Pane Vino

Location

175 North Water St, Rochester, NY 14604

Hours (as of October 2009)

Lunch: Monday-Friday: 11:30AM to 3:30PM

Dinner: Monday-Wednesday: 5:00PM to 10:00PM/ Thursday-Saturday: 5:00PM to 11:00PM

Happy Hour: 4:00pm-6:00pm

Phone

585 232 6090

Email

<panovistoristorante AT yahoo DOT com>

Website

http://www.panevinoristorante.com/

Pane Vino is a hidden gem disguised as an Italian restaurant tucked away on Water St. in downtown Rochester. Behind the pulsating clubs of the St. Paul Quarter, Pane Vino appears beside a courtyard overlooking the Genesee River and Kodak tower, where outdoor dining is sublime in the warmer months. Have valet park your car and enter into an elegant bar, then walk into the rustic/modern dining room with exposed brick, fireplace, and a view of the western skyline. The view is especially beautiful during sunset. The occasional train passing by adds a hint of Rochester's industrial heritage to the scene.

The wine list is great, and almost every wine can be ordered by the glass. The prices are also very reasonable. This is one of the most romantic places to enjoy a glass of cabernet.

Now, the food. The flavors are bold, especially in meat dishes. The chicken dishes, such as Pollo Asparagi, have wonderfully tender slices of chicken breast with brightly flavored sun-dried tomatoes. Veal Lombarda, equally tender, has a deep mushroom sauce. All of Pane Vino's sauces are powerful, if not heavy handed. Penne Vodka is flavorful and not too creamy. It's the kind of Italian that is meant to enliven your tastebuds, similar to Portofino Bistro. In my last few visits it seems that the portion size has gotten a bit smaller. Consider this when deciding to order appetizers, such as the fried calamari, which has a very light batter that doesn't overpower the calamari. With entree and appetizer prices as moderate as they are, this is a good investment.

Valet parking is available, but on weeknights it's not difficult to find parking on the street. During the summer, there is live music in the courtyard on Thursday and Friday nights.

Comments:

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See Archive Page for comments prior to 2008.

2008-03-28 22:54:32   We went here for a dinner organized by our department for one of our speakers last year. The service was very good and they accommodated our huge party by graciously pulling together tables. Swing music from the ratpack played throughout the dinner. I had a pasta dish but it was very heavy with a lot of cheese - maybe I should have ordered the non-cheese tomato-flavoured pasta dish. The vegetarian selection is somewhat limited. The place is quite expensive as well but I guess you pay for the location of the restaurant and the ambiance, if not the food. The coffee is however, quite excellent. —TinyPliny

2008-06-09 11:18:48   Absolutely one of my favorite places to enjoy a martini and some appetizers. I have an addiction to their Pasta Anthony and Carbonara. Their Sicilian Calamari is excellent when it's not overcooked. Dinners are a little more expensive for the portions but, the food is worth it. Thursday nights are fun but I always feel badly for the bands that are shoved into the tiny corner to play. There is Always an interesting crowd hanging around. —NightlifeCher

2008-07-25 10:33:32   Pane Vino used to have awesome food when Tony was the chef there, but now it is just ok. The interior is still very nice (nicest Italian restaurant Ive been in) and they have a great patio in the summer, but Im afraid food quality has slid recently. I hope they do well. —MrRochester

2008-10-02 12:42:25   Pane Vino is now open for lunch. I am not sure if they have made a lunch menu or use the same menu they have for dinner. I hope to report back soon. —NightlifeCher

2008-10-16 11:03:09   My wife on I went on a beautiful summer day. The food was fantastic and the location right on the river was great. I would highly recommend Pane Vino. —ChampsElysses

2008-11-09 20:38:21   Pane Vino does a good job of creating a classy-feeling atmosphere (except for the very bar-like bar in the front), and the view of the river and train tracks is great. However, the food is pretty mediocre and certainly not worth the money. The butternut squash soup was very good, but the pasta (my dish and my date's) were bland and overly heavy. The service was fine. —OwenThompson

2008-11-16 14:21:01   Ate here last night with my wife for the first time in about 3 years. We had purchased a $50 gift certificate on Restaurant.com, so figured it was worth going back, as we remembered having a good meal the last time. We arrived just after 8pm, which is pretty typical for us, as we have two little kids who need to go to bed before we head out, or else we'll be killing Grandma off with the bedtime routine!

