types of food and varying levels of ambience. The most notable of these examples is “The Park,” which features Mah Jong’s Asian Diner, Mason’s and peripherally Spataro. Each of these places offers its own style of eats and eating and we’ll go through each one briefly and give you the lowdown.
Spataro-
I’ve been to Spataro twice, and while the ambience is neat and the prices are reasonable, the food just isn’t that exciting. The nice thing about Spataro, like any other Paragary establishment, is that you can wear a t-shirt and shorts or a 3-piece suit and feel equally at home. The bar, hip and welcoming, provides good people watching and a nice place to eat if you’re on your own. The food, though, is pretty boring. Pasta carbonara was weak, lasagna was slightly burnt and way too salty and the fish bland. The only standout was the cannelloni, which was fantastic. My advice, go to Spataro for a drink, then go to Michelangelo’s for dinner.
Food** Ambience**** Service****
Mah Jong’s-
In my one trip to Mah Jong’s, I was disappointed by the atmosphere, the food, the cashier, the weather and my choice of pants. Our noodle dish was weakly seasoned, the soup was bland and not quite hot and the chicken didn’t quite live up to higher end establishments like Panda Express or $1 Chinese. Honestly, Mah Jong’s is boring. Don’t go if you’re looking for a “nice” evening. It’s an “order at the counter” place where you put in your order and get a number. The decor is warehouse chic, and the service is somewhat angst ridden. I really don’t recommend it on any level. If you want bad Chinese food, just go to Simon’s on 16th and N, the food’s just as bad but you might hook up with some drunken capitol staffer.
Food* Ambience** Service*
Mason’s-
(NOTE: The author has never been to Mason’s and the following is a telling of a recent dream the author had in which he ate a meal at Mason’s.)
So I walk into Mason’s, expecting a good meal and a good drink, and the hostess, who had three arms and limp, walked me to my table, where she insist that I share my meal with James Garner and my pre-school teacher, Mrs. James. Instead of the beet salad I ordered, I was brought the head of John the Baptist and diet Coke. I kept trying to get our waiter’s attention, but he was too busy talking to Genghis Khan to notice me. I stomped out, not paying the bill, and had to run 75 miles in place trying to get a taxi which was actually a ’57 Chevy with Yosemite Sam “Back OFF” mud flaps. The whole experience really disappointed me and I don’t know if I’ll be returning to Mason’s anytime soon.
FoodN/A AmbienceN/A ServiceN/A
The Sac Rag 
We just returned from lunch at Mason’s, and here’s a quick run-down:
– Yes, we all know about the bathrooms where you can see into the vanity area of the bathroom of the opposite sex. What you probably didn’t know is that the bathrooms are not friendly for us OCD handwashing patrons. If you’re the type to wash your hands, then use the paper towel to turn off the water and open the door, then toss the paper towel in the trash, there’s no problem with that. However, there is another door you need to open to get back into the restaurant, with no paper towels to use to open the door. Luckily, it’s a handle that you can use your elbow to move down and swing the door open with your foot (those of us who are OCD use this technique and have it mastered so it doesn’t look nearly as lame as it sounds), so your hands are still pristine enough to perform open-heart surgery once you’re back at your table.
– Mason’s, thankfully, is not skimpy with their flatware. There’s nothing I hate more than the “keep your fork” restaurants. (What, are you running out of silverware in the back?) A bevy of wait staff kept our table well-equipped for the entire 2 1/2 hours we were there.
– The food was tasty (but not as spectacular as the server pumped it up to be.) After waiting about an hour for it, it could have been high school cafeteria food & we’d have been satisfied. I had the ahi salad, and it was not unlike other establishments’ ahi salad. Our table shared an order of the mac-n-cheese, and my mom’s is better.
– The ambience is more “big city” feeling than most other places in Sac, but the lunchtime crowd was still decidedly Sacramento with more than a few stereotypical state workers at a nearby table.
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I can’t believe it, my co-worker just bought a car for $70044. Isn’t that crazy!
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