The Tractor Room

Came here for brunch yesterday with our two little princesses. We originally wanted to go to Hash House a Go Go but they were closed for renovations for the week. So we came down the street instead (I think they have the same owners).
We were seated pretty fast despite it being super busy at noon. Our waiter was soooo nice!!! He was really great and very nice to our kids. Brought them lemons and kid cups to enjoy while we waited for our food.
I ordered the chicken and waffle tower and my friend ordered the fried chicken sandwich. Our baby girls got a mini kids version of the snickers pancake. And I must say everything was phenomenal!!! The waffles had BACON in them. Anything with bacon is an automatic A+!!! My fried chicken was cooked perfectly, it was juicy and tender. Her sandwich was bomb and her waffles fries were delicious. And the snickers pancake was soooooooooooooooo good!!! Literally it tasted just like a snickers bar.
Their food was amazing. Service was amazing. Everything was great.

Prelims: when you try to get to Hash House A-​Go-​Go and fail miserably because you wanted to sleep in and think that you have some time on a Saturday morning to saunter over to HHAGG and try to get a nice breakfast, you will be thoroughly rejected and miserable over the fact that you are now hungry and have nowhere to eat — so you think. Then you’ll get redirected to this seemingly innocuous looking restaurant where there is a giant tractor, making the restaurant appropriately named. The service is quick and the food comes out quickly. The ones that got coffee had their cups refilled very quickly. Atmosphere is quite interesting — they serve a mean breakfast, but the restaurant is also clearly meant to be bar. so it was crowded and dark inside; I think it would have been nicer to eat outside.
The concept the Tractor Room is to be similar to pay homage to the farmer’s appetite, while providing some rather interesting food items, like boar. Unfortunately, most of us do not have the farmer’s work to do early in the morning to rev up the appetite, so when we get our food, it looks like you can go swimming in your meal (aka — they give a lot of food. A lot. Gargantuan servings). I ordered the pancakes. They were size of my torso. At that size, you’re going to end up sacrificing some sort of texture and/​or flavor, but in this case, the exchange was minimal. It was quite delicious and the amount of butter and syrup that could waterfall over it was astounding. Unable to finish it, I took it home where it stayed in my fridge. I also got the cornbread, which came out in a cast-​iron skillet. It was massively thick and in this case you did sacrifice some texture and flavor for the size — a little too crunchy underneath and a bit undercooked on the inside, but the sheer size meant that the good bits were more than enough. Unable to finish, I took it home where it stayed in my fridge. The eggs were enormous — it looked like they raided the whole coop just for me. With eggs this size, obviously you can’t have uniform awesomeness all the way through — but for the most part it was well-​seasoned, tasted great, and had good texture. Just remove the bits that you don’t like and you’ll still see eggs for days. Unable to finish, I took it home where it stayed in my fridge. Overall, a delicious meal that, while it had some underperforming elements, definitely stuck with the overly large serving size theme and got most of it spot on.
I did pay the price for this place — not as cheap as HHAGG, you’ll pay a decent-​looking penny for what they serve and you’ll slowly slip into food coma on the drive back, waddle to your front door because your stomach is erupting over your belt, and then crash on the couch for 2 hours to sleep off the meal (at least that’s what I did).
TL;DR The tractor room serves tractor sized food.

Well the wait wasnt Too long for a sunday morning, good & quick seevice. Very loud inside but not Too loud on the patio
I really enjoyed my cesar salad but was bitterly disappointed with the corn bread; it was really, really bland as was the rest of the dishes we ordered.
Not going back any time soon

I love their breakfast… if you don’t like the line at hash house a go go, this you should come here. The tractor room are sisters of hash house… from what I heard. They serve kinda the same breakfast but it’s their corn bread that makes this place so great.

