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Lento Restaurant
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
10 reviews for Lento Restaurant
We found ourselves driving through Rochester around dinnertime, with no idea where to go, and were really suprised to find Lento-- a slow food, ingredients based restaurant tucked into a beautiful revived industrial complex. While it wasnt among the best of this type of restaurant we've visited, (and probably not on the 'must travel to try this place') if I were local to the area, I'd definitely have it on my list of regular places to go.
Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, and there are blackboards filled with great quotes from 'slow food' giants and I love that their drink menu focuses on the non alcoholic ingredients like milk and local honey or fresh juices and herbs.
The menu is extensive, ambitious and really enticing. We had a hard time making choices because everything looked so good, and ended up choosing some great salads and a really delicious cheeseplate to start. The entrees were good (and really big, which is a tiny bit of a turnoff for me, but its hard to complain about having too much). I think they might have been better if they were a little less complicated, and focused more on tasting the underlying meats and vegetables, all of which were handpicked from local farms.
Overall, its exciting to see restaurants pursuing the slow food principles popping up all over the country and I definitely recommend a visit to lento.
I love Lento. The food is amazing (the menu changes often, so it keeps you on your toes tasting new and exciting things), the service is spectacular, and the atmosphere is exactly what I want in a restaurant. My friends enjoy the martinis, and I enjoy the wine list. The calamari appetizer is delicious, as is the BLT salad, the tamales, and the empanadas. Those that I have dined with have always had a meal that they loved.
If this place goes away, I'll very likely cry.
I finally made it to Lento and have to say I'm a fan! Joining the slow food movement, Lento uses local and organic produce and meats whenever possible. The wine list is excellent and the service was awesome. I happened to go on a Thursday, which is a buy one entree get one free vegetarian entree for college students. Anyway, here's what I had:
Starter: seafood trio. smoked salmon was amazing
2nd Starter: prince edward island oysters. They feature 4 different varieties
Main: leg of lamb over rice, walnut pesto, and some yummy sauce. Was also able to try a bit of the scallops (which were excellent and I hate scallops) and the sweet potato empenadas (which were also excellent)
Dessert: ice cream sandwich with carrot cake cookies and cream cheese ice cream! (a must have)
For wine I tried the french brut and then a bottle of chilean carmenere
Big fan..go now!
Came here for valentines day. Had a really great experience but the food prevented me to give this place 5 stars.
We made reservations and was promptly taken to our table. The decor is well thought but not pretencious, it feels like you are dinning in a upscale place without the upscale attitude. The service is excellent, very attentive and not intrusive. The apps were great and the drinks are fairly priced. The entree however, which I order the duck, was not very good. It was seared so its rare in the middle, chewy and unflavorful, I couldn't finish my plate, and the dish was recommanded by the waiter! the dish my date had was much better in comparison, the sea bass was cooked to perfection. Maybe i just caught them on an off day, but the duck entree killed the 5 stars for me.
Previous Yelp reviews helped me find this great place. I travel every so often and get the opportunity to try new restaurants. Lento is great because they create seasonal dishes from food grown or raised locally. The menu changes based on what's available, and if you like variety, this place is for you. Their menu also has several vegetarian dishes, and though I'm not a vegetarian, a restaurant that offers vegetables as main courses and not just as side dishes is worth trying out. (Imagine what they could do with meat if they could do wonders with vegetables!)
Everything sounded good, but I finally decided on the duck liver pate and had the gnocchi with cauliflower and leeks over pumpkin sauce as my main course. The pate had a note of citrus, though I'm not sure if it was. It was still good though. The gnocchi was better--it was nicely browned and the flavor combination of pumpkin and leeks was comforting. The pepitas added a nice texture contrast. I finished with a scoop of Bailey's Irish cream ice cream. They usually serve 3 scoops but since I was stuffed they kindly offered one.
Service was great, the hostesses were very friendly and my food server was informative and helpful. I also dined alone and they were especially attentive without being awkward.
Great local food and atmosphere. I enjoy the friendly staff, interesting drinks and well seasoned food. One time I had home made lilac ice cream which was fabulous. Vegetarian and great local meat dishes are perfectly cooked. Love the variety.
