This is the most-missed restaurant in Sacramento, readers say. Here’s what made it great

What makes a restaurant great? Is it the location? The staff? A signature dish?

In December we asked — our readers — about the Sacramento-area restaurants you miss the most, and received more than 300 submissions. We then asked you to vote for your favorite eatery that’s closed.

One now-shuttered restaurant ranked higher than the others in the poll results: Club Pheasant, which served the community for 85 years in West Sacramento.

Readers raved about the restaurant’s history, ambiance and “tasty Italian food.”

We dug through The Sacramento Bee’s archives to discover the origins of the restaurant and take you for a stroll down memory lane.

How did Italian restaurant get started in West Sacramento?

Here’s how Club Pheasant got its start in West Sacramento.

The building at 2525 Jefferson Blvd. was initially owned and used by UC Davis as “an agronomy laboratory to test the ground for farming,” according to the restaurant website.

When Luisa and George Palamidessi purchased the building in 1935, it was known as the Hideaway Cafe.

They initially named their restaurant the Golden Pheasant in reference to the “flocks of pheasants that lived in the thousands of acres surrounding the fields,” The Sacramento Bee previously reported.

A San Francisco restaurant had the same name, so the Palamidessis decided to switch their restaurant’s name to Club Pheasant.

Shortly after the restaurant opened, the Palamidessis were joined by their daughter and son-in-law, Angelina and John Rivera, according to the restaurant website.

“Luisa cooked and ran the bar while her four daughters helped serve customers,” the restaurant biography illustrated on its website.

George and Luisa Palamidessi retired after World War II, but the restaurant continued under their family’s ownership. In 1991, a dozen family members still worked at the restaurant, according to The Sacramento Bee’s archives.

As Club Pheasant’s popularity grew over the years, the building expanded.

The Palamidessi family built an additional room in 1977 that was named the Luisa room. Then, in 1997, an outdoor patio was built.

What made Club Pheasant popular?

Club Pheasant was popular for its homemade Italian dishes crafted with fresh ingredients and based on Luisa Palamidessi’s original recipes, The Bee reported.

One popular menu item was the house-made ravioli, which featured pasta stuffed with beef or cheese and vegetables.

According to Club Pheasant’s website, the restaurant made more than 10,000 servings a week.

Servers made customers feel at home, often referring to their guests as “hon,” according to The Bee’s archives.

“The service was informal but efficient,” The Bee reported in 1986, while the ambiance was friendly and bustling.

The restaurant had checkered tablecloths and candles throughout the restaurant at one point, that gave it an inviting feel, according to The Bee’s archives.

Many Sacramentans said they grew up dining at Club Pheasant as children and later frequented the restaurant as adults with their own families.

“My extended family would regularly eat there throughout the (1960s) and ’70s” when the restaurant was “in the middle of fields along a two-lane Jefferson Boulevard, Robert Finnegan told The Bee in his response to The Bee’s callout. “(I) always ate the same thing: ravioli and (a) steak sandwich with spumoni ice cream for dessert.”

“(I) have been enjoying meals at their historic location all my life, first with my parents, and later with my wife and kids,” Sacramento native Ward Koppel told The Bee.

In her response to the callout. Connie Hall said the restaurant was “one of the ‘nice’ restaurants” she visited in the 1960s as a little girl with her grandparents.

“I loved all of their food,” Hall said.

Years later, she said, the eatery “became a frequent date night spot” for her and her husband.

“Those were the days!” Hall said.

When did Club Pheasant close? And why?

Club Pheasant closed its doors at the end of 2022.

“Please know that every choice we’ve had to make the last few months did not come easy, and we’ve had you in mind every step of the way,” the Palamidessi family wrote in a statement that June, noting that the past few years had been “tough for many people and businesses.”

The family sold Club Pheasant, which occupied a 8,452-square foot building and sat on a 2.15-acre lot, to local development firm Ridge Capital.

Developers had plans to demolish the building, but the city stepped in and bought it.

“The West Sacramento City Council spent $3.4 million to preserve Club Pheasant’s spirit,” The Bee reported in October.

Although the building is ready for a new occupant, it was unclear as of Friday who will move into the space.

What do you want to know about life in Sacramento? Ask our service journalism team your top-of-mind questions in the module below or email servicejournalists@sacbee.com.