Tonno’s Sports Bar & Grill

This wasn’t our first time frequenting this place and most definitely won’t be our last. We had visited the one in Orangevale several times and were excited to find out one was opening basically in our front yard. (Notice I did not use the word literally right there.) It took us a while to finally make it over to this one, but we did a few months ago for the first time so last night was our second time at the Folsom location. This location is quite a bit smaller than the Orangevale one with about 20 seats at the bar and a scattering of a dozen or so tables. It is also lacking the fancy outdoor area Orangevale has. But that doesn’t make the food or drinks they serve any less appetizing.

When we arrived there was just one table occupied by a group of ladies having a happy time. My husband, forever the P.R. side of our marriage, engaged them in conversation to let them know about our reason for being there. One of the ladies asked me if I had started this 2 or 3 months ago because she had remembered seeing about this on Folsom Chat. It was our first time having someone mention they had heard about us before. That made me briefly feel like we had reached partial celebrity status, which was very exciting, so a huge thank you to the lady who asked me that! As we sat there, more patrons started arriving filling in the empty seats around us while we concentrated on the task at hand. Checking out another Happy Hour.

Our previous visits to Tonno’s centered on getting the Baja burger as it is the best burger around so far that we’ve had the pleasure of devouring. However, this is about new experiences, so we went on a Tuesday this week so we could indulge in their taco Tuesday special where you can choose any 3 flavors of tacos for $8.50. They have 7 different choices, so we picked 6 out of the 7 to try. The vegetarian one didn’t make the cut. The one’s we did try were the Spicy Chicken, Fish, Shredded Beef, Chicken Bacon Ranch, Chorizo and Deep Fried Avocado (I did make the argument that the deep fried avocado one was also meatless, but the bartender helped rationalize our decision by explaining the way the avocado is cooked, which makes it just like the fish…). We both agreed that the Spicy Chicken was our favorite, but after that it was hard to rank them in any particular order, as they all were extremely tasty! Our least favorite, however, was the Chorizo. But I feel that was based on the fact that it didn’t have as many of the flavorful toppings the others all had, one of which being cilantro. I know I just lost a few of you with that one, but Brian and I both happen to love cilantro!

For drinks, I ordered the Jalapeno Margarita which was fabulous even though the bartender had to make it a little differently than it’s usually made as they were out of their jalapeno infused tequila (he said it just wouldn’t be quite as spicy as it normally is…but the one I got had plenty of kick!) Brian asked our bartender Eric (not sure if that’s with a “c” or a “k” as my husband Brian with an “i” not a “y” didn’t ask. I would have asked myself after I returned from stepping away from the bar for a moment, but then I decided it’s something I could write about instead, so I’m now sorry for the long diversion from the assessment of the Happy Hour just to explain and apologize to the bartender if I spelled his name wrong.) Eric/k replied with an Old Fashion, so that’s what the hubby went with. I took a sip, but after a bad experience one time with Southern Comfort, my pallet is not overly joyed by the taste of it. Nor is my nose excited about the fragrance. So I’m unable to give any kind of fair assessment of that one. Brian didn’t seem to have any problem polishing it off though.

Random information you may want to know about Tonno’s is one, they do not have a bike rack outside. However, the first time we went there they let us bring our scooters inside with us and I imagine they would have obliged to that again had we asked. Two, it was a bit chilly in there, so if you have a tendency to run on the cold side, you may want to bring a sweater or hoody. That seems fairly typical for a lot of places for me, so I should have known to bring one along myself. Three, they have several T.V.’s surrounding the entire inside tuned into various sports for your visual entertainment, and four, they have a pool table if that’s your game.

As I said, Tonno’s is a place we’ve frequented many times and will continue to go there in the future. If you haven’t been there, it’s a place you’re going to want to try. While you’re there, ask Eric/k if it’s with a “c” or a “k” and then go ahead and leave it in the comments so we can all know. Otherwise Brian and I will have to take a trip back to find out ourselves and would probably end up eating a Baja burger or some tacos, or both. So on second thought, never mind…we’ve got this.