Nick's Chophouse — Restaurant in City of Canandaigua

When visiting Canandaigua for dinner I was craving a good filet. Normal “dinner” choices when in town are Nolan’s, The Office, Kix, NY Kitchen (all awesome choices)….but we decided to try Nicks Chophouse for a change. What a mistake. The place needs to a facelift. The wall & ceiling in our booth was cracking, the outdated fake candle should have been left off the table - it offered zero ambiance or light, the fancy “lit” menus were worn & tattered (aka gross), etc. But, I was excited for my filet. I suppose it’s my fault that I ordered the steak without the bacon - it’s typically wrapped in bacon. I’m sure most people love it - not me - I wanted to taste the steak. The almost average waitress did not indicate that it would be a problem, and asked what potato choice I wanted and what dressing on my salad. (These two items are not À la cart, but are included with a dinner). The food took forever to arrive, but I was happy to have my steak - until I saw that it was wrapped in bacon - slimy bacon at that. I sighed and pointed it out to the waitress who said “I told him no bacon” - put the dish in front of me and walked away. So, I thought - no big deal - removed the slimy bacon & proceed to take a bite. All I could taste was bacon. So, I cut a bite out of the middle - same. The waitress came back over and said they would comp. me for a glass of wine. I apologized and said I couldn’t eat it - and she proceeded to take the dish away. I asked her if she could leave my fries - she walked away & came back with the now soggy fries on the same plate. It’s okay - I ate them and I had a few bites of my companions prime rib - which was tasty - I clearly ordered wrong. Anyway, we received our check and the waitress said they didn’t charge me for the filet. When I looked at the check - no charge for the filet - BUT they charged me $18 for my soggy fries and the average, pre-made salad. I might be overreacting - but that was crazy to me. The owner who made the decision “was upstairs”. In the other establishments that I mentioned, the owners seemingly care about their customers satisfaction - often wandering through the dining room & asking how things are. There are plenty of places in Canandaigua to get a great meal with good service and a nice atmosphere. Nicks Chophouse isn’t one of them. So not...

This was probably one of the worst dining experiences I have had in my life. We had made reservations for our anniversary for 7:00 in the downstairs seating room. When we arrived, we were promptly seated in the mostly empty dining room at a booth that had the paint on the wall peeling off and were handed menus that had the exterior of it peeling off. After waiting 10 minutes to be greeted, our waitess welcomed us with the special, asked for our drink order, and hurriedly walked away. After another 10 minutes, out waitress came back for our food order. I order the shimp scampi ($26) and my girlfriend order the scallops (market price). The waitress again hurried off and a few minutes later, we got our drinks and bread. While waiting for our food, we were bombarded by both regular and fruit flies, two of which were found sitting on the interior of my girlfriend's Martini glass. When our food finally arrived 30 minutes later, we got to the second to worst part of the night. The 4 scallops she received were delicious and her garlic mashed potatoes were good as well. My shrimp was okay and the pasta and twice baked potatoe was nothing to rave about. After finishing our meals and being asked if we wanted dessert, we received the check. The 4 scallops came to a staggering price of $45! This was very different from the $31 that was listed on their website (that also labeled it as 5 scallops). We brought this up with our waitess, who said she would go talk to "Nick." She came back 2 minutes later saying that is the market price and that there is nothing that they could do and walked away. We then talked to the busser, who was very attentive the whole night and gave great service, if we could talk to "Nick" and while he speaking with another waitress about the situation before getting him, our waitess overheard and yelled at him, saying that Nick would not come out. We were ignored for the next 5 minutes, and only spoken to afterwards to see if we "were ready to pay the check." We realized that the restaurant would close before upper management would speak to us, so we begrudgingly paid the bill and left. Overall, I would not only not recommend this establishment, but would actively dissuade anyone from...

We dined at Nick’s this past weekend with another couple, all of us first-timers, and unfortunately, the experience left a lot to be desired. We had a reservation and were warmly greeted by the bartender, who offered us the choice of sitting inside or on the rooftop where live music was about to start. Wanting to avoid the heat and be able to actually have a conversation before heading to a CMAC concert, we opted to sit indoors on the first floor (which longtime locals might remember as the former Rio Tomatlan space).

The illuminated menus were a fun touch, and our server was friendly, but that’s where the positives ended. Our wine came quickly, but other drinks didn’t show up for nearly 45 minutes- we were told they were out of clean glasses. That’s a first for any of us, but we were patient and hoped the food would make up for the delay.

It didn’t.

Our shrimp cocktail appetizers arrived at room temperature- never a good sign- and when our entrees finally appeared (over an hour after ordering), they were missing their sides and, frankly, disappointing. The food was over-seasoned, poorly timed, and bordered on inedible. The pork chop was tough (though it might’ve just been the butter knife we were given?), the shrimp were just okay, and the French onion soup was barely warm. Even the steakhouse salad was forgettable.

It was clear from the pacing and attention that this place is really geared toward being a bar first and a restaurant second. The rooftop deck is clearly the draw, and that’s probably where the service focus goes. If you’re looking for drinks and a casual vibe, this may be your spot- but skip the food. Even the wine pours were disappointingly stingy.

We...