black & blue steak and crab

good service, great staff, and the best steak in town!

don't do it. had multiple bad visits, bad food and over-priced (mainly because of poor food quality). steak was overlooked and full of gristle, really!!! if you want a good steak, go to max's in brighton on rt. 31. avoid black and blue.

on a side note, we ate recently at a sister restaurant to b&b called trata in the old armory building on culver. this was much better and i recommend this one. surprising given our experiences at black and blue.

vegetarians not welcome. i was invited to a party at b&b knowing this is a meat and fish place, most restaurants offer options for non meat / fish eaters. black and blue had one vegetarian entree to offer. only other option was to order their "signature" side dishes. these are ruth's cris knock offs and not that good.
the mac and cheese was interesting with rice instead of mac. green beans , at 10 shorties on a plate for $6 is a rip off and i should have sent those back. one of our diners ordered a side of mushrooms which was more than adequate for the $6.00 charge. inconsistent and small portions besides less than friendly vegetarian attitude.

best steak in rochester. i've been coming to black & blue every six months for four years now with my family for "steak night." i've had a lot of steak at a lot of restaurants and i believe that this is the best in rochester. every server there is extremely knowledgeable about various cuts of meat and will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have or just describe what your options are. having tried all of the steak on the menu and almost every side, i strongly recommend the wet-aged new york strip special if they're offering it when you're there, or the sirloin if they're not, but nothing you order will be bad. it is expensive, but the atmosphere is nice and makes a good dinner for a special night out.

not the "best" as portreyed.. i've eaten at black & blue a many times over the past years and i've never been "blown away" as you'd expect based on the "buzz" surrounding this place. i personally find my home-made steaks to be superior, and i'm no bobby flay! based on my experiences, i feel the atmosphere and pricing are all that is "upscale" about b&b. although the owners would like to emulate finer nyc restaurants, in my experience the food doesn't really warrant the "upscale" pricing that goes along with the atmosphere.

not the best beef.. you sit down at black & blue, ready to pay top price for the highest quality steak cooked just how you like it. but what black & blue doesn't tell you is that they're serving you usda choice beef (according to their executive chef). this falls in the middle of the grading system (prime, choice, select) and is the same grade used at chains such as outback and longhorn.

top steakhouses like peter luger in new york and even some chains like morton's and ruth's chris use only usda prime cuts of beef.

actually, among three top rochester area steakhouses - black & blue, prime steakhouse and max chophouse - only prime offers usda prime steaks every day - a 10 ounce filet and a 16 ounce strip. max chophouse offers usda prime occasionally, but it varies from week to week, so you won't know unless you call ahead that day.

hopefully black & blue will someday step up to the big leagues and offer rochesterians the best beef available.

mmmmmm.... we have been fans of b&b since they opened. we only ever had one issue and it was immediately fixed. it's on the pricey side, yes, but as far as i am concerned - worth every penny. the staff is great and it's simply delicious! it never ceases to amaze me that my steak is cooked perfectly every time, (on the rarer side of medium rare), and because of the dishes they serve it on, it stays hot the whole time you're eating it, yet never gets overcooked. crazy but wonderful phenomenon. and don't even get me started on the oysters! oh my! first of all, kind of hard to find in rochester, let alone a selection! they almost always have 4 different kinds (2 west coast, 2 east coast) - i prefer the east coast myself!

beef tenderloin carpaccio. i have to think that any other carpaccio i order in the future will have a hard time living up to the bar that this one set for me. it was served with a parmesan tuille and a salad of microgreens and shallots with a light vinaigrette. the beef alone was good, but when i put the three together it was like a party in my mouth. the salty, nutty parmesan balanced so well with the slightly acidic vinaigrette and the mellow beef. this was probably one of the best appetizers i've had anywhere, and i am making myself hungry again just writing this.


-----24 oct, 2011-----

delicious and pricey. my husband and i went here for our first anniversary this past weekend and loved it. the modern decor is visually arresting. we sat at the bar and had a drink so we could take it all in before we ha our dinner. they have an extensive wine list, but i am always disappointed when locally owned restaurants don't have local wines on the menu.

my husband had oysters for his appetizer and they came with the cutest miniature bottle of tabasco sauce - just 1/8 of an ounce. i had the beef tenderloin carpaccio, which was something new for me, and i have to think that any other carpaccio i order in the future will have a hard time living up to the bar that this one set for me. it was served with a parmesan tuille and a salad of microgreens and shallots with a light vinaigrette. the beef alone was good, but when i put the three together it was like a party in my mouth. the salty, nutty parmesan balanced so well with the slightly acidic vinaigrette and the mellow beef. it was probably one of the best appetizers i've had anywhere, and i am making myself hungry again just writing this.

