Fare game

The year: 2006. Our Best New Restaurant winner: Metro

By Steve Lange

What We Wrote Then: “There are a couple of things that Metro is not.

Though it’s located adjacent to the Radisson (in what used to be McCormick’s), Metro is not a ‘hotel restaurant.’ And though it’s dotted with 11 television screens, it’s not a sports bar. ... Metro is an experience—a high-end, high-service experience without the high price.”

How They’re Doing Now: Metro is still open as we write this, though a call to management confirmed what P-B biz blogger Jeff Kiger has previously reported—the restaurant will close when the new Pescara restaurant opens in the first floor spot of the Radisson (where Sebastian’s used to be). The rumors are that the Metro site will be turned into some sort of hair salon and/or spa.

What Those In The Know Say: “Metro was the hottest restaurant in Rochester when it first opened and was packed every day for lunch,” says P-B reporter and former restaurant writer Matt Russell. “It was something new and different that people were really hungry for. But there’s so many good restaurants that have opened in Rochester since that, people started going to places like Söntés and Chester’s instead. I always felt like this restaurant was going through a bit of an identity crisis and seemed inconsistent. I think part of that is the fact that it is basically a hotel restaurant and there’s always been a struggle to make it all things to all people.”

Our Take: God knows we ate our share of turkey melt sandwiches, with that two-for-one coupon in the Rochester Coupon Book. Metro offers solid food in a setting that, when it opened, was as hip, clean, and, well, metallic as anything in Rochester. But even metallic decor couldn’t overcome the influx of new, downtown restaurants (Chester’s, Söntés) and, obviously, the impending Pescara.