Name: Belly Uptown
Location: Oakland, CA
Style: Mexican American
Overall: (4.75/ 5)

OVERVIEW

www.bellyuptown.com

“Good food, no frills. Come see for yourself.” I myself couldn’t think of a better way to describe it myself. This is exactly what it says when you open the Belly Uptown webpage.

T he restaurant is very small and simple nestled on a corner in the center of downtown Oakland. When I asked the staff what the best tacos were, I was recommended the steak and egg along with the shrimp avocado. As I am a huge fan of good pork belly, I went with the pork belly for my third.

First up was the steak and egg. It comes with a generous amount of steak, topped with fries,  fried egg, garlic aioli and chipotle aioli. Let me tell you, this was hands down the highlight of my meal. After I took my first bite, I sat it down, looked at my friends whom I was dining with, and we all enjoyed a moment. It was one of those moments in life where you are all thinking the exact same thing and don’t even have to say a word. Each of us seemed to have the same reaction…awestruck.

The next taco that I elected to go with was the Shrimp and Avocado. This one is done with shrimp tempura, avocado, sesame slaw, sambal aioli, pico de gallo, and a lime-cilantro sour cream. With the exception to the slaw, I thought the rest was honestly just average. The slaw was absolutely outstanding, but just didn’t seem to work with the rest. With that being said, it was still a great taco with some great components to it. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and the slaw being that right amount of acidic really left me with a good impression. The main issue here was that the steak and egg was still weighing on my mind.

Last but not least, I elected to go with the pork belly. This was actually the one that I was most excited about. Pork belly is without a doubt one of my favorite foods, and with a name like “Belly” they had to have great pork belly. This one was done with spicy honey glazed pork belly, sesame slaw, and pickled cucumbers. Having just ate the shrimp taco, I knew the slaw was going to be great. With the first bite, I knew this was a step back up to the steak and egg. All of the components worked great together, and the star was most certainly the pork belly itself.

All in all, a great experience. The experience was so good that we even returned almost a year later with a very similar experience. If you’re ever in San Francisco, make the trip across the bay to get you some great tacos!

Atmosphere:	(4.5 / 5)
Service:	(5 / 5)
Price:	(4 / 5)
Food:	(5 / 5)
Overall:	(4.75 / 5)