We did not make a reservation as, from my experience, Rochesterians don't start eating after 8pm, for the most part. When we first checked in, we were told it would be a 30 to 40 minutes wait. I immediately scanned the room, and there were empty tables, but there was also one large group of maybe 12 to 14 people, so perhaps that was killing the kitchen or something. Anyway, we decided to stay, so sat at the bar. I ordered a Gibson, up, with grey goose vodka. My wife, a grey goose vodka tonic. The bartender did not know what was in a Gibson, but after I explained it to her, she actually made quite a good drink. Plus they had the Tipsy cocktail onions, so can't go wrong with those! The grand total for these two drinks was $17, plus I threw in $2 tip. $19 for two drinks seems pretty steep to me. Oh wait, that IS pretty darn steep. I wanted to put the drinks on our dinner bill. The response was, "we prefer that you pay at the bar." Perhaps they don't have a system in place to easily transfer the drinks to the dinner tab, or maybe the bartender was lazy, or both. But, that alone caused me to not buy another round of drinks. So Pane Vino threw away another $17 (plus another $2 tip) if they had just allowed me to do that. Oh well, their loss.

About 30 minutes in we were seated, and quite frankly, it didn't feel that bad - I think in large part to the fact that we ran into one of my wife's co-workers and had a nice conversation. The food was generally excellent. I ordered their special seafood salad. It included three large, perfectly cooked shrimp, and a mix of langostinos and calamari. The calamari was perfect, not chewy at all, nor was it that really soft grainy stuff that some places in town try to pass off. My wife had the clams casino - 9 good sized clams, again, perfectly cooked, not chewy nor over-bready.

Main course for me was their Veal Angelo - basically, veal cutlet served over linguini with artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, some sort of good quality ham, and a light, but creamy sauce. My wife ordered the shrimp scampi. This was the only let down of the night. The shrimp were slightly overdone, which while easy to do, is also easy to do right. We skipped dessert, having had ample portions of everything else plus a nice bottle of Mondavi Napa Cabernet.

So, overall recommendations - very nice ambiance (it no longer feels like the old Waterstreet Grill, though it's hard to forget that wonderful place!), small but reasonable wine selection, and very tasty food. The service was quite good. Just be sure to make reservations if you go on a Friday night! —DavidGottfried

2008-11-16 22:26:31   My husband and I tried Pane Vino this weekend. The service was efficient, but unfriendly both at the bar and at our table. The food was average, nothing to write home about. My husband had one of the veal dishes and was not impressed. I tried the Penne Vodka after reading the comments here and it was tagged on the menu as a favorite. It was OK, I have had a much better version at Koozinas in Canandaigua. All in all, just an average place with average food. I would say it not worth the price as you can get the same in bigger portions at many area Italian places. —mmsmith

2009-07-21 11:33:50   I enjoyed my dinner here the other night. I ordered the penne vodka with grilled chicken; wife ordered salmon with risotto and asparagus. The salmon portion was large but a little undercooked for my liking, and the risotto was very good. As others have said the penne vodka is well done here. They bring you italian bread with a nice tray of butter, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, etc, for dipping. The calamari appetizer was nicely battered and plentiful. They did charge us for refills on our ice tea at $2 a pop. Total for the aforementioned food was about $72, and we used one of those restaurant.com certificates to bring it down. We waited a while for our entrees, and were told the Chef didn't like something with one of our meals, and had to completely remake it. Service was good, as was the atmosphere outside on the patio. —JohnBarry

2009-08-26 15:07:04   Way too overpriced with poorly made pastas. Service was slow and aloof. My husband and I each orded a house special pasta. My penne vodka had hardly any sauce and had a texture as though it had been sitting and drying out for a while. Maybe for the 45 minutes it took to make it? It was a total waste of money and not worth the hype. —CrissiH