Penny Black Grill & Tap

The service is horrible and the management is ridiculously rude. I sat in the restaurant for ten minutes without my order being taken. The waitress was too preoccupied with the X’s on my hands to ask if I wanted a water or to place a food order. Later the manager came by and threatened to kick us out and call the police if we rubbed the X’s off our hands. I did not plan on ordering a drink nor do I drink in general. The behavior was unacceptable. If you are allowing underage individuals into your establishment, treat them with respect because they are paying customers. However, I do not ever plan to spend a dime there. Customer service is always number one and theirs is shit.

Love love love this place! Waiters are always awesome with great energy. Love the atmosphere as it’s fun and is always very clean. Chef takes pride in his food and you can tell. Really can’t go wrong with anything that you order. Must check out and enjoy! ;)

Great atmosphere and food. Found this place on a day off in Rochester and decided to have dinner with a few friends. Everything we ordered was good and the drinks were strong and flowing!

One of my favorite places in Rochester, Penny Black is our go-​to for drinks and either dinner or just late night apps. We’ve been here many times, and nearly everything I’ve eaten has been fantastic. The revolving beer list always gives me something new to try. The outdoor area in the summer is cool too. And we really want to try one of the beer dinners, where they pair like 5 courses with a different beer.
I’m not sure if it’s because Penny Black is off Main Street, but sometimes it can be pretty empty, other times it is packed. The atmosphere can be a little awkward if it’s empty.

The service here was excellent! There was somewhat of a long wait, but it ended up being less than originally anticipated. The wait staff was top notch. They were paying attention to all tables and the food came out in record time. The bar had run out of the beer I had ordered, so my waitress suggested a beer that would be comparable. It was delicious! Great beer menu, great food menu, great service! Tom and Joe are great employees.

Decent beer selection. Friendly but slow service.
Food is solid. Reasonably creative menu.
The problem is, what the hell does this want to be… a nice restaurant, a drinking bar, a sports bar… or does it want to be a dance club that plays techno at 6pm on a Tuesday?
It is grating and thoroughly off-​putting to not be able to hear the person next to you because they are playing horrific dance music.
I won’t be back unless its a friday or saturday night when i want to be around that kind of music.

Great atmosphere, Awesome outside bar, Good food. This place is best in the warmer months when it doesn’t rain. Theirs not much room inside especially when it gets crowded. Even in the summer months it can get tight. Has a lot of history was once a post office.

My husband and I really enjoyed our date night at Penny Black. There was a line when we arrived but we were able to sit at the bar and order a drink while we waited for a table to open up. We each had one drink at the bar and they were ready to seat us on the bar side at a half-​booth high top. My husband ordered the Penny Black Burger with a Caesar salad and I ordered the Apple Gouda Griller with Sweet Potato Fries. We were both very pleased with our meals except for the Caesar Salad was extremely dry (and he likes it very lightly dressed) but when we requested a little extra dressing due to its being under-​dressed we were charged additionally for the dressing. Other than that, very yummy! The beer and wine selection was good, the service was good and we each had a delicious meal. We will definitely return.

Great atmosphere and decorations for the holiday season! Took a while to get order placed, but very knowledgeable staff. Don’t like how they charge .25 for a side of mayo.
Aside from that, the food was excellent! Great flavor/​serving size. Also, a nice beer selection!

What a fun place, full of wonderful people, staff and customers. My brother was in town from Oklahoma with his wife, and I wanted to show them the lights in downtown Rochester. And of course the streets we full as well as the restaurant so rather then waiting we went to Penny Black. We thought we just stopping in for drinks but the service and appetizers, like the short ribs egg rolls and the fried avocado we so good we all wanted to stay for dinner. Mac and cheese, fish tacos, pulled chick sandwich, and the chicken BLT were all very tasty. Try the place out I think you’ll have a good meal and some fun.
Just a side note ask about how they got there name.
Have Fun and Merry Christmas.

We went here for a sweet 16 party. I called on Monday and made reservations for Saturday (10 people). The staff was vey accommodating and the food was great!!!

Wow! This place is great! Loved their take on Poutine. Sloppy joe sliders were great and the fish and chips were nice and crispy. The deserts were both winners, but the Yates Cider Mill bread pudding was out of this world! Will definitely return

Great neighborhood place for casual dinning.
We were a party of six, between us we order a good portion of the menu. Everything was well cooked and there no complaints.
The service was great. The ambiance was very conducive to conversation at the table. The food is very reasonably priced. We would definitely go back.

They have amazing food here! I usually get the Texas Tacos with bbq pulled pork. The meat melts in your mouth goodness. I have also had the limited goulash and it’s very good too! So much so, that they need to keep it on the menu.
They have the tap takeovers monthly. These are good if you want to sample 5 different beers and the goulash and speciality items from the grill.
The layout of the room is a bit confusing. To the left is high tables with a small bar seating area and to the right is booths of sitting and dining. They also have a mini bar outside with small tables. This is a popular place to hang out.
They have a wide selections of beer, wine and liquor based drinks. Check it out!

