Pittsford Pub & Grille — Restaurant in Town of Pittsford

I am giving this review 1 to stars because the food was exceptionally good, and it always had been. Aside from that the rest of the experience was the worst I have had there. I have dined at Pittsford pub on numerous occasions when visiting my daughter at college. It is her “go to” place for burgers and loaded tater tots. I dined alone on move-in day, August 20th, sat outside at the patio on an extremely busy packed Saturday and had phenomenal service and a great meal. I returned on September 4th, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, to take my daughter and one of her suite mates out for my daughters birthday. It was mid afternoon, again on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. We sat outside, there was only one other party out on the patio. The waitress looked and acted like it was the last place she wanted to be. Even when I mentioned that it was my daughter‘s birthday (saying to my daughter you can order first, it’s your birthday) her effort to say happy birthday was painful on her part. We ordered drinks, I ordered one of the craft beers. It came extremely flat. There was no foam and I could tell it was flat and it had a flat taste It took quite awhile for her to come back to the table for me to let her know that the beer was flat. I ordered a different batch beer and waited and waited and waited. Our food came and I said to her “you don’t have to bring me the beer, I won’t drink it while I’m eating anyway, so just never mind the beer.” To which she responded “well they already poured it! So, it’s already poured.” I said “fine, bring it”, and that beer also was very flat. From years of being in the restaurant business and bartending, my guess is their CO2 tank was not providing the necessary carbonation to the draft system. When she noticed that I did not drink the beer, she did not even acknowledge it or offer to replace it or offer to take it off the bill. By this point I was done trying to deal with her. When we left there were two parties on the patio so there was no way that she was that busy. And even if she was covering some indoor tables, the place was pretty bare at that time of day. I used the restroom so I got to see how many other people were indoors, not many. In hindsight, I should’ve deducted the amount of the beer, which was well over six dollars, from the waitress’s tip. I returned to campus, which was less than 10 minutes away, and I dropped off my daughter and her suite mate. From the car I called the Pittsford Pub and asked to speak with the manager, realizing that the entire situation was not handled appropriately by the waitress. I was informed (in a sarcastic way) that the manager was busy. I said, “I was just there, could I please speak to her.” And the response was “she is busy, it’s dinner time and the restaurant is busy. I can take your name and number and she can call you back tomorrow.” I gave the young lady my name and phone number and as of today’s date, September 13th, I have never received a phone call from Kelly, the manager. I called this afternoon, knowing middle of the day is a downtime for restaurants, and was informed that the managers are not there, that they’re only there in the morning and in the evening, like after 5 o’clock. The morning they’re there from 11:30 to 1:00, I was told. To me that is lunch hour which means that they will be “busy.” And that they are there during the dinner hour which again I will be told they are busy “. It’s very unfortunate that other people (noted by their reviews ) have had the same experience, not getting a return call or response or resolution from the restaurant manager. It is one of the few local pubs/casual restaurants right around these college campuses in the Pittsford area. I guess, they assume they don’t have to provide good service/customer service because they will be busy no matter what. To the chefs, I would give 5 stars because the food has always been exceptional.

• side note, they do not offer any gluten free options...

2022-08-24 Update: There have been some improvements, so I upgraded from 1 to 3 stars. My original review is at the bottom of this one.

I gave this joint another chance a year later, and I'm glad I did, as the service has improved. This time my takeout order was ready in 25 min as promised. This was a quiet Wednesday night, on the early side, and may not represent your experience on a Friday at 6:30pm.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the food wasn't great. The soft pretzels appetizer looked like soft pretzel sticks, but tasted like bland bread sticks. Nothing "pretzelly" about them at all. And they were over-baked to boot, tasting slightly burnt. The beer cheese was good but couldn't save them.

My companion ordered a BLT, which had TONS of bacon and one slim slice of under ripe tomato. In August! It's tomato season, should be the best time to order a BLT. Not here, though. And the bread was toasted absolutely black on one side, and barely toasted on the other.

We also tried the mac and cheese, which was very good - no complaints at all. Not the best I ever had, but at least it was competently executed.

Bad food + Bad Service = Bad Management. Look, I know times are tough. Everyone wants takeout and nobody wants to work in a restaurant - it's hard to find staff. That means you either maintain your standards and serve fewer people, or you lower your standards and try to serve everyone - and fail. This place has abandoned any standards it might have once had.

On a recent weekend night I called in an order at 4:45pm, and was told the kitchen was running behind and it would be about 30-35 min. No problem. Ordered a burger and the beet salad. I arrived 30min later, to a large crowd waiting in the entrance for takeout. I had to wait AN ADDITIONAL 90 MINUTES for my food. That's right, 4x the quoted wait. If I'd been told the truth about the wait up front, I'd have ordered from somewhere else.

In chatting with the others standing around, I learned this was not an isolated occurrence. A Door Dash delivery person waiting with me said "it's always like this - I don't know why I accept pickups from here anymore."

To top it off, when my order arrived, the burger was perfectly cooked, but missing the toppings I ordered. The sweet potato fries were cold and unseasoned, and had obviously been sitting quite a while. The beet salad would have been OK, except the avocado (which they hid at the bottom) was clearly waaaay past it's prime. Brown spots, and tasted bad - very over-ripe. And I paid fourteen bucks for that salad.

If you're looking for a place to sit and have a couple of drinks, go for it. But if you are hungry, go somewhere else, at least until the incompetent management gets replaced. I got abused and ripped off, there's no reason anyone reading this review should suffer...

Visited later evening Friday May 6th, 2022, after a long hiatus due to poor food, atmosphere and service earlier. Thought I would give them another chance to redeem themselves. Place was busy and most patrons much younger by that time of night and on to their 3rd or 4th beer and flirtation with unsuspecting young women and bar staff at full throttle. Good group and not too rowdy, but the establishment has changed over the years. It used to be much more upscale and the type of restaurant/bar you could really enjoy a nice meal, responsive service and hear yourself talk. Apparently, the younger crowd just wants to chug beers , do shots and talk over each other. I was alone and sat at the bar watching the patrons make fools of themselves ( which was somewhat entertaining), ordered a coke and broiled haddock dinner. I waited about an hour for my meal. Myra, an extremely sweet and attentive bartender who took my order kept apologizing for the inordinate delay, and did her absolute best to ameliorate an embarrassing service snafu. She intimated the chef/cook was flying solo trying to keep up. My question is where are is the owner or owners on an exceptionally busy spring Friday night? No support?? There were two young ladies trying to keep up with a packed bar, inventory, service along with a few waitresses running ragged. I am an entrepreneur and cannot imagine running a business this way, especially in an affluent burb like Pittsford, apparently in spite of themselves and their disorganization they make money. Hard to keep people coming back in such a competitive market. I understand the Covid malady and shortage of help ( that's code for lazy people who do not want to work and employers who are cheap) but you can only perpetrate those excuses so long. The one saving grace of the entire evening was Myra and the eventual serving of an absolutely outstanding fresh broiled haddock dinner. The fish was succulent, done to perfection, quality fries were abundant and the cole slaw exceptionally tasty. Not bad for a dinner served at 10:10 p.m.! Kudos to Myra and the chef for salvaging what could have been a one-star review. I will be back but this time maybe at 7:00 p.m. before the alcohol starts flowing, the juvenile amateurs become to inebriated and the kitchen staff...