All I have to say is, this place is legit.
I made this reservation about 2 months before Valentine's Day. A co-worker of mine highly recommended Hawks and told me how her husband and her loved the ambiance, the food, and the service. Well yesterday (13th) rolls around and my pregnant wife is feeling tired, and not really wanting to go out to dinner anymore. She asks me where Hawks is and I tell her Granite Bay. She thinks it's a little far and wants to scrap my plans. I convince her to go and fast forward a little, but in the middle of dinner, she thanks me for not canceling the reservations and insisting we go.
We arrive and we are greeted by a waiter manning the front desk. He promptly checks that our booth is ready and takes us there. Pretty straightforward on the menu as it was the fixed Valentine's menu, so the only choice was between Lobster and Filet.
The wife chose the lobster and I went with my filet. Standard bread and butter. Nothing blow you out of the water, but we love us some room temperature spreadable butter.
First was the amuse bouche: Soybeans with some caviar and tapioca drizzle. I thought it was a great starter, but the wife wasn't too big on it.
Next was the blood orange salad topped with grilled artichokes: She loved the grilled artichokes, but thought the citrus was far too tart. I was ok with the salad, but I actually liked the artichokes and the blood orange, which I'm not usually a big fan of, so I thought it was good enough.
Soup was next on the list: Chestnut and celery soup with a truffle emulsion. This soup was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Creamy and hearty. All the flavors came out and I couldn't help but dip some of the bread into the soup and eat it that way. We truly enjoyed this dish and wished we could have had more.
On to the entrees: The filet mignon was amazing. It came with a potato rosti and mushroom gratinee (on the side for me, because I can't stand mushrooms). The surrouned the filet with a green peppercorn sauce. Let me tell you, this steak was amazing. We actually had steak and lobster the night before at Paul Martin's and this filet put PM's to shame. It was not just tender and flavorful, but perfectly cooked. I didn't have use any salt like I did the night before. I also told the wife about how great the potato was. Nice and crunchy, but not too greasy. I carved some of the steak off for the wife to try and she loved it. She used the mushroom gratinee on her pieces of steak and she said it was absolutely amazing. Mushrooms are not for me, so I'm going to take her word for it.
Her lobster thermidor was amazing. She's never had it prepared that way and it absolutely blew her out of the water. The sauce was absolutely amazing. The lobster was slightly tough, but we decided it must have been because they had to brown the sauce some more. Either way, it was hands down one of the best presentations of lobster either of us have experienced. We were even told that the server had patrons the night before ask for second servings of the lobster. Crazy to us, but we can see why someone would want more.
Dessert: They came out with a "box of chocolate," which was absolutely amazing. We didn't confirm this, but we think liquid nitrogen was used to "cook" and form the chocolate and the presented it with a side of raspberry sorbet. The chocolate was somewhat bittersweet, so it was not too chocolately and not too rich. Just hands down amazing.
Laslty, they presented us with some homemade chocolates, which we were too full to eat by that time. They looked really unique and we will try those soon.
This place is one of the best places we have eaten in Sac. We love going to San Francisco and Napa and this is one of the few places we have gone to that we can experience the same type of food and service without being there. The service was top notch. Waters were constantly filled, bread and better was replaced whenever needed, and waiter service was prompt, but unobtrusive. We constantly felt waited on with the perfect amount of privacy. The wait staff will watch you carefully, so when the both of you have completed the plates, they will clear it right away to make room for the next course.
Ambiance was excellent. We kinda dressed up since it was Valentine's Day, but you don't really need to. The other reviewer who complained about people not wearing dress shirts/slacks and only jeans is overly prissy. It's a nice place, but it's definitely not stuck up. And sometimes, a nice pair of jeans look way better than poorly chosen "dress" attire. To each their own, but just dress appropriately and you'll be fine. Also, the booth we had was great, but the next time we go, we're going to request a table by the window as the view was beautiful.
Great experience. Great environment, service, and food. Can't ask for more, especially on V-day. Thank you Hawks for a memorable dinner experience for my wife. We already made reservations for next Saturday. read more