Bar Bantam — Restaurant in City of Rochester

Bar Bantum is a a fantastic hipster chic restaurant! Located on the first floor of the Metropolitan with floor to ceiling windows and a white modern interior, there were a mixture of lounge chairs and tables that provided a home like atmosphere without this discomfort of feeling like you are on top of others. I was worried about being under dressed going only in a sweater and jeans but I fit right in! There is no formal dress code. Business casual or even street attire would work well in this low pressure atmosphere.

I really liked the chicken cutlets which were Italian fried and served with collard greens drizzled with a light vinaigrette. They were good on their own but I thought something was missing so I asked my server if they had any sauces. Well he brought out this honey cheddar sauce with an ever so slight kick to it. I can’t handle heat and I was able to eat it. This sauce paired well, really completing the dish. The espresso crème brûlée special wasn’t overpoweringly sweet from the sugar or bitter from the espresso. It was well balanced.

I don’t drink so I can’t really comment on the taste but there was a full service bar with several large shelves of bottles giving one plenty of options. Bar Bantum has their own custom cocktail menu. They have an impressive list of Old and New World wines.

I couldn’t be happier with the service! They checked in regularly, I was accommodated when I wanted something added to my dish that wasn’t an option on the menu, everyone was very friendly, and I was given my choice of seating.

I am definitely coming...

I’ll be as honest as I can in this review. I’m not even upset to be honest. I’m just flat out DISAPPOINTED. My dear Friend had booked this place for her after party after her WEDDING. I mean this is her wedding day here guys. The day couldn’t be any more beautiful. I mean imagine a winter wonderland, now imagine having a wedding during said winter wonderland. She had a PHENOMENAL time at the wedding with loving family and true friends celebrating her and her newlywed husband, only to be hit with the surprise of two random birthday parties eating her food that she ordered for her friends and family?!?!?

I mean everything about the day literally went perfect and then we get blindsided by this???? Unacceptable to say the least! Again, I revert back to my feelings of disappointment. As for me? I was expecting to continue the fun day and celebrate my friend’s (whom I refer to as twin) amazing day. Again, am I asking everyone to give them negative reviews? Idk, but if you had your amazing winter wonderland wedding, had almost 100 people invited to an after party only to find that two other random parties are eating the food you paid for and are taking up the space you rented how...

The good: nice ambiance. The corn fritters and fingerling potatoes were delicious!

The bad: the goat cheese toast was super gross. After taking over a half hour to come out of the kitchen, a piece of the pork chop I ordered was raw. Like RAW. The majority of the interior of that piece was the color and texture of the stuff in the grocery store meat case.

The ugly: though the pork was objectively raw in that spot, the server returned with an explanation from someone (the cook? the manager?) that it was merely “pink” and that’s how they serve it there. I’ve seen pink pork. This was raw. Mistakes happen, but at least admit it when they do - particularly given that eating uncooked meat can make someone extremely sick.

Why they still have 3 stars: the server was pleasant and took both the goat cheese toast and pork chop off the bill without us asking. Also, the little piece of pork chop that I ate before uncovering the uncooked part was very good (and cooked perfectly). The fried rice was also good. Basically, the stuff that was good was GREAT and the stuff that was bad was not charged...