Branca Midtown — Restaurant in City of Rochester

Very modern restaurant with a traditional fare. We were a party of 20 and had the private room. I arrived early with a small group to enjoy a few drinks at the bar. Bartender Nate was extremely personable and professional. Had a great memory as to what we ordered even with a full counter of patrons. Not too many choices of wine if you're a sommelier bit the bar choices were good. The brick oven pizza was an added plus to the bar area as you can watch the pizzas being made as you drink. The buffalo wings and plate of cheese and meat are a must at the bar. At dinner we had the grilled octopus - tender and delicious with beets and baby carrots, fried calamari - tender and tasty, the special pizza of the day with carbanaro sauce, fried egg and arugula - delicious and must have, funghi fritti - fried variety of mushrooms that were breaded and fried, crustini bread with home made ricotta and pine nuts also creamy and light. The main meals at my table were pasta carbonara which was a bit watery but the home made pasta was amazing. The pasta portions are just right so of you're a big eater you would need a couple of appetizers. The ribeye was a meat eaters dream cooked to a charbroiled perfection. The powerhouse steak was good but it was more of a presentation so of you're hungry go with the ribeye. I had the veal Milanese which was perfectly fried topped with arugula, capers and mushrooms. Simply delicious. We ordered the following sides to share : brussel sprouts, tender and tasty, french fries with truffle oil - good but too soggy for me , I will ask for well.done fries next time. The broccolini was not bitter at all. We also had the blanca risotto which was very bland. We topped off the dinner with desserts. The zeppoles were not true NYC San Genarro feast style zeppoles but were more of a fried sugared donut which was served warm with chocolate and raspberry sauces. Yummy. The flourless chocolate cake is a must for chocolate lovers. The open cannoli was served in three fried shells topped with cannoli cream. Light and sweet.

All in all the food was good, portions of pasta are small for a hearty eater. Pizza is a must.

Great atmosphere. Music was a bit on the loud side limiting our conversations.

I intend to visit again to taste...

I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years in everything from fast food to a Michelin star restaurant in every FOH job, and almost every BOH job. I will go out on a limb and say that I have not been this pleasantly surprised by a restaurant for a good while. The food was so good I was SURE it was chef-owned, nope. The service was so good that I thought the GM must have been on shift. Nope. The atmosphere was so tasteful and thoughtful that it must have been decided on by a poet or artist. Possibly.

Now, for the experience I thought the prices would have been astronomical, also nope. Wife and I went for date night, did 2-3 drinks each, the octopus appetizer, she had lamb and I had the NY strip. Tip=$60, total ~$260.

Now these are ear-marks of a new restaurant that will last max 12 months, because to maintain these standards of quality without charging astronomical prices is damn near impossible. ALSO NOPE! Apparently they have been around for a couple years and are doing very well. I actually asked our server about the ownership, and discovered that it is essentially a team of folks that all focus on managing different parts of the business (of course including an executive chef).

To Branca staff, great job and keep it up!

To the owners, removes hat and twirls it while taking a bow … amazing work. That is impressive. Would love to make your...

Visited Branca for the first time last night while family was in town for the holidays. Looking for something low key with great food and well made cocktails and a good wine selection. Branca hit the nail on the head.

The charcuterie plate was a great appetizer for 3, and the pickled vegetables were divine.

I ordered the carbonara as an entree, and was not disappointed. Most restaurants around here do carbonara as a cream sauce, and I am often left underwhelmed by the dish. But Branca did it right and did it well. Nice chunks of salty pancetta, creamy egg sauce that I dipped the really lovely bread into after the pasta was gone.

My boyfriend had the Tagliatelle, and was very impressed by it. My uncle had the turkey meatball appetizer with a side of pasta - the sauce was nice and spicy but not overly so, and the texture of the meatballs was perfect.

Not to mention the service is outstanding. I never had an empty water glass throughout the meal, and one of our candles went out on the table and it was immediately replaced with a new one.

The design of the space is clean and inviting, open and airy with big windows to look out at downtown. Everything feels and looks well made.

I'm looking forward to going again to try other dishes and see what the coffee bar...