Two Brothers Family Restaurant

6515 Brockport Spencerport Road, Brockport
Visited Jan. 30 and Feb. 26, 2011
Written by Drew



As mentioned in previous reviews, since I spend most of my time out in Brockport, I have been trying to get to as many places out here and review them for you.

One Saturday, my roommate Josh, his friend Cody and I jumped into my car and headed to the Brockport USA Diner, just to find it absolutely swarmed with people. I then turned the car around and we headed towards Two Brothers.

We walked right in, sat right down and ordered our drinks, then started digesting the menu. Our drinks came right out and the waitress asked us if we were ready, which we weren’t. There were so many items on their menu, it was nearly impossible to make a decision. The waitress came back and we ordered our food. It would be a wait of about five minutes before our food came out. I was shocked how quickly we were served.

Even though there were numerous things on their menu that sounded appetizing to me, I was drawn to one sandwich in particular, the Hickory Chicken Sandwich. This sandwich was composed of a piece of grilled chicken topped with cheese, sliced deli ham and barbecue sauce on a hard roll, along with a large helping of fries.

The sandwich didn’t end up as great as I thought it would be. The barbecue sauce had little, if any flavor to it, and was weird in color. I also imagined the ham-chicken combo would of worked out better than it actually was, but the two meats just clashed in taste.

I ate about two-thirds of the sandwich and fries, and left the rest on my plate. My meal came with a cup of soup, which I have started to enjoy as of late. However, there was a slim selection of soups; just split pea and bean. I chose the split pea and only ate the crackers that came with it.

Josh ordered breakfast in the middle of the afternoon, opting for the 2-2-2, which consists of two pancakes, two eggs, and two pieces of bacon. Also available in the larger 3-3-3 size, this menu item is perfect for the breakfast fanatic.

The pancakes were average in diameter, but thicker than normal pancakes. Josh explained that his meal was good, (although it looked to me like one of the most generic breakfast meals ever), and better than breakfast here in the dining hall (which isn’t saying that much). He ate the 2-2-2 in its entirety, and in reality an average hungry person could put a serious dent in the 3-3-3.

Cody, like I, went for lunch. He ordered the Chicken Salad Club sandwich. His sandwich’s bottom layer was made up of chicken salad and bacon, with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on top.

His initial response was that the sandwich was too tall to fit in his mouth. Throughout the meal he reiterated that point by saying the layer of lettuce was unnecessarily large. His meal also came with a side of fries, and a cup of soup. The club sandwich looked generic, and didn’t leave the must have again-factor that we would of hoped.

Following this meal, I called Tyler up to discuss what we should do about this restaurant, and he suggested holding off about writing it and revisiting it with him when he came back home for mid-semester break. I agreed, and we went back.

Tyler was quite curious about how I described the barbecue sauce to him. He made it a point to order something from the menu which he could sample the strange barbecue sauce I told him about. He ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with the barbecue sauce and an order of home fries on the side.

He immediately noted the chicken breast was larger than that of most other restaurants, and had a pleasant hint of seasoning visible. He said the chicken was tasty – much better than what he ate from BBQ Fred the night before.

As for the barbecue sauce, it had an orange hue to it that we can’t quite determine a cause for (though the hostess couldn’t, either), but he liked it much more than I did. He agreed the flavor wasn’t too strong, but the taste it did have was good and complemented the chicken well.

He enjoyed his sandwich, and downed his home fries. He said they were among the top half of home fries he’s had; pretty tasty and a little crisp, but a bit too greasy to get them to HFR level. Overall he was pleased with his meal.


I decided to get breakfast so I can see if Josh’s opinion on things were accurate or not, opting for a short stack of pancakes with a side of sausage patties.

The sausage would have to be the best part of my entire meal. The patties were the first thing to disappear off of my plate. When I made my way to the pancakes, I noticed they were a little darker than the typical pancake. So I poked at it with my finger and realized they were a little overdone. I started to eat them, and my previous observation was verified.

The inside of the pancake was dry and kind of heavy. I finished about one-and-a-third pancakes, and left the rest on my plate. Tyler sampled a piece of my scraps, and agreed that they were overdone and, as previously alluded to, quite generic; perhaps even frozen elsewhere and reheated in the kitchen.