I came back to Lento tonight for a celebratory dinner.
To start, I had more of those oysters I raved about last time. They were just as good, if not more so. My companion had parsnip fritters; they were incredible. They resembled croquettes, but were smaller and not greasy at all. They were served on a bed of lentil salad and yogurt-like dressing that were also delicious. A great start.
For an entree this time, I had a cod fillet on a bed of shrimp risotto surrounded with clams. It was so pretty and absolutely perfect. Everything was cooked to perfection, and even the clams were devoid of flaws. (No sand crunch in my teeth, etc.) My companion had salmon with an orange, olive, and greens "salad." The "salad" part was cooked, which we weren't expecting, but it worked. It was tasty. He was skeptical about the olives (as he's not a fan of them), but he wound up enjoying them a lot. Excellent meals.
For dessert, I had a creme brulee. They change their flavors daily, so today's was cardamom. The server (who was excellent and could totally work at a big name restaurant in San Francisco or Napa easily) explained that the taste would resemble chai. It was really subtle and complex, and a fantastic end to another perfect meal. My companion had an apple crisp that had hints of orange and ginger, oatmeal on top, and was served with house-made vanilla ice cream. He loved it, but it was another dessert (like the banana fritters I had before) that could have definitely been shared between two people.
Awesome service, food, and the ambiance seems to be getting even better than last time. It's hard to believe this restaurant is in the middle of nowhere, NY, rather than a big city in CA. I am impressed once again.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
3/9/2009
There are few restaurants in Rochester that serve local, slow food. Lento is one of the best.
For an… Read more »
The lento menu changes daily - but when I was there, I had:
Appetizer: Fresh roasted figs, stuffed with gorgonzola picante, drizzled with Nissen Farms honey, Freshwise mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette The appetizer was lovely. The gorgonzola slightly overpowered the taste of the figs, I might have preferred a milder cheese choice. But it was still yummy.
Main Course: I had the corn, red potato and cheddar cake, topped with sweet and tangy vegetable salsa, petit house salad. This is one of the few restaurants I have found in Rochester that offers interesting tasty vegetarian selections. I am sick of portabella burgers. But my meat eating family was ALSO impressed with the menu selection (two of them ordered the Gansz Farm confited leg of duck and one got the diver scallops). I rarely find places that are *highly* satisfying to both meat eaters and vegetarians. Everything was superb.
Dessert: I had the chunky coco brownie cake topped with bourbon, brown sugar, butter milk ice cream and a warm wet walnut sauce. While the sundae was delicious, my mom ordered the house made mint chocolate chip ice cream, and I wished I had too. It was too delicious for words.
Our waitress was attentive and friendly. The food was superb. The prices on the vegetarian items was reasonable - I thought the meat dishes were a little expensive. I will definately be returning to Lento soon.
WE have been here twice and both times were hard pressed to find anything that excited us on the menu. Nice setting, good service, but boring food.
Lento means slow.. and this is exactly how I would like to enjoy my meal out. Forget the rushed service and turnstile atmosphere of many other places. My girlfriend and I went on a Tuesday night for a friends birthday and although I had made a reservation, we probably didn't need one. That's not to say the place was dead, but considering the economy, I wasn't expecting much of a crowd. We were seated in the elevated dining room, separating us and a few others from the rest of the restaurant and bar. Curtains adorned the area, which was a nice touch. Tuesdays, by the way, are half-price oyster day, which was fantastic especially since the mignonette was some sort of grapefruit champagne concoction. I had the lamb duo dish, which was cooked perfectly. My girlfriend had the salmon, which was apparently good, but seemed a little uninspired. Our dessert selections of creme brulee, cookies and ice cream, and ice cream sandwich was good, but again average, save for the latter. The ice cream sandwich was much larger than expected and was served with pistachio butter sauce, sandwiched by carrot cake cookie. Our waitress was excellent and unobtrusive. The only reason it's not a 5, is because I had mentioned that it was a birthday and it was never acknowledged. Otherwise, this is one of the best restaurants in Rochester
