Cattlemens

This time Shake and Date took our adventures outside of the Folsom/El Dorado Hills area and over instead to Rancho Cordova. Having both been raised in California, it may be a bit of a surprise to find out this was both Brian’s and my first time to ever step foot into Cattlemens. This establisment has both a restaurant side and a saloon side, so when we got there, we ventured into the saloon side since that is the only place their Happy Hour is offered. The saloon is very ample in size boasting a large bar, several bar tables, several more booth style seating and even some cozy loveseats nestled in front of a fireplace, and their Happy Hour is offered Monday through Friday from 4pm until 10pm. So being sequestered to the saloon for their extended hours, late until the evening Happy Hour is really okay. The décor of the place features very tall, open beamed ceilings and lots of cowboy stuff. I would have loved to come up with a more eloquent word than “stuff”…but that’s all I’ve got for now…so it will have to do. Maybe I’ll think of something better later. Accompanying the cowboy stuff (dang it, still nothing), is country music playing over the sound system. Anyone who knows me knows cowboys and country are definitely not my thing, but it is a lot of other people’s thing so I’ll set that aside as I did while we were there, and focus on the task at hand. Sharing what their Happy Hour has to offer.

Cattlemens does have a menu solely dedicated to Happy Hour. On it is a few choices of sandwiches, small plates and cocktails. For our cocktails Brian selected the “Pendleton Sour” which is their take on the whiskey sour and I went with the “Raspberry Lemon Drop”. Both were pleasing to the taste buds and the bank account at only $6 each. For appetizers we settled on “Loaded Potato Skins” and “Prime Rib Tacos”. I’m not exactly sure why they call them potato “skins”, as we were basically served a whole baked potato just cut in half. Between those and the two tacos served on the other plate, we both had enough to eat without being uncomfortably stuffed. After we had finished our cocktails, we each ordered a draft beer. FYI, beer is not on their Happy Hour menu, so we ended up paying more for those than we had our cocktails.

Our bartender Robbin was very friendly and was quick to see if we need anything else and offer suggestions for what we might like to order. She offered to take our photo for us (which is always a nice break from the close up selfies…and you can actually see more of our SHIRTS!), and even offered to step outside of the bar to take one from the other way if we’d like to get the buffalo head that is located at the bar behind us; We were fine with the background she did capture.

I’m not entirely sure if we’ll ever find ourselves back at Cattlemens. The food, while being good, was nothing spectacular, and the cocktails (although they were both good as well), were nothing truly tantalizing. With all of the places we’ve experienced so far, and this being only number 14 out of the bottle, there have been other places we’ve encountered along the way we’d much rather return to after we make our last shake. And I know this may sound lame or whatever, but I’m honestly not into the whole cowboy, country music thing. So with my eyes taking in all the country motif (THERE it is!), my ears being subjected to a music that does not please them, and there being many other Happy Hour options out there, you can see why I would have to say we may not be back. However, I would suggest you should still give it a try if you haven’t been there, after all, you might be a little bit Country, and I’m a little bit (okay, a LOT) Rock and Roll.