With my breakfast, I ordered a glass of chocolate milk. I was very pleased when they brought out a glass of what I believe was Byrne Dairy chocolate milk.

After our meal, Tyler and I talked about how we would assess Two Brothers, and came to this conclusion: Two Brother’s Family Restaurant was better than I originally said it was, and fit perfectly in the B- category with other diners we have been to that are the typical, run-of-the-mill family restaurants that we enjoy.


Ratings:

Service/Atmosphere: Typical family restaurant with speedy service.

Food: A lot to choose from. The breakfast was generic, but there are some interesting concoctions (including the orange-ish barbecues sauce) worth a look.

Value: Pretty standard for a family diner, with good portion sizes.

Overall: If you haven’t caught on yet, this is a typical family diner… but we tend to enjoy those types of restaurants more so than others.

Grade: B-

Olympia Neighborhood Restaurant and Lounge

1100 Flynn Road, North Greece
Visited Feb. 1, 2011
Written by Drew



On this particular Tuesday evening, I traveled out to Greece Athena High School to watch my brother play basketball. After the game, my Mom and I went out to grab a bite at a place we have visited before, the Olympia Neighborhood Restaurant and Lounge, on the corner of Flynn and Latta roads in North Greece.

I was hesitant a bit the first time I went, but it obviously didn’t bother me that much, seeing as we returned. They say you learn something new every day, and I’m glad we ended up here because I learned they have a second location, out in Gates.

My mom and I walked right in and sat right down. Even though we were eating at prime dinner time, roughly 6 p.m., we expected little to no wait due to a winter storm that was supposed to hit the area within a few hours, and ended up being one of maybe five parties dining at the time. After walking in from the parking lot, I was cold. I sat down with the intention of getting a cup of soup with my meal.

I mixed it up a little bit, and instead of going with a chicken meal or a burger, I focused my attention on their 10 special sandwiches section on the menu. One that stood out to me was the roast beef au jus. This sandwich was probably eight inches in length, but was almost too tall to fit into my mouth.

The roast beef wasn’t overly cooked or dry at all. The sandwich was perfect when dipped into the au jus, and definitely filling. I was able to finish all but one bite of my sandwich, and brought the rest of the beef home.

My sandwich came with a large helping of steak fries, which were good, as well as a cup of soup. I was given the options of three or four different soups, but I ordered the Chicken Florentine, which ended up as a good move.

My mom ordered the Spanakopita. When she told me what she was going to ordered, I responded, “Excuse you,” because I wasn’t sure what language she was speaking. From my understanding, it was like a quiche with egg and spinach filling. Her meal came with soup and salad, as well as a side of different fruits and vegetables. She also ordered the Chicken Florentine, which she was also satisfied with.

Our meal came with a basket of bread and crackers, and good service. The location is very convenient because it is near both Athena and Arcadia High Schools. I will probably return, but would be interested in going to different places near it as well.

Tyler has been to Olympia before as well, though not in a few years, and said they have a good breakfast. He said he remembers having excellent Italian-bread toast, which came in large slices, and added the home fries were solid. Greg has also voiced interest in trying Olympia because he heard they have good gyros.

Looks like we’ll be making another stop in the near future.

Ratings:

Service/Atmosphere: Very friendly service, felt like home.

Food: Very good soup. The sandwich was average, but definitely filling.

Value: The meal my mother and I had came out to be about $20, which is a little pricey considering we both ordered ice water as our beverages.

Overall: Not a bad meal. I didn’t find much wrong with this place, as the meals I had were good, but nothing that stood out as a ‘must-return.’

Grade: B

Golden Eagle Family Restaurant

4820 Lake Road South, Brockport
Visited Aug. 24, 2010
Written by Drew





Now that I go to school in Brockport, the title of Rochester Westside Grub has been invading different places there. I can pretty much guarantee, by the time I graduate from SUNY Brockport in 2014, our site will cover all local grub spots in the area. And where better to start out than the Golden Eagle Family Restaurant.


Our buddies from high school, Jay, Ryan and Matt, moved into their new off-campus apartment in Brockport. After a hectic weekend of moving in, Tyler and I went out there and picked these guys up for some grub.

