The Upper Room Kitchen — Restaurant in Tracy

We finally tried the Upper Room today for lunch to see what the hype is all about.

I want to start with saying just because it's the best clean eating, real food place in Tracy, does not mean it's amazing or the best food ever. That would be like saying, it's ok, for Tracy. If it's good, it's gotta be good anywhere.

I have mixed feelings about the Upper Room. I truly see what the owners are going for BUT it's not quite there yet. They need a little more attention to detail in the interior design, servers and kitchen to make it great.

When you walk in, it's a bit awkward with the set up. There's no one greeting you so you're not quite sure where to go.

The interior needs a bit of work. A little more elbow grease maybe, or different lighting. It doesn't feel new, if you know what I mean.

We ordered fairly quickly which was awesome. Our food took a bit of time, but for fresh, clean food, it can take time. Totally fine.

But when we got our food, it was wrong. I ordered chicken with salsa verde with brussel sprouts and carrots. My husband ordered steak with chimichurri and mixed vegetables.

My chicken got the chimichurri and his steak got the salsa verde, which wasn't even green, it was red. So we had to ask. We agreed to keep the dishes the way they were because it would have taken too much time to have them switch. And upon my first bite of chicken, it was cold. Not room temperature but cold. And my carrots and brussel sprouts were burnt. I don't mind a little char on my veggies but these were burnt.

At the end of it all, I decided not to return my dish, again, but it wasn't worth my time.

My husband's steak was delicious as were his veggies - which weren't burned at all.

Everything did need some salt and pepper though.

I don't know how long this place has been open but if these types of dishes are their schtick, then they need to get them right to be successful.

I will absolutely give them another chance and hope I can give them a better...

This place is a bit unusual, but fairly straightforward with it's menu. I find it a challenge to review, but would have to give it 4 stars, because in the end I still feel like I "liked it". What I enjoyed here was the value, wholesome well cooked food, and very friendly owner and chef. All for appears to be cooked to order, and thus tastes very fresh and exceptionally wholesome, and the wait time is quite reasonable.

Now onto the cons/suggestions:

Poor hours, I can't come here for breakfast, nor when I'd normally have dinner.

Though the food is wholesome and the portion sizes were decent, even traditionally spicy sauces like Salsa Verde, were on the bland side. If you enjoy exotic cuisines like Mexican, Indian, Korean, you might find their food a bit bland, it's a great place if you're sick or having stomach issues though. The menu is prix fixe, so if you're exceptionally hungry, or just looking to snack, every plate is about the same size, and the menu doesn't have any appetizers or à la carte items.

My first time ordering here was exceptionally daunting, but it became much easier successive times. The menu has an uncoventional approach where you have to choose one thing out of each of several categories. There were no specials, or suggestions as to what would pair well. The menu has some exotic names with no descriptions which makes it hard to decide what to try. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to sit anywhere or wait to be seated. Menus were laid out on a counter with a cash register, so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to order there (which I did), or take a seat and then wait for a waiterress come to me (which I should have done). It was assumed that my food was a "to go" order, and it was packed and left for me to pick up on a counter, whilst I was seated and...

Seems like a cool little place when you come in. The upstairs dining is lacking on air conditioning I’d say the temperature was 80°, but it does have some ceiling fans to help circulate the air. Because it was upstairs, the service was below average. It’s too much trouble to walk up the stairs just to ask if everything is OK. One of the main reasons for selecting this restaurant was for the advertised “craft beer“. I was provided two samples of beer, thank you very much, but I made my selection and ordered my beer and never received it. And the $39 surf and turf consisted of steak and four small shrimp. No lobster. So, basically four small bites of shrimp is your half of the surf and turf. Ordered the steak, New York strip I believe, medium, and it arrived medium well. Dried out and with little flavor. The salad arrived at the same time as the meal and not before. I had to make one glass of water last the entire time as I could tell no one was going to come up those stairs to offer any more. My wife ordered a glass of Chardonnay which was $12, and the beer I ordered but never got was $9 and I had to request it be taken off of the check. This is not a fancy restaurant and their prices are way too high for mediocre atmosphere, inadequate cooling, over cook steak, inadequate shrimp on a $39 plate, and poor service. No one asked how the steak was, whether or not, we enjoyed our meal, or how was everything? Three stars is actually very generous for my rating of this restaurant. Very...