MacGregors Grill and Tap Room

This restaurant is right down the street from my house. The beer selection is definitely the best part of this place. I have found some beer that I’ve really enjoyed that I otherwise would have never tried. My husband likes to meet up with friends to watch a game sometimes since we don’t have cable
The food is usually really good and the service is usually quick and friendly. My favorite thing by far is their curly fries! Of the 20+ times we’ve been there, we’ve only had one bad experience with slow service. I tend to go during off hours, so I’ve never had a problem with parking, but my husband has had trouble finding parking during times when there’s a big game on. We are so close that we could walk except it isn’t safe to walk down the hill on Empire because of the lack of sidewalks. I really wish there was a safe way to get there on foot or parking was better, but at least the food and service are usually really good.

Not sure why the bad reviews, as I’ve been here dozens of times and it’s always a good time with great (COLD) beer and good food. Granted, I live near the Bay, which may account for some of the frequency of my visits, but I do enjoy the place. The crowd tends to be a mix of old and young (and being the middle, this suits me well).
The beer selection is awesome, and it is served COLD. The wings are HOT (be careful when you order the hot ones, you may want to get the medium — but I love hot), the celery fresh and the blue cheese is chunky (gotta love it). Many of their sandwiches are also super delish.
However, when they get overly busy (not always but sometimes), the service is not so great. Finding room at the bar is not easy, and even being in the bar area can be a challenge. Though, they do have an outside seating area and a restaurant room (which is nice for kids). The service does tend to be faster for the restaurant patrons when it gets busy.
All in all, a great place for food and 100’s of different beers.

Now I know why this place is empty during lunch… We visited the establishment at approximately 12:15 PM May 18 2015
Food quality:
I ordered the smokehouse burger and homemade potato chips. The burger was ordered medium-​rare and showed up very very well done. Normally I don’t send food back however, the blackened char and burnt meat was too much for me to handle.
«Award Winning Char Broiled Steak Burgers» The replacement burger was over cooked (med-​well). I cannot fathom how this burger is award-​winning. The cheese was not melted placed on top of cold pickled jalapeños. Therefore the cheese got moist and disintegrated, breaking apart falling off the sandwich. There was barely any bistro sauce on the sandwich, couldn’t even taste it. The meat was not seasoned and overall the burger-​sandwich was dry. Boring!
The homemade potato chips which are usually fantastic were undercooked and soggy. Very unfortunate and very disappointing, it’s why I come here in the first place. Dang!
Service:
The waitress was kind and seemed very nice. However the handling of my re-​fired lunch did not go well. She never verified the burger was cooked properly nor did she verify the order was complete. The burger was again overcooked and they forgot my homemade chips among other things.
We did not receive a table side visit by the manager. I think I stumbled across the manager who seem to be disengaged. Never mentioned anything about the sent back meal. He helped get the homemade chips that they forgot, however he rushed the line cook who ended up under cooking the side dish.
Final Thoughts:
This place has a good beer and appetizers menus. Pretty good for happy hours.
I have had lunches here with the marginal success. Dinner service and/​or cocktail hour is usually good.
I am not very fond of the way that the bartenders treat the patrons. Cold and dismissive attitudes. They rarely make eye contact with patrons leaving you feeling ignored and wondering if they saw you waiting to be served.
I usually set my expectations low when I come here. This is unfortunate, because this place has a potential of being resoundingly excellent!!!

I was supposed to meet a friend here for HH at 5p last Friday. When I pulled in at 4:50p, there were no parking spaces! I mean none. People had parked wherever they wanted so you had to back out of the parking lot into a very busy Empire Blvd. So unsafe!
Found 1 spot in the park entrance lot, next door to the restaurant. Parked, walked in to find my friend not there & the bar area completely packed. There would have been no room for us if we decided to stay. Ended up down the road at Flags on Bay Rd…
Last time I was at this MacGregor’s, 2 years ago, I was catching up with an out-​of-​town friend & the service wasn’t great. Which is why it took so long to return. Not sure I’ll give it another try until their porch opens up… which is when other reviewers have left positive comments.

We don’t often stop here despite it being very close to our house given that at times the service has been poor, the food average and sometime there is no one else in the dining room. We stopped last night for a quick bite and the place was hopping which could have been a problem. In our case we had decent service and our food came out in a reasonable amount of time but we heard plenty of other tables complaining of very long waits for their food. We came in late enough to miss this kitchen backlog that they blamed on a large party in their party room (you’d think they could plan for this). Anyway we had no issue but the Guinness burger while very tasty was overcooked — nowhere close to medium rare. Despite this it was very good. The boneless chicken wings were good but seemed much hotter than mild. This time our experience was good but we prefer coming in summer when we can sit on the deck (though the traffic on Empire is a bit loud). Their selection of draft beer is still very extensive.