I’ve been here a couple of times before, including a few years back when my aunt and uncle came up from North Carolina. Every time they come north, they have to grab a fish fry. My dad received a scoop about this restaurant from work. “The best fish fry on the west side,” so he was told. From what they remember, it wasn’t the best fish fry they ever had, but definitely not the worst.

I tagged along to this fish fry Friday trip and ordered a Golden Eagle Platter (their variation of a garbage plate). Just like their fish fries, it was an average plate. Their home fries were fried potatoes, not deep fried, and their hot sauce was similar to Coach Tony’s (a hot sauce sold in local grocery stores).

On this late summer evening, the five of us loaded up the car and traveled to the intersection of routes 19 and 31 to grab a bite. Going in, I knew I wasn’t going to try the Golden Eagle Platter again. My attention was grabbed very quickly by Burger Stadium, the burger section on the menu. Numerous professional sports teams, all of which in the state of New York, had different burgers named after them; the Buffalo Sabres, New York Giants and New York Yankees, to name a few.


Both Ryan and I ordered the New York Giants Burger (half pound-beef patty, with a slice a of cheese) Both of us finished the burger fairly quickly due how hungry we were. The burger itself was generic, along with the average roll. The price is something that stood out though, $4.95 for a burger. We both thought that this was a very reasonable price for a burger this size. Something to note, however, some of their burgers do not come with a choice of potato. This one did not. Ryan didn’t order a side of French fries and he definitely regretted it. Fortunately Matt had more than enough fries to share with Ryan.


Matt also ordered a burger. The moment I heard the tone of voice when started to place his order, I knew exactly what he was going to get, the New York Yankees burger (editor’s note: Matt is a Red Sox fan). This burger comprised of a beef patty with cheddar cheese, barbecue sauce, bacon and grilled onions all on French bread instead of a roll.

“It was so good,” Matt explained. “Only if it wasn’t called (the Yankees Burger) it would have been better.”

Tyler “pulled a Tyler” and ate breakfast, which he will normally do as long as it is offered to him. He was originally upset because they didn’t carry sweet potato pancakes, which was a menu item last time he went there. He instead he ordered an egg, home fries, ham, and toast.


Seeing the sweet potato pancakes on the menu in February is the main reason he wanted to come back. But, the meal he ended up getting sufficed.

He enjoyed the ham, and said the egg, home fries and toast got the job done, but was nothing spectacular.


He noted it was nice the home fries were more like pan-fried slices rather than deep fried, but weren’t up to HFR’s standard, though not bad. He added he still hopes to try the sweet potato pancakes some day, as they are back on the menu now.

Jay also tagged along with us, and ordered a BLT.


“The bacon was crispy, the toast was toasted well,” he said. “If I had to rate the BLT itself, I’d give it a B+. It didn’t knock me over, but it was good.”


Jay also had an order of macaroni salad, which he said was very good despite lagging a bit in egg. He said our seats were a little hot because the blinds were open and the sun was shining right on him, but overall he had a pleasant experience.

“Their hostesses are generally attractive. They kept the drinks coming, which is nice. I never ran out of Pepsi.”

Anyway, I have a car on campus and have been bringing my suitemates and new friends to a few of the local grub spots. My roommate Josh and I traveled back to the Golden Eagle this past weekend to grab breakfast.


I ordered a tall stack of the peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes with a side of home fries. This order came out to be way too much food for one person to put down.

The pancakes were large (probably 10” in diameter) and filling. Definitely a good meal.


Josh ordered the tall stack (six half pieces) of Texas French Toast with a side of scrambled eggs and toast.

“The French toast was delicious, the eggs were great, and the toast was crisp,” he said.

It doesn’t blow you away, but the Golden Eagle and its interesting variety of selections make for a consistent and serviceable stop, especially for breakfast.

Ratings:

Service/Atmosphere: Seated quickly, served even quicker. Matt’s fries were spilled on the floor and the waitress brought out a nice helping at no cost to us. It feels like a typical family restaurant, which is nice.

Food: The have several different types of specialty burgers and breakfast foods that isn’t on most diner menus. No complaints.

Value: Cheap-ish pricing, the food is not the best, but definitely far from the worst in the college town. But a half-pound Cheeseburger for $4.95... that’s a deal for college kids.

