the owl house

the owl house has decent enough food that more often than not rises to the level of its ambitions, but is seriously marred by a discriminatory seating policy reminiscent of the darkest days of the deep south. prepare to pay a premium forgoodenough food, first-rate cocktails & wine--and to be unfairly judged. a singularly ugly blotch on a seemingly otherwise enlightened little place.

owl house has come a long way. i definitely had a few less than awesome experiences when they first opened, but they've really turned things around and now it's one of my go to restaurants. b.v.e. burger is one of my favorite standard menu items, and the buffalo cauliflower is a great starter with plenty to share. the food is consistently good- great flavor andgoodportions. lots of interesting specials and always veg/vegan friendly options. it's also a great place to go when you're dining with a mixed group who wouldn't be thrilled with only veg/vegan fare. they also have a wonderful selection of beers, wines, liquors, and specialty mixed drinks. great brunch as well. the bar area is small, but it's a great place to dine and the bartenders are usually very engaging. in general, the staff are very accommodating and friendly. definitely worth checking out. again, if you had a bad experience in past years (as i definitely did) it's worth giving the place another try.

wow!. it was a pleasure to be served by such a sweet young lady (laura), who had no trouble describing the selections of food and drinks. being knowledgable is a verygoodsign. i had the b.v.e. burger.......omg.....amazingingly delish! the roll alone was superb, now picture the tastiest burger with the coolest choices of condiments added, picture strawberry jam mayo. oh man it was awesome! the drinks were right on, and the atmosphere outdoors......fireflies in the garden....i haven't seen fireflies since i was ten! so lovely! my son zach was visiting from san francisco, he chose the owl house and i am sold on it! next time we go i am having the shanghai chicken, i sampled my sons' meal, yummy!

on the down slide. been going here for a while. the food isgoodbut i have noticed that lately, the food hasn't been as good. it is still a great place for veg/vegan food but the food has gone from great to mediocre. flavors aren't asgoodanymore and like others have said, portions in the dishes have also been on the decline. hit and miss sadly so my wife (vegan) and i usually just opt for another of roc's vegan friendly eats.

trendy and tasty all at once!. yep,just a walk from the local organic co op is this small house style eatery thats cozy with the "in crowd" with art of the locals, and anyone can escape there for a meal. the menu includes vegetarian and vegan as well as fair that i will eat with passion. a burger was great.it wasgoodand i have gone back again.still good.order anything and see what specials are first. later, i had a raspberry pancake thing that was very good. trendy sometimes the bar is packing people in and makes it hard to get a table.i saw outside seating though.try it!

we went there for dinner this evening and it was nothing special. my husband and i eat out a few times a week and love to try new places that havegoodreviews but unfortunately this place fell short. the hostess upon arrival was not friendly at all. the food was average, nothing stood out as something that i thought was great & would make me want to return. they will charge you for any condiment you ask for even if you never got it. extra charges for a side of mayo & ketchup. yes, it's homemade, big deal. coffee was cold when we received it. my husband & i will not return nor recommend.

disappointed loyal fan of the owl house. let me start by saying i used to love the owl house. for few years the owl house has been my go to restaurant when getting a chance to go out. the last time i went to the owl house i made a 5:15 reservation. i arrived at 5:07. i had 2 very hungry children (ages 3 and 7). i needed to sit down! i'm pretty damn sure the table we reserved for 5:15 was open considering the time of day and there were many open tables in plain view. instead of seating us right away, which i would even expect at denny's, the hostess made us wait until exactly 5:15. people that have kids may be able to relate to this better. my kids needed to sit down. i needed to sit down. it was not busy. there is no place to stand and wait at the owl house, especially on cold winter days. the only reason i got seated was i stood in front of the hostess for 2 solid minutes holding my 3 year old while she stared at the hostess ipad and tried not to look up at me. keep in mind it is 5:13, i had a reservation for 5:15, i had 2 little kids and i am 99.9% sure the table upstairs was open the whole time i was waiting. i took the time to write all this out on the comments section of the owl house website 2 weeks ago. i received no reply. i am extremely disappointed in the owl house. despite all thegoodyears and positive i've said about the owl house, i'm taking it all back. maybe they need to refocus on the customer.

awesome bartender, terrible service. i went to the owl house for the first time at the beginning of this week after reading a bunch of great reviews on urbanspoon and hearing somegoodthings about it as well. i went with my boyfriend and we decided to sit at the bar first and get some cocktails and appetizers. i had the blood orange basil margarita and her had the winston. both were delicious. the bartender was very nice and personable and chatted with us the entire time. we ordered some edamame and cigarillos. we wanted to order the jerky, but they were out of it. the edamame and cigarillos were still delicious.

we didn't make reservations so we asked if they could squeeze us in anywhere when we were done. the bartender was again very nice about it and got us a table. there are only about 4 tables and the tables are situated along a wall that serves as a bench for one side of the tables. it was nice when we sat down because there weren't many people there. however, when it filled in there were people on either side of us and it felt like we couldn't have a private conversation.

