The Original Steve's Diner

Atmosphere: This one was also located in a strip mall off the highway, but it had some flowers and seating out front which gave it a bit of charm.  Inside there was seating for about 40 people, but the food came out fast and the wait wasn't very long for a seat.

Food:  The menu offered a variety of home-style breakfast foods including eggs, omelettes, pancakes, etc.  However, these pancakes called "love cakes" were the size of dinner plates!  I opted for a meat lovers omelette with ham, bacon and sausage with a side of home fries, toast, and corn beef hash.  Nick got the special: Cannoli pancakes.  The food came out pretty quick as I said and it was very plentiful.  The omelette was nice and thin although I would have liked the cheese inside instead of layered on top.  Home fries were nice and browned.  The has wasn't their homemade unfortunately, but it was okay.  The toast was a bit dry, sadly, but I didn't have room for it anyway.  Then there was the cannoli pancakes: a huge dinner plate buttermilk pancake smeared with cannoli cream and chocolate sauce and then rolled up and cut it half and finally sprinkled with powdered sugar.  It was totally rich and absolutely to die for.  We ended up picking off of each other's plates and managed to finished everything served.

Service: Our waitress was very friendly and speedy.  She brought Nick over some more coffee without him asking and came over to check on us at a reasonable rate.  We left a little bit over time because she was so nice.

Overall:  The food was very good.  Simple diner fair made great by unique and fresh ingredients.  The atmosphere was cozy and friendly.  We filled our bellies and then some for only $26.  That's my kind of place!  Will I be returning?  I sure hope so!

My Rating: 8.5

Bocaccini's Italian Bistro and Bar

Atmosphere:  The restaurant is located in a strip mall, which makes it seem kind of sleezy, but the inside is nice enough.  I've had some amazing food in some really blah places, so really I can't judge.  The room was spacious enough, but we were put in a  wall booth between two other full tables, one of which had a very annoying and loud woman talking.   The decor looked new and was simple but didn't have that old world charm like I feel an Italian place should have.  It was clean enough, anyway.

Food: We both ordered frozen mixed drinks, me a strawberry daquiri and my husband a mudslide.  Both came to our table with whipped cream on top which I thought was odd for an alcoholic beverage.  Mine was very sour, even after mixing in the whipped cream, but his was good.  Not sure they were worth the $9 a piece though. Also, not sure that they really went with Italian food, but they really didn't have many other cocktail options.

For apps we had fried calamari sauteed with fried banana peppers, kalamata olives, garlic and feta.  I was very different from any calamari that I'd had before and was very addictive especially to two very grumbly bellies.  We tried to prevent ourselves from shoveling, but it proved impossible.  Needless to say, it was very good. Also, it was huge!  At least 4 servings.

Then our salads came, albeit pretty quickly after the app and it had to wait to be eaten which I do not really like.  The salad was basic vinaigrette; Nick had a Caesar.  Both were good, but hey it's just salad.

Finally, for dinner I had Carbonara with chicken which was made with smoked bacon and egg (although I didn't see any egg!) and had baby spinach.  The sauce was tasty and cheesy like a Carbonara, but not as thick as I would have liked.  It came with an Oriechetti pasta which I did favor because the little cups could easily scoop up the sauce.  However, I didn't manage to eat much of it because of the giant portion of Calamari. The pasta serving was also giant thankfully, and will make good for at least 2 more meals. Nick had veal with a lobster stuffing on top and a side of lemon-alfredo paradelle.  The pasta was good, but I thought the stuffing had too much celery when I sniped a bit of lobster off his plate.

Service:  The service was okay.  I realized halfway through the dinner that the waitress never brought us bread as I noticed everyone else had some.  This ticked me off, but I didn't bother asking for any sicne I was pretty full anyway.  I did dock her a percent from 15 in her tip for forgetting it though.  Also, our drinks were pretty sloppy when they came over and spilled all over which made the table and our hands sticky, but the waitress didn't bring over more napkins or anything.  When we ordered, she asked if we wanted the apps and salad together and we said no but she brought them out basically one after the other anyway.  Still, she was speedy and didn't have an attitude.


Overall:  I would go back to Bocaccini's, though I'm not in any hurry.  For one, I have a lot of other places to try in Rochester which is not known for good Italian food, sadly.  And also, two, because I'll be eating their leftovers all weekend!

My Rating:  6

A Guide to the Guide

Living in Rochester, NY, my husband and I have run across a variety of restaurants.  We are self proclaimed foodies and harbor a great love of all things cooking and eating.

I plan to give a rating of 1-10 for each of the spots and cover them through three basic categories: atmosphere, food and service.  I will then give my overall feel of the place and give an ultimate decision as to whether to one day return or to forever avoid.

I want to review the places we've been to and the places we will go to as a reminder of our travels, as a warning to avoid certain spots, and as an exclamation of our culinary adventures.

Note: at first there will be a large backlog of restaurants as I go through all the places I've already been, but in time I hope to be only writing about the places I go to as I go to them.