Overall: One of the better breakfast places I’ve been to in the Brockport area, a potential stop back for another breakfast sometime in the near future.

Grade: B-

Jo's Diner

444 North Avenue, Hilton
Visited May 21, 2010
Written by Drew



After getting out of school at 10:30 a.m. because of a half day, I thought it would be fitting to meet Tyler somewhere and cross yet another place off our list.

We found ourselves two miles north of the Village of Hilton at Jo’s Diner, and two miles south of the Lake Ontario State Parkway, on the corner of Route 259 and Curtis Road.

Jo’s has a strange location, as there really aren’t any other businesses within a few miles. The deceptively large building has housed numerous restaurants through the years, but none have lasted very long (Jo’s has been open since late 2008/early 2009, approximately).

Like the Lighthouse Diner, we were very deceived by the size of the restaurant. It appears small from the outside, but it was surprisingly quite large on the inside. There were three separate rooms that make you feel more at home and comfortable.

Two of the rooms are regular dining rooms – bright and squeaky clean – and the other has a few small tables and a countertop facing the kitchen. There were only a handful of other diners, though I think we missed the morning regulars.

Jo’s is said to have good breakfasts, so I skipped breakfast before school that morning because I was planning on eating a big meal. So, being extra hungry, I ordered a tall stack of buttermilk pancakes. While ordering this, the waitress looked down at me and asked me if I was sure. I stupidly insisted that I was really hungry. I made a mistake. I had three large, Frisbee-sized pancakes sitting in front of me. I was able to finish about one and a half of them.

Tyler sampled a few bites of pancake and was fairly impressed, saying they were nice and thick with a tasty crispiness on the outside, but fluffy on the inside.

Tyler also ordered breakfast, opting for two eggs with ham, home fries and toast. He said the scrambled eggs were better than any other egg dish he had recently, and said Jo’s home fries are the closest thing he’s had to those of Hilton Family Restaurant (HFR), which is his standard for home fries.

“The eggs were very good, they were some of the best I have had in a while,” he said. “The home fries were also very good... almost as good as HFR’s.”

He said the toast and ham were very average, but was impressed by the pancakes he sampled from my plate and pleasantly surprised by his eggs and home fries.

If you are planning on going to Jo’s Diner, you’ll have to do so within its very abnormal hours of operation; Tuesday through Thursday, plus Saturday and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. It is closed on Mondays.

Jo’s has a typical diner menu, but the portions (at least for breakfast) are relatively large. For lunch Jo’s offers mostly soups and sandwiches, and its Friday fish fries have received positive reviews.

Overall it was a pleasant surprise, as the prices were reasonable and the portions were filling. The atmosphere isn’t as lively and aesthetically pleasing as HFR, but the food was very comparable.


Ratings:

Service/Atmosphere: Friendly service, very honest waitress, average wait time, relatively clean. Jo’s out-back location doesn’t have the intimate small-town feel the HFR does in the heart of Hilton.

Food: Very comparable to HFR, which is our standard for greasy-spoon diners like this.

Value: We always talk about bang for the buck and quality, and the very large pancakes epitomized that.

Overall: Jo’s was pleasantly surprising, considering its somewhat remote location and the lack of success its building predecessors have had. We’ll definitely be back for a good breakfast.

Grade: B

Lighthouse Diner

500 South Union Street, Spencerport
Visited May 27, 2010
Written by Drew



With my school year winding down, I was able to get out of school a little bit earlier in the day, so Tyler and I decided to cross off yet another restaurant on our list. The restaurant of choice was the Lighthouse Diner in Spencerport.

About three months earlier, my family and I went out to this diner – on the corner of routes 259 and 31 – and I walked away swearing I would never be back again. I gave it a second chance, and the revisit actually changed my mind slightly.

It is very deceiving from the parking lot how large this diner actually is. Walking into the restaurant, you are greeted abruptly by an old-school bar counter. There are a few booths across from the barstools, and two moderately sized dining rooms on either end of the restaurant.

Tyler and I sat in a booth, which could fit eight people comfortably. Before opening the menu, we both agreed on the cleanliness of the restaurant; it was as if the building was brand new and just opened for the first time.

