Tasteology, Rochester, NY

Vegetarian Restaurant Review by Jennifer Kumar.

Meet and Greet
We visited for a late Saturday lunch. Arriving about 1pm, there were not many other occupied tables. We were sat at a table near the front to the left of the front doors. It is a nice place to sit, close to the windows. The booth was nice and spacious. The one thing we did not bargain for in this seating arrangement was feeling cold. Because the booth is diagonal the front doors, whenever they open and close a breeze hits patrons at this table directly. Keep this in mind if you come here on a cold day.

Mise en Scène
The interior is nice, spacious and decorated with nice art by local artists. The chandelier near the front seemed to be made out of old champagne glasses, very unique. I was sitting facing the window, not the interior, so I did not really get a good view of the whole place, though at a glance it seems warm, inviting and more open than most restaurants I have been to.

**We did not have to use restrooms, so no comment on that ambiance!

Choosing a Veggie Treat
I had hoped to find a lot of vegetarian options as I had viewed the menu online before coming. However, after arriving, perusing the menu, we realized the recently changed from the summer to winter menu. It seemed the winter menu had fewer vegetarian options than the summer. There were one or two full pasta meals, in addition to veggie wraps, veggie burgers, and veggie appetizers and soup. The featured soup was a butternut squash soup, which sounded tasty but one ingredient that was in it seemed a bit odd. It was a sweet ingredient, which I can’t remember now what it was, but to me upon reading that was just a little too innovative for me. I had opted for the other soup on the menu (My friend who ate with us believes the name was 'ten vegetables' soup). I also ordered a brushetta like dish to accompany the soup, listed under appetizers. Hubby opted for the veggie burger.

It must be said that all the food was very tasty. The bruschetta was very nice. The soup, though tasty, was nothing I’d try again. I hope they come up with some other vegetarian option. The veggie burger was tasty and, according to hubby, was not like other restaurant veggie burgers. Usually restaurants have some frozen and fried variety with pieces of vegetables in them that don’t warm/cook thoroughly leaving a weird crunchiness when eaten. This veggie burger did not have that texture, and appeared to be one where the ingredients are pureed and made into a patty then baked/fried. (Similar to my baked falafel recipe here.) Because the portion size is not too big, and we had more room to spare, we did try desserts also. They sell small ‘bite size’ desserts in tiny ‘shot glasses’. I tried the key lime pie, which was ravishing, and hubby had the chocolate pie, which was also pretty good.

Checking In
The waiter visited our table in regular intervals. We did not have a problem with our waiter, but it also wasn’t the best service ever received, also.

See you later
This came in due course, without issue. Since we actually visited in a party of four, they happily split the bill in half after calculating it.

Pay Scale
$11-15 per person
Tips
10% was sufficient
Star System 1-5? 2.5/5

I really struggle on the rating for this place. Though I was happy with the variety of vegetarian options (more than most local places), the exotic quality of some dishes was just a little too adventurous for us. I do want to return, but not too eager to also. When it happens, it will happen. I found that though the portion sizes were just perfect, the price was a little high. Maybe the price was high because of the gourmet appearance of the presentation. It is different than other places, and it does look appetizing when set in front of you. I also don’t think I really tried all the items I would like to try. I also know they hold ethnic cooking classes here and am very curious to know more about that. They also host different events, interested to know more about that as well.

(**Before posting review I was to put 3/5, but I contacted them by e-mail on their site a week before posting this to ask some questions, and to get the name of the soup I ate. A week has passed and no one e-mailed me back. Customer service should be 360- if you have a place on your website for feedback, but don’t respond, please remove that feature.)

To find/Contact
Tasteology
www.tasteology.net
3400 Monroe Ave
Rochester, NY 14618
(585) 385-0580
Get directions

Review based on October 2008 visit.

Have you eaten at Tasteology in Pittsford (Rochester), NY? If so, please share your thoughts below.

Other reviews:

Rachel's Restaurant Review 11-07. Interesting to note how much change has occurred between her two visits and ours! Interesting to note one thing has not changed, portion size.

RocWiki. Many reviews posted over the past one year.

See the interior on youtube as video taped about a year ago. There are interior design changes since.

Thank you for reading!