Don's Original — Restaurant in Town of Irondequoit

I grew up in Rochester and my mother started taking me to Don & Bob's (now Don's Original) in Seabreeze in the late '40s. The ground steak burger is an American classic. And, the hot sauce they make on the premises using a closely-guarded recipe, makes it a truly unique experience. I order my sandwich on a soft hamburger bun with everything plus extra hot sauce, and add a little ketchup for sweetness. Request their complimentary pickle slices, and if you want a side, I recommend the fried onion rings. Their motto is "Where Quality Predominates". Remarkably, they've consistently lived up to that promise for the 70 years I've been going there. If you're in Rochester, this is a must stop. If you like burgers, I guarantee you will be amazed and delighted. UPDATE-1: Stopped for the first time since ownership changed some months ago. I've been a long-standing fan of these burgers and I'm not going to change my 5-star rating based on one visit, but I did think the experience was not quite as good as it has always been in the past under two previous owners. One example was the hot meat sauce. I encountered some inedible material in the sauce ranging in size from that of a dime to a quarter. I first thought it was plastic wrap or paper, but close examination suggested it was the dry outer layer of onion. Probably too tough to chop and certainly too tough to chew. I had to discard about five pieces of this material. Second, the burgers tasted a little drier than they have in the past. They don't offer to cook your burgers to order, although I think you can request that if you wish, but I've never done so because they've always been juicy in the middle and a little crispy on the edges. Today's patty's were a bit dry. I wish them luck in working out these minor problems because this is an important institution...

My girlfriend and myself, after having dinner at another establishment, decided to go to Don's Original for desert. After looking over the ice cream menu on the outside of the restaurant we went inside and ordered two banana splits. While we were enjoying our ice cream and they were very good, I was just about to finish and I was down to the last couple of spoonfuls and I found a piece of hard clear plastic in my mouth. I asks for the manager, who was Sarah, and I told her what had happened then Sarah and her coworker, who made our banana splits, went to the area/room where the ice cream machines are to see if they could find out where the piece of plastic may have come from but after inspecting that area the girls came back and I asks what they had found, Sarah said "They couldn't find anything that was broken or looked like the piece of plastic that I'd found and that I,Sarah, was sending a picture of the piece of plastic to her boss and it must have come from their supplier", but that was it no I'm sorry from Sarah about what had happened or I can give you your money back for the one banana split, but the girl who made our banana splits did apologize to us a couple of times and I told her it wasn't her fault and nothing else was said so we finished and left.

I wouldn't think that this would be common practice at a establishment such as Don's Original that has been in the Rochester area for years, decades. I'm sorry that this happened but I do not know if we'll be...

Disappointed. Got the sausage egg and cheese croissant breakfast sandwich. Very greasy and salty. Tasted like a hamburger. Grill should be cleaned between different meats. Did not taste good. Just got a mouthful of grease and salt! DD has a better sausage egg and cheese croissant. When I opened the sandwich, the egg yolk dripped all over my pants and it was a mess all over the place! The cook looked unhappy there! So obviously the food wasn’t cooked with love nor did it taste like it. The latte was ok. The potatoes lacked the salt that he overused in the sandwich.

Update went back today for lunch and so much better than breakfast was. There was a different cook and the food was not greasy or salty. It actually was delicious. The chili was a little too spicy for me but the French fries were hot and so good! The cheeseburger was so good! The coffee was good. The Mac and cheese was ok. But everything was delicious. Much better experience. The workers were...