City Tavern Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Rochester

I want to first give a huge Kudos to GRANT whose customer service skills were superb despite the pressure he was under. We thank YOU GRANT for your respect, kindness, friendliness, and great service on August 19, 2023 for my graduation dinner party! I hope your wedding day is AMAZING! My daughter reserved this dinner party for me in June. Initially she reserved the rooftop dining area. Then later shr was given 2 conflicting stories regarding reservations on the rooftop. The last thing she was told was it is first come first serve. I arrived around 430p to setup for our 5p start time. With the knowledge of the first come first serve policy, I spoke with a few of the ladies on staff upon entry into the restaurant. There was a maximum of 10 people dining inside and 4 people on the rooftop when we arrived. I let them know I was there for the 5p grad party for 20 people. I was instructed to enter the rooftop from the staircase at back of the building. There was no objection or redirection. Once we got on the rooftop we were met by a young lady who directed us to where our party would be. Once we started decorating a waitress from the bar came over and asked if we reserved the whole area we were in. I told her the women inside directed us to this area to set up. Then Grant came over to order water and drinks. In the middle of our dinner Terry approaches me saying she spoke with me on the phone. I informed her that it wasn't me she'd spoken to but she'd probably talked with my daughter who planned the party for me. She proceeded to inform me that she had the game room area setup for us and she had a dinner party reserved for the area we were dining in at 8pm. Embarrassed, I assured her that we'd be gone before 8pm. It felt very discrimnatory. Terry was unprofessional in her approach in front of my party. She also lacks tact and class in the way she spoke to me. At the very least, she could have pulled me aside from the group but she chose to make a scene. Everyone in my party was upset and felt confused. This interruption in our celebration ATTEMPTED to put a damper on the spirit of the event. I will not be patronizing this establishment again and I will be sure to share my sentiment with family, friends, and...

I really would have loved to give a five star rating because of how great our server Grant was to our group. However, I cannot because of the way that our group was treated by the manager and a waitress on the rooftop. I reserved the rooftop in June for my mom's college graduation dinner on August 19th and the reservations were confirmed with those details. A week before the dinner I called to make sure everything was still good to go for my mom's special day, and Terry let me know all of a sudden that she could not reserve the rooftop for us and that it was first come first serve. We get to the day of what should've been a wonderful celebration for my mom's special accomplishment and when we arrive the rooftop is empty, therefore we setup up our decorations up there following the first come first serve policy that they claimed to have in place. A waitress walked up to my mother with an attitude and asked who told her that she can set up in that section. We continued to set up despite the waitresses disrespect and proceeded to try to enjoy the evening despite obvious discrimination. Midway into the dinner Terry comes onto the rooftop and confronts my mother in front of all of her guests on her special day to say she had us set up near the game room and that we'd have to be gone by 8pm because she reserved the rooftop for a bigger party at 8pm. The same rooftop that they said they can't reserve. I'm very disappointed that they ruined what should've been a fun evening for my mom because of their blatant disrespect and discrimination. There were other groups sitting on the rooftop and they did not give them a hard time the way they gave us. All of our guests were paying customers and every single one of them felt very uncomfortable with the way we were treated on such a special occasion. To make matters worse , I called the restaurant to try to speak with someone over Terry and they said they'd call me back and they never called me back. I'm very disappointed but very appreciative of Grant because he made the situation a little better with his quality service, too bad I cannot say the same for Terry and the rude waitress on the rooftop. Very...

One of the worst experiences we have ever had in downtown Rochester. Giving benefit of the doubt of being new and everything not running smoothly. I would give a negative star if I could.

Situation: 5 adults, 2 children ages 6 & 7 that have been to fancy meals that take a little longer than others Seating was a question since they had a party

We get seated, wait 15 mins for server to come over after we ask about someone helping us.

She brings drinks- leaves. We were ready to order however she disappeared When she finally comes back 30 mins later we order our food. 2 burgers, 2 rubens, a kids hot dog, Kraft Mac & cheese , french dip. 7 realistically quick items for most kitchens.

Fast forward 1 hr 40 mins. Still no food except the “to go” burger we order for my father in law at the same time we ordered our food

Waitress comes over and asked if we are “all set”. We say yes except we still have gotten our food

Amazing our food comes out 10 mins later ( now at 1 hr 50 mins). Great we have on the slapped together fresh food ...... nope Fries are warm at best, not seasoned as we ordered. Hot dog for my son has enough silt dumped on it to work for melting the snow in winter on Main Street. Wife’s French dip looks like it has been sitting under heat lamp for 30 mins. Ruben sandwiches are ok warm and burgers are ok.

Waitress- can we speak to manager. “ yes, I will get her 10 mins later no waitress, no manager. I go to find her and no one can find her.

Come back to table, which by the way is a table tucked over on the side of dinning room.

Manager is there talking with everyone. She said she will take some off the bill for the issue. However DIDN’T EVEN apologize for the issue nor ever came back after that.

Waitress comes back with bill.... she took off $50.... and still charged us $79 for the food we received that was 1:40 mins later, cold and quiet frankly ok at best.

If this restaurant wants to survive they need to remember that service, food and how you treat people will be the factor. Viktor Palushaj May own 28 restaurants but this one isn’t starting off well for us.

As for my family we will NEVER...