The Cub Room

I’ve been here several times, both alone and in groups, and have enjoyed good food and good service on every occasion. The drinks were so-​so, but the Amish Chicken and Brussels sprouts were excellent, as was the codfish stew. Parking can be a little tight since you’re also competing with residents in the lofts upstairs, but I still plan to go back for more good food and good service.

We have been to the Cub Room 3 times now. Twice for drinks and apps, and last night we finally had the full dinner experience. Our meal was fantastic from start to finish. Favorites are the Devils on Horseback which are Dates & Blue Cheese wrapped in Bacon (sounds strange but I promise you it’s amazing), the Prawn and the Pork Chop.
The vibe is hip and welcoming. VERY wide age range in the bar and resturant (we are 40 something). The Cub Room is becoming a new favorite.

It’s 5 stars. Love what this restaurant brings to the neighborhood. Complete dinning experience. Would recommend going just for drinks or desert as well.

Went here for my birthday and the food was pretty good. We ordered the beef cheeks for an app and they were amazing! I ordered the sirloin with a side of fries. The sirloin was ok, I wasn’t a fan of the bread pudding — a little too dry. We ordered the donuts and chocolate cake for dessert, sooo good! Will def go back and try a different entrée. The staff is super attentive and friendly.

My wife and I will never go back. The place was half empty still they waited almost 30 minutes to seat us. The bartender ignored us and seemed more concerned with talking to a friend who was seated at the bar. When we ordered my pork chop was undercooked and my wife’s salmon had been microwaved. We sent the pork chop back to be fully cooked and it was returned with more sauce slathered in top and still undercooked. When my wife tried to speak to the manger we had to wait 10 minutes while they toasted with friends at their table and the when it finally seemed like she could be bothered to talk to my wife, she said she had to attend to something else and quickly left. They were rude and will never receive our business again.

It is kind of hard for me to rate the Cub Room. The dinner experiences are 4 stars, the brunch calls for 2 stars and the abundance of painfully hipster-​y hipsters calls for a ban on wearing beanies.
My very first experience with them was during restaurant week last year. They blew me away with the lacquered chicken and perfectly seasoned fish with perfectly crisp skin. The server forgot some things but was apologetic and made up for it,
We went for a friend’s birthday dinner. The scallops were well seasoned but had no sear. However, the greens were seasoned with lemon and were delicious. Another friend was not thrilled with his dish. One said the confit potatoes were hard. The dessert (donuts) were excellent.
On my brunch visit, I tried the red wine baked eggs. The eggs were overdone and I didn’t love the earthy flavour of it all (which is subjective, of course). I ordered a side of home fries (with a vegetarian dish). When it arrived, I realized it was studded with chunks of some kind of pork. I asked the server and she said it does contain meat and she wasn’t aware that I wanted it vegetarian. I do expect a server at an upscale restaurant to know to mention something like that because it is atypical to add meat to home fries and I did order it along with a vegetarian dish. She said she will «comp» it (I am glad since I sent it back to the kitchen about 30 seconds after it arrived). I was told they were unable to make a vegetarian version as they make the home fries in bulk ahead of time (I think this is standard for most places serving brunch. Nobody wants to deal with making home fries to order!) My coffee/​water stayed empty for quite a while.
Overall, the brunch experience was not the best. It felt like I ate at a completely different restaurant vs dinner.
Their dinner menu focuses on showcasing proteins without overwhelming them with other things which I absolutely love. Their brunch menu … my friend said the menu read as if they were trying too hard [to attempt to stand out] and I agree. It is a hard line to walk to set yourself apart from other brunch places while remaining unpretentious/​accessible.
I will be back for lunch or dinner at the Cub Room. I am going to pass on brunch for now.

