MMMMMmmmmm
Turn Ons:
Hip Atmosphere
Plate Presentation
Corn Fritters
Great Frites
Good Cocktails
Turn Offs:
Bad Oysters
Only One Oyster Type Available
No Mignonette Sauce
No Malt Vinegar (or anything, really) for Fries
Unreliable Food Quality
Bad Location
No Happy Hour
Summary:
This review will focus on The Vesper's Oyster special, as we are taking the week to go to an Oyster Special every day and compare them. But we are also touching on other items, as well.
Vesper: Meaning Evening in classic Latin. Well, it is a bar and restaurant. So, everything happens in the evening. Makes sense....
Let us begin with The Vesper's location. Go to downtown Rochester and look for the most random, out-of-the-way, sketchy corner. Now, you're at The Vesper. OK, it isn't THAT bad, but it is down a one-way street, basically underneath the South Ave 490 Ramp.
Vesper Map
It is walking distance from Geva; about 2-3 blocks. So it is a good choice before a Geva show as long as the weather is agreeable. Parking is metered, but in Rochester it is free on weekends and after 6PM on week days. So, don't pay after 6:00! There is no reason to get there before 6:00 since they don't have a happy hour. The lack of happy hour is a bummer if you just want a quick drink and app, but good if you don't like the Happy Hour crowd. And the Happy Hour crowd, you do not get at The Vesper. The Vesper is so tucked away that no one knows about it yet. So, you don't see the usual crowd of people in their khakis and button down shirt, straight from work. The Vesper's patrons made a conscious effort to be there. They didn't want to go to just some bar. If you're inviting someone from out-of-town, carpool or have them follow you. With the weird streets over there, it can be difficult to locate it. It looks like The Vesper is in an old building that was once used for manufacturing.... something. Recently, it has been turned into an apartment building with stores, restaurants, and a club. On the outside, the building still looks like the old, crumbly brick. No doubt, the owners claim that this is to retain it's charm and history. I see "save money on renovations". We can't speak to the apartments, which we are sure are very nice, but The Vesper is very elegant and charming on the inside. That doesn't mean it isn't in a shady part of the city, though.
Enough time on that. We were seated straight away because at around 5:45, no one was at a table yet. There were a few people at the bar, but we seemed to be the first diners. I ordered their signature drink (The Vesper), which is touted as "James Bond's drink". It is basically a martini without any fancy sweet flavors added to it. I really enjoyed how there was just a little bit of very fine crushed ice on the top, but not much. I got that "iced" feel, without feeling like I was drinking a snow-cone. This drink can be enjoyed by sweet and dry cocktail drinkers, alike. Very good. My only gripe is that it is advertised as a drink for James Bond. So what do you think? I think I'm about to get a "manly" drink. Right? James Bond. Come on. It was served in a rather feminine glass. What's up with that? See the picture, below.
We will take the time to comment on their cocktail menu. Their drink descriptions are very unique. Some of them tell you what's in the drink. Some of them make a snarky comment like "If you don’t like this, we probably can’t be friends." This is all very entertaining, but if I don't already know what the drink is... I have no idea what the drink is! So, we enjoyed the silly comments since we could work most of them out. But someone with less experience ordering cocktails might not know what 90% of the drinks actually are.
Let's get started. We started off with oysters and corn fritters.
They only had one type of oyster available, so we got that one. We decided to start with 5 and order more if we liked them. We're glad we went with 5. Our first impression: this is the only place to NOT serve the oysters over ice. We didn't like that. This is the only place to not serve mignonette sauce with the oysters. Didn't like that. We were given cocktail sauce that must have just been dumped out of a bottle that you could buy from Wegmans. Actually, that's not fair to Wegmans. You could get far better at Wegmans.
Putting the cheap cocktail sauce in a fancy metal bowl doesn't make the cocktail sauce any better. We appreciated the presentation of the oysters, but we'd rather have them served on a rock, if that meant they'd come with mignonette sauce and over ice. We also questioned how freshly they were shucked. Stay away.