Another day to remember: High Wind Warning (60 MPH)! But this isn’t stopping me from getting brunch!
When Hash House and Tractor Room have (almost) identical menus but one takes reservations, why not Tractor Room?! So it took me a bajillion phone calls before I realized that Tractor Room is actually closed on Monday, Tuesdays AND Wednesdays. They officially open at 5 PM Thursday but I was pleasantly surprised when I received a phone call Thursday 4 PM to confirm my reservation for Sunday, party of 8, at 11:30 AM.
Half of our party didn’t arrive until 12:30 (way to be on time…) so I greatly appreciate the owner (I am assuming, since he had a more dominant presence) for accommodating to us and just giving us a heads up that we should probably order in a few minutes.
On this fine, fine Sunday, I got to try the following dishes:
–1 Andy’s Sage Fried Chicken Waffle Tower ($ 19.95) /​/​Obama should try this out! (Roscoe’s, anyone?) 4 warm, thick pieces of Belgium waffles on the bottom with thick cuts of chicken breast well-​cooked and a huge piece of rosemary sticking from the top. YUM. I always see other brunch places selling chicken and waffles but they do not come close to what they serve here! MUST GET. I love the maple reduction – not to overpowering and you just want more and more! It would be nice, however, to have some type of fruity side to it. Or crack eggs two on top (+$ 1).
–1 Braised Free Range Buffalo Quesadilla ($ 18.95) /​/​YUMMMM. I love that it’s in a shape of a pyramid, and the sauce accompanied well with the whole dish! I opened my quesadilla and was really shocked to find REAL TOMATOES AND EGGS. That’s right! Most places used canned tomatoes and liquid eggs, but this is THE REAL DEAL. And no sour cream! HUZZAH. Would be nice if there was more meat though… My only issue is that there was wayyy too much potatoes on the bottom. It’s delicious (and tastes great for leftovers too) but it was A LOT. Literally two potatoes. Or maybe I’m just exaggerating…
–1 Free Range Wild Boar Hash ($ 18.95) with the side of cornbread skillet /​/​Good portion size! It would be nice if they had filled the whole bottom of the skillet and topped the eggs on top (because it looks imbalanced when served) but the quantity was great. Meat was a bit dry for me, a bit too much cream but delicious. Can’t ever go wrong with a hash! Cornbread was good! I’m not a huge fan of cornbread but it looked amazing and it tasted great! Great choice of side.
–1 The Tractor Room Famous Super Flapjack Combo with Turkey Sausage ($ 15.95) (+$ 1) for upgrading to the Raspberry Macadamia Nut flapjack /​/​GENEROUS PORTION (or maybe I should say that for all dishes)! I LOVE that they use REAL MACADAMIA NUTS in the mix! I didn’t taste as much raspberry though… This is my first time having flapjacks (versus pancakes?) and it wasn’t too bad! Definitely need more syrup though and powdered sugar. It was dense for me, but a good palate cleanser when things were getting hectic. Turkey sausage was good! They were generous and gave two links. YAY! MUST SHARE.
–1 Roasted Chicken Hash ($ 16.95) with the side of cornbread skillet /​/​I didn’t get to try it myself, but it looked mediocre to me! Great portion size of course, but I never get chicken unless it’s special… like CHICKEN AND WAFFLES!
–1Andy’s House Sage Fried Chicken Benedict ($ 19.95) /​/​Looked just as epic! The only complaint though, is that in the hot mess, you don’t really know what you’re eating anymore. And the closer you get to the bottom of the dish, the less sauce, which made it harder to consume. BUT, REAL EGGS. And lots of fresh spinach!
Pros:
–Beautiful presentation. Just look at the pictures. Please.
–Good selection. Simple but classic! And they have their own twist on things!
–HUGE PORTIONS. Need I say more? And great quality! Everything was pretty spot-​on AND they were true to their meals.
–Reasonable pricing! No doubt, you get what you pay for!
Cons:
–Meh service. Server was pretty busy and he wasn’t super attentive after he dropped off food. I wanted more water to wash down my food!
–Meh seating. It’s hard sliding between tables to get to my corner in the couch area. My buttock was literally hovering above the skillet of someone else’s dish…
Tips/​Observations:
–The online menu price is NOT updated! Everything is actually $ 1 more in comparison. (Which isn’t bad at all!)
–Parking is horrendous. Do definitely drop off your party off and circle around a bit. But at least it’s free on Sundays!
–Outdoor patio seating too! I love that it’s at the same level as the rest of the restaurant so people weren’t gawking at your huge portions as you ate (if you were at ground level).
Overall, a great spot to bring non-​locals (or even visiting locals)! Show em how SD does brunch!

Excellent presentation and great flavors. When you get to the bottom of your dish it starts to get a little dry. We definitely needed more of that excellent chipotle sauce to get through the whole dish.
That being said, do not get a dish to yourself unless you’re trying to do your meal prep for the next week. Even with two people per dish, no one finished.
I would definitely come back, but not for a while.

