Newt's North — Restaurant in Rochester

The server was upbeat, smiling, prompt, and, in a nutshell, superb, on my recent visit to Newt’s North with my wife. The atmosphere was nice and fitting for a bar and grill. The free popcorn was delicious, too.

We were off to a good start. But it went downhill from there. My wife ordered a California burger and fries, while I ordered a peanut butter burger and fries.

Within a few minutes, a kitchen assistant delivered our meals. Upon the first few bites, the fries tasted pretty good. But it became clear that fresh fries were mixed together with old mushy black fries from previous batches.Strike one.

I took a bite of the burger. I had asked the server whether the restaurant used a brand-name peanut butter. She said that it was some no-brand stuff that came in a big container. I like peanut butter, but this was cheap stuff.

The bacon on the burger was overdone, burnt, and brittle. It tasted like cheap generic bacon, too. Finally, the 1/2 pound patty was unseasoned but cooked medium done, as ordered. Strikes two and three.

Here is a summary of my visit: The best service and the best popcorn I have had this year but the worst meal I have eaten this year.

Here are some ideas for Newt’s to improve its food and win me as a customer:

use a higher quality of ground beef season the ground beef before cooking switch from 1/2 pound to 1/3 patties use high-quality bacon. Think Hormel Black Label. Use high-quality peanut butter.Think Skippy and Jif.

Also, serve only Heinz ketchup in a bottle. My wife wanted to put ketchup on her hamburger, but it’s served only in a little cup. Americans live on ketchup, so be generous with the good stuff.

On a positive note, my wife liked her California burger and French fries.

-- I was pleased with the positive response from Newt's staff within two hours of my review. Thank...

It is a rarity nowadays to go to a restaurant that will handle your time and food with as much care as possible. I can be fairly anxious when dealing with servers, as not to be overly friendly, but the staff were fantastic. Observing them throughout my time at Newts was an absolute joy, moving quickly and promptly on serving, drinks, checks, and all of this during high service hours no less. Honestly, top tier service.

The food was very good as well. Starting off, they bring a bowl of popcorn (no picture, I was so caught off guard that I just started enjoying the well salted snack). That said, the food was great. I have had better, mind you, but it was all fresh and you could really taste the effort put in by the cook. The burger was well made and didn't fall apart after a couple bites like most do, the fries were crisp and had good flavor (though, slightly under salted), and being who I am, I felt compelled to get an order of fried pickles with my meal. The outside was crisp and the perfect level of flaky, and with a generous portion at that.

The only downsides I can really mention with the trip was that the toilet was broken (which was likely due to high customer flow), and that the building itself is very nice, but the atmosphere is slightly cluttered, particularly with the television placements.

There seems to be a mandatory tip for this building as well, which I wouldn't see as a problem at all, especially with how well the staff is doing. With a little work from the higher ups on rearranging the placement of some of the screens, I might be able to even finally give a 5-Star review on here.

So, if you're looking for a place with food worth the price, a great staff, and great atmosphere, so to Newts to Eat, Drink,...

Place was busy when we arrived. Walked in and stood in line like everyone else did. In a orderly fashion, everyone is seated as they get up to the front of the line. When it was our turn, the hostess says the people behind us were before us. Surprised and confused we ask," Are you sure?" She then looks at the people behind us and they did not contest to her remarks. She pointed us to a booth in the far corner and said your booth is over there. We found our way to the booth that she did not walk us to. Once seated we were greeted with our waitress or so we thought. She got us drinks and didn't come back to take our order. We wave her down and she says someone else will service us. Keep in mind she serviced everyone in our section. Five mins later another waitress comes and takes our order. The food was ok at best. The peanut butter burger was dry. Only thing good about it was that they cooked it to my liking which was medium. Also had chicken tenders and onion rings. Both tenders and rings were so salty we only took a few bites. We were going to complain to someone in charge but at this point, we were just ready to leave. Not once did the 2nd waitress come by to ask if everything was ok. The mood changed when we asked for our bill. Smiles and greetings were top notch. Paid our bill and left and will never return or recommend this place to anyone. Food is mediocre and very pricey. Felt really discriminated and judged the moment we were given the snotty intro to the restaurant. Never again, anyone who knows how it feels to be discriminated will know right away when you walk into this place. Do not...