Chico Restaurant Guide

Had Christmas Eve dinner at the Black Crow. Delicious food, great service and gameboys for the kids to play with!! Highly recommend.

The Black Crow Grill & Taproom used to be great with the past owners. For the last 3 years I have heard and nothing but bad comments and experienced low quality service and food. I used to be a regular until the owners changed. The service is terrible due to the fact that the waiters don't know the product they sell. The product (food) has gotten progressively worse. The management is beyond awful. When I had an issue the last time I had dinner there the manager did not even come out to talk with me and my wife. Our waiter told us that he was eating dinner at the time. Come on, your staff and management should eat after me. It was 7:00pm and the manager was too busy to get up from his meal to talk with us. Who is the owner of this poor establishment now? I would recommend 5th Street Steakhouse, Johnny's, Red Tavern, even Christian Michaels before the Black Crow ever! I agree, pull yourself together Black Crow! Come on I would be ashamed.

Had the Halibut with Thai red curry sauce. I love halibut & love curry of any kind. The plate looked good. I brought a very small bite of fish to my mouth and it didn't seem right, but drawn to the curry I automatically put it into my mouth. Who expects spoiled fish? I knew immediately I had made a mistake. I took a sniff of the fish on the plate; it had a strong odor of ammonia, confirmed by my dinner mates. I NEVER make a fuss, but this was unacceptable.

Any chef who cannot detect spoiled fish should not be cooking. Or worse, do they know and serve it anyway? Raw it had to have a distinct odor, and when cooked and covered in an aromatic curry sauce it still stunk

So many people, including cooks, do not seem to understand that fish does not smell bad unless it is spoiled. Many say they don't like fish, but it is because they have been served or sold bad fish.

This was Friday. My friend who knows, tells me Chico restaurants get fish deliveries on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays.

To the servers credit, apologies were offered, and a replacement order turned in. My friends ate their dinners while I waited for a replacement - this time a rib steak. My friends had mostly finished their dinners when I got mine.

The steak, ordered med-rare, arrived nicely browned on the outside, but the rest was completely raw - at least it was room temp and not cold. The Black Crow was lucky they served this to me and not their average customer. I can tolerate (not enjoy, only tolerate) a rare steak, most would have sent this back too. I wanted to send it back, but was not up to fussing again, and having dinner extended another half hour for everyone. A bitter brown sauce was served all over the steak, so additional grilling would not have worked well anyway.

The meat looked like a really large portion, but unfortunately there was a a larger ratio of fat than this rib steak lover sees normally on that naturally "fatty" cut. The meat was mostly very tender, but at times there were tendons that I had to saw over repeatedly with their steak knife. By then my repeated sawing of the meat seemed almost -- comical (?). [Not really, just very frustrating and disappointing. Sometimes you just have to suck it up to not spoil the dinner for everyone.]

With the steak: garlic mashed potatoes (remarkably with no hint of garlic), and about 5 unusually-thin, unusually-short stalks of asparagus. Both items ok, but nothing to brag about, and certainly nothing to make up for the rotting fish and raw steak.

One friend had beef lettuce wraps, which were pronounced good, and perfect for a hot Chico evening.

One friend had an "Early Bird" steak & prawn dinner, said to be ok (a smallish portion at a bargain price of $20).

We ended up there because one friend wanted a cocktail with dinner, it seems few restaurants in Chico have a full bar.

Tried featured wine. Server offered a sample, which sold the item.

Will I go back anytime soon? No. Have had many lunches there in the past that were good.

The dinner menu is odd; tries but fails to be big-city-modern. Only one pasta dish on menu, and one dish for vegetarians, which is listed as vegan, called paella. It lists saffron, but includes only veggies - is that paella?

Should have gone to Spice Creek. A little expensive, but well worth not having the disappointments it seems are often dished up in the "better" restaurants of Chico.

The Black Crow Grill was recommended by my hotel and it was excellent! The service was fantastic, the food was delicious and quick. I'll return the next time I'm in town.

Great food and service! The menu was truly original. The crazy thing about this place is they have a chimpanzee as a bathrrom attendent. It on a chain so it wont run away I guess. Is this even legal? I plan to return but the chimp kind of creeps me out.

I only make it out here twice a year, but it's a must.
Delicious meals, and beautiful unassuming atmosphere. The mahogany bar fireplace and beautiful art felt like I was in a Pottery Barn Store. Always busy (make a reservation, but I was okay walking in once too), nice and noisy. Great staff, knowledgeable & available, but gave us our time and privacy, even though it was packed.

Recently I had the Flank Steak & Prawns which was awesome. My Husband had the Halibut which was perfectly cooked and the sauce was to die for. All the appetizers are yummy as well as the salads. I had to resist getting the cedar planked salmon which I had last time. For a finish, I love carrot cake, and their's did not disappoint.

Menu changes often, and a lot of it is daily specials and seasonal goods. A fun surprise every time.

I'm sure I'll be stopping by here next year again!

Wow!!! What a find. On my travels through Chico I happened in on the Black Crow and was thoroughly impressed. I had the Cedar Plank Salmon and my wife had the Filet. These were some of the best meals we have had in a long time. Service was awesome as well. Very comparable to many of the hotspot in San Francisco but at price points well below what you wouldpay in the city