Dine Downtown returns to Sacramento in January, features 30 eateries

Sacramento has one of the best up-and-coming food scenes in the country, and the city will ring in the new year by shining a spotlight on dozens of its top eateries in an annual festival.

For a week in January, a variety of Sacramento restaurants will offer specialty menus to show off their chops and give back to the community. From steakhouses to ramen bars, numerous cuisines are represented in the capital city.

As part of the 21st iteration of Dine Downtown, more than two dozen restaurants from Old Sacramento to East Sacramento plan to welcome capital region foodies with a limited-time three-course meal for $45 per person — tax and tip not included.

Since 2005, the Downtown Sacramento Partnership has hosted culinary aficionados and hungry area residents in the yearly weeklong event. Sacramento mainstay restaurants return year after year, while budding hotspots make a splashy debut.

Here’s where you can find the unique menus and how you can support a local organization.

Who is participating in Dine Downtown 2026?

The 2026 celebration of Sacramento’s culinary industry will run from Jan. 8-19, with 30 eateries around town.

Big names, such as The 7th Street Standard and Frank Fat’s, are returning yet again with classic dishes on their menus developed for Dine Downtown.

The 7th Street Standard’s meal starts with a butternut squash soup, followed by a potato gnocchi or chicken & dumplings entrée, and topped off with a kumquat-garnished New York-style cheesecake.

Frank Fat’s, a former Michelin Guide entry, will offer a wider set of dish choices. To start, diners can choose between a pork-vegetable pot sticker or a vegetable spring roll. The main course comes with a choice of five entrées, including honey walnut prawns, cauliflower with beef and Saigon crispy chicken. The meal ends off with the restaurant’s signature banana cream pie.

Information about the event, including most of the specialty menus, is available online at the Dine Downtown webpage.

Give back to a Sacramento nonprofit by eating dinner

A main tenet of the Dine Downtown event is supporting nonprofits working in the Sacramento community. According to the news release, the event has raised tens of thousands of dollars in donations for area organizations over its 20 years.

This year, one dollar from each $45-meal will be donated to support nonprofit Opening Doors.

The organization works across the Sacramento area to support immigrants, refugees and survivors of human trafficking. Launched in 1993 as a refugee resettlement program, Opening Doors now offers a variety of resources, including pro bono immigration legal services, mental health counseling services, housing assistance and microenterprise business loans.

This story was originally published December 17, 2025 at 1:53 PM.

Camila Pedrosa

The Sacramento Bee

Camila Pedrosa is a service journalism reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She previously worked as a summer reporting intern for The Bee and reported in Phoenix and Washington, D.C. She graduated from Arizona State University with a master’s degree in mass communication.