Tastings Restaurant

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Former Location
3195 Monroe Ave, Rochester, NY 14618
Status
CLOSED (as of November 25th 2009)

See Gone, But Not Forgotten

Awards

Tastings was voted "Best Wine List" in City Newspaper's 'Best of Rochester' awards in 2009.1


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2005-11-22 14:24:31   Tastings is a unique experience, and the food is generally quite good, as it should be at the prices Danny charges. I've been there a couple of times, and had the Tastings menu every time. This might have just been luck of the draw, but during my last experience I found the tastings quite generic, and the wines chosen to accompany them were too sweet. I'm wondering if the menu is overly influenced by the blue-hair crowd that tends to frequent the restaurant. —RottenChester

2006-04-30 18:58:36   Do the tastings menu - the food form the regular part of the menu is uneven in quality and the tasting menu is uniformly superb, especially with the wine pairings. Lunch is affordable and great. —BrentIrvine

2006-06-10 16:04:21   Lunch here is affordable. I do like that they update their menu frequently and make seasonal changes. Well, they should know, being grocers. Been there for both tiny and large functions. The large function was a disappointment - my mahi was pork-chop dry, AND cold. Desserts are far more stellar compard to the rest of the menu. You can get the nicolettes and chocolate domes from the Patisserie next door - they work as filling snacks. The pear clafoutie is a good choice. —ChristineLeo

2006-07-13 10:41:27   Update: more recent trip bordered on "will there be a next time?" Had the tasting menu - each course took 30 minutes. Including desserts. Waiter acted as if he was completely unaware of any extraneous time passage. Yes, he did compensate us (after some more waiting for the final bill), but it seemed more like a cop-out, i.e. easier than to have to own up to human error. A voluntary acknowledgment of us sitting there waiting for most of 2.5 hrs would have been better than $ (what is $, anyway?). As 1) prix fixe is easier/faster than a la carte, and 2) big cities can do a dozen of courses without missing a single beat, I can't come up w/ an excuse (neither did the waiter, after all). The benchmark feeling should be energized and sated at the end of a prix fixe, not dazed & exhausted. Sure, perhaps an off night. But that waiter has worked at Tastings since its beginning, so we're back to: no excuse. —ChristineLeo

2007-03-23 08:05:32   I love to go to lunch at Tastings. Great food and I like to sit at the Chef's tables near the kitchen so you can watch the action. —KimBee

2007-03-31 15:31:07   I end up here frequently, being in this 'hood all the time, despite the hit-and-miss food: you can have to-die-for sushi one night, and MUSHY the next. A good sweet shrimp can make you ~melt~, or look like it's melted. Since they get their fish flown/trucked in from several diff. sources I suppose one might say it's the luck of the draw. The Milk and Cookie dessert used to be yum – they had a recipe change and it's no longer happiness-inducing. Hooray for the Patisserie goodies from next door, though! —ChristineLeo

2007-04-10 11:47:27   The Sushi is top notch and the best in town on a given night. Their wine and sake program is the little extra that puts it over the top. —GordonAnderson

2007-07-10 14:48:05   I thought the sushi was excellent and my date loved his filet. The waiter was knowledgeable - especially about the sake choices - but he disappeared!!! I managed to grab a staff member who was kind enough to take our drink order. I wish I had done like ChristineLeo and complained! The tables are a bit close together, so be warned you may end up overhearing the conversations of 3 couples speaking in rapid French and another couple on a blind date. —RocGirl

2007-08-30 17:01:47   I have eaten here 4 times and every time the food was just ok.

I do like the ambiance, but I liked when the waitresses wore the german beer garden outfits better. At least the eh food tasted better when the waitresses were dressed like a b-porn movie.
Something very cool is that if you dont like anything on the menu, but like something in the store, request the restaurant to retrieve it and they will prepare it for you.

Trendy restaurant connected to a grocery store. —MrRochester

2007-12-09 16:54:48   Tastings is fantastic. I wouldn't suggest the five-course meal, as it sometimes takes a long time and is a bit iffy since it changes every day. Still, the menu is excellent, and some of the food is the best I've ever had. Lunch is incredible and dinner, while highly expensive, is worth it every once in a while. There are some bad sides, like the weight staff is hit or miss (I've had times where I felt completely ignored, and times where I felt catered) and the portions seem random. I had far less of my 25 dollar tuna than my 32 dollar duck. It's not a place to eat everyday, but it's probably the best restaurant in Rochester. That's not saying much, but it is. —NoahLeaf

2007-12-15 11:44:21   Ate here last night for the first time.

Things started out great. Our servers were awesome, but do they have to wear those gold sparkle sashes? I have to say, for a restaurant charging the prices it does, does the cover of the menu have to be so tacky? It reminds me of a grandmother's house and doesn't go with the decor of the place.