I’ve been to other mcgreggors but my experience at this one was terrible!
Ordered a buffalo chicken sandwich ands hat I got was a piece of grilled chicken on stale bread with a dab of hot sauce on the bun! After mentioning to the waitress that I expected it to be fried, she offered to get me a new one. She showed up a minute latter with a new sandwich which was the same as the last except this one had cold chicken fingers on it instead of a chicken breast… it was still edible though.
When we got the check we surprised that two drinks that we thought were the small size, which we requested, were actually large. Not wanting to be overcharged we mentioned to our waitress that we ordered the drinks in the small size. She went to talk to her manager. 5 minutes later he comes to the table and tells us that he took off the large drinks and replaced them with small and then he told us that next time to make sure we specified the right size. He acted like it was our fault even though we did specify small!
Very poor customer service, food, and rude management!
Will not be back to this location.

Our waitress seemed very overwhelmed. We ordered blue moons and she came back and told us they didn’t have that, when we ordered different beers mine was ready but sat at the bar while the keg was changed for the person I was with for their beer. Then she came back and told us they actually didn’t have that beer either! When I finally got mine it was warm.
We put in an app and our order (one came with a side salad). Everything came out at the same time which was extremely frustrating. My chicken sandwich and the wings were overcooked. Fries were like they sat under a warmer. Don’t recommend the fish tacos, my friend only ate one and didn’t take the other 2 home.
Not a very great experience.

Good food and service. Minus the fact that jalapeños were put on the quesadilla after asking not to put them on.

I work for an event planning service. I was contracted by a family who had rented out the upstairs «party room» at macgregors on empire blvd. I put party room in quotes because there was no party to be had here after the experience I had. I came in early, with the parents of the birthday boy to set up for their sons surprise party… we brought one small speaker to play music and a laptop to plug into the huge tv so we could show a slideshow of him growing up… now I do not know what happened but somehow a waiter decided that we should not be touching that tv and called the owner of the building… NEVER have I witnessed such horrible behavior in my life. This man was not even the general manager of the restaurant, just the property owner (the general manager had met with my boss earlier that week and ok’d the speaker and the tv use) this man on the phone, who refused to tell me his name, screamed at me saying if I broke his tv we would have to pay for it and we were not allowed to play our own music in the party room because we would be disturbing the restaurant guests. I told him that I did not know what his problem was and I was honestly only doing what I had been told to do, and he proceeded to scream in my ear and call me «missy» well I would throw a rock through the window of this place if I got the chance because this guy ruined this poor kids birthday party and is a jerk of EPIC proportions.

I’ve been to this location a number of times and finally decided to review it. My Brother-​in-​law was visiting and is a huge beer fan. I knew this place has a great selection so I brought him here.
If you want to try a variety of beers, order a flight! Many different ones to choose from, he went with the Porter flight. He really enjoyed it. I decided not to drink and enjoyed an iced tea.
Food:
We decided to split the nacho platter as our meal. This thing was HUGE! Lots of crispy chips, cheese and toppings. We both agreed we hate soggy chips and this platter did not have a single one! My B.I.L. Said these nachos were the best he has ever had!
Atmosphere:
The parking lot was FULL. We were expecting a long wait. The place was surprisingly empty for a Friday night at dinner time. We got seated right away! Noise level, cleanliness were good. My husband and I enjoy playing darts here on occasion.
Service:
Not too bad. She didn’t check on us a ton but we really did not need her much. She was very nice as well as the other servers that passed us. Everyone loved my little girl.

What the hell happened to Macgregor’s does ANYONE KNOW? We were shocked about the entire experience. To the warm beer, slow service, horrible food and «the rolling of the eyes» of our waitress when we asked for water with lemon! Are you serious?
I got a fish fry and it was overcooked, fries were cold and seemed burnt or scraped from the bottom of a dirty fryer. The tator sauce seemed off. The lemon looked wilted and unappetizing! I was not pleased. Barely ate the food. Didnt take home the left overs.
My guest got a burger, it was cooked too rare. Fries were skimpy and cold.
It took forever for the trashy waitress to come back to our table! Meanwhile… We notice another patron CHANGING THIER BABY AT THE TABLE ACROSS FROM US! And the patron closed up the diaper and brushed it to the end of the table as if the waitress should swing over and dispose of it! And PU ! It musta been a heavy, wet poopy diaper because I caught a whiff while eating my meal. We were disgusted that someone would change thier baby at a table and further more put the diaper on the table! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
The resturant appeared dirty, floor haven’t been mopped in weeks and the air (when we didnt smell a rotten poppy diaper) smelled off old nasty, black grease from a fryer. Thats not a pleasant smell!
We only tipped a coupla dollars and left. We will not be back! This was an unsettling experience and it was a real damper on our friday nite! #lessthanpleased #kindapissed

Decent booze. Decent food. Decent prices. Decent atmosphere.
Nothing amazing, nothing lacking. I’d never go out of my way for MacGregors, but don’t mind stopping here when I’m in the neighborhood.

Poor service, lousy manager.
We went out tonight with friends for drinks and late night food. Our waitress, when she actually remembered to check on us, was incapable of taking everyone’s orders. She forgot to bring drinks, forgot to put in half of the food orders and went over 45 minutes without acknowledging us. When she finally brought us our check, she had failed to take off the appetizer we had sent back.
We spoke with the manager and he took off the appetizer. However, when we told him we were upset with the poor service, he made excuses and did nothing to lead us to believe things would be different if we ever came back.
If we ever go back to MacGregors, it will not be the Empire location.