I was so excited about this place, I had heard a lot about it in the neighborhood. We went for my fiancé’s birthday, 8:45 reservation on a Monday. I was impressed when we got there, the place is nice, the bar is cool looking, and I liked the vibe. It was pretty empty, but for late on a Monday, I wasn’t surprised. I was super hungry, so I was fine with a small crowd.
We ordered a drinks and the special appetizer to start. The wine and beer were fine, the lasagnette was… ok. It was sold by the server as a single serving lasagne with house made pasta. The past was good, but the ratio of pasta to cheese to sause was way off. It felt like we were just eating plain pasta. The sauce was good, but there was only a drizzle of it on the plate so it just got lost. It wasn’t bad, but I was definitely ready for our mains.
for the entrees, I ordered the crispy chickpea cake and my partner ordered the striped sea bass. Again, they were ok. the chickpea cake was dense, which was ok, but it was very bland. It didn’t seem to be seasoned at all. It was served with vegetables, and those were good. The sea bass was cooked well, but it was a small-​ish portion and only served with a few pieces of fennel and a little celery mash. For $ 28 my fiancé just expected something more.
The dessert was really the best part of the night. We got the goat milk cheese cake and the nutella cake. The cheese cake was weird by itself, but when mixed with the rest of the elements on the plate, it came together. The nutella cake was good alone, I wasn’t a huge fan of the grand marnier sauce, but i can see where they were going with it. The burnt orange ice cream was cool. I liked it.
The service was friendly, but it took us over an hour to get our entrees. With a practically empty restaurant, this was surprising. I’m not as impressed as I wanted to be by the cub room. They are charging a lot for food that is just alright. If they cut their prices by ¹⁄₃ I think it would be worth it, but as it stands now, we probably won’t be going back.

Well I finally got back for dinner… The food was lovely and most of us had the specials. The cocktails are strong and the music played overhead is eclectic and awesome. I had the Pork Osso Buko with Blue Corn Polenta it was luscious but I wished they gave you a bit more polenta. The group was wondering why no bread? We should have asked but… All the deserts are fabulous. Yes with one cocktail, meal & desert it was$ 45 for me… So… But it’s a fun place to go to for Brunch or Dinner. But one thing. Everyone seemed still a little hungry after the fact… So there you go.

Went to this restaurant tonight; I’ll start with the positives, the building is beautiful and the restaurant is very clean and esthetically looks very nice on the inside. Parking was easy to find and was conveniently close to the front door. The waiter was great at first, and the drinks were great.
The negative;
We were seated at the table and where I sat the water cup had lipstick on it, it was quickly taken away when I brought it to the attention of the waiter. As for the food, the cheese balls app which were recommended to us were not outstanding. They weren’t terrible but not worth $ 20 for 6. The Amish chicken which was also recommended and talked about in the newspaper was very dry and salty. The vegetables were not cooked at all and had no flavor. The dish was very underwhelming.
I was very disappointed when it seemed as if every table was touched by the chef but ours. This is a very small complaint but I figured I would mention it anyways.
If asked if I woulda go back my answer would be no. I am very disappointed

Enjoyed the Cub Room. It was good, not great. The service was attentive, though the staff seemed a little high on themselves. Drinks were very good. My wife had a great glass of wine that was reasonably priced and I had an awesome drink with bourbon and thyme (Baby It’s Cold Outside). I had the pork chop for dinner. It was well grilled and well cooked. The sides on the plate were good as well and I finished the meal feeling pretty satisfied. My wife had the sea bass which was fine and well cooked, though I think my dish was the winner on the table. We finished with the apple pie doughnuts which were fine, though the filling was nothing too great. The sea salt on top, though, was a pretty great addition to the dish.
We had heard some really great things about the Cub Room. Overall, I liked the place. It looks great and is a great addition to the neighborhood. I think it’s a little over-​hyped though, and think there are some better options out there for a nice, trendy, and interesting meal in Rochester.

