Sammie’s Farm 2 Fork

First of all, note Sammie’s Farm 2 Fork is inside of The Station which is a bar & lounge. Set inside a pair of refurbed box cars.
Our party of three ate at Sammies during Valentines weekend where they have the set menu with an appetizer consisting of house salad with a balsamic dressing with local honey. Main course was a rib-​eye steak or salmon. Followed up by a tirasmisu for dessert.
I chose the steak entrée which included mash potatos and carrots. The steak actually was cooked correctly with minimal grill marks. Another person in the party, ordered his steak medium, but it came out well. The person at the table next to ours actually complained that their steak was cold and after cooking another one, the steak was salty. Some consistency in cooking of the steak could have been better.
The actual steak did not look like any rib-​eye cut i have ever eaten in my life. Not a single piece of marbeling was evident on the steak. It was closer to a sirloin than a rib-​eye. The server/​owner explained that they butcher their own meat and removed all the fat.
Dessert was a tiramisu which was ok. Soft drinks were $ 5 per glass. Although, the menu mentions they offer a turkish coffee and a chai tea. Both of these were unavailable.
For a new (5 mos old) farm to fork place on Valentines weekend, we were one of three parties in the otherwise empty restaurant.
Total bill for around $ 160 for our party of three.

Let’s start with overpriced. This really isn’t a restaurant, it’s a bar/​night club that serves food. The advertisements are misleading at best so don’t be fooled by the «farm to fork» lure. There was only one other person dining when we arrived after making a reservation that clearly wasn’t required. Our server who seemed to be thee owner, was very nice but hovered the entire time we were there, to a point of making me feel uncomfortable. The menu is limited and the dishes are so outrageously overpriced. My husband had a burger that was $ 13; my daughter and I had the «roasted chicken» which was a bland, undercooked thigh and leg with some mashed potatoes and carrots, for $ 19. I don’t mind paying those prices for good food but we could have had a better tasting meal for less than half that price.
I was also put off by the tent signs on the table that offer you a free appetizer if you leave a good review on Unilocal.Does Unilocal know about/​encourage this? Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of Unilocal?
In short, dinner for 3 with an ice tea, sprite and one beer came to $ 85 which is absolutely outrageous for the quality and location. I have had better meals at the truck stop off hwy 80 in Natomas, no joke.

My daughter came down from Portland OR to spend the weekend with us. She spotted the «Farm 2 Fork» and wanted to support it. There was much in the single other review to turn a reader off. But we wanted to see if there was a good F2 °F restaurant in Roseville, so we went. The comments in the other review about the location are pretty accurate. But the food was 5-​star, so my rating averages food (5) and location (3) out to 4 stars. If you want a great meal, and you have a lot of patience (much care is obviously taken), then I say «go.»
I had the pizza — perfect with great crust. My wife and my daughter shared an order of Chicken Marsala. This too was perfect (credit to Jade, the cook). The pasta was home-​made, this takes time and effort. We did not order the chai tea, but my wife (who has lived in Europe) tells me that, as it’s described in the other review, that’s the way they make it over there. For dessert, we shared an order of (sugarless) cheese cake, which was marvelous.
We also had a great time talking with Deepak, our host. The location problem, he told us, is due to some kind of dispute with the city of Roseville. The owners own the land there at 1100 Orlando Avenue, and the city would like to have the restaurant in Downtown (Old Town) Roseville. It is my opinion that some compromise, if possible, would be a win-​win for both sides. The land would bring a good price, and the city could offer some incentives to have another good restaurant move into the redeveloping Downtown/​Old Town area.

I wanted so much to believe and support the Farm 2 Fork movement. And with the discounted offerings on multiple sites, why not? I bought one and came in about 6pm midweek. The location is dark and not well lit. It was confusing because my GPS says I’m at the location but the signage outside says it’s a bar, the Station. I initially parked in front of the Station bar entrance but then got back in my car and drove around the building and ended up parking behind the front entrance because the more I drove, the further away the GPS was showing I was moving. So I decided to walk back to the front, enter the bar and asked the bartender if this is Sammie’s. Apparently, the main building is the bar and Sammie’s takes up a portion of it within the bar in the «dining car.» Mistake #1: no signage at the front entrance anywhere and poor lighting outside. They are open from 5 to 9 only. There needs to be better signage and lighting, esp since it gets dark earlier now. Even once inside the bar, there is no indication or signage that there’s a «Sammie’s» restaurant.
With that confusion cleared, I was seated and informed the older gentleman who appears to be the owner that I have a voucher. Check. He handed me the menu and immediately I ordered the ribeye steak medium and hot chai tea. The chai was taking a while because he explained to me that they make it fresh. Ok, I can accept that. In the meantime, he brought out salad with home made ranch dressing already drizzled (as in I had no choice for salad dressing) and some sort of wafers made from lentil. The owner told me it’s locally grown veggies but it was mostly spinach with a few slices of chopped carrots, celery, and cherry tomato. It didn’t taste any different than if I had bought the veggies at Costco and made my own salad at home. I was not impressed with the «home made» dressing either. It was light in flavor, i.e., bland. Sadly, it tasted as plain as it looked. Nothing close to the professional pictures posted.
Hot chai tea finally came out and the main good thing I can say was that it was hot. It was mild in taste with a lot of milk. It was not filtered so there were tea leaves settled at the bottom. I was offered a refill of the chai tea which I accepted. The second cup had an abundance more tea leaves in it. Mistake #2: unfiltered chai with tea leaves still in it. It was ok but I would have liked more tea flavor to come thru. I ordered chai, not milk with tea. And drinking the chai with the leaves was not something I expected. It was a first.
Finally, the entrée arrived and the medium steak I ordered came out well done: Mistake 3. If I were paying full price, I would have sent it back. Unacceptable. The steak looked better in picture than how I received mine. (Compare my actual pictures vs previously posted pics.) Definitely no sear/​grill marks. And I wanted it medium, as in pink and tender, not well done. The sides of mash potatoes was creamy and tasty and sauteed spinach, good. They were the highlight of the meal. But the main course was the steak and it was simply overcooked with not much flavor to it. Additionally, if they source their vegetables from local farmers as they purport, shouldn’t the sides demonstrate the variety of veggies they get as opposed to what amounts to a second serving of spinach?
Overall, the food was uninspiring and, aside from the mash potatoes, average at best. The ambiance was that of a dated bar in the theme of railroad cars.
The entire time I was there, only 2 additional ppl walked in, sat at the bar but didn’t order anything. I was the only dinner guest. This was peak dinner time. Sad.
While I appreciate the owner’s service and attention – he was a darling – the food really needs to improve: more flavor, better prepared, presented, and properly cooked, particularly for a steak! Really showcase and highlight the F2 °F movement in ALL the dishes. That’s why we came to eat.
Service alone isn’t going to bring back customers if the food is uninspiring.
I will give it one more try as the voucher is good for 2 visits. Hopefully, it will be better next time.