How to find the Sacramento area’s most underrated restaurants, from taquerias to pho joints

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a series of recent articles in the The Sacramento Bee calling attention to the region’s underrated restaurants. Now there’s a guide to them all.

The Sacramento Bee began asking readers to nominate the region’s most slept-on restaurants last year. As articles have come out highlighting specific cuisines — Thai, say, or Mexican — we’ve sought additional nominations for the next focus in the series, and asked people to vote on their top choice out of the nominees.

Those choice restaurants are tagged in an continuously-updated map, with colored icons highlighting each cuisine. Yellow pins ID Northgate Boulevard’s time-tested tacos, for example, while red pins show where to find dreamy pho or banh mi in Sacramento County suburbs.

Thai

• The Sacramento region’s most underrated Thai restaurants, as chosen by readers

• Sacramento’s most underrated Thai food can be found at this homey gem, readers say

Mexican

• The Sacramento region’s most underrated Mexican restaurants, as chosen by readers

• This 63-year-old institution is Sacramento’s most underrated Mexican restaurant, readers say

Vietnamese

• The Sacramento region’s most underrated Vietnamese restaurants, as chosen by readers

• Region’s most underrated Vietnamese restaurant is this south Sacramento ‘broken rice’ joint

Italian

• The Sacramento region’s most underrated Italian restaurants, as chosen by readers

• Take a look inside Sacramento’s most underrated Italian restaurant, a runaway winner

This story was originally published July 12, 2024 at 5:00 AM.