On a very crowded Saturday morning, I ordered the Wild Boar Hash, which comes with two eggs and either cornbread or a biscuit. The food arrived in a very reasonable amount of time.
The amount of food in the skillet (Not hot, just for serving) that was set in front of me was inappropriately large for one person, as was its price, $ 18.95, as I recall. The cornbread was served on its own small iron skillet, topped by a large cube of butter and parsley.
The hash was good, not too salty, and the boar meat was shredded, and in a reasonable amount. The eggs were cooked perfectly. The hash consisted of wedge potatoes, accompanied by nice little tomatoes. Although the meal was good, it was not remarkable. There was a blandness associated with this hash that I did not expect or want. «Wild Boar Hash» does not sound bland ! This entrée has great potential, but mine lacked seasoning and flavor. I was disappointed.
The cornbread was thin, about ¾ inch thick, which I think contributed to its crusty dryness. The butter helped, but was almost frozen solid, and the bread itself wasn’t very warm.
My coffee was excellent, and the server kept me refilled. I packaged up the remaining half of my meal.
It was A-​OK, and certainly worth a try.

Me and all my roommates were more than happy! This was the best breakfast place I’ve ever been! I’m not even sure if words can describe how delicious it was!
Me and my boyfriend shared the fried chicken and we’re still taking a box home. If also recommend the the ceased bloody!
Music and lighting was perfect. Jeeze I can just keep talking about how great it was. Thanks server Jeff for an awesome meal and great service.

We found the food here decent but overpriced. Things looked enticing on the menu but were more than what you would expect to pay in a bar/​pub environment. However I would come back for cocktails.
We settled on the venison meatloaf, the mini portobello and chicken skewer, mini fried chicken skewer and smoked duck salad. The meatloaf was huge! It is definitely a meat lovers dish and comes with amazing bacon inside. The fried chicken was also well received, but both chicken dishes were a bit dry for my liking. The duck salad was mediocre with too much dressing and what tasted like salad out of a bag.
The best part was the midnight pineapple cocktail which was delicious! I usually avoid gin but was enticed by the caramelized pineapple included in the ingredients list. Unfortunately the drink came and none of the pineapple was caramelized!!! And it took a long time to arrive.
Would not come back here for dinner

Walking around the neighborhood hoping to try something new and maybe get a Restaurant Week deal. We couldn’t get into the two new places that we stopped by, so we ended up at The Tractor Room. We had been there a few time before and knew it was great.
I had the Pheasant Sausage & Crispy Polenta skewers and the House Potatoe chips. Both were really good. Typical of The Tractor Room portions, the «mini» skewers were almost a meal.
My wife had the fried chicken breast sandwich with waffle fries. Her sandwich would have been enough for both of us! The bread and vegtables were fresh and very good. The chicken seemed to be a larger than natural breast.
The service was fantastic, as always. They are attentive, but not pushy.

Found this on Unilocal when I searched family friendly brunch.
IT IS A BAR! may be family friendly for some but probably not all.
My wife and I were meeting her niece and her niece’s two children to catch up before going to Balboa Park for a walk.
Sunday is busy and we expected that. Parking was difficult to find. Our wait was 30 min. On the street. Not really any Rome inside except AT THE BAR!
We were not in a hurry and I think that is a good thing. Our server took a while to get our drinks and then return to take our food order. It was now 1:30pm. No lunch kids menu, only breakfast.
I knew portions were large from reading Unilocal reviews. I recommend sharing any entrée.
I had the fried chicken sage Benedict. The chicken was wonderful. Good flavor crispy outside and tender and juicy inside. The hollandaise sauce was good, but not enough to satisfy, or moisten the dry biscuit.
The eggs and cheese were nothing special. I was looking forward to the fried potatoes, but they were very bland. Not seasoned at all. I think I only ate a few. I did finish the chicken, eggs, tomatoes and spinach. And felt it until about 7pm.
Probably a good place for younger singles or couples w/​o kids.
If big food is your thing this is the place, just not for me.

What ever you do, share your food!!! Don’t over extra because the individual dishes are too big! My boyfriend and I ordered their SPECIAL and also the FLAPJACK. The pancake was the twice the size of my face, and the corn bread was the size of my face!!! You have to check this place out when you’re in SD. I think it’s better then Hash House. :X ENJOY!
PS: They keep the coffee refill’s coming, so make sure you know when to say stop!

