Sullivan’s Charbroil

4712 West Ridge Road, Spencerport
Written by Tyler

Visited March 6, 2010

Even though Sullivan’s isn’t too far away from us, we haven’t been more than a few times in our lives. It’s generally regarded as a small, somewhat rundown, but respectable burger shack.
After dining there for the first time in more than five years, I can say that is just about spot on.
It’s located on Ridge Road, right near the three-town border of Parma, Ogden and Greece. It’s actually in Parma, but has a Spencerport zip code.

Once you get to this part of Ridge Road, you’re away from most of the traffic and the heavy concentration of highly developed land that is Greece. In this section of Route 104, just west of the newly renamed Doug Miller Sports Dome, there are several specialty stores (carpets, awards, auto parts, to name a few), some small car dealerships, some vacant motels, and Sullivan’s.

From the outside, the building looks pretty rundown. There is a decent amount of outdoor seating, with several picnic tables sitting on a covered porch just outside the entrance.
The inside was surprisingly nice and clean, with an abundance of ‘50s memorabilia and four or five TVs adorning the finished, wooden walls.

There was plenty of seating – all booths – though none of which seated more than four people.
One of the strangest features was the location of the bathrooms, which you literally pass through the kitchen on your way to. It got the job done, though; at least they didn’t look at me like I had three heads when I journeyed back there.

As for the food, the menu was basically everything you would expect from a run-of-the-mill, small burger place like this; burgers, hots, fries, chicken and all the typical fryer items.
Once we placed our order at the counter and sat down (at two different booths because there were five of us), we were served fairly quickly; about the average time you would expect it would take.

Also as you would expect at a burger joint, our group enjoyed the burgers. Three group members ordered basic ground rounds, all topped differently. They said they enjoyed the taste of the burgers, which were very wide, not terribly thick, but not too thin either, between a pretty standard hard roll.

As per usual, I order a grilled chicken sandwich, topped with lettuce. The sandwich got the job done, but it wasn’t one of the best I’ve had. It was lightly marinated, so it didn’t have as much flavor as I would have preferred. I doused it with a little too much Red Hot, which gave it a little kick, but still not quite enough to compensate for the slightly sweet flavor I had hoped the marinade would have given it.

We had heard Sullivan’s had pretty good curly fries, so my brother gave them a shot. It was a heaping portion, but didn’t quite meet expectations, at least for us. They were relatively thin and greasy, and didn’t taste much different than the typical French fry. We would have liked a little more seasoning and thickness.

The regular French fries were alright. Nothing spectacular, just the basic crinkle-cut fries.
Deciding to make things interesting, Drew tried the sweet and sour chicken tenders. Tenders are always good, and sweet and sour sauce makes just about anything taste good. This isn’t something you see at every restaurant, so it was good to see something different. The tenders were basically what you would expect, everyday chicken tenders soaked in Boss Sauce, but that’s not a bad taste to have, even if you know what to expect.

For drinks, they have Pepsi products in a small refrigerator, plus fountain drinks with free refills.
One of the more interesting drinks they offer is Aunt Rosie’s Loganberry. Native to the Buffalo area, the multi-berry-flavored drink isn’t too prevalent in the Rochester area, but we wish it was.

“It was a good drink … like a Shirley Temple,” my brother said. “It would be my first choice before any pop.”

Sullivan’s is also said to have good milkshakes, so that may warrant a return visit.
Also, there is a driving range directly behind the restaurant, along with a miniature golf course, according to the sign. There is nothing like a burger and a bucket of balls from time to time, according to Drew.
In all, Sullivan’s isn’t bad, but has nothing overwhelmingly great about it either. It was the average, everyday burger joint, in our opinion.

But we have heard good things about certain items (burgers, curly fries, milkshakes), so give it a shot. Maybe your tastes are different from ours.

Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere- Not much of a wait, able to see TVs, not very crowded, pretty standard service. Booths were all the same capacity, but otherwise a very comfortable burger-joint setting.
Food- Not bad, not great, but very average. Standard burger-joint menu. A few different items here and there, but nothing that really makes it stand out.
Value- Also pretty standard.
Overall- A little atmosphere to it, and definitely proves not to judge a book by its cover, but otherwise very average. If we’re looking for something quick and consistent, and we’re in this specific part of town, we would probably stop here.
Grade: C