With 2,624 Sacramento restaurants reviewed on Yelp, the capital city has thousands of restaurant-goers using Yelp to share their dining experiences with others. A recent study done by Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Michael Luca found that local restaurants increase revenue 5 to 9 percent per star they gain on Yelp. The Sacramento Press wanted to see if this finding held true for restaurants in the central city. Comments and ratings on Yelp appear to make a big difference, but Sacramento restaurant owners and managers say they aren’t so sure. Luca combined data on Seattle restaurant revenues that he collected from the Washington State Department of Revenue and Yelp ratings o

Golf, pub crawl and breast cancer are usually not three topics you see together. But then again, Albie Puttin’ is not your typical pub crawl. Saturday, Sacramentans can play a nine-hole game of miniature golf and enjoy drink specials all while helping breast cancer patients. All ticket sales will benefit the Albie Aware organization — founded to help provide resources such as paying medical fees to breast cancer patients. This is the first pub crawl event fundraiser that Albie Aware is holding, sponsored by Go-Girl Energy Drink. The crawl will begin with at noon Saturday at deVere’s Irish Pub. Each restaurant or bar has made its own themed hole and will feature drink and food specials,

Sacramento restaurateur Ernesto Jimenez was excited, yet afraid to take on the challenge of creating a restaurant in a 6,000-square-foot corner space in the old Arnold Brothers Motor Cars building. He already was the owner of the colorful Mexican restaurant Ernesto's when he and partners bought the 77-year-old building in 2001. And he'd been dreaming about his next restaurant for years. He wanted it to be something special. "It was a beautiful old building, so the restaurant had to match the exterior," he said. "I didn't want it to be just another restaurant. It had to be something beyond that." His visits to the new space at 18th Street and Capitol Avenue told him there was a lot of wo

From French bubbly to tequila cocktails, local bars and restaurants are creating a range of options for a New Year’s Eve toast.  Lounge on 20 will serve a cocktail called “By the Fire,” which was created by bartender Steven Oberlander. The drink will give customers the feeling of “eating pie on the holidays,” said Garrett Hintze, Lounge on 20 bar manager and buyer.  The $12 cocktail features Nocino walnut liqueur together with a small amount of pear liqueur. Oro de Oaxaca mezcal will be added to the drink. The cocktail will have a Buffalo Trace bourbon base, giving it a “crème brûlée honey tone,” Hintze said. He described the drink as “very balanced,” noting that it’s not overly sweet.

Zócalo restaurant plans to expand its space for celebration by adding a banquet room. The 1,000-square-foot banquet room will increase the L-shaped 3,500-square-foot dining area by nearly a third. The room will contain pre-Columbian-style artwork and noise-reduction features including "big, beautiful doors" that can be closed and rugs that will make the new room quieter than an existing 500-square-foot banquet room, said restaurant owner Ernesto Jimenez. "We get a lot of requests for groups — especially this time of year," he said. "It's a good celebration place." A bank has given verbal approval for a loan, but now paperwork must be completed, Jimenez said. The plan is to start work b