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Sierra Grill Smokehouse is a favorite of Auburn, CA locals, as the food is simply delicious, your portions are large, and the service is fast and friendly. You'll enjoy your meal in a "rural roadhouse" atmosphere, that truly reflects the Sierra Nevada foothill character of Auburn, and all of western Placer County. As with all restaurant reviews I publish, I have no affiliation with the restaurant reviewed, and there is no monetary gain on my part, as I am simply a person who likes to eat, and I love to write-up, and publish my dining experiences.
Photo: Sierra Grill Smokehouse is located on the north side of Auburn, CA, on CA 49, known locally as "Grass Valley Highway," as the highway heads north to the town of Grass Valley and beyond. Sierra Grill is a favorite restaurant of the Auburn locals, who have a tendency to prefer pickup trucks and motorcycles as their mode of transportation. You know these folks have good taste in Sierra foothill cuisine! It's just past the 07:00 morning opening time on Saturday, July 23, 2020, and I've arrived to enjoy a memorable breakfast in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Photo: As you enter the restaurant, you'll be greeted by a friendly staff member, who will seat you, hand you a menu, and answer any question. Yes, the restaurant has real, "old school" menus, but if you prefer, you can order by phone or online using the restaurant's website, which is listed at the end of this article. For the first few minutes of my visit I had the entire dining room to myself, as I was the first diner on this early Saturday morning in late July.
Photo: The main dining room is long and quite narrow and looks directly into the adjoining bar... you step down into the bar, and into a completely different world, but the atmosphere is all the same... western roadhouse! The decor is pure "western roadhouse," which reminded me of the countless roadhouses I've visited during trips to rural Nevada, eastern Oregon, and much of Texas. The dining room furniture is a mixture of booths near the windows and tables against the wall. The walls are paneled in rustic wood, and decorated with photos, posters and plaques, and many of them might offend those who's core values run on the "blue" side of the fence.
Photo: Looking outside one of the dining room windows to see a truck and a bike in the parking lot, which is always a sign of good taste, especially in a town such as Auburn.
Photo: Sierra Grill Smokehouse has a very complete and extensive menu... all FIVE PAGES! The restaurant is very serious about breakfast, and the menu starts of with breakfast, and the "Sierra Sunrise" choices. "Texas Style Brisket and Two Eggs" is listed at the top of the menu, and is "top of the heap" as far as I'm concerned, so that's what I chose for my breakfast today. Honestly, everything on the menu looks delicious! Click on the menu image to see the complete menu... all five pages of it.
Photo: After I ordered breakfast, I had a chance to look around the restaurant, and was able to catch a peek into the kitchen from behind the cashier's station.
Photo: The extensive menu calls for lots of condiments, and it your favorite condiment is in a bottle, chances are you'll find it here.
Photo: From the dining room, it's just a "step down" - literally speaking - to the adjoining bar, that offers plenty of seating, beer on tap, and any mixed drink that you could desire. The decor is especially "western" with lots of photos, ranch tools and a few mounted trophies. It's a very relaxed, western bar, which seems to cater to bikers, cowboys and Auburn locals, complete with a couple of pool tables in the far corner. On this early Saturday morning, the bar was quite vacant, which wasn't surprising at all.
Photo: A sign by the bar lists "Happy Hour Bar Specials" along with "bar only" food and weekday specials. If you choose to enjoy a cold one or two at the bar, you can order from the restaurant menu if you choose. The bar specials look great, especially the "Taco Tuesday."
Photo: Looking across the bar into the restaurant dining room, in the middle-rear of the photo. The decor in the bar is very rustic, complete with knotty pine paneling, wooden beams, and mounted animal trophies.
Photo: Auburn and the Sierra Nevada foothills is mule deer country, as many deer, and deer hunters reside in western Placer County. This mounted mule deer seems to have something truly worthwhile to believe in...
Photo: Meet Sandy, my super friendly hostess, who brings my breakfast of "Texas Brisket" to me with a smile. Sandy provided fast, friendly service, and treated me like royalty.
Photo: I'm a happy guy, as Sandy took my photo, as I gave a "thumbs up" to one of best breakfasts in Auburn. Each table was furnished with various condiments, but this breakfast was "stand-alone" delicious, and didn't require any condiments.
Photo: From the "Sierra Sunrise" section of the breakfast menu, I went with "Texas Style Brisket and Two Eggs," which was at the top of the breakfast menu, and a "top shelf" breakfast in my "book." The menu offers many choices of sides and add-on's, but I went with hash browns, and a bowl of biscuit and gravy, rather than toast. Texas lives in my heart, soul and in my breakfast! Sandy offered a side of barbecue sauce and horseradish, which was greatly appreciated. The star of the breakfast was the brisket, smoked, Texas-style, with a nice smoke cap, but tender and juicy on the inside. If you're at all familiar with brisket and Texas barbecue, you know that brisket is the "go-to" cut of beef in Texas hill-country barbecue, and you'll appreciate the skill, along with the long cooking time in order to achieve perfect brisket. Sierra Grill Smokehouse knows how to smoke brisket, as this was some of the best brisket that I've enjoyed west of the Pecos River! My breakfast included FIVE thick strips of delicious brisket, which was plenty to satisfy the appetite of a linebacker, lumberjack, or a "foodie" like me. I LOVED the brisket! I was pleasantly surprised the breakfast included a small bowl of au jus for dipping the brisket into. Between the au jus, the barbecue sauce and the horseradish, I enjoyed some serious dipping with my breakfast! My potatoes of choice were hashbrowns, and I received a nice slab of perfectly fried hashbrowns, which were golden crispy on the outside, tender white on the inside, with just a little "crunch." Oh my, such great hashbrowns! My two eggs were cooked sunnyside up, and were cooked perfectly, and went well with the breakfast. When offered, I ALWAYS choose biscuits and gravy over toast, as in my eyes, there is NOTHING in the world that makes a better side than biscuits and gravy, and Sierra Grill Smokehouse delivered, as the bowl of biscuit and gravy was sublime! The biscuit was baked in-house, buttery and flaky, and covered with rich, thick, chunky country gravy, with lots of sausage chunks. I love it! In the words of a breakfast gravy lover, "Come for the brisket but stay for the gravy..." No matter where you're headed... maybe you're on the way to Reno, the Sierra Nevada mountains, stop by Sierra Grill Smokehouse, located in Auburn, CA, and enjoy an amazing meal in the charming "Sierra roadhouse" atmosphere. It's a favorite restaurant and watering hole of the Auburn locals, and it'll be a favorite of yours too. Sierra Grill Smokehouse Copyright(c) 2022 eRench Productions. All rights reserved. We've been on the web since December 22, 2002.
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