This place hits all the bullet points and then some. The food is expertly prepared and the service is phenominal. I’m from Rochester but live down in Virginia and was visiting family for the holidays. I chose this place based on nothing but the location and what the online menu looked like. Boy did I make a great choice.
We had the octopus appetizer, the scallops in meyer lemon sauce, and the special dish of the week, a squid ink pasta in a crab espagnole style sauce with shrimp, calamari, and scallops. Everything was executed perfectly. The scallops melted in your mouth, the shrimp was succulent, the squid was the perfect texture, the sauces were so simple but so perfectly done. And not to mention the cocktails. Unbelievably delicious.
The service is what restaurant service should be, no exceptions, period. This place is a restaurant done exactly the right way. I wish it existed down in Norfolk, I’d be there every weekend. Like damnit, I can only come here when I visit Rochester, not fair.

Great new spot in the South Wedge. Love the vibe. Great staff. Yummy food.
I’ve been a handful of times for dinner and now brunch and always try to get something different. However, the «bread pudding» that comes with the steak entrée is to die for and I wish I could order it as a side.
My friends and I always find ourselves commenting on how TINY the drinks are. It feels like you are drinking from a Dixie cup, especially in comparison to the other comparable places to get a great cocktail (Cure, Good Luck, Erie Grill, etc.). So other than that and wishing their wine menu was a more complex (especially by the glass), a solid pick and good addition in town.

While my dining mates enjoyed their meals at The Cub Room, I was the unlucky fourth wheel whose meal was a total fail.
Things started out fine enough, though. Our server gave us the background on the restaurant’s owners and its brief history before highlighting favorites on the cocktail menu, and the drink that I tried (the Audrey Horn) was very good, a nice balance of ingredients in a champagne-​like cocktail. Also, the pork cheeks and the brussel sprouts that we ordered as apps or sides for our main courses appeared to go down well with our guests (they weren’t my main orders, so I will reserve comment on how those tasted save for saying that others seemed happy with each dish).
Our group tried the tagliatelle (a special last night), the grilled octopus, the chicken and the Cubby Burger. It sounds like the tagliatelle and the chicken went pretty well; the octopus, less so, but that latter dish was fine, not great, not bad. But you know how each menu has an item that is cleared meant for the less-​adventurous diner? I didn’t know it until I got it, but the burger is THAT dish at The Cub Room. It was a complete disaster.
I asked for the burger medium rare, and it came out well done; the fries were mainly a bowl of burn victims; the bun on the burger was very dry and much worse as a bun than the sandwiches we had earlier in the day at Nick Tahou’s (that should tell you pretty much everything, if Nick’s beats you on freshness), and the bacon was burned and tasteless. (Friends – it’s really hard to make bacon taste like sh*t. Enter… The Cub Room!!) I left two-​thirds of the sandwich and half of the fries on the plate, and our server didn’t even acknowledge this when he picked up the dish, more evidence that either the restaurant knows their burger should not be ordered or our server really was suffering from the low light levels in the space!
I won’t be back, but I don’t live in Rochester any more, so that’s easy for me to say. It sounds like the kitchen does other things well, so hopefully other reviewers will have other recommendations. Prices here feel high for Rochester but for those of us coming from a larger/​more expensive city will feel fine with these; just know that the prices are high for the amount of food you get (the burger was $ 14.50 – $ 12, plus $ 2.50 for «extras» like cheese and bacon), and the chicken was $ 20, and it’s not like anyone left the place completed stuffed.

The Cub Room came with a lot of hype. I love the idea of this place, but when I visited, it felt disjointed and unfinished.
The beet and gorgonzola ravioli was pretty exquisite. The drama of the plate made it worth it, even though the size for the price was a little disappointing. I loved the simplicity of the butter sauce and poppyseeds over the gold ravioli. The first cut with the bursting of the red-​purple filling was so cool, and I think everyone should try this dish if they can handle a butter sauce.
The desserts were really fun. I enjoyed the fresh doughnuts (munchkin size) with the orange glaze, at least how it was paired when I went a few months ago. I could have made sure that I cleaned the plate, left with the powdered sugar ans glaze after the tiny doughnuts were long gone, but the vibe here does not call for licking plates.
The touches were clever. The staff was all dressed in buffalo plaid, even though the bar was Gatsby-​glamour. I loved all the thoughtful touches, but I wasn’t sure what era I was dining in, or whether I was in a lodge or an exclusive men’s club.
I haven’t longed for a second-​go of the place, but I hope to return and see the progress. It was a fun surprise to find at the Edge of the Wedge.