The Corn Fritters: Yeah, get those every time. Melisa is the one who picked those out. So two thumbs up for her. Reading the menu, I just glanced over them and moved on. But I bowed to her wisdom and said "sure, I guess I'll try them." Oh dear, how can corn possibly be so good? Let's deep fry it and bathe it in a delicious garlic chili sauce. For the Win! They are crunchy and saucy and we devoured them.
We had been here before, and they do have fried oysters on the appetizer menu. We tried them because we thought "maybe this could be the gateway oyster for someone who doesn't like oysters." Logical, right? Deep fry anything, and it is pretty good. Well, not The Vesper's oysters, apparently. They made oyster balls out of ~4-5 oyster's meats, then deep fried them. The problem is that the middle remained very chewy and way too moist. And they didn't get crunchy on the outside. I'm not going to go into more detail because it is not pleasant. Just stay away.
OK, please let the entrees rescue us! Melisa went with Pan Seared Scallops and the Daily Sausage. She really is the best at picking the best menu items.
The scallops were quite good. The outside was just crispy enough and the inside was not chewy at all. Everything was done just right. They didn't dress them up very much. They were just served over some vegetables. I wanted a bit more flavor, like maybe a light sauce or glaze to go with them. But, they were done so well I can't hate on them too much. Sometimes just doing something simple and doing it right is more important than smothering it in sauce.
The Daily Sausage was another good choice. Once again, they weren't dressed up too much, but it didn't really need it. The sausage had a lot of flavor. I wouldn't have minded if they had crisped it up just a little bit more. It came with crostinis, 2 different mustards (including my favorite, with the tiny balls in the mustard!), and seared onions. Every bite was very good. A solid choice for the carnivore in your house.
I (Mike) was having trouble deciding. I had their Shrimp Po-Boy the last and only other time we were here. I really liked it, so I was tempted to get it again. I will take a sentence to reinforce, that the Shrimp Po-Boy is a very good option, here. Very good and appealing to a wide audience... well, unless you don't like shrimp, of course.
But, in the interest of academics, I went with their daily special of fish cakes. I love love love crab cakes, so this is probably a more affordable version, right? Well, chalk up another loss for Mike. This was the feeling I got in my first bite. "Hey, do you like crab cakes? Why don't you eat that, but with the most fish-y taste we can manage!" Don't get me wrong, I like fish; which is why I thought this was a safe bet. But, this was like anchovy fish. Just so over-powering, bottom of the ocean, cheap fish. Even with the (some version of) aioli sauce that came with this, I couldn't cover up the fish taste. It was brutal. I could only choke down 1 1/4 of my two cakes. It was like punishment, trying to eat those. I think the aioli sauce might even be serviceable, but I couldn't get through the fish taste, to let you know.
At least I thought to order the fries! These fries are good. They are absolutely PERFECT fries for your malt vinegar. Nice and thick, but cooked so that they just barely start to shrivel a tiny bit. This dries them out a bit, which is why you need the malt vinegar. They still have the potato skin on some of them. Looking at the plate, all we were given was ketchup that I swear came out of a squeeze-bottle from the grocery store (not going to insult Wegmans, here). Once again, they put it in a little metal dish, like that would transform it into magically delicious ketchup. We asked our server for malt vinegar because these fries are perfect for it. Given the atmosphere of The Vesper, they must be classy enough to have malt vinegar available. The Vesper has an European feel, and malt vinegar is a British thing. Plus, the last time we ate here, we asked for malt vinegar to go with our fries.... nope, no malt vinegar. OK, here comes a rant. Please read it as if I'm very angry and trying to get it all out in one breath.
No place in Rochester that makes 1/2 way decent fries serves them with boring ketchup. You don't have to serve them with malt vinegar. I get it. Depending on the part of the world you're from, you like different sauces with your fries. If you're not going to serve fries that were born for malt vinegar with malt vinegar, than for the love of Pete, make your own sauce! Good Luck has one of the best sauces in town that is tomato-based. Serve it with Sriracha-aioli. Serve it with some kind of BBQ sauce. I don't care. Take two sauces from the store, mix them together, and call it double-trouble sauce! But do not insult me again by serving your fries with nothing but the ketchup that I can squirt on a crappy hotdog from the Blue-Cross Arena. Especially if you're trying to market yourself as a trendy, upscale place to dine! Honestly, with your oyster "sauce" and ketchup, you should be embarrassed.