My first trip their a few months ago, I had an awful experience. It was a long day, for whatever reason, my family was arguing where to go out to eat, and we’d been to two or three different places before ending up at the Lighthouse Diner.

I ordered a cheeseburger, and it wasn’t anything too special. It tasted like any other ordinary diner cheeseburger. I did however enjoy the French fries; they served the typical dinner French fries that are slightly seasoned and extra crispy. I’m a big fan of those.

When Tyler mentioned that we should go to the Lighthouse for lunch so we could write it up for the blog, I thought it was a bad idea because of my previous experience. All in all, I was glad we made a return visit because my second experience was much better.

On the second visit I ordered the self-proclaimed “Rochester’s Favorite Messy Plate;” a cheeseburger plate with double French fries and meat hot sauce on top. I thought it was a decent plate; I have had better, but also I have had much worse. As far as the price goes for the messy plate, very average: $7.69 for a cheeseburger plate, $6.99 for a hotdog plate.

Tyler ordered a simple one-egg and toast breakfast with a side of home fries. He said the home fries were decent, with a nice outer crispiness, but were a little soft otherwise. The eggs were pretty typical, but the toast was above average.

When it comes to diners and restaurants, there is one thing that really makes me tick: the lack of free refills. It seems like, more times than not now, places don’t advertise refills. Typically when my family goes out to grab a bite, we usually enjoy a drink or two before the meal comes. My dad always proclaims three drinks during a meal is always the perfect amount. Honestly, sometimes I think he bases his tip on how many refills he was offered. So when we go to places like this where there are no refills, it is very hard to still have a drink come meal time.

Will we ever return to the Lighthouse Diner? Perhaps, though we wouldn’t go out of our way to do so. Spencerport has several appealing restaurants in it. If we had to travel out there for a meal we would either try a new place, or re-visit a restaurant that we gave a good grade to.

Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere: Decent service, very clean, and felt like the stereotypical diner atmosphere that we like.
Food: Average diner food. Nothing we had stood out too much from all the rest, but there were several interesting choices (namely the pancake and waffle meals) that might warrant a return.
Value: The prices were very reasonable, as were the portion sizes. Good bang for the buck.
Overall: Very large, clean place. Open to a return, but not if it’s out of our way.
Grade: B-

Return to General Hoock's

Written by Tyler

General Hoock’s (1308 Buffalo Road, Gates) was the first restaurant we reviewed back in February. In the months that have followed, we have continued to spread the word of this unheralded gem to our friends and family and have made several return visits, bringing along new faces each time.

We like it more and more and seem to discover or try a new item each time we go back, while it maintains the ‘A’ grade we gave it.

To recap some of our recent discoveries, we’ll start with our friend Chad, who we successfully ‘Hoocked.’ He has been back several times since we first brought him along in March.

Chad’s go-to dish is the Curly Bomber, a sandwich with shaved steak, hamburger and curly fries piled on between a delicious homemade roll.

Our friend Ryan apparently didn’t believe us when we told him the portion sizes were enormous, so he went ahead and purchased the $11 Raging Bull Bomber, which is like the Curly Bomber… except about 10 sizes larger (basically on a full-size loaf of bread) and includes onion rings (rather than curly fries), cheese and sweet “Stiggy” sauce.


Ryan said it was a great sandwich, but, needless to say, he could barely scarf down half of it.


Our friend Greg is an eating machine, who once (back in the day) randomly downed three hot dogs wrapped in turkey shortly before a football workout. He also once jokingly ordered the entire kids menu at a restaurant, but anyway, Greg ordered the Plate X-M on this, his first visit to Hoock’s.

A big fan of garbage plates, Greg enjoyed and downed what was essentially a breakfast garbage plate. It took him longer than expected, but you can always count on Greg to stomach an entire family’s worth of food.


As for me, I’ve really become a fan of General Hoock’s pizza – er, Magik Bread Pie. In an unconventional move, I have twice ordered a small pizza topped with grilled chicken, but without cheese.


The plethora of grilled chicken replaces what the cheese would be. I just like chicken so much I order it instead of cheese (which, again, is a topping here). But the ingredients on this pizza complement each other so well – the crust is baked to a perfect balance between soft and crisp, and there is the perfect amount of sauce –I can’t relent from ordering this.

