Rochester Main Street Armory — Restaurant in City of Rochester

Was here last weekend for a volleyball tourney. Probably not entirely the fault of the venue that this was a rather poor experience, but it had a lot to do with it... First off... parking. There were six courts set up on the main floor. Each team (of 14 year old girls) probably brought 10-12 players each. There were a couple dozen teams. So that's a dozen cars for each team bringing parents, players, coaches. There is very limited parking at the venue itself, and no arrangements had been made for overflow. This was a Saturday/Sunday event and the business across the street that had a large parking lot threatened to tow cars that parked in their lot so everyone who thought they had somewhere somewhat nearby to park had to run out in the cold and find somewhere else to go. If you are going to host a large event, you need to have some sort of arrangements for parking. Speaking of the cold, when we all arrived early morning on Saturday, it seems no one knew where the key for the lock on the front door was located, so players and their families stood in the cold for a good half hour before anyone could figure out how to get the doors unlocked. The steps were treacherous - covered in snow and ice. Once inside, we figured "great, at least we can warm up"... Nope. It was freezing inside and only warmed up with the body heat from all the activity. Fortunately there were heaters running on the second day, but the bathrooms were freezing and didn't have any warm water in the sinks. Not to mention.... where the heck did they get the stall walls? Looked like they were made from old confessionals, complete with cutouts and holes all over the place... We all had to wear our coats the entire day and the girls all had to pull on sweats and jackets between games. Floors in the lobby area were cold, wet, and slippery. What limited staff we saw did their best to manage things. Floors were pretty dirty, although I get there were a lot of people in and out in the bad weather. Parents pretty much had to sit up in the balcony area to see their kids play as there was minimal room around the courts on the main floor. This was OK except we had a father who apparently exceeded the weight limit (he wasn't that big...) and the front of his seat collapsed and he and his camera and beverage were nearly thrown over the rail to the court below. I did poke around a bit and saw a few rooms with some beautiful upgrades in progress. It could/would be a very nice venue with upgraded balcony seating and most definitely would need to gut and redo the bathrooms. It appears to be a work in progress... I will say the concession stand was well run and the staff was friendly, and thankfully, the coffee was really really hot! I would vote not to hold the tourney here again without some upgrades and better planning for the...

July 23, 2019 was the first time I had been to The Armory. All of my friends who had been there, with the exception of one, had said The Armory was not a good venue. However, my girlfriend has been wanting to see Five Finger Death Punch, so we went there for the show a few days ago.

I've been to many intimate venues and, with the exception of the Showplace Theater in Buffalo, this was the worst of them. I spoke with two representatives on the phone. The first person I spoke with was quite friendly and helpful. The second one I spoke with was very short with me when I asked about the parking.

No one seemed to have any idea about where to park. The web site says there is parking across the street. However, that parking lot opens about 30-60 minutes before the doors open. When I got to the venue, two hours before doors, there were already at least 30-40 people waiting in line. Had I gotten there in time for the parking, we would have had to stand in the back of the venue. There was street parking a good distance away and luckily my car was not broken into. So, yeah, the parking situation is atrocious.

Regarding the sound, both the sound system and the acoustics were subpar. For Fire From the Gods, while they were really good, the vocalist's mic was up a bit much along with the bassist amp being too high. For In This Moment, you could not hear Maria Brink unless she was screaming or the instruments weren't playing. Even Five Finger Death Punch, who always put on a great show and did so this time, didn't have quite the sound quality they typically do.

While we did have a decent time, I will never be going back to this venue. Unless a band comes to Buffalo or to The Montage in Rochester, I'd rather make the 2-3 hour drive to see a band in Toronto...

I usually never leave a review on anything but this is the worst concert experience I've ever had. I went to a rock concert November 2022 at this venue, we had 6 people total pass out, one of which had heat induced seizure. They had the heat on, which I understand before the show, as it was cold out, but with a tiny venue and about 400 people there it got really hot really fast with zero ventilation. The facility was a cash only place too, $4 for a water bottle. It got so bad that one of the bands (Black Veil Brides) stopped their show to hand out their own water from their own dressing room. I have never been to a concert where the venue doesn't throw water bottles at least into the pit, it's just common courtesy. On top of that, then you had no parking. I had to park a 10 minute walk away, which in Rochester walking around at night isn't the best choice to make. There were so many cars lined up on the side of the roads, mind you there was a "no parking" sign on the side of each road, so I'm not sure if these people got tickets or not, but it impaired visibility when driving around trying to find an open parking lot. Very unsafe. The bathrooms were absolutely disgusting, the kind of filthy that makes you gag, and had no toilet paper. The venue itself before the concert was dirty, and way too small for the events that they hold. The staff was great I'll say, I know they were just following rules. I've seen a few more concerts for this specific venue and as badly as I would like to see these bands I absolutely refuse to go here again. The worst experience I've ever had...