West Edge Restaurant & Lounge

There have been a lot of different restaurants in this space. It is a great location for a restaurant – beautiful views of the river, especially in the summer. Parking can be kind of a pain. Food was pretty mediocre. I had a barley risotto which was crunchy instead of al dente. There were TVs on in the main dining area which seemed out of place for the style of the restaurant. The TVs were on the Food Network, which also felt odd – who wants to watch other food being cooked while you’re trying to eat? I bet another new restaurant will open up in this space in the near future.

I echo the sentiments and comments of a lot of the recent reviews regarding our dining experience this past Saturday night (2÷27÷2016). Yes, it was the night of the Bruce Springsteen concert at the Blue Cross Arena and the place was VERY crowded (my wife and I weren’t attending the concert, and should have selected another restaurant for dinner not right near the arena, so shame on us for that), but we had a reservation for two people at 6:30 via OpenTable.
My biggest restaurant pet peeve is if one has a reservation, and it’s either (a) not in the restaurant book/​software; and/​or (b) our reserved table is not ready at the reservation time. I’ll allow 5, maybe even 10 minutes extra for the table to be ready and prepared (especially on a weekend night), but in this situation, my wife and I were not seated until 7:10 — 7:15. Another Unilocaler commented that the situation with the hostess/​hostess stand was a mess on this night, which I totally agree with. My wife and I arrived about 6:20, and the hostess (I know it was a very busy night and the restaurant was understaffed), seemed like she was more interested in folding and preparing utensils and napkins than assisting ready, willing, able, and hungry customers. I waited about 5 – 10 minutes to even check in with her (not because the hostess stand was incredibly busy, but moreso because of her lack of attention to waiting customers). I asked when our table would be ready, and she said as soon as possible, but that they were backed up on tables.
I checked back in with her at 6:45 (still unseated), and asked the same question of the hostess, more or less the same answer from her. I said we had a reservation at 6:30 via OpenTable, and her response, as other Unilocalers that same night have written, was «so did everyone else.» Absolutely 110% not the correct answer, and not the way to conduct yourself. Granted, it was a weekend night and a very busy night with the concert, but a restaurant’s reservation system (whether the old fashioned way, or via OpenTable), should have a maximum capacity limit, and obviously their system failed that night. There were quite a few other groups of people that I quickly chatted with around the hostess stand that said they had reservations for 6 PM and hadn’t been seated by 6:45 or 7. A total failure of the system, staff, and perhaps most importantly, management and staff training. The whole point of making a restaurant reservation for a certain day and time is that your table is reserved and waiting for you/​your party at that time.
Minimal apologies or explanations were offered by the hostess or other staff, let alone a complimentary cocktail/​bread/​appetizer while we were waiting. That goes to poor management and training, IMO. Additionally (and I’ll assume this was because of the concert/​the restaurant being very crowded), the noise level was VERY high. My wife and I were yelling to each other when we were waiting around the hostess stand/​when we were initially seated at our table.
When we were finally seated (around 7:10 — 7:15, after a decent portion of the concert crowd had left), it was another good 5 – 10 minutes before a waitress came to our table for our drink order. Our waitress, as nice and sweet and apologetic as she was, had an issue that my wife pointed out to her — she had a cut right above her eyebrow that she had put a Band Aid on, but it had bled through the Band Aid and a small trickle/​stream of blood was around her temple area. I don’t need to go into any further explanation of the potential health risks and hazards here, but obviously this is an issue that should have been commented on and remedied by management or her colleagues as soon as it was noticed. She did fix it after my wife said something (in a very nice and pleasant manner). Major kudos to her though for being a trooper and finishing her shift with her injury; we obviously hope that she is alright and the issue has been taken care of successfully.
The multitude of reservation/​service issues are a shame because the food itself was actually pretty good and worthy of 3.5−4 Unilocal stars, and the overall atmosphere/​setting seemed quite nice (although we didn’t really enjoy it because of the large crowd). My wife and I shared the vegetable risotto fritter appetizer; we’re both suckers for any sort of risotto fritter/​arancini, so we very much enjoyed this dish; it was five large servings for $ 7, so, you do get a good amount for the price. For our entrees, I ordered the cast iron chicken with polenta cakes and broccolini; very well cooked and prepared, chicken was very moist, although it was a pretty small portion for dinner ($ 22) so I was left a little disappointed in that regard. My wife had the black truffle mac n’ cheese, which was also very good, although a bit pricey ($ 24) for the serving size as well. We shared the peanut butter and chocolate cake/​pie for dessert ($ 8), which was a good healthy (and filling portion).

Very disappointed. Had 6:15 dinner reservations prior to a concert downtown. Great location for the event. Unfortunately this place took more reservations than they should have and did not have enough staff to cover the people that were there. The result is we left at 7:00 pm still not seated. Also we could not get a drink at the bar due to the lack of bartenders. Very poor planning. Can’t speak about the food, but the management has a lot to learn. Too bad seams like a nice place.

