Paul's On Main Street — Restaurant in Rochester

Recently came here with my father's family, hadn't been since the rebrand/remodel and new menu. I've always been to Paul's growing up and thought of them of THE Rochester diner. TL;DR of this review

-new interior is worse and less accommodating for people, especially the hard of hearing.

-service is poor/unfriendly.

-prices have increased while favorites have been removed.

-experience feels rushed by mismanaged service.

-new enclosed patio is the only good new thing.

However, with their rebranding and remodel, they threw their status and their previous clientele aside, aiming for a more uppity class steakhouse. It really doesn't fit them in my opinion, but that is subjective. What isn't subjective is the extreme decrease in service and attitude from the staff, as well as the remodels awful interior layout.

Starting off with the remodel, the interior booths that usually fit around 4-5 people have been replaced with larger 6-7 people booths, with the 4 person booths now against the walls. this wouldnt have been a bad change if it weren't for the lack of privacy between booths. The booths are extremely low so you can see everyone else around you and they can see you. The old booths had dividing walls/windows, which not only helped maintain privacy, but the bigger issue, audio. We came in at 10, and it was relatively packed, but due to the lack of walls between booths it was awful to communicate between our family. not only was the booth so wide that someone could be 7ft away from another, but the audio meshing together made it necessary to repeat what you were saying. Im sure it's worse for those hard of hearing, which im sure is a lot of the old clientele, considering pauls used to serve a lot of elderly folk in rochester. We asked to move to the enclosed patio area, which had no one else in it in order to remedy the fact that we could hardly hear each other. I will say that the heated patio area is very nice and much more appropriate for Michigan's climate than the previous open patio. Our service, like the remodel, was also subpar. we were serviced by several of the staff, but mainly one of the male waiters. He was very monotone, which I don't really have a problem with, but had no real friendly demeanor or enthusiasm. He hovered behind my stepmother and father instead of angling himself so that everyone could see him by turning their head, so several times over my parents were shocked or just made uncomfortable by his sudden presence. He could've also worked on going through side options slower, especially with my younger sisters, who could hardly make out what types of bread he was referring to. We were also asked if we needed water several times with only a couple minutes in between, leaving us feeling very rushed. In fact I had so much water left in my cup I refused it because I had only taken a sip, but they continued to refill it regardless which just made me feel unheard as a customer. Towards the end, after we had finished our meal and were just conversing, it very much felt like they were trying to rush us out of there. In fact, they were! They had a party of 40 coming to occupy the outdoor patio, which I can understand that you really cant do anything about that. But after paying so much for what is now bougie diner food, it would've been nicer to not feel so rushed out. Thankfully they attempted to make it right by giving us a 50$ gift card.

other things i forgot to mention

-hashbrowns are no longer on the menu, awful change

-only raw sugar is only available on tables, i assume you have to ask for zero sugar alternatives now.

-bottomless coffee pots are now left on the table as opposed to served, not really a good or a bad thing especially if you'd rather have less constant waiting staff.

-water glasses are so thick and heavy they feel like candle holders

-white bread is no longer, its now "sourdough"

-my biscuits and gravy was lukewarm

Pauls doesn't do any of the new things it wants to do better than what you could get elsewhere, and it dropped the one thing it was good at. Who...

The owner and his business practices were poor and highly shady. Some of you might say that I am being too petty, but the excuses and statements that were made to me after my meal were unacceptable. When we (myself and my 3 young children) arrived, we sat outside under the canopy, we were in no rush and waited patiently. When a server saw us, she asked if we would like menus and I said yes. She came back with a stack of children's menus, crayons, and an adult menu. She asked if we would like anything to drink, and I said water please. Our waitress was very good and patient with my children. We ordered three meals off of the Children's menu, but the Burger had a red X in the middle of it (honestly, I thought that my son had drawn that with a crayon as it was small and in the middle) and I was informed that the menu was old and that that item was no longer available. I said okay, and we ordered something else. All three children ordered two eggs and bacon with toast. The price on each was $4.00. Why then when the bill came did the total for each child's meal say $5.00? I asked the waitress and she told me that the menu was old. Therefore, I turned around and asked the owner who happened to be sitting behind me what the issue was. This gentlemen proceeded to tell me that the printing company sent him the wrong Children's menus and that the price was different. He also stated that the real purpose of the menu was for the kids to color on. He even stated that he didn't know the exact prices, because the menu was two years old. I responded saying if they could cross out the hamburger as an option, then they could have changed the prices on the menu items. His response was that that would be "too much work." Next, I communicated that the waitress should have informed me that the prices were different when I ordered the food, that I should not learn about the increased price when I received the bill. The owner then proceeded to pull cash out of his pocket to give me the difference, but because he did not have exact change, he sent a server to get change. This other server handed me $3.00 in cash, but not the additional $0.18 that I spent in tax on the bill.

I am not so much upset about the $0.18 difference, as I am the idea that I was expected to pay more for the Children's meals because the owner was too irresponsible to get the menus reprinted or too lazy to ask his staff to inform customers of the price change when customers go to order a child's meal. What value does a menu with printed prices have if those prices...

This was our first time back since they reopened -- and I'm really bummed to be writing this review.

First off, we were caught off guard by how much more "upscale" this place became vs being a family restaurant in the community. Our server was totally kind and attentive -- really great guy (none of this was his fault).

I have a feeling that the owners of this place had trouble "reading the room" and decided it was a good move classing up the place. Some times you can ruin the charm of what made someplace special. Everything here over-dressed diner food (to clarify, I have ZERO issue with diner food -- in fact I love it), but with high class prices. I really wish I had enjoyed my short rib sandwich-- but it was awfully greasy (and not in a fun, taste good way) and the bread that was used claimed to be sour dough, but was no where near it. Let's call it white bread. My MIL's fish and chips was no where what you expected -- it was not 'classic' fish and chips but more like a tempura fried WHOLE fish. I'm not complaining about the fact that it was generous portion of fish -- but people expect what they order. Just call it something else! Side note, the fries also seemed to be a bit overcooked/oiled -- but your experience may vary.

I respect the owners need/want to increase prices -- to HOPEFULLY pay their staff more (better benefits etc) but I fear they did it for other reasons. I miss Pauls -- not the "old" pauls -- but I miss what it represented in our community. I hope they can find that old spark again -- i'm rooting for them. But til then, I'll pass...