My husband and I came to Penny Black on a Friday after work. We got there early enough where happy hour was still going on. Therefore, we both got beers. Very good beer selection. I got a strawberry type beer that didn’t disappoint.
Our waiter was great, very attentive, but not overly pushy. He made suggestions and was constantly checking on us in regards to drinks and if we needed anything else.
The décor is modern, but a bit cold. Lots of dark colors and sleek lines, didn’t feel much like a pub. Seating was either dining room, bar, or outside. We picked dining room and they had pretty nice large booths. The booths would be good for larger parties, probably fit at least 3 people comfortably on each side.
We ordered the Dip Trio with Hot beer queso, fresh guacamole, house salsa, tortilla chips. All the dips were very good. Our waiter even hooked us up with more chips to finish off our dippers.
I got the special — Lamb Sliders served with tzatziki sauce, onions and tomatoes. I also ordered fries as well. Fries were seasoned and yummy. The sliders were good, The lamb patty itself was pretty thick, a bit dry, but hey… it is lamb.
Overall, this is a nice spot in downtown Rochester to come to get a drink. The entrees and food are a bit pricey. Our bill I believe came to about $ 50 or more. Still a place to check out and try, good food and swanky atmosphere.

I like Penny Black, but not quite love it.
Menu has some high points, burgers, ribs, some salads. Some not so high points… Not a fan of a lot of the apps.
Very good beer selection and decent mixed drinks.
Their strong point is the wait staff, good bunch.
Parking.With the new Rochester parking decks, that issue has been eliminated.
The restaurant itself has a bit of a cold feel with the stained concrete floors and steel tables. Not homey enough for a pub feel, not edgy enough for a urban feel.
Before you form a optintion from theses reviews, give it a try. Good for bite before a movie or a concert or meeting up with a group of friends.

Great little outdoor seating area (a lot of bees though). Service was a little slow. They needed another waitress in our section. Food was decent. Nothing to write home about.
We had the salmon and pulled pork platter. Both were okay. Not great by any means.
I think I’d enjoy this place as a bar more than a restaurant. Good vibe, bad meal execution.

I’d like to do two reviews if I could. I came to Penny Black for dinner on a Friday night, the wait was reasonable, the hostesses were very pleasant and the bartender outside (while we waited) was pretty good. My only complaint is my pricey martini was weak at best, now it was admittedly a fru fru girly martini, but I’ve had better. We sat outside for dinner which was really nice, food was terrific and our waiter was AMAZING. Now here is where it gets interesting…
We went to a movie & decided to go back to Penny Black because of the great experience. We went to the outdoor bar and the same bartender was there (who was pretty cool albeit a bit cocky)… There were a couple empty seats so I sat down but my date stood behind me to leave a seat open. The bartender had two shots w/​other guests before coming over & was clearly drunk. We ordered our drinks and the bartender said «you need to move, these seats are taken». I looked around & replied «it doesn’t look like it»; he replied «they’re out having a smoke»; my reply «ok I’ll move when they get back»; his reply «no you’ll move right now or I’ll move you»; me «did you just threaten me?»; him «no I’m telling you the seats are taken & you are f***ing moving now». Needless to say we left at that point. He had another shot as we were leaving & was laughing with the people (friends obviously) at the bar.
I’ve never been treated so disrespectfully at a restaurant or bar in my life. I was a waitress & bartender for years and am completely disgusted with this behavior. Obviously he shouldn’t be drinking on the job, but he’s also stealing and you have to wonder how many of those shots his friends are doing he’s giving away (also stealing).
I’m sad to give only 2 stars because our waiter at dinner was absolutely perfect in every way, the atmosphere is really nice & the food is good. It’s a shame an outright jerk & thief is going to drive business away from what could be a great place.

I came here on Sunday night before a concert at DTE. We showed up a little early, around 4:30pm, and it was pretty empty. Decided to sit inside rather than out because it was crazy hot out (like 85).
Service was slow but okay. The food was very good — neither my friend nor I were that hungry, so we decided to split a sandwich and fries plus a side salad. They had a red wine vinaigrette that sounded good, but were out of it, so the waiter brought me a raspberry vinaigrette instead (usually my dressing of choice).
The sandwich was this gouda /​applewood bacon /​apples /​heirloom tomatoes concoction and was good, EXCEPT I’m not a huge bacon fan and it lended a crunchy taste to the sandwich which I didn’t really like. Once I took the bacon out of the sandwich, it was much better, IMO. The sandwich was also HUGE and fine for splitting. The standout was actually the sweet potato fries, which were melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious (sounds weird, but you know what I mean — they were very soft).
I’d come back here again, it looks like they do happy hour specials as well.

You know what creeps me out? People like my sisters. I’m talking overly friendly white people with big toothy smiles who are desperately trying to be trendy despite the fact they have a whole bunch of children, drive gas-​guzzling SUVs, and live in tacky McMansions.
This is Rochester. The bane of my existence. Penny Black is one of the few bright spots in this god-​forsaken town. It’s not cutting edge, but it is quality bar food, and a nice escape from all those soccer moms in yoga pants who do a pretty good job at harboring the fact that they might be republican.
I ordered a grilled buffalo chicken sandwich. I didn’t just like it. I loved it. It also came with a small side of fruit salad that wasn’t too filling.
Holy shit, (Kyle re-​reads the last sentences, realizes Kyle’s now writing in third person), I think I’m turning into one of those people. Somebody take me to the Stone House or Bronx Bar before I find myself coated in Lululemon and having in-​depth conversations about gardening, standardized test scores and holistic teas.