In another new development, the last few times we’ve gone, proprietor Shawn Hoock has had some family members helping him out around the restaurant, rather than doing it all himself. His two young sons were even in there during one visit and drew us pictures while we waited.

Ah, General Hoock’s just keeps getting better and better and I find myself daydreaming about a cheeseless pizza again.

Millhouse Family Restaurant

3670 Lake Road, Brockport
Visited Feb. 21, 2010
Written by Tyler

(Image courtesy of rochester.metromix.com)

Situated on the corner of Ridge (Route 104) and Lake (Route 19) roads in Clarkson, Millhouse Family Restaurant made me do a double take the first time I noticed there was a diner out in the Town of Clarkson.

Just as soon as you think you’ve bypassed all the restaurants in the Village of Brockport when traveling North on Lake Road, you enter the town and immediately see Millhouse in a small plaza on the northeast corner of the intersection.

Being a short drive from most other restaurants in the Brockport area and its location at a relatively major intersection help make Millhouse noticeable.

Its location, in the same general area as Clarkson’s town buildings and Hafner Park, where I have attended several events over the years, is probably to its benefit. Some hungry diners may stop here rather than heading into the village, and I’d be willing to bet Millhouse often capitalizes on crowds leaving the various events at the park.

In fact, the first time I dined at Millhouse was after one of my siblings’ soccer games at the park five summers ago. We had heard good things and, given our love of family-style diners, we decided to give it a shot. There were a few other families with us, and it was a Sunday morning, but the service was good and everyone seemed to be pleased.

I hadn’t been back since, so I recently decided it was time to make a return visit.

The restaurant had a comfortable “at home” feel that I very much prefer in family restaurants. There was plenty of seating, mostly booths, and we were seated and waited on quickly.
The menu consisted of standard diner fare for the most part, but one of the exceptions that caught my eye were the French roll-ups, described as crepes (essentially, thin pancakes) rolled up, filled with a choice of fruit filling and topped with whipped cream.

I have to say, these didn’t disappoint. Often times at smaller diners like this, those “exceptions” to the typical diner menu don’t go over well and fail to meet the unrealistically high expectations of the consumer, but that wasn’t the case here.

From the appetizing presentation, through each filling bite, these roll-ups were a satisfying choice. The crepes were made from a pancake/egg batter, though I’m not sure of the exact ingredients or proportions, but they were definitely different than those of typical pancakes.
I chose an apple filling, which was rather thick and gooey, containing rather generously sized apple slices. I was pleased with the filling; much more so than I would be with a thinner one with more of an applesauce consistency.

Another plus to the roll-ups were their perfect balance of sweetness, thanks in large part to the apple filling. They weren’t overly sweet, but not bland enough to require syrup either. I just cut right through them with my fork and wolfed them down.
There were no real thrills for Drew on the other hand, who opted for a traditional short stack of pancakes.

Simply adding butter and syrup, Drew worked his way through the stack with no real excitement, but no displeasure either.

Millhouse offers takeout and also had a solid display of pies and other deserts. There is also a sit-down counter with a TV on the wall.

We agreed Millhouse was no HFR, but nothing to complain about either. I was very satisfied with the roll-ups, which were definitely different and unexpected to me. I had imagined myself getting something more generic, like Drew did, but I left pleasantly surprised and impressed. To Drew, it was just another diner, another regular-old stack of pancakes.
We would definitely return, probably sampling some other items. On second thought, maybe I’ll leave that to Drew or someone else and I’ll stick with the roll-ups.
This was the first time I had crepes, so I really didn’t have anything to compare them to, but I definitely have a great first impression and look forward to trying them again … if I can find them.

Ratings:
Service/Atmosphere- Quick service and not very crowded, but not empty either. Quite comfortable and easily accessible. Not quite the hometown feel of HFR, though.
Food- I was quite impressed, Drew was pretty neutral. We probably need to try more of their food to know for sure, but I’ve only heard good things here.
Value- Very reasonable … no complaints.
Overall- More or less your typical family restaurant, but to us that’s a good thing. Nothing that really stands out, but nothing to complain about either.

Grade: B-