The Up and Under

I decided that I am going to start reviewing restaurants that I go to. It is my friend's birthday this week so a bunch of friends and I decided to go to the Up and Under Pub and Grill in Richmond, CA not VA on Friday. There were 18 of us, including the kids, so the place had to make special accommodations for us. I didn't deal with making the reservations but my friend said they were very accommodating.

The restaurant is located in Point Richmond, a neighborhood in Richmond not well known in the San Francisco Bay Area, despite being a quaint little neighborhood by the Bay. It's not a place that's known for restaurants but two of my friends heard good things about it so we decided to check it out.

The staff was very friendly and made sure that we were taken care of by checking up on us throughout the evening. All of my friends were happy with their food, especially my friend who ordered the 3/4 lb burger. It was...well gigantic. I wanted to try as much on the menu as I could so I split two sandwiches with my friend. I tried the their vegetarian sandwich, the Winger and the Full back. The Winger has a grilled Portobello mushroom & cactus, roasted red pepper, tomato and choice of cheese with a pesto aioli on herb focaccia. This sandwich was my favorite of the two because it wasn't your usual boring vegetarian sandwich. The cactus gave the sandwich extra complexity by giving it an interesting texture that can be described as a cross between the consistency of okra and the texture of roasted bell pepper. It was also a little tangy that added another layer of flavor. The Portobello mushroom and roasted bell pepper was perfectly cooked and the pesto aioli wasn't overpowering like most pesto sauces can be. My only complaint would be that the sandwich claimed to be on an herb focaccia which is really wasn't. The bread was a nice fluffy bread but I wouldn't call it a focaccia and it definitely didn't have enough herbs to make it memorable. The Full back had grilled chicken, thick cut bacon, roasted tomatoes & peppers, jack cheese, and chipotle aioli on a herb fococcia. This sandwich was also good. The chicken was moist and seasoned well, the bacon added a smoky flavor although there were several thin pieces of bacon rather than thick cut bacon and the roasted tomatoes gave it a sweet and tangy flavor. Again, the bread was good although it wasn't really a focaccia and the chipotle aioli over powered the sandwich with the amount of heat. I would have preferred a milder sauce, since the chipotle aioli made it hard to detect the tomato and the bell peppers flavors. Each sandwich was served with house fries. I was expecting steak fries but they served some pretty nice crispy fries that didn't get soggy or hard right away. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with my food and experience there. I'm not sure that I would make a special trip out there again since it's quite a trek from my place but I would definitely go back if I was in the area.