lento

have to say we were really looking forward to ourmealhere but were disappointed. had the burger - nothing special and very small. fries way under cooked. server was good but service was very slow.

apps and drinks were great and creative. entrees and dessert were overpriced and tasteless. if there is a next time i'll sit at the bar and make amealout of the apps. wait staff was friendly but inexperienced. overall wish i chose a different restaraunt.

awesome!. first time dining at lento, and my first time eating duck as well, and it was awesome! the duck was so good, it tasted almost like prime rib, it was juicy and delicious! also finished themealwith a fantastic dessert, the profiteroles with the coffee ice cream.

the service was attentive and pleasant, and be sure to try almost anything from the bar.

i highly recommend this restaurant.

lento?. i went to lento with my friend this past weekend, and it was easily one of the worst dining experiences we've ever had. we did not have a reservation, but they were able to seat us. apparently they were doing us a favor as we were then rushed through ourmealthough there were always tables available, and though there did not seem to be vast numbers of people waiting to be seated. we received our main course about 5 minutes after we ordered it ,although we had ordered cocktails. my friend was asked repeatedly throughout dinner by the busboy, while she was visibly chewing and had a forfkul of food midway to her mouth, whether she was done with her meal. dessert came hard on the heals of dinner, and the check came while we were eating dessert.

i guess i might have overlooked the rush had the food not been some of the worst i've ever eaten. i ordered tofu, which some might view as the problem, but it can be good and flavorful if prepared well. the chef who prepared this should not be making food for people. it was truly inedible, and though i barely touched it no one inquired whether there was a problem with the dish. the dessert was supposed to be a chocolate nut tart. i don't know if the name of the dish was meant to be some form of sarcasm, but there were no nuts in the tart or nut flavor.

i will certainly not go back here or recommend it to anyone.

an amazing valentine's day meal. i am a recent vegetarian, and my confirmed carnivore husband took me to the best veggie restaurant he could find in rochester: lento. we were not disappointed; true, we are not used to high-class dining, and the prices were a bit steep, but the quality and experience was well worth the price. i was disappointed that they were out of the one vegetarian (actually vegan) main course that i had wanted, but this worked out well for me in the end as i just ordered a starter, 2 appetizers, and a salad----more than enough! ourmealbegan with some lovely fresh bread and peppered extra virgin olive oil for dipping. i had the 3 cheeses with grilled nut bread and it was amazing----the smoked mozzarella was not particularly to my taste, but the goat cheese and the brie were divine: flavors like i've never experienced before. my husband's duck liver pate was equally well enjoyed. my "main course" of goat cheese tart and chickpea-battered vegetables was very nice; the tart was very flavorful and moist, and served with fresh greens drizzled with balsamic vinegar----light and delicious. the chickpea-battered local vegetables were deceptive: they look like common bar fried snacks, but they were light as a feather without the slightest hint of greasiness or taste of "old oil" about them. the asian-inspired dipping sauce served with them was delicious. my house salad was tender greens served with a balsamic vinegairette---not particularly avant garde, but pleasing. my husband had a duo of lamb with rice and his plate was cleaned at the end of the meal. we shared a decadent chocolate mousse cake after dinner----truly scrumptious, and a recommendation from our server. the service was attentive, friendly, not stuffy but not over-bearing, quick, and knowledgable. i would eat at lento again in a heartbeat, if i could afford to! as it is, this will be our "special dinner" place.

by far our favorite restaurant in the city. fresh foods and ideas, amazing drinks, and a knowledgable staff. they recently had a scotch tasting paired with 5 coursemealwhich was fun and delicious. can't get that type ofmealanywhere in the city. only negative is the wine list, but their drink options make up for it.

lento is our favorite restaurant. when we lived in rochester, we went whenever we had a special occasion to celebrate, and we never had a badmealthere. the wait staff is excellent and very knowledgeable, their menu is exciting and dynamic (it always changes, you can never get bored!) and the prices are amazingly reasonable for the quality ofmealyou receive. we recently got married in rochester, and made the excellent choice of having lento host our wedding reception. they did an incredible job, and it was the perfect place to have our reception. we have sinced moved away from rochester, but we have made a pact to always get amealat lento whenever we are in town.

if you are in the mood for an amazing, seasonal meal, go to lento!!!!