I came here for lunch and had a marvelous cup of Manhattan chowder — I never eaten clams so large! I also ordered the BLT, which was delectable prepared with perfectly crispy toast and bacon. There service was friendly, professional and prompt. The spacious, dark hip interior is definitely a rarity here in Rochester. My only complaint was that I got food poisoning (most likely from the mayonaise in sandwich).

The story behind the place, the décor, service, wine list and food were all great. We had the pork cheek app, I had the pork chop and my husband the steak, a bottle of cab, and we split the goat cheese cheesecake. It was very good. I’m not going five stars because the price point to quality ratio isn’t quite there yet, specifically on the $ 30 pork chop. I have high hopes for this fine establishment and will return.

My husband and I were referred to Cub Room by my friend Cathy, who has known the owners for years and highly recommended their food, vision and taste. We were not disappointed!
We started without reservations, arriving around 7 pm on a Saturday night, and taking seats at the bar while we waited 30 min for a table. Now open for approximately 3 months and change, the place was packed with several big groups, couples of all age ranges and levels of dress, and large tables showing ‘reserved’.
Our drinks were enjoyable — I had the Cub Room cocktail, made with local Black Button Gin (which I just had last weekend at a tasting at the distillery itself) and my husband, feeling disappointed at the lack of a Malbec on the menu, had a glass of the house Merlot, and was pleasantly surprised by its depth and smoothness.
We were seated at a cozy table for two in the large and noisy dining room. Somehow, despite the din, you could still hear the eclectic music selection, which ranged from the Stones to Bruno Mars. But take note — this place is loud — ala Good Luck — and you have to nearly shout to be heard.
For our appetizer we shared one of the specials — duck confit. It was generous and decadent! Served with fresh figs, bacon and frisée with a balsamic (?) glaze, it was meaty, savory and the perfect amount for two to share. We also asked for bread and butter and received 4 pieces of what tasted like a grilled sour dough and lovely salted creamy butter. Very nice.
For our mains, I had the grilled octopus appetizer (I was saving room for dessert) and my husband had the pork chop. The octopus was served on a bed of dressed frisée with pickled onions and large beans — a really tasty combination of great textures. The pork chop, cooked medium and juicy and a great crust was among the top pork dishes we have ever eaten. We later learned that the pork they use is shipped in from Idaho and that the taste and texture is a result of how the pig is raised — you could definitely taste the difference! It was served with grilled local peaches and sauteed/​braised mustard greens which looked small but really were the perfect amount.
Sated but not stuffed, we opted to share the almond cake with poached peaches for dessert — a cute little cake with fresh cream and a generous serving of peaches was the perfect end-​of-​summer dessert and compliment to our utterly enjoyable meal. We also had a cappuccino and a regular coffee, which was served with a side pot so you could refill at will — making us feel like we were encouraged to linger and savor, rather than being rushed to pay the bill, turn over the table and get out. That never happens!
Service was excellent, from the bar to the tables, and this place has ample parking.
Was it pricey? Yes. Too pricey for the meal quality? No. I can agree that if local diners are looking for another Tap and Mallet in their neighborhood this is not it; more in line with Cure, Good Luck and Lento, you can expect a great dining experience along with a vibe and main selection that transports you to someplace that feels like you are not in Rochester anymore!
Highly recommended. Can’t wait to see what they have in store as we move through the seasons!