we both had steak with crab for dinner. at a restaurant known for both we pretty much had to. the steaks are served sizzling-hot on individual metal pans garnished with a sprig of fresh rosemary and come with your choice of sauce. it was a nice presentation, but my husband and i both found that the rosemary overpowered the delicate crab, and the sizzling dish is probably what contributed to my filet (which i ordered medium) being nearly well done. those problems aside, the steak was fantastic. my husband's horseradish cream sauce was fantastic (what could be a more classic combination than horseradish and beef?) but the brown truffle butter on my steak was so subtly flavored that it was lost in the house rub on the steak. the asparagus that accompanied my husband's meal was nicely-charred, but nothing to write home about. my orzo mac n cheese, on the other hand, was nothing short of divine. the crunchy panko topping provided a nice textural balance to the creamy, cheesy orzo. i was amazed at the huge portion, but then again, that meant that i got to take half of it home with me.

since my husband had told the hostess about our anniversary when he made the reservations our waitress brought us a complimentary chocolate torte that was just out of this world. i am glad that we split it, though, because it was so rich the neither of us would have been able to finish it alone.

our entire meal including a $20 bar bill and the tip came to around $145 so this is not a restaurant we will be visiting often, but i can't wait for our second anniversary because we definitely plan to go back!

it's a gamble..... i have been to this place a number of times. definitely avoid it in or around a holiday. it seems the service, regardless of how busy it is, lacks. (in my experience, anyway). this is an expensive restaurant, for what you get. it is a steak...and you may even receive it cooked to your liking. but at atleast $25+ for just the steak, no sides or salad, there are better choices in rochester to visit. the only thing that would bring me back is the cheese fries, they were nirvana...if you like that kind of thing. no, i don't mean the liquified cheese poured over fries to present a hot mess. they were luscious, crispy and wonderfully cheddar-y. i am all for a splurge and fine dining, but when i go out to dine, i don't want to be nickel and dimed...this place seems to have coined the term. if you want a great steak, check out my other reviews. i will tell you the place to go. if you could care less about having a great meal, but want to go to a new(er), more trendy restaurant, then gamble on it here. what the hell, you might have a good meal......but i doubt it.

yes, black & blue is expensive. it is worth the money though. the atmosphere is modern and the service is excellent. food has been perfect every time i've gone. corn bread croutons on the salad are delish and the pretzel rolls are also good. their desserts are incredible. i highly recommend checking this restaurant out if you haven't yet.

black indeed. my husband and i thought hard about where we wanted to go to celebrate our 20th anniversary and we settled on going to black & blue for the first time. when we got there, we were impressed with the decor. the atmosphere was loud and curiously lacking of music but lively.

we loved the menu -- so many good things to appeal to both of us. after we ordered, our server bought us small glasses of sparkling wine to celebrate our anniversary -- a nice touch.

the salads (his caesar, mine a green salad)were larger than we'd expect in a fine dining place, but generally nice. i liked the cornbread croutons on mine.

the red meat, which they are known for, is what disappointed us. our server had said that with their 1700-degree oven and signature rub, the exterior would be caramelized, but we could order it without it. we reasoned that a "signature" rub at a steak place would be good. it wasn't. to our taste, the meat wasn't caramelized -- it was burnt. the inside of our meats were cooked properly but the burnt taste overwhelmed the flavor of the meat and the rub (which supposedly had rosemary on it).the meats come with a sauce, served on the side. i chose bearnaise - i can't say i got a good taste of it because that, too, was overwhelmed by the char on the meat. i had grilled broccolini with mine -- again, the charred grilled flavor just added to the overall burnt experience. i also ordered garlic mashed potatoes (my husband asked for blue cheese mashed potatoes which came with another dish, and they accommodated his request). both of us found the flavors to be very mild -- it was hard for me discern garlic and hard for him to discern blue cheese. and the texture was dry rather than creamy.

i had 1/2 pound of crab with mine -- which was half of a crab leg. the crab leg did not arrive with the rest of my meal, which was a disappointment. when it did arrive, it was pre-cracked, but all by itself on a plate -- no butter, fork for getting the meat out, or cracker. a few minutes later, a server arrived with the cracker. i managed to get the meat out (using my napkin to protect my hand from the heat of the shell). it was succulent and delicious. it's the one thing that could get me to return.

we did not order dessert (we walked to the coldstone creamery a few doors down). they gave us a couple of chocolate truffles at the end, which were good.

for well over $100 for the meal, i expected better. i probably won't return.

we went as a group of four last night. we were very impressed with the food, the service, the drinks and the atmosphere. $200 all in for four, a shared appatizer, entre each, with two coctails each we thought was good value. we were also surprised at some of the nego comment. anyway highly recommended from us.

the service was ok, the food was phenomenal! the drinks were perfect. do not order desert. it is not so good and will fail to hold par with the rest if the meal. otherwise, loved it!

food is incredible! clams yummy, filet mingnon delectable & key lime divine!

worth it. i've only been once with my girlfriend, while i agree it was expensive, the way my steal almost made me, well, you know. i would say the food and atmosphere make it worth your time and money to heck out. a place me and girlfriend reserve for "date nights" or special occasions.