-jon and caty

vegan? skip lento.. quick breakdown for you compassionate eaters out there: ambience - poor. price - ridiculous. food - substandard. service - really good, actually. recommendation - save yourself two hours and 56 bucks by making a plate of pbj sandwiches.

lento bills several of its dishes as vegan. while this may certainly be true of the ingredients, one of the key ingredients of great compassionate cuisine is missing -namely, taste.

for some time, my girlfriend and i had been hearing rave reviews about lento from veg*ns and omnivores alike, and wanted to try it for some time. after several months of procrastinating, we finally made it out to the village gate. personally, i think urbanspoon should throw lento out of its "vegetarian" category altogether so that other hapless veg*ns don't make the same mistake as i and drop sixty bucks (with tip) on substandard food. while i appreciate the chef's intentions -- which i assume to be a menu inclusive of all dietary choices -- i would prefer that he/she stick to preparing things that taste good, and not simply make a "best effort" at vegan food to mollify the compassionate eaters of rochester.

the restaurant was way too noisy, and the food was way too expensive to taste so very bad. by way of comparison, the blossoming lotus in portland, or charges roughly twenty dollars less for the samemeal(two appetizers and two entrees) for astoundingly larger portions of way better food. it is largely an insult to veg*ns to put the word "vegan" on the menu just so we have "something" to eat. we want more than just something to eat.

we want something good to eat.

skip lento. drive the two hours to syracuse and eat at strong hearts cafe. you still make out ahead even with the cost of gas.

i went last night and i must say i was completly dispointed with the entire night. after being quickly seated i had to check my own coats, then after walking to the bar i had to wait while the bartender checked on bottles of wine before she took and made my drinks. after we were seated it was about 10 min before the waiter showed up. once the orders were in, we were informed that three of our orders had to be changed because they had run out for the night. this is understandable as they are a seasonal resturant and they tried to make it better by bringing some calimari. our order then took a longer then normal time and during this wait not once did our waiter come to check on us or inform us on why ourmealwas taking so long. once the food came out it was amazing as usual and i had no complaints there. they even brought out desert on the house because of the long waits. but with the price i paid for dinner and the lack of service i had really makes me think twice about wanting to eat a lento again.

disappointing second visit. i returned to lento because i was so impressed with my first visit. i have to say that this time, i was not impressed. i went on a thursday night, which is advertised as their vegetarian night. i was expecting an expanded vegetarian offering, but there was not one. i chose to have the lobster three ways. i would suggest that the chef avoid lobster in the future. the dish was not even warm when it arrived at the table, there was excessive vinegar in the potato salad, and the "mac and cheese" had no lobster flavor at all. the split tail was very well seasoned, but it was rubbery in texture and seemed like a frozen lobster tail rather than fresh. the service was abysmal on this visit. it was not very busy at all, and our waiter was hardly ever around. he also seemed woefully unknowledgeable about the menu. he gave us the wrong information on the variety of oysters available. he left dirty dishes on our table for about 20 minutes. we had to request the dessert specials from him, after we had been sitting with dessert menus for quite a while. if this had been a chain restaurant, the service would have been adequate, but for a $180 dinner, we found the service to be lacking. if this had been my first visit to lento, i would not come back. as it was, i changed my plans to return for dinner on saturday. this was definitely a disappointing visit.


-----07 feb, 2009-----

fantastic!. we experienced lento for the first time last night. the service, atmosphere and food were all phenomenal. the staff was very friendly and very attentive, even though they were very busy. the food was spectacular - the flavors were well-balanced and the meat was perfectly prepared. this is, by far, the best food that we have had in rochester. we have eaten at a variety of four-star restaurants (in a variety of locations), and the combination of service and food that we found at lento was better than most of those. the dedication to made-from-scratch, organic and/or local food, as well as to using caring agriculturalists, is commendable. i would suggest lento to anyone who is looking for a goodmealin rochester.