I totally agree with many customers that gave this restaurant 2 stars and that is because of its location. Food is really disappointing and if you are looking for a good quality meal you won’t find it at the West Edge.
In our group we had 4 people, we tried 3 different appetizers and two main courses: duck breast and ribeye steak. None of us could eat even half of what was offered. It simply wasn’t good.
The staff was really friendly, helpful and was working hard to accommodate but how could they make it right if food is substandard.
We will return to this place during summer to enjoy patio/​views and to have a cocktail but certainly not for food.

Enjoyed the relaxed down to earth atmosphere. Excellent draft selection. Self service wine station is top notch.
Lunch on the patio has always been a treat.
Carrie the owner is hands on and very friendly. Good place for cocktails after work, or business meetings.

I am so incredibly disappointed in West Edge that it isn’t even funny. I used to love Rochester Taproom, which was then replaced by West Edge. The plentiful beer and cocktail list remains, but the food has fallen off a cliff it seems.
I’ve only eaten brunch here, but I really wish I hadn’t. We tried to eat at Harvest Café, but there was a line out the door, so we moved a few hundred feet down to West Edge, and boy, what a mistake that was. I ordered French toast that was a really odd crunchy consistency, with overpowering apple compote slathered on top. Their pancakes are also incredibly thin and they couldn’t figure out how to cook an egg without breaking the yolk.
I may have to give this place a try for dinner or late night munchies because of the fact that I live 2 feet away, but this experience makes me long for the days that I could eat some delicious nachos at Roc Taproom. Boooooooooo West Edge!

2 stars for nice patio/​view and 0.5 star for mediocre food at a decent price during happy hour.
I know it’s a holiday but it really shouldn’t take 20 minutes to get a menu when there are only max 7 – 8 parties. We called before hand and asked about happy hour specials (3−7pm, half off social plates and $ 1 off drinks). Our server told us happy hour started at 4pm but was unsure about it and told us he would go ask. 20 minutes later another server comes out with our beer, so we asked her about happy hour specials and a menu. She confirmed it was 3−7pm but only at the bar/​lounge area. So we moved inside and asked our first server where the lounge area was and he directed us to the dining area. Super confusing but we went there anyway.
Food was mediocre at best. Calamari was a little oily, crab cakes were kinda small. Mussels were decent though, except for a piece of super burnt toast.
Probably won’t be back. Maybeeeee if we are desperate we will come back for drinks only on the patio.

Great location, decent brunch. Took quite a while for our meals to come out, but they did not disappoint. The Toad in the Hole was DELICIOUS. Being partial to British-​themed dishes, this dish hit the nail on the head for me with creamy grits, slightly-​sweet brioche, baked eggs, salty sausage and mustard gravy. The mustard was, however, very heavy-​handed. It needed to be scaled back a bit. Overall however, this dish is a winner. The eggs benedict is also very good — mostly because it’s served on buttermilk biscuits instead of English muffins. I never understood why eggs benedict was served on such a crappy excuse for bread (an English muffin… not as tasty as a crumpet, slightly sour, never satisfying, very thin… i digress). The buttermilk biscuits soak up the beauty of the Hollandaise and make this dish a winner as well. Why not 4 stars?
Service was slow. The menu is expensive. I’m not into the whole «buy your own side» thing for brunch unless it’s a really upscale place. Just serve the damn potatoes and toast on the side. Potatoes and bread are the cheapest carbs ever.
The dinner menu looks interesting. Will be back to check it out.

This restaurant location has been reincarnated more times than I can count, and I would be surprised if its current occupant will last much longer than the previous ones.
Yeah the view is «nice» but that’s only because views in rochester are lacking. People watching at a sidewalk café is more engaging to me than a bland river and a half circle bridge on the horizon. Lest we not forget, al fresco dining weather isn’t really the norm here in Roc.
That said, the view doesn’t come close to compensating for the food. Again, it was ok but the menu seems limited and being that we came here for brunch and I don’t like eggs unless theyre scrambled I wasn’t impressed with many of the breakfasty items. Not in the mood for gutbusting pancakes I chose the roast chicken salad. Perfectly respectable but nothing I would come back here to order. My date ordered the egg in a basket, and complained that the hash was way too salty. The 6 dollar beer flight was nice I guess.
The service was charming but as others have mentioned, very slow which wasn’t a big deal given the place was maybe ¹⁄₃ full on a sunday at 12:30 pm again not a good sign.
Hope this place matures over the summer, but I’m thinking it will go the same route its predecessors did.

We had 6:00 reservation on open table. Grant you it’s a busy night in Rochester but No tables available till 6:30. 6:45 still no waitress. Need to leave at 7:15 so no dinner here.