Max Chophouse

Location

1456 Monroe Avenue, Rochester NY, 14618

Hours (as of April 2010 per Website)

Tuesday - Sunday: 5:30PM to 10:00PM

Monday: Closed

Phone

585 271 3510

Website

http://maxchophouse.com

Reviews

2008-02-06 City Newspaper review

Max Chophouse is a restaurant on Brighton, specializing in steak. It is one of several places named Max in the Rochester area.

Located in the Bel Aire Plaza.

Comments:

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2006-07-25 04:56:42   Excellent steak (tied with Rooney's for my favorite Rochester steaks) and great service, for the most part. I'd definitely go back. —RachelBlumenthal

2006-11-20 14:03:49   They use the best Dry Aged Prime beef in town. Don't let the steakhouse moniker put you off - the 2 best seafood dishes I've had in the past year have both been by chef Mark Cupolo. —GordonAnderson

2006-12-12 17:00:25   Fantastic steak, probably within the top 2-3 I’ve ever had. Unfortunately for the dining customer, the bar is the real focus, taking up half the space. That excessively large bar created a real frat-boy type ambience as it rapidly filled with aging yuppies trying to out drink each other. The conversation volume got so loud I couldn’t hear my dinner mates. The staff had a difficult time getting through the bar crowd to get to the tables. The people sitting across from the middle of the bar, where the crowd was heaviest, kept getting bumped into by the drinkers milling around at the bar. The caesar salad dressing was 50% lemon juice. The butter was too frozen to spread on the bread. The potatoes tasted like oil. The staff was OK but the overall experience was one of the worst I’ve ever had. I’ll never go back again. —ZedOmega

2007-06-21 06:52:56   My favorite restaurant in Rochester. Excellent food, and a much broader menu than "Chophouse" would imply. Extremely gracious front-end, wait-staff mixed, wine list good but - last time I went - unfortunately all-American. Get the steak frites or, if you get luck and it's a special, the calf's liver. —GilMcKay

2007-07-10 15:04:12   I ate at the bar and had a great meal! Bartender was extremely conscientious and knowledgeable (allowed me to taste a half dozen wines before choosing one). I had the best steak of my life there. If you can get the wagyu, go for it!!! —RocGirl

2007-08-30 14:42:32   One of the best steakhouses I have eaten at in America. Amazing food.

My only negative comment is that the dining room is a bit cramped and they really cram the tables in. I was there on a full night and I felt like I was dining with the people at the next table. The restaurant has the long narrow setup of a NYC restaurant or bar so that leads to the small feel.
Gullace should really rent the place next store and expand the restaurant, it would make for a better experience. —MrRochester

2007-10-06 18:30:50   Excellent most expensive steak I've ever eaten —RobertSmith

2008-01-13 20:57:50   Excellent food and fantastic atmosphere.Yes, very much like NYC dining. Never experienced a poor meal here.If you haven't already, must try the duck and acorn squash!What a treat!Two thumbs up! —HeidiAnn

2008-01-24 20:19:25   Great steak, great service, but (just like Max of Eastman Place) it is quite pricey. Dinners, including a salad, a side (like mashed potatoes) and a drink, seem to range from $50-$100 per person. Still it's worth it considering the great food and service. In particular, the staff here are great and they always make me feel comfortable and at home. —EricArdis

2008-05-16 15:35:43   I had the best steak I've ever eaten here. Too bad I can't afford it! —SaraChristine

2008-09-14 17:10:31   Went here a couple of weekends ago for our anniversary. It wasn't very busy, but we had a great meal. The steak was obviously great. Had a great risotto appetizer. One note of caution - the mushroom side was quite salty - be a little careful. —DianaTremblay

2008-11-06 14:37:54   Great steak! Small place...nice atmosphere and nice bar. —ChampsElysses

2009-01-12 13:44:48   Now this is what steak is supposed to be like! —BillMoehle

2009-05-20 18:13:44   Went here for the first time w/ my fiance for dinner on 4/21 to take part of their Tuesday night special (extended through May, check out their website) and it was GREAT! The service was excellent, the waiter did a great job of explaining the menu items, he was very attentive to our table, and very friendly. The special we took advantage of included unlimited wine and our waiter made sure to keep refilling our glasses! As far as the food, it was sooooo good. I had the filet w/mashed potatoes and my fiance had the leg of lamb w/ratatouille and both were amazingly delicious! We also ordered a side of mac n cheese, and it was to die for, unlike any other mac n cheese I've had. I definitely will be back! —GizPotter

2009-11-10 09:39:31   Been to a few Steak Houses in NYC. and Max matches up with most of them. But also expect to pay NYC prices. That being said, I feel that Max has the best steak in the city with the exception of Tournedos (which is really out of my price range).Steaks are always cooked perfect and the sides are all very good and of ample size to share.Service both at the bar and table are excellent with a very good wine list. Great place to go for a special occassion. —almorinelli

2010-05-01 19:36:43   Reserved a specific seat in the restaurant for a special event - this was a completely uncrowded Thursday night - yet they gave away our table anyways. They apologized and made up for it with some free extras. Service was painfully slow - the waiter took about a half an hour before getting to our food order, the whole meal took 2 hours - but the food was wonderful. —MarcusKroll

2010-06-06 15:51:57   I recently went here for my birthday.

