Stone House Tavern — Restaurant in Town of Rochester

Had lunch here on 11/19 with 3 friends. We're from Philly, Boston, Baltimore and Harrisburg and get together once a year. We had intended to get lunch at 11, before the Stone House Tavern was open, so it wasn't on our radar, but our hike went long and we were so glad that it did. Our meal was phenomenal. We started with the Crispy Brussels Sprouts, the Chicken Wings with the Blueberry BBQ and the Balsamic Roasted Beet & Carrot Salad. Each plate was superb. Everything was super fresh and well plated.

The food was brought out quickly and our server was top notch! One of our crew ordered an Arnold Palmer which she brought out with the lemonade on the bottom and the iced tea on top. All four of us commented that we hadn't seen that level of service in years. I didn't catch our servers name but she was friendly and on top of her game. Plates came and went so the table never felt full or like we had a lingering plate. Drinks were refreshed at just the right time.

For our main courses we had the Mussels (the broth was excellent, and the crostinis it came with were perfect), the Pulled Pork Tacos which had a tremendous depth of flavor (it came with 2 tacos, but enough food that it could easily have been 3 or even 4), the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich which was like a BLAT on challah with a thin cut breaded fried chicken breast, and the Truffle Mushroom Ravioli, on which the toasted hazelnuts have to get called out for their brilliant addition.

We were pleasantly surprised that the portions of every item we ordered were more than generous (the Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich turned into two more meals at home, and same for the Truffle Mushroom Ravioli).

Love the ambiance too. Would absolutely eat here again. Compliments to the Chef and...

Went here after going to Kelder’s Farm. Checked Google and this was highly rated so of course we chose this restaurant and it was close by. Cute on the outside and inside. Unfortunately warm and muggy inside. To drink, ordered strawberry cucumber margarita, my daughter ordered a mocktail. It was a berry drink, I believe. Both of ours had lime juice but you taste it was old, because the bitterness. My aunt ordered a pineapple coconut cocktail and she liked hers. For apps, I got the calamari and spring rolls. You get 5 spring rolls but to be honest, it look like a whole ones cut in half. Not worth $15 IMO. The filling and sauce were ok but overly fried, which made oily. Calamari was also ok. Some were overcooked and of course chewy. The marinara sauce that came was lacking salt. But rather something be under salted that over. Main courses ordered were steak sandwich, Stone House Burger, Frutti de Mare & Beef/Pork Bolognese. This is the only restaurant where I’ve been and that the frutti de mare only has mussels and shrimp. My mom was craving pasta and seafood so we knew what it came with. I was just surprised. My mother said the sauce lacked some flavor. She added some salt, and she actually is used to low salt food. My burger was very good. My daughter enjoyed her steak sandwich and so did my aunt. She only said there was a lot of sauce. Total came to about $186. Then...

Great atmosphere, but we were disappointed in the food. We were generally happy with the cheese plate, the mussels appetizer (could have used more bread, but I have this complaint most times I get steamed mussles- all that great juice and 2-3 little pieces of bread to soak in it), and the flourless chocolate cake) but the truffled rissoto hardly had any taste of truffle at all, and the peas had an odd texture. The rissoto itself was well prepared an creamy, but the flavors did not blend, and if you call something truffled, we should be able to taste the truffle. The Stone House burger came cooked medium to well done - it was dry when I had ordered medium rare, and I found the blue cheese they used to be too strong, although it might have worked if the burger itself had been juicy. The french fries lacked any crunch. I had hopes for this place, but now consider it just adequate. I would not say no if someone else suggested going there... the disappointing dishes might just have been bad luck, but would not suggest it myself.

Added later, in response to Owner's questions below. Service was quite good, I did ask for more bread and they did bring it for the mussels. We were asked several times if they could get us anything. I did not ask for the burger to be re-made, but am not surprised they would...