MMMMMMMmmm
Turn Ons:
Burgers
Pizza
Cocktails
Bloody Marys
Turn Offs:
Variable Service
Variable Food Presentation
Slightly Pricey
Poor Beer Selection
Summary:
The Gate House is considered the center of the Village Gate in Rochester. Some can argue that Selena's and Lento might also be in that discussion, but c'mon; it's the Gate House.
We've been to the Gate House quite a few times. They have recently changed locations within the Village Gate. So now, they have more room; which should help to improve their famous long wait times.
They serve brunch and it is very good. We both highly recommend their Bloody Marys. They are so flavorful without being too spicy or salty. With a slice of bacon in your glass, you can't go wrong.
The Gate House uses very fresh, local ingredients, and you can really taste it. Each dish is just so good.
They have sections of their menu devoted to both burgers and pizzas. They make specialty burgers and pizzas and they are named after famous Rochester people and landmarks, so that is fun.
The burgers are very high quality and you can specify how you want it cooked.
The pizzas are Neapolitan style and we're pretty sure we saw a wood-fire oven.
We are yet to find a burger or pizza we didn't like. In fact, we are yet to find anything we didn't like at all. Even the salads and appetizers are also very good.
Now most people at our table are visibly irritated when we realize they don't have a physical beer menu. The server must list the beers off at hyper-speed and it is up to the customer to try to pick one out and remember the name by the time they're done. Why not print out a menu like every other restaurant on the planet? Perhaps the reasoning is to hide that fact that they don't have a very good beer selection. Especially in a city as progressive W.R.T. beer as Rochester, the beer selection is quite limited. Bordering on bad.
This last topic, we probably wouldn't have brought up if we hadn't been there since the move, but we feel like we need to mention it. Without it, they would certainly have received one or two more "M"s from us. Maybe they've had to hire a bunch of new staff to handle the larger crowds that they are sure to see with the expanded seating available. So, maybe that's what's going on here... but we were less than impressed by a few things. Now, I've been ordering the Gate Plate (their take on the Rochester iconic Garbage Plate) 90% of the time we go to The Gate House. Instead of macaroni salad, they serve it with pasta salad, which I wrinkled my nose at. Melisa to the rescue. She knows that their macaroni & cheese is delicious, so she recommended I substitute the mac & cheese for the pasta salad. Brilliant! So, that is how I've been ordering my Gate Plate, ever since! (Medium Rare on the burgers) In their last location, it came out like one would expect. Fries and mac & cheese on the bottom. Two burger patties on top. Delicious meat sauce poured over everything. ~drooling~ so good! So.... now we've been there since the move, and three of us made that exact same order. And THIS time, they brought out the plate with fries and two patties on top, with barely any meat sauce on one of the patties. Then, the mac & cheese on the side! What the?! Why would you do that?! I didn't order "make-your-own-garbage-plate". And it was seriously lacking Meat Sauce.
We also had another order of a salad with a grilled chicken topper for $5 extra. The grilled chicken topper consisted of half of one chicken breast. Not enough to be considered a topper, and certainly not enough to warrant the $5 price tag. When this was brought up to another server passing-by, we received the ole "you get what you get" response. When we relayed that to our server, we got the correct "I'm sorry. Would you like some more chicken? Or anything else I can do?" response. So, someone eventually got it right.
So, the point is that we're wondering if the quality of service and food preparation is going to suffer as a result of the move to the new location with the larger seating capacity. Or, is this more like a temporary growing pain? We'll check back the next time we visit!
In summary, the food is very very good. You can get your comfort food or your healthy rabbit food and be quite happy with it. We recommend the Sunday Brunch and you have to get a Bloody Mary. If you like garbage plates, try our spin on their Gate Plate. Be prepared for long waits during typical dining hours. Be prepared for a staff that might not be totally trained up. We hope they grow into their new space. We'll be back to try them out again. This is a great place to take friends and family from out of town.