I consider myself much more knowledgeable than the average joe regarding steaks, but I'm not a professional! I don't buy into the "A perfectly cooked steak needs no seasoning". Steak needs spices, and sauces in my opinion to really peak.

Max's chophouse gets a 85/100 for me. The meal I ordered was delicious. The steak tartar was very well done. I ordered a pear / grape / goatcheese type salad, and while I'm not a salad eater usually, it was pretty good.

I ordered the ribeye, and my date ordered the filet mignon (mostly because I wanted to try that as well). Both were very good. She had medium rare, I had mine very rare, and both were cooked to exact specification. I believe I ordered the 12oz ribeye, but I swear, this goliath hunk of meat was more like 17 or 18, I even asked if I had been brought the wrong size! Most high end steak houses, porterhouses aside, generally give you exactly what they said and not a gram more. I was pleasantly surprised. The potatoes were so light, and creamy, and had HUGE taste, without the usual potato richness that many restaurants have. I've been trying to recreate those mashed potatoes since I've been. The subtle differences in texture and flavor between the two different cuts of meat were surprising.

The staff was friendly, and attentive. I'm a young guy, only 22. I run a successful business, and dress more mature than my age. I was worried that I wouldn't be treated the same as the older, regulars also present. I was treated like I was a personal friend of the owner, very fast, polite, and attentive.

Now for the negatives: The place is too small, and the bar is too big. I asked to be moved away from the bar, as people were constantly rubbing into me. If I'm paying $75 a head, before wine and tip, I don't want to feel like I'm in a mosh pit. This is the kind of stuff that makes me not come back to restaurants.

For what I'm about to say next, I'll probably get some snobby comments: This place is just too expensive give the circumstances. The sides come ala carte, the wine is overpriced, the only thing reasonably priced was the steak itself. The steak was good, but it wasn't a good reflection of the price paid, in terms of complexity. The average person at home cannot make a similar steak, not because of a lack of skill or seasonings, but rather a lack of equipment. The average person with a 1500+ degree broiler and exhaust system could cook these steaks.

Here is the part that will get me flamed, I'm sure. Let me preface this next comment, by stating that I have eaten steaks at Craft Steak in vegas, Chris Ruth's, Peter Lugers in nyc, and the Luxor Steakhouse, so I know a good steak when I taste it, and I've also paid $150+ for a single steak. I can afford the food.

I believe that the meal I got at the LongHorn Steakhouse in Henrietta rivaled the Max's ribeye I got. It was more comfortable, the service was faster, and the price was spot on.

In summation, Max's is a great meal, with a fairly classy ambiance. Unfortunately, this setting attracts often attracts the worst kind of people, and when the restaurant is as small as Max's, it can get very annoying. I strongly believe that if you are trying to impress a client or date, or you are trying some of the daily specials, this is the place for you. However, if you are just looking for a good steak and a comfortable atmosphere, head over to Longhorns and get the cowboy ribeye.

I will probably come back depending on the daily special, or if a group of friends heads over, otherwise there are better steaks and better prices to be had elsewhere, even in the city.

Thanks for reading. —ChrisE

2010-06-21 21:27:39   ChrisE: I agree with you; good but not worth the money. I had dinner there recently with my wife. The food was decent. We had great appetizers, but the waiter was goofy. I asked about oysters and he explained in pedantic tone that good restaurants don't serve oysters in the summer. Also, he was pushy and upsold us a bit too much — he convinced me to get the cowboy steak, but didnt tell me that it was $75.00. Overall it was a good meal but it ended up costing us $200.00. We have had dinner at Sparks in NY for less, and it was much better. Here is a tip: If you have a charcoal grill, and you use about 15 pounds of good lump charcoal, you can get it as hot as the custom broilers that all the good steak houses use. —ScottLaRock

2010-07-21 08:32:10   Went here last night for the first time for their $39 prix fixe menu. Really great deal - 3 courses, including all you can drink wine for only $39. I got the chicken pate which was great - my first time eating pate and I would definitely go back for this dish. The caesar salad was good as well (not great but good) and my entree was swordfish with spinach and potatoes - really great, well cooked, and well seasoned. Entrees on the normal menu range between $20-40 and sides are $6 each. Since I did not have a steak I cannot compare it to other places such as Black and Blue but the prix fixe menu is definitely worth checking out on a Tuesday night! —goldengirl217

2011-03-07 12:08:31   The absolute best of the best as far as I am concerned. I am a huge steak elitist who travels for work often, and the meals at Max Chophouse are consistently up there with some of the best steaks in the country (cut, SK, kraft, mortons.) Have yet to receive a steak that doesn't melt in your mouth, and I love that they are actually served a la carte - a steakhouse necessity that much of Rochester missed the memo on. Have only had one issue with a filet being a bit too buttery (a la Ruth Chris) but it was still wonderful. As far as I am concerned for big nights out where price is not an option, Chophouse is the place to go. —Gordo