Dining review

Around 3:00 in the afternoon on Monday I got an e-mail from Talisha, who is in my column writing class, to meet up with her at Ink Eats and Bar at four for the dine-in review column that was due Tuesday. It's located at the corner of 27^th Street and N Street in downtown Sacramento, so leaving from around Jefferson Blvd in West Sacramento at 3:15, I arrived and parked around 3:40. Taking a short walk, since I parked a block away, I came up to the place we were to meet. Outside, there was an artsy-looking bench in front of the entrance, made of metal and painted over with black, yellow, and red hues. I sat down on one side of the bench and felt an immediate wetness, realizing I sat in some water that had not evaporated, which resulted in my having a “soggy bottom”. I chided myself a little for forgetting about the rain the night before, and sat further down on the bench while waiting for about ten to fifteen minutes for the others, all the while writing down my experience up to that point. Looking at the bench further, I was really impressed with the detail put into it. There were two stars at the end where I sat in water, and the other end was missing a back and was rounded, like a table. In the middle of that end of the bench was a metal sunflower, which looked pretty cool. At about five minutes to four, I went inside to see if some of the others had arrived before me. They hadn't, so I talked with a woman with jet black hair and artful tattoos who was working behind the bar counter, telling her I was meeting up with some classmates from a column writing class, and that we would be writing about eating here. She told me that I could sit wherever while I waited, and doing so, I took in some of the surroundings in the bar. On the ceilings, there seemed to be carnival-looking posters, one showing a “tiger woman” from the looks of it. There were four flat-screen TVs positioned around the bar, two of them directly behind the bar, one to the left of the bar, and the last one in the opposite corner from that TV, allowing clear views of a TV from most spots in the bar. I figured from this that they get a decent number of guys coming in to watch sports and have a good time. 1980's rock, pop, and a little bit of R&B played over the speakers during my time in the bar, and I distinctly remember hearing the songs “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “Cruel Summer”. About five minutes after four, Talisha arrived with her boyfriend, Will, and told me one other person might be coming, but probably not. She was right, in that that person never came. We chatted a little bit before we were given menus, we ordered drinks (I just got a Diet Coke, but Will and Talisha got a couple Cherry Mohitos, and Talisha herself got a Diet Coke as well. We went over the menus, with a few items popping out at me (Pulled Pork Sandwich, Triple Cheese Grilled Sandwich, and meatloaf caught my eye, while Talisha's eye caught crab cakes), and after five minutes, we finalized our picks, myself having the Pulled Pork sandwich with the crispy onion straws on the side, Talisha having the same but with the onions on, and Will had the triple grilled cheese sandwich. The three of us talked some more after we made our orders, talking about how we grew up, whether or not we were only children or had siblings, and Talisha made mention of how she wants to take her career in journalism to become a fashion editor. I remarked that if she pursued it, she could eventually give critique on fashion and styles of dress at major events like the Oscars, which Will seemed to get a kick out of. About ten minutes later, we got our sandwiches with fries. We all agreed: they were pretty damn good. I'd give the pulled pork sandwich itself an eight out of ten, but the fries were a little average. We ate and chatted some more, also taking pictures of the place, before saying we'd have to come here again. Good food, and at ten dollars a sandwich it didn't break the bank, although five dollars a drink was kind of high. Still Ink Eats and Bar is a good place to take your friends or family for lunch or dinner.