OK, back to the review. I did try to save my fries with the aioli sauce from my fish cakes. That didn't really do much for me. So, I guess we'll call the sauce mediocre.
We had their chips and dip the last time we were at The Vesper, too. Once again, the chips were really good. Nice and thin and crispy and crunchy. Mmmm. And the sauce was another let-down. The chips are served with an onion and white bean dip. Heavy on the onion. The first bite or two is quite good. Then, you start to get sick of the onion flavor and you can't escape it. It's just too much.
They've gotten exactly ONE sauce correct at The Vesper. The garlic Chili Sauce that comes with their corn fritters. Everything else is crap. Sorry-not-sorry.
The Vesper does have a good beer selection, including some craft beers. They have a very good wine selection. Their cocktails are also very good. Pair that with some good appetizers, and you have a good bar to sip on a drink and munch on some snacks while you socialize.
There has never been a wait for dining, but we've seen the bar stools get filled up. The servers are good enough. Attentive since it is such a small place and they don't have much else to do. Other than that, just ho-hum.
So, we peg The Vesper as yet another good place to go for a drink and an appetizer. Maybe go before your Geva show, since you can walk there in good weather. Other than that, we probably won't go out of our way to get to The Vesper. We don't like being served sub-par food and sauces as if they are something special. It's like they're trying to make us believe it, but only halfheartedly. Like when you were asked if you brushed your teeth or cleaned your room as a kid. Sure.... ~smile & shifty-eyes~ uh huh....
With that said, they do have some unique flavors and if you know what to order, you can survive a sit-down dinner, and truly enjoy your food. Just make sure you lock your car... but honestly, The Vesper isn't far from Dinosaur. If I want a sit down dinner, I'll go there. Of course, the counter argument is that The Vesper is more refined, quiet, and elegant. So, it depends on your mood.
Turn Ons:
Hip Atmosphere
Plate Presentation
Corn Fritters
Great Frites
Good Cocktails
Turn Offs:
Bad Oysters
Only One Oyster Type Available
No Mignonette Sauce
No Malt Vinegar (or anything, really) for Fries
Unreliable Food Quality
Bad Location
No Happy Hour
Summary:
This review will focus on The Vesper's Oyster special, as we are taking the week to go to an Oyster Special every day and compare them. But we are also touching on other items, as well.
Vesper: Meaning Evening in classic Latin. Well, it is a bar and restaurant. So, everything happens in the evening. Makes sense....
Let us begin with The Vesper's location. Go to downtown Rochester and look for the most random, out-of-the-way, sketchy corner. Now, you're at The Vesper. OK, it isn't THAT bad, but it is down a one-way street, basically underneath the South Ave 490 Ramp.
Vesper Map
It is walking distance from Geva; about 2-3 blocks. So it is a good choice before a Geva show as long as the weather is agreeable. Parking is metered, but in Rochester it is free on weekends and after 6PM on week days. So, don't pay after 6:00! There is no reason to get there before 6:00 since they don't have a happy hour. The lack of happy hour is a bummer if you just want a quick drink and app, but good if you don't like the Happy Hour crowd. And the Happy Hour crowd, you do not get at The Vesper. The Vesper is so tucked away that no one knows about it yet. So, you don't see the usual crowd of people in their khakis and button down shirt, straight from work. The Vesper's patrons made a conscious effort to be there. They didn't want to go to just some bar. If you're inviting someone from out-of-town, carpool or have them follow you. With the weird streets over there, it can be difficult to locate it. It looks like The Vesper is in an old building that was once used for manufacturing.... something. Recently, it has been turned into an apartment building with stores, restaurants, and a club. On the outside, the building still looks like the old, crumbly brick. No doubt, the owners claim that this is to retain it's charm and history. I see "save money on renovations". We can't speak to the apartments, which we are sure are very nice, but The Vesper is very elegant and charming on the inside. That doesn't mean it isn't in a shady part of the city, though.