My girlfriends & I came here to celebrate our Secret Santa. I made a reservation a couple of weeks ago because my first time coming here, a few years back, it was packed. But when we came last Thursday, it was dead.
Our server was phenomenal, I think his name is Nick? He was patient, answered our many questions, & made great suggestions. It is owned by Hash House A Go Go so their food style is similar. Unfortunately, the food was average.
Blue Bulleit = Blueberries, bulliet bourbon, lemon, sugar cubes — Strong! & I enjoy my cocktails strong but whoa, I got a great kick with every sip. Definitely a plus!
Maine Lobster Mac & Cheese = Wild boar bacon, asparagus, & bread crumbs, served with Corn Bread — Hearty meal. A big enough portion that I had leftovers. The mix of flavors were okay, I could have done without the bacon because the pieces were very fatty. The corn bread was tasty, but a little dry.
Street parking available.

I’m still full 2 days later. This place is great, dark and cozy inside. We were able to sit at the bar, at first we were near the bathroom but moved to a better seat. The bartenders are friendly and fast. I got the union BM and my husband got a watermelon cocktail. My husband got the chicken and waffles which surprisingly had bacon in the waffles! I got the lamb scramble which had some goat cheese and was absolutely delicious. The side of cornbread was so good and had small pieces of corn in it. The meals are a bit pricey starting at about $ 16 but you get at least one or two meals for later out of it.

I love love love The Tractor Room!
I’ve came by here twice and each time has been a good experience. Both times I’ve been seated out on the outdoor patio which is decent sized for this smaller restaurant and offers a nice view of Hillcrest. The service here is excellent and the food here is super great as the wait time was wayy better than Hash House.
recent ORDER: Andy’s House Sage Fried Chicken Benedict (On a split fresh biscuit with fresh spinach, hardwood smoked bacon, market tomato, griddles mozzarella, chipotle cream and scrambled eggs.)
recent DRINK: T. R Ramos Fizz (plymouth gin, egg whites, orange flower water, citrus, cream with nutmeg)
The benedict is huge and perfect for sharing. It was so filling and a little on the spicy side with that chipotle cream, but that’s okay because that’s what my cocktail was for as I downed it real quick. ;P

One of the best restaurants in Hillcrest. I recommend the cornbread mini corndog — fresh, crunchy with bits of corn. You have to try their crunchy lobster taco it’s sooooooo good. You can taste the crunchy lobster in every bite— no additional sauce needed. Perfect as is.
My new go-​to spot for micheladas. The 2^nd best micheladas I’ve ever had in San Diego.

Well… let’s add one more 5 star review to the plethora that Tractor Room already has. Not like they need any more advertising, as they are super busy already, but Tractor surely is one of those places that make San Diego unique so why not add another 2 cents.
The friend I homebrew with and myself stopped by at The Tractor Room to load up on some grub, right after landing in town early morning and picking up the rental car. As a seasoned SD veteran, and being familiar with places to go while in town, he recommended TTR as the first stop. And there we were in Hillcrest on a Saturday morning. Unlike Hash House across, the waiting list wasn’t silly and it was 15 minutes for the table or immediate bar seating. Being on tight schedule, we went with the bar.
The Tractor Room has a unique vibe of a dark, industrial farming bar. Does that even make sense? But yea, that’s the closest I can describe it. Even the menu reflects this with all sorts of different options to eat, most of them substituting more traditional meat options with game. As I was warned, the portions here are huge. Even though the entrees go for about roughly $ 15-​$ 20, any can easily feed two people so I consider it a decent value. The quality of the wild Boar Hash was awesome. The meat was tender and crispy but lean, and the hash came with potatoes, pancetta, fresh tomato and goat cheese all topped with two eggs. We split it up, along with the corn bread.
The tap list at Tractor Room wasn’t too shabby, but for San Diego standards comes up short. Since the Bloody Mary is what TTR is famous for (I was told), I went with that instead. Not being a huge fan of mixed drinks, I went with the smallest option, called «Can’t commit Mary». One thing is that even small, I was able to instant tell what sets apart Tractor Room from the others. The drink was presented and mixed perfectly, with all the flavors sunk-​in. The pickle was an extra touch. They do Marys in all sorts of combinations and maybe, now that I’ve been initiated, I can move on to the more serious, bigger and badder glasses.
For early start of the day in San Diego, The Tractor Room was perfect. Unique, cool, and savory: no doubt I will be back next time in town.