Beer yes, food not so much. I would really recommend just going for beer. They don’t seem to have any interest in serving quality food. Mushrooms frozen in the middle, taco salad with no one drop of seasoning, bland! Tremendous fries came out luke warm and missing 2 of the toppings.

WORST BAR FOOD EXPERIENCE EVER. I have never been more offended by a restaurant manager in my life and shocked by his customer service. I came here for lunch the day before my wedding with my out of town guests since it has a great view of Rochester and something for everyone. It took 25 minutes to get the first round of water and then another 25 for our beers. All of our food either came out stale, cold, or wrong. When we complained to the manager he looked at us as asked «well what do you want me to do about it?» He was completely rude and treated us like he was doing us a favor by coming to our table. We had to call the Henrietta location to obtain the regional manager’s contact information since he would not give it us. After we complained and asked to have the food removed it took 45 minutes for him to «sort» everything out where he then cleared our bill. DO NOT GO HERE, yes the beer is cold and they have a great selection, but the poor staff is treated like dirt and the manager should be kicked out on his hiney after how he treated his customers. I felt bad for our waitress who was afraid of him and felt like she didn’t have the power to make the experience for her customers better. I’m shocked and dismayed at the service and the food quality when I know the other locations hold themselves to a higher standard.
I’ve heard that location has a fair amount of turn over and can’t keep staff. Now I know why they seem to ALWAYS be hiring.

I prefer this location during the summer months, for the back patio. You get a nice breeze off the Bay and a view of it too. Great for a Saturday afternoon hang with a brew.
I’ve visited after a few kayaking trips and consume all the calories I just burned off. Their wings are cooked well, but I find their buffalo sauce (even the mild!) to be a stinging hot, the burn that lasts on your lips after you’ve finished eating. They’re sandwiches and burgers are consistently good, although not earth shattering. My #1 choice is their buffalo chicken sandwich. The blue cheese slaw gives it a little extra special bite. It’s also a great spot to grab Irish nachos too because their waffle fries are insanely good — it’s my go-​to appetizer. Great for sharing.
Perhaps because of the location, there are usually more families and couples versus wild animal beer drinking crowd you’ll get near the RIT location and down in the East End. But, it’s still the «same» with the dark green walls, lacquered wooden panels and TVs lining the whole room… the wafting smell of stale beer. It’s nice to be outside and not have the distraction of the TV, but if you’re looking for a place to catch the game, this is the place.

I hear lots of stories about the owner of MacGregor’s. His fits of piqué with staff and city officials are legend and why he shut down locations in Fairport and the South Wedge (I particularly miss the one in Faiport on 31). As a consequence, you see a lot of turnover in staff including managers and that can make for uneven experiences.
The food is so so, but MacGregor’s doesn’t really pretend to be a restaurant. They’re really a bar with food. And since they offer more beers on tap than anyone else in the area, I love them for that alone. We often go to the Empire location because they’re open late and when my wife is doing something with local theatre, we might not be ready to eat until 9:30 or 10 and Rochester is not the place to go looking for late night meals. In that respect, they’re always predictable. Kudos for a good job, not a great one. Like Hope, I like the waffle fries but you can’t live on fries alone, unless you’re at Five Guys. ..

Tons of beers on tap. Decent bar menu, good wings. I had the pretzel as an app and a small order of wings (you can order half dozens which is nice if you don’t need a full order).
I was hoping the pretzel would be like the fresh one I had at Rohrbachs. I could be wrong but I think it was a frozen one. It was pretty hard and over cooked. I wouldn’t get it again.
The restaurant is pretty big. We ate at the bar. Service was pretty good. I don’t know what else to say, it’s a solid place and I’d go back again and again, but it’s not my favorite place ever.
The beer menu is what makes this place.

This is my favorite MacGregors location. Not as many taps as Jefferson Rd or downtown, but much newer, pleasant and clean dining room and bar. Less d-​bags than other locations. Great large TVs. I’ve never had a problem with the service. The food tastes just like the other MacGregors, with the highlight being the waffle fries. Lots of parking in the back lot and close to the bay. If you’re out paddling or kayaking on Irondequoit Bay this summer, MacGregors is the perfect place to quench your thirst!

MacGregors is a good old pub. Big bar with a zillion taps. Great selections for every taste and price range. Decent service, sports on tv for people who care about having sports on tv, classic rock on the speakers (they have a jukebox too, I think).
Food is excellent. I come here just for food sometimes. Broccoli and cheese soup gets special mention.
It can get loud, crowded, busy. It’s a bar. But I’ve gotten a table and had nothing but beers, and the servers have always allowed it. If you can sit at the bar, I recommend it. You can see all the pretty taps!
Fun story: Back in 1984, my parents attempted to go into MacGregors with a tiny Hannah E. Because it was after 9, the bouncer refused to let them in, even though they assured him they just wanted dinner and would not be sneaking their one-​year old any booze. He was unrelenting and my father refused to set foot in MacGregors until I was 18.