BarWest Burgers & Wings on J Street opened Thursday after a soft opening the previous weekend, filling a space that previously housed Aura and G.V. Hurley’s .

“We were really busy (on Thursday),” said co-owner Trevor Shults. “You can tell people in this area were really looking for something like this.”

The restaurant and bar located at 2724 J St. features a menu heavy on burgers and wings, with some salads and other items, such as deep-fried Ding-Dongs and buffalo fries as well.

Burgers include a variety of types, with the Capitol Classic (a step up from the BarWest burger with the addition of the “secret sauce”) and the J Street Bleu (a burger with bleu cheese).

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Shults said the main focus for him at the moment is working with the staff to improve customer service in response to Yelp! reviews that complained of slow service.

“It’s like any new restaurant,” he said. “We need to work the kinks out before we really hit our stride.”

Image by: Brandon Darnell

One change coming this week that’s a direct result of customer feedback is including French fries with every burger purchase.

Shults said that, originally, burgers by themselves started at $3.95, and fries were added separately. Customers, however, were upset that the burgers didn’t come with fries, so the menu is being adjusted so all burgers come with fries and start at about $5.

Drinks are another main feature of the restaurant and bar, with 16 beers on tap and about 40 craft beers available in bottles, Shults said.

Image by: Brandon Darnell “We also have drinks in fishbowls,” he said. “In fact, they’ve been so popular that I’ve got to order some more fishbowls.”

He said serving the 64-ounce fishbowl drinks allows people to share, and the popularity caused him to order another 50 of them to augment the 25 bowls he started with.

The mixed drinks served in fishbowls have four straws in them, and cost about $27.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The ground-floor restaurant area, including a patio, seats 102. The décor uses the brick walls of the buildings as well as padded wall coverings and beach hut-style grass over the bar area. A few surf boards serve as accents in the space.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

An upstairs area is available for private gatherings, holding 48 people seated and 70 standing.

Shults said the idea is that it can be used for anything from corporate events to fantasy football drafts and birthday parties.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Some of the amenities upstairs include a private bar, four flatscreen TVs and a 15-foot projector.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

“If people want to have corporate events, it’s $20 a head, and we have a $500 minimum,” Shults said.

Flatscreen TVs dominate the area above the bar and are also in other parts of the restaurant and the patio with 20 in all.

“We will have NFL Sunday Ticket from DirecTV, and we’ll be showing all the important games,” Shults said.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

There won’t be any live music at BarWest, as one of the agreements with local neighbors included not filing for an entertainment permit. To read more about the restaurant and its workings with neighbors – who stood firm against the previous operators – click here.

Midtown resident George Raya, who has been involved with local neighborhood groups, said Monday that the restaurant and bar is not turning out to have the same types of problems that previous restaurants had.

“The crowd here seems to be social drinkers,” he said. “They aren’t drinking to get drunk. I’ve talked to a lot of the neighbors, and they all say it’s not a problem.”

He said there is noise associated with the restaurant and bar, but it’s the noise of a party, not the louder noise of a nightclub.

And Raya said he has been to BarWest every day it’s been open, and that it’s a convenient spot to get a drink near his home.

Tara Dodson, 37, lives in East Sacramento and likened BarWest to a Sacramento version of “Cheers.”

“The food is really good,” she said. “This is definitely a great local neighborhood bar.”

Johnny Davis, 33, said he’s tried most of the menu items and likes them all, but one stands above the rest.

“The deep-fried Ding Dong is amazing,” he said. “I’ve had one every day.”

He also said he tried the wings with the “death sauce.”

“If you were here, you would have seen a grown man crying,” he said with a laugh.

A touch-screen jukebox sits in the back of the restaurant, and music videos will be shown weekend nights.

BarWest Burgers & Wings serves food from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the bar open until 2 a.m. Food service starts at 9 a.m. with brunch on weekends, and food service continues until 10 p.m., with the bar open until 2 a.m.

The BarWest menu can be found online by clicking here.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made after this story was published. The incorrect information has been struck out.