after having such a great experience at the bar, i was hoping to have the same with dinner. we knew which bottle of wine we wanted to order when we sat down so i ordered it right away. she put the order in for it and came back to take our food order. i got the last order of fish tacos and he got a steak. while we were waiting some people had sat down and also ordered some food and drinks. those people got their food before we even got our bottle of wine. i was a little agitated but still looking forward to the food. about fifteen minutes after those people got their food, we finally got our food and wine. my fish tacos were completely cold and his steak was luke warm at best. it ruined the entire experience after everything at the bar.

i'm definitely willing to give this place a chance again just because the bartender was so great and they do have reallygoodfood. i'm just hoping the next time i go the service when you sit down isn't so bad.

my favorite restaurant!!!. this is my favorite restaurant in rochester! everything, i mean everything here is made from scratch. even the condiments. even the pickles. even the syrups and everything used in making their cocktails. and some of the ingredients even come from their own garden out back!

the cocktails are all custom crafted with a lot of house infused vodkas and liquors and such. they get the most amazing beers, i just had one with 16 hops, 16 malts, adn 16% alcohol last time i went!

their brunch is amazing! its the only place i know where you can get a real brunch like that. with all kinds of amazing food and even brunch cocktails!

and they specialize in both meat, and vegan options! and gluten free!!!

and the food is so delicious! this is some hardcore gourmet stuff! none of that little piece of salmon with a couple pieces of asparagus on the side and a little drizzle of sauce. no, were talking aboutgoodserious food!

it is small though and very popular so make sure you make a reservation when you want to go!

tasty,goodvariety, vegan cuisine

mostly just buzz. sure the space is beautiful and the people are nice and it's super trendy, but this is essentially just pub food with some vegan options, and not even particularlygoodpub food. it's more about the hipster buzz than the food.

unreliable. owl house can sometimes begoodbut sometimes not so good. i used to love the olek's buffalo sandwich with tempeh but last time i ordered it there was very little sauce and flavor. i just tried their brunch and although my vegan nachos were good, my friend's orders were either overcooked, badly seasoned, or cold. it seems like they are getting a little lazy or just don't know how to cook breakfast food correctly. come on owl house! i know you have the potential to make great food but just try a little harder.
this restaurant is definitely inconsistent and unreliable.

disappointed. went to the owl house based on reviews we had heard from other people and we were very disappointed. we are vegan and were told they were vegan friendly, we even asked to see the separate vegan menu they had. we ordered the vegan cheese sticks and the vegan flatbread; the vegan cheese stickers weregoodbut after taking a bite from the "vegan" flatbread, we realized that there was actual cheese on the flatbread. we found this very upsetting because we had asked for the vegan menu and asked for it with daiya cheese on it, so we didn't understand how they could have gotten confused. we then ordered the lentil burger with chips and the seiten meatball sandwich with greens.when our food arrived, we were given the lentil burger with greens (instead of chips) and a completely different sandwich, i believe it was the buffalo seitan sandwich ( with chips, instead of greens). we took bites of both of our sandwiches, both were very dry and unsatisfying. we returned the buffalo sandwich to the kitchen and boxed up the lentil burger (not sure why because i don't plan on eating it) and asked for the check. regardless of them taking the flat bread and the buffalo seitan sandwich off the bill, it was still $23 which was upsetting for such an unsatisfying meal. needless to say we will not be recommending or returning to the owl house.

cigarillos and baked nachos. after reading a couple of not sogoodreviews, i was hesitant to try, but after reading and hearing all the great reviews since it opened, i had to try it....and i am glad i did. the place was clean, the service was great, and the food was one of the best i have had in rochester. so very inventive and so tasty. can't wait to go back...

love.. stopped in without reservations on a saturday night while visiting the bf's parents in rochester. the host was very nice, told us it would be an hour but offered to make us a reservation at 8, so we grabbed a drink in the mean time, and were seated immediately at 8 when we returned. very cute place (tight seating, but not uncomfortably so) in a converted house. modern decor, with artwork available for purchase on the walls. we got the daiya cheesesticks for an appetizer, so gooey, cheesy and delicious. none of us are vegan, but daiya cheese is sogoodwe pick it over real cheese regularly. my boyfriend had bbq seitan with homemade mashed potatoes and it was so smoky and juicy, absolutely mouthwatering. i had the viva verde! tacos with smoked tofu, a bit on the small side portion-wise but i didn't leave hungry, and the tofu was perfectly done, which is rare to find. his mother had a brie sandwich that she raved about and his stepfather had cornmeal encrusted catfish, that he was pleasantly surprised was cooked so well for a primarily vegan/vegetarian restaurant. both of them mentioned going there again without us even though neither one of them is vegetarian. they have a great beer selection, but your best bet for a drink is to go for the smoke monster. the absolutely most delicious bloody mary i've ever had. the secret must be the liquid smoke. worth the trip to rochester for this drink alone. can't wait to go back!