Turn Ons:
Burgers
Pizza
Cocktails
Bloody Marys
Turn Offs:
Variable Service
Variable Food Presentation
Slightly Pricey
Poor Beer Selection
Summary:
The Gate House is considered the center of the Village Gate in Rochester. Some can argue that Selena's and Lento might also be in that discussion, but c'mon; it's the Gate House.
We've been to the Gate House quite a few times. They have recently changed locations within the Village Gate. So now, they have more room; which should help to improve their famous long wait times.
They serve brunch and it is very good. We both highly recommend their Bloody Marys. They are so flavorful without being too spicy or salty. With a slice of bacon in your glass, you can't go wrong.
The Gate House uses very fresh, local ingredients, and you can really taste it. Each dish is just so good.
They have sections of their menu devoted to both burgers and pizzas. They make specialty burgers and pizzas and they are named after famous Rochester people and landmarks, so that is fun.
The burgers are very high quality and you can specify how you want it cooked.
The pizzas are Neapolitan style and we're pretty sure we saw a wood-fire oven.
We are yet to find a burger or pizza we didn't like. In fact, we are yet to find anything we didn't like at all. Even the salads and appetizers are also very good.
Now most people at our table are visibly irritated when we realize they don't have a physical beer menu. The server must list the beers off at hyper-speed and it is up to the customer to try to pick one out and remember the name by the time they're done. Why not print out a menu like every other restaurant on the planet? Perhaps the reasoning is to hide that fact that they don't have a very good beer selection. Especially in a city as progressive W.R.T. beer as Rochester, the beer selection is quite limited. Bordering on bad.
This last topic, we probably wouldn't have brought up if we hadn't been there since the move, but we feel like we need to mention it. Without it, they would certainly have received one or two more "M"s from us. Maybe they've had to hire a bunch of new staff to handle the larger crowds that they are sure to see with the expanded seating available. So, maybe that's what's going on here... but we were less than impressed by a few things. Now, I've been ordering the Gate Plate (their take on the Rochester iconic Garbage Plate) 90% of the time we go to The Gate House. Instead of macaroni salad, they serve it with pasta salad, which I wrinkled my nose at. Melisa to the rescue. She knows that their macaroni & cheese is delicious, so she recommended I substitute the mac & cheese for the pasta salad. Brilliant! So, that is how I've been ordering my Gate Plate, ever since! (Medium Rare on the burgers) In their last location, it came out like one would expect. Fries and mac & cheese on the bottom. Two burger patties on top. Delicious meat sauce poured over everything. ~drooling~ so good! So.... now we've been there since the move, and three of us made that exact same order. And THIS time, they brought out the plate with fries and two patties on top, with barely any meat sauce on one of the patties. Then, the mac & cheese on the side! What the?! Why would you do that?! I didn't order "make-your-own-garbage-plate". And it was seriously lacking Meat Sauce.
We also had another order of a salad with a grilled chicken topper for $5 extra. The grilled chicken topper consisted of half of one chicken breast. Not enough to be considered a topper, and certainly not enough to warrant the $5 price tag. When this was brought up to another server passing-by, we received the ole "you get what you get" response. When we relayed that to our server, we got the correct "I'm sorry. Would you like some more chicken? Or anything else I can do?" response. So, someone eventually got it right.
So, the point is that we're wondering if the quality of service and food preparation is going to suffer as a result of the move to the new location with the larger seating capacity. Or, is this more like a temporary growing pain? We'll check back the next time we visit!
In summary, the food is very very good. You can get your comfort food or your healthy rabbit food and be quite happy with it. We recommend the Sunday Brunch and you have to get a Bloody Mary. If you like garbage plates, try our spin on their Gate Plate. Be prepared for long waits during typical dining hours. Be prepared for a staff that might not be totally trained up. We hope they grow into their new space. We'll be back to try them out again. This is a great place to take friends and family from out of town.
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