Founders Cafe — Restaurant in City of Rochester

The Founders Café is tucked into a delightful block next to a historic church and the building the café is in is absolutely stunning. Seriously, Rochester, stop showing off! I was excited to try their food after drooling over the menu and getting myself pumped for scratch soup. Thursday was ground sausage tortellini. YUM. I went toward the end of the day, arriving an hour before the café closed and it became immediately apparent that it was “one of those days.” As in, a day where everything seems to go wrong. Though August was advertised as celebrating paninis and the cafe was offering up an absolute taste-extravaganza of panini options, when I arrived, the panini machine was being disemboweled by a repair person. The woman staffing the front was very apologetic and seemed frazzled. As my eye roved across the countertops, I could also see that every open space was covered with baked cookies. Huh… interesting.

I placed my order of a Cuban panini, a Thanksgiving hot sandwich, a cheesecake brownie, and a sugar cookie bar covered with sprinkles. Oh, and a caramel iced latte. Unfortunately, there was no soup left, which I get, because house made soup never seems to make it to the end of the day per popular demand. Good soups are hard to find. A bummer, but… I’ll live. She offers a bread sub for the Cuban panini, because it won’t cook as well without the press. Okay, that’s fine too. Unfortunately, after sitting down to wait for my to-go order, she came out to inform me they were actually out of turkey as well and if it was okay to sub smoked chicken on my sandwich. I’m really not that picky and I’m not a jerk and again, it seemed to be “one of those days” in the restaurant, so a reassuring handwave and smile later, we’re all good. Have I mentioned that the café building is beautiful? Well, the inside aesthetic is also very pleasing and I could definitely see it being a favorite for local college students to hang out. I was kind of surprised at how empty the place was. I guess the timing really did make a difference.

I wait a while and the woman is venting to another kitchen employee, clearly frustrated by other employees that have failed to refill or prep the kitchen supplies. Having worked in a kitchen, I definitely know how aggravating that can be. After she brought out my order, she had me pick out some free bags of chips for all the substitution issues, and we ended up meandering out at the same time.

She explained that a large group order for the next day had increased by 20 people, (going from 80 to 100) hence the explosion of additional cookies everywhere. After chatting a little while, it’s clear that the cafe is very popular for group lunches, etc, and that sometimes it gets hectic! Life be like that sometimes.

When I brought my partner her sandwich, she decided that while very good, the sandwich really isn’t a Cuban. The pork is sliced, not pulled, and maybe the bread substitution just kind of altered the whole experience. My Thanksgiving sandwich was also good, but, ya know, not turkey. Not earth-shattering, but I had been looking forward to that soup. All in all, the meal was perfectly fine and good, but I would definitely be interested in trying again with the very long list of delicious sounding options on a day when I show up earlier and when things don’t conspire against the cafe. Hopefully this review will have an update! :D In the meantime, do check it out and let me know how YOU liked it, as it might be a while before I’m back...

You Have to Go Here! Driving through on our way to Syracuse and told my wife to pick a place to stop for lunch. Not knowing the area she looked on her phone and found Founder's Cafe. We pulled up to a beautiful historic building and went inside. We were greeted by Michael the owner and I ordered a Pastrami Reuben and my wife ordered the Thanksgiving Sandwich and a Cookie. We were given a number for our order on a small placard with a Bio of local politician. That was cool! The food came fast and I my Reuben was fantastic, however, when I took a bite of my wife's Thanksgiving Sandwich, I was jealous. It was the best Thanksgiving Sandwich Ever! and the cookie was amazing. Michael engaged us during the meal for some great conversation and some history about the building being a school and now converted into apartments. It was a wonderful and memorable experience. Cant wait to go back and try the Banh Mi Sandwich that he described as the Greatest Sandwich of All Time. You can tell that Michael takes pride in everything he offers and is a class act. Wish we had a Founder's Cafe...

Have to say I was disappointed when I went there a few days ago.

Ordered a sandwhicfobut asked for no honey mustard. This is my normal sandwich, and it is always so good. However, the woman taking the order was more concerned with her side conversation and not me. She missed the no honey mustard. I returned the sandwich when I realized the error. Everyone was very confused because the order in the system did not say anything, so I told the new girl that the person taking the order must have missed it, but I don't eat mustard.

They finally agreed to remake it. However, the 2nd "panini" came out basically kind of warm. It was not crunchy, nor did it have any ridges like you get from putting it in a press. So I think they just tossed something together and used the microwave to heat it up.

Very disappointing experience that they made an error and treated me like I was doing something wrong, and they were...