The Cub Room was on our list to visit but we were waiting until 90 days had passed since they opened– our waiting period for new restaurants. When we saw their menu as part of Restaurant Week we jumped on the chance to give them a try.
It was pretty busy for a summer Friday evening (yes you need a reservation) — not sure if it would be this full if not for Restaurant Week. The interior does remind me of the loft look of Good Luck, which means it can get very loud. Our server Amy was super friendly, attentive, and really did a great job answering all of our questions about the menu and the building itself.
We ordered off the special menu and for $ 25 each we got an appetizer, entrée and dessert. We had the grilled octopus — excellent smoky grilled flavor and surprisingly tender. The pork cheeks on cheesy grit cakes — also wonderful. For the entrees we had the Amish chicken — very moist which is always a challenge with a breast cut. The Beet-​Gorgonzola ravioli — if you like beets you’ll like this. And for dessert the Almond cake and Nutella cake — both very good.
We did wonder if the portions were smaller for the special deal because we did see most of these items on the regular menu and if this portion was the same for those prices I would have thought it a bit expensive and given them 4 stars.
Even at their regular prices we will return since the food was so well done!

Styled in the ever-​popular modern-​industrial theme that has been ravaging center cities of the rust belt, The Cub Room has a beautiful bar and an appealing menu. The drinks are crafted nicely and they have some interesting offerings — like wine on draft that tastes delicious! I went there for drinks once and decided to venture back for dinner.
The service is on the rushed and trendy side, which works for a place like this. Seems to be the norm now in Rochester to have enthused hipsters raving about cocktails and local fare. We decided to go with a few appetizers and entrees to give the place a good try. The soft shell crab appetizer was excellent. I love soft shell crab and this rendition was no slacker. The other appetizer, the smoked pork cheeks (a regular on the menu), was lackluster in comparison. The smoked pork was slightly dry. Whether this was a function of overcooking in too much water/​juice or using a cut without enough fat to lock in the moisture, I wasn’t sure. The cabbage added a nice texture on top, but the flavor profile was missing acid/​tart. Or even something sweet like a cider reduction. It just didn’t excel. Unfortunately, the entrees followed suit. The beet and Gorgonzola ravioli was a nice marriage of complementing flavors, but they were a very small portion for $ 18 and I found it very strange that the sauce was pure butter. I love butter, but it needed more depth and body. It felt flat. The scallops entrée was mediocre as well — the scallops were on the small side and the plate presentation seemed very casual, almost sloppy/​homemade. On a high note, the drinks and wines by the glass were crafted well.
In summary, it was a disappointing meal for the price. For $ 140 with tip, we left feeling slightly deflated and a tad bit hungry. I’d still go back and give it a try. Maybe in the fall or winter when newer flavors abound.

Had a great dinner my first time here and really set the bar for Rochester’s restaurants. Great staff, great service, great drinks and most importantly, great food.
Started off with some cocktails: the Billingsley and the Bardot. Can’t tell you what was in them, but I can tell you they were both great. The server mentioned the Billingsley was his personal favorite so you can’t go wrong there.
Had the Kale Caesar Salad to start. I’ve had some bad experiences with extremely bitter kale, this wasn’t one of them. The salad was perfect. The kale itself was zesty, citrusy, and went perfectly with the dressing.
I had the Roasted Amish Chicken. I eat a lot of chicken so for me to be saying this was the best chicken I’ve ever had is saying a lot. Perfectly tender, served with crispy skin on top. The cream sherry it comes with complemented it perfectly. Also tried some bits and pieces of the sirloin steak. Was also really tender and juicy. The top of it was seared with a nice salty finish. It was served with a bread pudding that was also phenomenal.
We finished off the meal with dessert and opted for the almond cake even though the server said the cheesecake was to die for (just something to consider). The almond cake was served with a strawberry rhubarb compote. Tasted just as great as it sounded.
All in all ¹⁰⁄₁₀. Would eat here again. Will eat here again. Dreaming about eating here again.