Enough time on that. We were seated straight away because at around 5:45, no one was at a table yet. There were a few people at the bar, but we seemed to be the first diners. I ordered their signature drink (The Vesper), which is touted as "James Bond's drink". It is basically a martini without any fancy sweet flavors added to it. I really enjoyed how there was just a little bit of very fine crushed ice on the top, but not much. I got that "iced" feel, without feeling like I was drinking a snow-cone. This drink can be enjoyed by sweet and dry cocktail drinkers, alike. Very good. My only gripe is that it is advertised as a drink for James Bond. So what do you think? I think I'm about to get a "manly" drink. Right? James Bond. Come on. It was served in a rather feminine glass. What's up with that? See the picture, below.
We will take the time to comment on their cocktail menu. Their drink descriptions are very unique. Some of them tell you what's in the drink. Some of them make a snarky comment like "If you don’t like this, we probably can’t be friends." This is all very entertaining, but if I don't already know what the drink is... I have no idea what the drink is! So, we enjoyed the silly comments since we could work most of them out. But someone with less experience ordering cocktails might not know what 90% of the drinks actually are.
Let's get started. We started off with oysters and corn fritters.
They only had one type of oyster available, so we got that one. We decided to start with 5 and order more if we liked them. We're glad we went with 5. Our first impression: this is the only place to NOT serve the oysters over ice. We didn't like that. This is the only place to not serve mignonette sauce with the oysters. Didn't like that. We were given cocktail sauce that must have just been dumped out of a bottle that you could buy from Wegmans. Actually, that's not fair to Wegmans. You could get far better at Wegmans.
Putting the cheap cocktail sauce in a fancy metal bowl doesn't make the cocktail sauce any better. We appreciated the presentation of the oysters, but we'd rather have them served on a rock, if that meant they'd come with mignonette sauce and over ice. We also questioned how freshly they were shucked. Stay away.
The Corn Fritters: Yeah, get those every time. Melisa is the one who picked those out. So two thumbs up for her. Reading the menu, I just glanced over them and moved on. But I bowed to her wisdom and said "sure, I guess I'll try them." Oh dear, how can corn possibly be so good? Let's deep fry it and bathe it in a delicious garlic chili sauce. For the Win! They are crunchy and saucy and we devoured them.
We had been here before, and they do have fried oysters on the appetizer menu. We tried them because we thought "maybe this could be the gateway oyster for someone who doesn't like oysters." Logical, right? Deep fry anything, and it is pretty good. Well, not The Vesper's oysters, apparently. They made oyster balls out of ~4-5 oyster's meats, then deep fried them. The problem is that the middle remained very chewy and way too moist. And they didn't get crunchy on the outside. I'm not going to go into more detail because it is not pleasant. Just stay away.
OK, please let the entrees rescue us! Melisa went with Pan Seared Scallops and the Daily Sausage. She really is the best at picking the best menu items.
The scallops were quite good. The outside was just crispy enough and the inside was not chewy at all. Everything was done just right. They didn't dress them up very much. They were just served over some vegetables. I wanted a bit more flavor, like maybe a light sauce or glaze to go with them. But, they were done so well I can't hate on them too much. Sometimes just doing something simple and doing it right is more important than smothering it in sauce.
The Daily Sausage was another good choice. Once again, they weren't dressed up too much, but it didn't really need it. The sausage had a lot of flavor. I wouldn't have minded if they had crisped it up just a little bit more. It came with crostinis, 2 different mustards (including my favorite, with the tiny balls in the mustard!), and seared onions. Every bite was very good. A solid choice for the carnivore in your house.
I (Mike) was having trouble deciding. I had their Shrimp Po-Boy the last and only other time we were here. I really liked it, so I was tempted to get it again. I will take a sentence to reinforce, that the Shrimp Po-Boy is a very good option, here. Very good and appealing to a wide audience... well, unless you don't like shrimp, of course.