I live in an eastern suburb of San Diego strewn with drive-​thrus, mom-​and-​pop cafes and diners of varying quality.
Lately, intrepid chefs have ventured to this far edge of civilization — that is, fifteen miles from the airport — but to my dismay, they’ve mostly made false starts, flogging derivative, odd and poorly executed takes on classic dishes. I’m looking at you, Terra American Bistro, and Trails Neighborhood Eatery.
[Come to think of it, I should know better than to eat at a «bistro» set close by the International Image Hair & Nail Supply. Or at any place with the word «eatery» in its name.]
So I must commute for interesting «American» food, and come the weekend, when I’m hungry for brunch, I wake early, gas up the SUV, and visit Hillcrest’s Tractor Room.
This bar and restaurant is the well-​regarded sister of the overestimated Hash House a Go Go, and, I believe, it’s the better of the two. As is the case at Hash House, where the owners have decided that more is better than good, Tractor Room’s portions are ridiculous. But unlike HHAGG, at Tractor Room, if you don’t mind wasting food (or trying later to reheat a waffle), you’ll get value for money spent.
Waffles? I refer specifically to «Andy’s Sage Fried Chicken Waffle Tower.» I don’t know who Andy is, but it’s evident that he’s nuts.
The four (!) waffles are huge, and each is formed around several whole bacon strips. The smoky, thickly-​cut bacon is always cooked just right — not too chewy and not overdone — and each waffle is a delectable, slightly crisped version of that breakfast staple.
It is difficult, however, to cook dense, meat-​filled waffles thoroughly, so sometimes, Andy’s waffles are a bit gummy. I don’t care. Coffee fixes that problem, and I was never going to finish four monster waffles, anyway.
The waffles are served with a «hot maple reduction,» which I take to mean maple syrup that has been reboiled to enhance its mouthfeel and intensify its natural flavor. Whatever the ingredients and processes, the reduction is a marvelous topping for smoky bacon and crispy/​gummy waffles.
And the maple reduction tastes great with fried chicken. As do the hint of sage and the short handful of fried leeks that Andy throws in, just for the hell of it. Leeks, by the way are a genius addition to the dish, one that, once I ate the proof-​of-​concept at Tractor Room, I started using in my home kitchen. Thanks, Andy, you nut.
Since brunch is a drinking game, Tractor Room serves Bloody Marys — a variety of them — and my favorite is the Buffalo Mary, substituting chicharrones (pork rinds) for buffalo jerky. There’s no long-​winded reasoning to support this preference. I just like the drink.
Tractor Room’s brunch menu offers many other items, including «Andy’s Wild Game Meatloaf Hash,» «Free Range Wild Boar Hash,» and some salads. But you go have the Chicken Waffle Tower and a Bloody Mary, and when you finish that, come back and I’ll tell you more.
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Want to stop eating food, altogether? Here’s an excerpt from the Food Product Design article, «Targeting Texture,» something I discovered while researching for this review:
«With some applications, texture is all about mouthfeel. ‘We have a new blend of hydrocolloids that adds viscosity and improves mouth coating in low-​fat chocolate milk,’ Patrick says. «The ingredient system creates a beverage that remains in the consumers’ mouth, literally painting the palate with chocolate flavor.’»
Eewww.
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Also eewww:
Terra American Bistro:
Trails Neighborhood Eatery:

I’ve been trying to go Tractor Room for so long and finally it happened. The plan was to go to a mexican place then my friend Will says oh steak sounds better. What popped into my head? Tractor Room. Of course they would steak but it would be a funky twist on american food which is always great. I had the honey mustard glazed pork and mashed ptoatoes which was amazing. We also ordered the skillet cornbread and a few drinks. I love the atmosphere of this place also. Maybe because I like hanging out in dark places. The service is good and the prices are ok. If you’re used to somewhere like the Hash House then the prices won’t surprise you. The only downside is the portions aren’t like Hash House portions but the quality of the food is just as good.

I need four stomachs to eat here!
HOLY COW.
Say goodbye to your waistline and hello to carb filled monstrosity. Brunch entrees start at $ 15.95 and up (which seems pricey) but when they bring out a skillet JUST FOR YOU, you know you just got your money’s worth.
I had the elk sausage hash served with mushrooms, rutabaga, mozz cheese, potatoes and two fried eggs. I didn’t even eat half since I devoted my appetite to their buttery golden corn bread and even manage to put a dent on the chocolate-​banana pancakes. I washed it down with a so-​so watermelon basil daiquiri. Well, even cows need to imbibe once in awhile.