Started with the zucchini fries + spicy tuna roll. While the fries were good, they should only be on the lunch menu, much too messy for dinner. The spicy tuna roll was delish, the blue cheese sauce was overkill. I had the monkfish, which was sublime - buttery, flaky, the sauce had the perfect amount of salt. Ate the whole thing. My partner had the salmon, which I thought was dry, but he enjoyed. Everything around the salmon was awesome though, potatoes, baby carrots, caramelized apples.

For dessert we had the flourless orange-almond cake w/vanilla bean ice cream. Loved it. —MarcVera

2007-12-15 11:45:11   continuation of comment:

Then came the part that made me never want to go to Tastings again. Our coats were taken when we arrived, nice...but when we went to retrieve our coats, we were asked for a ticket. We weren't given one. Then the hostess asked us if we had a reservation. Then told us she had to get a manager before we were to get our coats. Waited a few minutes, manager showed up, asked if we had a reservation, then just stood there and said "You have to find them yourself." No apology, nothing. I understand they've had coats "stolen" before, but holy crap, don't treat someone who just dropped a chunk of change in your restaurant like a low-life thief. She could have said "I'm really sorry about this, but we've had some coats taken before and we just have to be careful about things. Sorry for the inconvenience." But she didn't. —MarcVera

2007-12-17 17:33:06   Wow, Marc, I'm sorry to hear about your coat. It's a shame that they dealt with the situation without any class, since everything else about that place does have class. I wonder what having a reservation had to do with it? —BenMargolis

2008-02-20 09:20:03   I absolutely loved everything about my (Valentine's Day) experience at Tastings- the food was amazing (save for the beef tartare, which I nor my date would like under any circumstances), the service was quick and impeccable, although that's hard to be avoided as we were sitting right next to the waiter's station, which didn't bother me, but my date was rather annoyed. Aside from that, we found the atmosphere cozy and welcoming. When we retrieved our coats, I was handed a rose and bid a good evening. Perfect final touch on a mostly perfect evening. —AlisonSchaal

2008-03-27 15:56:35   Our service was friendly but a bit slow. Food had a wonderful flavor but VERY VERY skimpy. After dinner we went over to Wegman's because we were still hungry! We most likely wont go back. —JamesPatrick

2008-03-27 22:31:41   Too expensive for my taste (I'd rather spend more and cook it myself) but once I did have THE best seared salmon ever here. Unfortunately I only had it once. I have eaten all over the country and several places across the ocean at some amazing restaurants and 3 years later that meal is STILL in my top 5 ever.

On a different occasion, I had the Mac and Cheese with truffle oil. Really, really good and although a bit on the small side, but it was almost too rich to enjoy if it was much larger.—BadFish

2008-03-30 17:25:09   Tuna rolls are amazing. Filet was great.
Cookies and Cream is a fun and "tasty" dessert.
Tables are too close together.
Wait staff is young ang green. —RochesterSecrets

2008-10-04 16:46:29   This is a great place, and in my opinion has the best food in Rochester. The atmosphere can be a little stuffy, but if you want great food, look no further. —JaredStrohl

2008-11-19 17:36:13   My husband and I have eaten at Tastings several times. They have a great new menu now and lower prices than last time we were there. (We were glad to see so). We liked the sushi so much! We will definitely be back. —BobbiArnaud

2009-04-15 17:09:55   Overall a very good experience. The only knock on this place is the portion size. You expect entree sizes to be slightly larger than what was served. They could be more accurately considered tasting menu portions rather than entree portions. Nevertheless, flavors were well-combined, although easily identifiable as basic ingredients. Service was pleasant and our waitress was patient, even with an extremely picky dining companion. We will definitely return, the next time to try the tasting menu. —TryingtheBest

2009-05-07 01:31:30   I went to tastings twice in the past several months. Definitely love it! The food is great, and the service is good. 1. Oyster is my favorite. Do try their oyster, if you are a oyster lover. I think the oyster in Grapefruit Mignonette is the best one. Everything is just balancing so perfect, juicy and tender. Yummy!
2. Try Braised Beef Short-Ribs, which is closer to asian's appetite if you like well-done beef.
3. Vanilla Crème Brulée is rich and good sweet.
4. They often have events. Now they provide value dinner, only 17.99. So there might be a big surprise if you check out the website ahead.
5. Using gift certificates from www.restaurant.com is a great saving, especially when you enjoy some additional discounts, e.g 70% off.

2009-09-09 18:47:26   Based on the reviews that appeared here my wife and i and another couple decided to give it a try. Started with a pair of sushi apps. that were both very good. They proved to be the high point of the night. While our meals were good, they didn't show much imagination and failed to meet the hype one would expect