But, in the interest of academics, I went with their daily special of fish cakes. I love love love crab cakes, so this is probably a more affordable version, right? Well, chalk up another loss for Mike. This was the feeling I got in my first bite. "Hey, do you like crab cakes? Why don't you eat that, but with the most fish-y taste we can manage!" Don't get me wrong, I like fish; which is why I thought this was a safe bet. But, this was like anchovy fish. Just so over-powering, bottom of the ocean, cheap fish. Even with the (some version of) aioli sauce that came with this, I couldn't cover up the fish taste. It was brutal. I could only choke down 1 1/4 of my two cakes. It was like punishment, trying to eat those. I think the aioli sauce might even be serviceable, but I couldn't get through the fish taste, to let you know.
At least I thought to order the fries! These fries are good. They are absolutely PERFECT fries for your malt vinegar. Nice and thick, but cooked so that they just barely start to shrivel a tiny bit. This dries them out a bit, which is why you need the malt vinegar. They still have the potato skin on some of them. Looking at the plate, all we were given was ketchup that I swear came out of a squeeze-bottle from the grocery store (not going to insult Wegmans, here). Once again, they put it in a little metal dish, like that would transform it into magically delicious ketchup. We asked our server for malt vinegar because these fries are perfect for it. Given the atmosphere of The Vesper, they must be classy enough to have malt vinegar available. The Vesper has an European feel, and malt vinegar is a British thing. Plus, the last time we ate here, we asked for malt vinegar to go with our fries.... nope, no malt vinegar. OK, here comes a rant. Please read it as if I'm very angry and trying to get it all out in one breath.
No place in Rochester that makes 1/2 way decent fries serves them with boring ketchup. You don't have to serve them with malt vinegar. I get it. Depending on the part of the world you're from, you like different sauces with your fries. If you're not going to serve fries that were born for malt vinegar with malt vinegar, than for the love of Pete, make your own sauce! Good Luck has one of the best sauces in town that is tomato-based. Serve it with Sriracha-aioli. Serve it with some kind of BBQ sauce. I don't care. Take two sauces from the store, mix them together, and call it double-trouble sauce! But do not insult me again by serving your fries with nothing but the ketchup that I can squirt on a crappy hotdog from the Blue-Cross Arena. Especially if you're trying to market yourself as a trendy, upscale place to dine! Honestly, with your oyster "sauce" and ketchup, you should be embarrassed.
OK, back to the review. I did try to save my fries with the aioli sauce from my fish cakes. That didn't really do much for me. So, I guess we'll call the sauce mediocre.
We had their chips and dip the last time we were at The Vesper, too. Once again, the chips were really good. Nice and thin and crispy and crunchy. Mmmm. And the sauce was another let-down. The chips are served with an onion and white bean dip. Heavy on the onion. The first bite or two is quite good. Then, you start to get sick of the onion flavor and you can't escape it. It's just too much.
They've gotten exactly ONE sauce correct at The Vesper. The garlic Chili Sauce that comes with their corn fritters. Everything else is crap. Sorry-not-sorry.
The Vesper does have a good beer selection, including some craft beers. They have a very good wine selection. Their cocktails are also very good. Pair that with some good appetizers, and you have a good bar to sip on a drink and munch on some snacks while you socialize.
There has never been a wait for dining, but we've seen the bar stools get filled up. The servers are good enough. Attentive since it is such a small place and they don't have much else to do. Other than that, just ho-hum.
So, we peg The Vesper as yet another good place to go for a drink and an appetizer. Maybe go before your Geva show, since you can walk there in good weather. Other than that, we probably won't go out of our way to get to The Vesper. We don't like being served sub-par food and sauces as if they are something special. It's like they're trying to make us believe it, but only halfheartedly. Like when you were asked if you brushed your teeth or cleaned your room as a kid. Sure.... ~smile & shifty-eyes~ uh huh....
With that said, they do have some unique flavors and if you know what to order, you can survive a sit-down dinner, and truly enjoy your food. Just make sure you lock your car... but honestly, The Vesper isn't far from Dinosaur. If I want a sit down dinner, I'll go there. Of course, the counter argument is that The Vesper is more refined, quiet, and elegant. So, it depends on your mood.
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