Westwind Orchard — Restaurant in Town of Rochester

At first glance, it may seem an odd marriage of concepts: Roman food meets upstate New York apples. Unless they’ve spent time in Italy, guests are more likely to expect Italian food to involve large amounts of breaded meat, melted mozzarella, and salads with inexplicable ingredients. At the same time, especially guests unaware of the long-standing traditions of cider production in Italy, particularly in the northwest, may be expecting sweet, easy-drinking beverages of the sort more commonly found at businesses like the nearby Angry Orchards. Instead, visitors to Westwind are introduced to not one but two Italian traditions which are very difficult to find outside of Italy at any price, making this place one of the great hidden gems of the Hudson Valley.

If you go, make sure to try their house Negroni sbagliato (pronounced sbal-YA-toh, whatever a certain actor may have famously said), made with sparkling cider in place of the traditional champagne and even more delicious for the substitution. Accompany this with a dish (or, on one memorable occasion, five) of their carciofi fritti or supplì. Their menu rotates, so you won’t always know what pastas will be available, but as this is Roman food, the cacio e pepe is always a sure bet, as is the carbonara. Sometimes, they’ll also serve actual Italian soups, not the Americanized sort full of meatballs and overcooked orzo but instead simple, rich, savory broth with a few pastine and vegetables, often served cold. Olive oil and Parmesan is all it needs to become divine.

Service is fairly minimal: you order at the bar and it is delivered by a small army of servers. In some ways this is Italian, too: some guests may be put off by the lack of warm service, but their philosophy is to interfere in your experience as little as possible. Be aware that food can take a little longer than some other places: plan to sit and enjoy drinks with friends or family while you wait.

My wife and I live locally and Westwind is a cozy, comforting place where we go for nourishing food, delicious drinks, and a cozy atmosphere. Even in winter, when you shiver down the long path from your car, the indoor seating becomes a tiny, fire-warmed island of light, intimate and secure, feeling like a local secret that you are...

First off, I love this place. The whole vibe is so pleasant and I love what they are doing on the farm. I also have had some amazing pizzas here. I love my food, especially my Italian food. Westwind's food is all delicious, but I have to say, while everything is delicious, the portions are so small. I eat a plate of pasta there and have to go home and cook. The pasta is about the size of an appetizer portion at my local NYC fancy place. Last week I had a special of stuffed squash blossoms. $12 for three tiny blossoms, with a skinny piece of mozz and a whisper of anchovy. I make these myself and they are bursting when I make them. What really got me was that the serving is three blossoms. For 12 dollars. So, 4 dollars a blossom. People mostly share plates here so really, is it so cost prohibitive to do at least do four to a serving, so a couple sharing could at least get two each? This seemed a little abusive. I fully support the farm to table concept. know how hard Fabio and family have worked and understand it costs more and am OK with that. But I think this goes too far. I see all the Brooklyn people not blinking an eye, and I guess Fabio, that means you can get away with it. But I'm a city person too, who has been part time here for 20 years enough to feel local, and been supporting local farms this whole time. So I kind of feel it's not OK. The soul of the Italian table is making sure people are well fed, and not leaving hungry. Love you guys. ** Edit: I just read Fabio's reply and it is probably the most Roman thing I have ever read, LOL. Absolutely right, the pasta servings are exactly what one would get in Rome as a first course. This plate is not meant to be an entire dinner, and it is an authentic Roman experience. We are lucky to get to taste it. Guess I am just too used to the American experience. So let's have a plate of porchetta afterwards! Added a star for authenticity. And stlll...

Like other have said before me, it's a nice venue but overpriced. Great descriptions but it doesn't match. I didn't see the usual happy faces that I usually see at a place like this.

I'm used the hardciders that are more on the sweet side & these dry. So I cannot say its good or bad. There is a nice variety to choose from.

As for the food, it's OK. Price is high for both the portion & the dish. Ex. $18 for cavetelli pasta with tomato & stringbeans in a pesto sauce. Portion was about the size of a toddlers plate. Pasta was perfectly cooked. Pesto sauce a nice constancy & tasty. The vegetables were bits of tomato & slivers of stringbean. All together it wouldn't total up to 1 full size stringbean or 1 slice of tomato. For dessert we had the panna cotta with roasted pears & maple syrup. Panna cotta was perfect but the pears were not roasted, not even poached with several drops of maple syrup. Could have left both off since it didn't add to the flavor or presentation & saved the expense.

Since I'm more familiar with orchards where you pick your own apples, I was disappointed you couldn't here. They had some that you can buy but not a large variety & costly. Others seems to agree based on what I heard.

Service was nice. Since they're organic, I like that they're using compostible plates & utensils. Plenty of seating with or without cover. There was no life music but the piped in music was very nice.

The positives aren't enough reason for...