American & Bar/Pub & Beer & MacGregors & Webster joe on 13 Feb 2007 09:07 pm
MacGregor’s Grill and Tap Room - New Empire Location
Where: MacGregor’s Grill and Tap Room, Empire Blvd (the old Froggy’s across from Irondequoit Bay
When: Two visits, one on Saturday evening for dinner, one Monday afternoon for lunch.
Cuisine: American bar food. Ranging from $6-$14 for entrees. Casual dress and atmosphere.
What: Friday night, a bacon and bleu cheese burger ($6.99) with french fries on the side ($1.50 extra). Didn’t specify the doneness of my burger, which was my mistake - they cook all burgers well done unless otherwise specified. Burger came out dry to the point where it was difficult to chew. Drop the extra $1.50 to get the steak fries - the one upside of this meal (although they came out lukewarm, they were cooked perfectly - crispy golden on the outside, fluffy on the inside). The “chips” that come with the burgers standard tend to be chewy and oversalted. It would be good to note that at this time, the restaurant was a day or two old and extremely busy. Had a bowl of the broccoli-cheddar soup, which was thick and very hearty. Extremely enjoyable. The information board when you enter lists the month’s beer specials, and displayed Magic Hat Pints for $2.75 and Pitchers for $6.75. Asked for and received confirmation that this applied to all Magic Hat Beers. After splitting a couple pitchers, they charged $10.75. We questioned the server, who clarified with the manager that this only applied to one Magic Hat beers, not all of them. Spoke with a manager, who originally said there was “nothing he could do” and offered to give us the name of his manager. When I asked for his name and a number for the manager, he took the check and proceeded to fix it. Left us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouth, we decided this restaurant merited another look.
On Monday, we decided to swing in again for lunch. This time ordered the bacon-sour cream-horseradish burger. This time specified the burger “medium”, to which the server gave clarification as to what medium looked like, I agreed. Decided to give the chips another try. Burger came out great, nice and moist. Lots of sour cream and bacon, but the horseradish flavor was strangely lacking. Still a very good burger. Again, should have passed on the chips for the far-superior (and more expensive) french fries. Did some sampling of different beers at the bar — they have 83 varieties on tap, several seasonals. Can find a beer for anyone here, and the pints are remarkably reasonable.
Rating: Visit one: 1/5 Stars. Visit two: 3/5 stars.
Editors Note: In the sense of fairness, this restaurant will be revisited in a couple months once operations become more fluid.
on 19 Jul 2007 at 9:39 pm 1.Jerry Staub said …
We visited the new Empire location tonight, my wife and I, to celebrate my recent promotion…today. This was and is our first and last time dining at this and possibly all MacGregor’s. We were given menus, and I was in the mood for BBQ. So when our waitress came back, I said I would like the Full Rack of Ribs. She then informed us that the menus were being changed soon and that those were no longer offered. A little bummed, I ordered the 14 oz. Strip Steak with Curly Fries, figuring a safe bet…Medium. I also asked for a Ceasar Side Salad. She asked if I wanted that before the meal, I said yes. This was at 8:15pm on a Thursday, not extremely busy. My wife ordered a Key Lime Citrus Chicken Salad…(we now know a bowl of lettuce with a couple of pieces of chicken on it and a few orange slices) and a cup of soup. Anyways, 45 minutes pass, and no sign, showing, or anything from our waitress. Finally, she comes out with my steak and her salad. Like I said, a bowl of lettuce…in most respects, and NO exaggeration there. My steak VERY rare. We asked why we had not seen our soup or side salad. She said didn’t you want them with your meal? One, she didn’t have them with her. Two, we pointed out that it was she that asked me if I wanted my salad before my meal. Then three, it was not prepared correctly or what we expected at all. We told her that it was stupid to have the soup and salad now, and to forget them. Later, after another 15 minutes waiting for my steak to be further cooked, she asked us twice if everything was good…I said it was a little better, and she left. When she came with the bill, she said there was a discount showing at the bottom, for the soup and salad. (Basically, taking them off, being we never got them) There was a glint of hope for redemption, but overall we were disgusted, and I NEVER find anything that bad ever. I am an optimist, and I could not find any good in this experience at all. I tried a beer, which was good. My wife had a Mojito, which I convinced her of, being she never drinks, and that was also poor, especially for the $6.50 it was! I do not even know if I can rank this experience a 1/5. Being my birthday is coming up next month, I thought about this establishment, but it has been crossed off my list for my birthday dinner with my whole family. Thanks for reading, listening, and avoiding. A truly disappointed customer…