The Alexander — Restaurant in City of Rochester

Beautiful space, so we will start there. If you have 6 entrees on the menu, they better be spectacular. Our waitress couldn’t answer a single question of ours this evening, although the entire menu has about 20 items, and one is “grown up chicken fingers”. (What Gins do you have? Can I add grilled chicken to the salad?). She was young and very sweet, so I forgive her, but when you think the Swans have been monopolizing “business casual” dining in the greater Rochester area for the past 15+ years, you would think they would train their staff a little better, considering we had two drinks, three appetizers and an entree this evening for more than $150. The charcuterie board was wet, lukewarm and dripping. There were no fresh ingredients or nuts, just a pile of pickled giardiniera. The meats were greasy and the indiscernible, and unlisted cheeses were covered in oil. The “craft mac and cheese” was really weird. I think they tried to go for a mornay sauce on the bottom of the dish, but it tasted like sausage gravy. It was bucatini shaped into a cake and seared with a cheese crust. The sauce looked like vomit.They have a cocktail called the calabrese that is made with tomato, basil and mozzarella. I think they meant to call it the caprese, but, like most things on the menu, editing was thrown at the wayside probably to speedily open the place up. I had a wedge salad which was standard. A pasta that was overcooked and too tiny of a portion for over 20 dollars, the Mac and cheese monstrosity. There is no point of view other than “this place is no longer Ox and Stone.” Not only was I disappointed, I feel that the Swan family only cares about people taking up seats in their restaurants and paying the check, rather than a hospitality experience that, for $150, is much friendlier and more delicious at a dozen other restaurants in the area. Maybe close a few of these down and refocus on menus and service that people are happy to pay a premium for? I recently had a meal at Monroe’s that was expensive (about $80 a person) and we were fighting each other to pay the bill because the service, ambiance and food were so good. And it wasn’t because items on the menu were cheekily named or the waitress was...

We wanted a nice place to have a date night. We have wanted to come here since it opened. When we entered the restaurant it was over whelming with how loud it was in there, almost too loud to talk. We got seated right away outside on the patio due to the noise inside the restaurant. Waiter was great and took out drink orders immediately. About ten minutes goes by he comes by again to grab an app order and explains the drinks are coming shortly. Another 15 minutes goes by (still no drinks) our app gets served and again he apologized for the wait on the drinks. After finishing out app, after a total of almost 30 minutes our drinks arrived. Drinks were every good thankfully. We then ordered our main courses. I ordered the strip steak and my wife ordered the pork chop. Unfortunately the sides are A la carte and very pricy for what you get. The pork chop had great flavor. The steak flavor was good as well but was slightly overcooked. Then after the food arrives there was ants starting to walk all over our table since the tables were pushed right up to the garden beds, and I had to constantly check my plate for ants while eating. After reviewing the bill I noticed the price for the steak was $49 which is extremely high for a strip steak. I get it said "market price" but wow where are you buying your steaks from. Overall it wasn't a great experience at all. From the long wait for out drinks to the ants all over the place and the very high prices here. Probably won't return, we had high hopes for this new restaurant because ox and stone...

So many reasons we enjoyed our evening. First is that I just felt happy the entire time. The atmosphere is quaint, modern, open, and comfortable. It was not too loud but we ate early so not completely full yet. The staff were exceptionally nice in all areas. We started with what they call shared dishes and chose the caesar salad which was amazing. Enough for two and they kindly put it on two plates. It was understated meaning it had the exact correct amount of dressing/good quality cheese and kale along with romain with no bitter taste. It was simply delightful! We then split the eggplant meatballs with the added penne. It was unique and the tomato sauce was a cut above with fresh tomatoes blended to the perfect consistency and taste. The prices were reasonable - more reasonable than other places giving options to choose for your price range. I like that they are thoughtful about having non meat items as well. I highly recommend. I still remember having my 40th birthday party upstairs when it was the Rio Bamba years back. You will not be...