Recommends

hushasha40

Joined 7 years ago

Good food, great service. I was asked to put together a lunch meeting of friends in a very short amount of time. A friend who live in Rochester suggested City Cafe. We started as a group of four, thinking that we would be six, but ended up being a group of seven. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful in moving our group to a larger table, getting orders into the kitchen as quickly as possible, and giving us all separate checks. The cheeseburger that I had was great and the clam chowder was lovely, too. While the food and drink was fine, it was really the helpfulness of the staff that I remember of this nice experience of Rochester.

Doesn't Recommend

arouet1

Joined 6 years ago

It has gone downhill-I'd avoid it, and try the tapas place down the street ,. We've always liked the city cafe. Though seemingly informal, the food in the past was very good and even the house wine-which offsets the low -end bistro like setting. This last Saturday night (9/29/07) at about 8pm we arrived for supper. The house wine which is usually very good was old tasting-as if it had come from an uncorked bottle that had been open for days instead of a few hours-it was poured in a small glass instead of a larger glass for red, I next ordered a classic martini with bombay gin. I got it in a regular bar glass filled with ice, they noted they were out of martini glasses. I said I'll wait, awhile later it arrived in a regular martini glass both my wife and I thought it tasted very funny, I returned it. And spoke to the bar tender noting a martini is simply made with gin some vermouth and shaken with ice then poured. He noted he had given me a gin and tonic in a martini glass. Someone else came back with the eventual martini simply noting "it's all good"-I guess meaning I should have just kept the gin and tonic in the martini glass? - I got my martini, but seemingly without the bombay gin--and then it seemed watered down. The meal: salmon/mussels/tune tartare were ok--then she simply gave us the check and walked away-we had to ask about desserts. I ended up just ordering coffee and a glass of cognac, but was asked if I wanted the cognac with ice. Maybe having coffee and then some cognac with ice is a new fad? I suspect the owners may be over extended and the usual attention to detail seems missing. I'm sure there are other resturants that would be happy to have us ( and our $100 next time), as we like good simple meals with a good glass of wine or a well made martini, and to at least be asked if we'd like dessert or coffee. I think we'll avoid the City Cafe for a long time. Maybe it's becoming a beer and burger place for the twenty somethings- but if you oder a bottle of beer make sure you open it yourself!