Nick on the Town

Benny’s (Q Street Bar & Grill)
2013 Q Street

For anyone looking to drink their way alphabetically through Sacramento’s bars the letter Q is an unavoidable obstacle.

There just aren’t many establishments which start with everyone’s least favorite letter and, inexplicably, Quizno’s doesn’t serve adult beverages. Lucky for me, Sacramento’s streets are laid out in a convenient grid of criss-crossing letters and numbers. Even more conveniently, the letters and number are in order.

All this led me to Benny’s. Yes, Benny’s. I know that doesn’t sound like it starts with a Q, but the bar everybody knows as Benny’s is on Q Street and is officially named the Q Street Bar & Grill. That said, I’m just going to call it Benny’s.

Here’s what Benny’s looks like through a dirty windsheild.

Benny’s is by no means the most welcoming bar in town and it certainly isn’t the cleanest, but it is not without it charm.

The bar is located just down the street from the Sacramento Bee which provides them with a built-in clientele. However, the journalists clear out fairly early in the day and make room for throngs of tatooed locals.

At first look you’d probably classify the crowd as “rough.” If you could muster up a second look you might change your mind, but I can’t make any promises.

Last time I went there, I saw a guy with rings stretching the holes in his earlobes so big that I could’ve stuck a fist right through them if I had the guts. I didn’t.

Kind of a rebelious joint, Benny’s was one of the last bars in town where you could still smoke. That came to an end a few years ago and, if I were a smoker, that probably would have made me sad. As it is: meh.

While the inside bar generally fills to capacity quickly, Benny’s does offer a fairly decent sized covered patio in the back with a secondary bar. This area fills up too, but less quickly.

It’s definitely not a classy joint, but it gets the job done if you’re looking for a cold one of these:

and you don’t mind if the bathrooms look like this:

That’s about all I got on Benny’s.

Highlights
* Cheap drinks
* Patio
* Bathroom mirror replaced with wall graffiti reads “You still look great!”
* Real convenient if you work at the Bee

Price
Pretty sure I paid $2.50 per High Life.

Clientele
Don’t forget your face piercing or your flat-brimmed ballcap and hoodie with the tiny neon logos all over it.